318 rebuild/upgrade

cavemanmoron said

if I knew before hand, what I do know, I would have used
1.88 intakes,

Click to expand...

I'm looking at some upgrades to my 318. Based on what I've read in various posts about valve size (1.88 vs 2.02), I bought a set of '589 heads (340/360). Based on this thread, it sounds like that may not have been that great of a decision. They're not on yet, so easy to change plans at this point!

At one point I was thinking about a 360, so I've probably taken a lot of what I read about the 360's and 'assumed' it would work similar on the 318.

*IF* I get the heads milled to maintain a decent compression ratio, would the increase in flow be better than a mild port and polish on the 318 heads (retaining the stock valve size)? Or am I better off to resell them or keep them for a future 360 build?

My plans are for a somewhat warmed up street rod, probably never see a drag strip (or more than 5,000 RPM). So the goal is a strong low- to mid-range and the top end HP not as important. The rest of the combo (still in flux and changing everytime I think about it) will probably be the Performer manifold/cam (maybe a set of roller rockers) with a 600 CFM vacuum secondary 4 BBL, small dia headers, and a home brew port/polish/gasket match on the heads, rebuild the 904 with the 'low gear' set, kevlar bands, shift kit and a higher stall (not much research on this yet) converter and something in the 3.23 range for the rear axle.

Suggestions and ideas welcome...

Thanks,

Jay