318 Duster Rebuild - pros and cons of keeping matching numbers

Johnny Mac said
Thanks for the shout out! I'm not going to pitch too hard, as unless @Ken71Twister is looking for 400+hp, we may not be his answer. We build a great engine, and have a great warranty, and dyno every engine, but if Ken isn't really looking for big power gains, seems he may just need a pan or valve cover gasket. Someone honest can run a compression check and put some fluorescent die in it, and determine its condition pretty easy. Happy to help if Ken is looking for some horsepower, but sounds like it runs great besides an oil leak, so hopefully someone local and honest can check it out. I would agree about the local part if he wants numbers matching...I would be scared of shipping my numbers block off.

The 400+ hp would have been fun when I was 19 - but I might have killed myself with that much power under the hood. :). Back then - the main reason why I went with the 318 3-speed instead of a 340 4-speed was because of insurance cost. The purchase price was not that much more - less than $1000 more. Insurance doubled with the 340 4-speed. I was in college and couldn’t afford it. Wow - that would have been fun.