318 rebuild/upgrade

moper said
If your car has the original 318 (meaning '68?) 318, you already have smaller chambers than the 589s have. By a bit. '68-71ish 318s had smaller open chambers. I like to use them when I needs more squeeze on a newer LA...If you're looking for power, I would either use your exisitng heads, fit them with 1.88/1.609 valves, good valve job, springs, trim the guides, etc. and run them; or get a set of Magnum heads, have them done up, and run them. That would require a little more work, and parts, but I think they would be your best bet.

Thanks. Yes, so far as I know (IE, I haven't swapped it and the person I bought it from didn't say anything about an engine swap) it's the original '68 318. At one time, I was looking at using the Magnum heads when I was thinking about a 360, then saw a bunch of posts about them cracking, then scaled my project back and decided to stick with the 318.

Since most of what I read seemed to indicate the 1.88 intake was better for street use than the 2.02's, I figured that the '589 heads would be a good choice. I was trying to avoid too much machine work, but oh well...

I'll go back and look at the Magnum head stuff some more and start looking through the limited selection of junkyards around here.

That modifies the cam choice somewhat too, because of the 1.6:1 rocker arms, correct? Or since the Performer is a milder cam, is that less of an issue?

Thanks again,

Jay