JOHNNY MOPAR
Well-Known Member
hi everyone this engine has probably been mentioned before but there is probably a lot out there that hadn't had the chance of reading this mopar muscle magazine article from 2003 anyway i found it very interesting being in the build of a 318 myself , as everyone says there are no '' substitute for cubic inches '' in this case a gentlemen was looking for a 360 to build for his 67 barracuda for street/strip use and hopefully run 12 seconds , but every time he went looking for a 360 he would stumble over a 318 , finally the light came on and he new he was working with a great engine builder who had a knack of wringing amazing amounts of horsepower from engines built almost entirely from stock replacement type components . wanting the engine to be still streetable they didnt set out to build a full tilt race engine , before the rebuild they dynoed the engine which was from a low mileage 73 dart , cranking out 187 hp at 3750 rpm . the engine was then bored 60 thou too 328 cubes , hypereutectic pistons 9.8;1 comp , clevitte bearings , felpro gaskets a comp cams 270h 224/224 at 50 and 470/470 lift 110 degrees , the block was topped off with original heads that were pocket ported and fitted with new 1.78 and 1.50 valves and gasket matched ports , a 340 cast iron manifold topped it off with a 625 cfm avs carter . the engine was reinstalled on the dyno , peak horsepower rose to 301 at 5000 and 343 lb/ft at 4000 rpm . they next stepped up the cam to 222/230 at 50 and 470/480 lift and 112 degrees , giving the engine a broader , flatter torque curve and increased top end power and yet docile enough to support a 750 rpm idle . back on the dyno the camshaft added 21 lb/ft at 2500 rpm and 23 hp producing 324 hp and 370 lb/ft peaked . with the second camshaft in place the cylinder heads became the cork screw , so they next added , and the critics wont like this , a set of ported 360 heads with 2.02 and 1.60 valves , back on the dyno the engine ratcheted up again producing 346 hp and 381 lb/ft of torque . for the final test a 750 cfm thermoquad was fitted and the 340 intake was cleaned up a little inside , this paid off with a final out put of 357 hp and 388 lb/ft of torque . with the engine installed in the 67 and the same hedman headers a 3.55;1 ring and pinion , and a 3000 rpm stall , the cuda laid down a 12.76 second 1/4 at 103.02 mph , a stock mopar electronic dissy was used and standard rocker gear , they were left very happy and impressed by how well this little 318/328 performed , which left them thinking how much more they could have pulled out of the little teen with alloy heads , holley dp , alloy intake , a better distributor , and maybe a little more compression and cam ,'' 318 '' THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT COULD . . .