1970 Dodge Dart 318 upgrades

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I seem to recall something about that cam, it was one year only, supposed to be a hot bumpstick.
 
In my opion, camming the thing up, and leaving the 2bbl is a waste of time.
Why not get an Ede Performer and Ede 600, and open up some possibility's ?
Otherwise, slap the stock 318 back in, add electronic ignition, and a free flowing exhaust and be done with it.
 
PikaPhantom said:
Well right now the goal is just to make it daily driveable and keep it that way. I guess this is more of an engine refresh than a complete rebuild. I am not wanting to get out of hand with high end performance parts but in my head I figured it would be better to a camshaft replacement now with something that would make the car run better rather than go through the trouble of pulling the engine apart again in the future and replace it if it should come to that.
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OK, understood on the refresh only... and piston change does not make sense for you. If you could afford it, maybe you can consider milling the heads about .030" to bump compression a bit.

Since this seems more like a 'do it now' step but not so much to go all out in performance, I think I would for sure go with one step smaller on the cam for a daily driver. And if you are interested in fuel economy, then I for sure would find a cam with a 112 or 114 LSA number on it. Something like the Lunati 10200260 would be what I'd use; you can find it here: High Efficiency - Hydraulic Flat Tappet - Lunati Power

With the cam you show, new valve springs seem to be a good idea to me, just judging from the 48 degree difference in the advertised versus .050" lift numbers. But that can be done with some low cost, stronger-than-stock ones like the Melling VS-1120.

And the recommendations for the exhaust posted by RF360 are spot on... that is something that will help the car all across the board: fuel economy, low end torque and high RPM HP. It's a very good investment of time and $$.
 
AJ/FormS said:
I got about 4 used ones
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If I was the op, i'd have already PM'd you...….
One of the cheapest upgrades.... used 340 cam and a factory cast intake.... and one of the hardest to beat in mild hop-ups for a 318. The "freshening up" the OP talks about would be spent "freshening up the heads". All the cams in China are a pile of mush if your valves don't seal
 
318willrun said:
If I was the op, i'd have already PM'd you...….
One of the cheapest upgrades.... used 340 cam and a factory cast intake.... and one of the hardest to beat in mild hop-ups for a 318. The "freshening up" the OP talks about would be spent "freshening up the heads". All the cams in China are a pile of mush if your valves don't seal
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All the cams in the world would be mush if your valves don't seal,lol.
 
Johnny Dart said:
In my opion, camming the thing up, and leaving the 2bbl is a waste of time.
Why not get an Ede Performer and Ede 600, and open up some possibility's ?
Otherwise, slap the stock 318 back in, add electronic ignition, and a free flowing exhaust and be done with it.
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I strongly disagree.
Firstly you mightta missed the part about limited budget, but more importantly;
A high compression street SBM even with a 2bbl and most especially with the factory 2bbl cam, is, or rather, can be a dynomite combo when supporting mods are thrown in..... especially with hi-way gears.
The stock cam only pulls to about 4500.Altho it will willingly rev MUCH higher with supporting mods. And the 2bbl is just running out of capacity at about that time. The 2bbl does not prevent the engine from reving any higher, it just won't make optimum power up there is all. With 2.76s hitting 4500 at about 50 mph, this is no big deal. And guess what, at peak torque she will be sitting at right about 26mph. Tm is; 2.45(first gear) x 2.76=6.76. This is almost exactly like 1.45(second gear) x 4.56=6.61. The engine doesn't care how it gets TM. Light 'em up OP!
I have build combos like this. The key is in the compression and in the hiway gears. And so is the fuel-economy. Even a 340 running all the 318 stuff, is pretty impressive, with hiway gears keeping the revs down.
AJ's opinion
No you won't win any races, but that is not on OPs to-do list.

BTW
A 318 with the stock cam at 9.2 Scr is about 162 psi@137VP ( about the max you can run with that cam), compared to a fresh 360 at 8.0 with it's stock cam, making 130psi@118VP, both at 1000 ft...... I know which one I would want, hands down!
 
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There is probably no way to do this on the cheap, it isn't like there are small block Mopars with 4 barrel setups sitting in the u pull yard, not in my area anyway. But lets say there is for sake of fantasizing, the OP takes their two barrel 318, slaps a Carter AVS on it, will he/she any improvement? If the car runs like crap now, or performance is off with the two barrel, figure out why, is the crappy nylon timing gear still on the car? could be. I had a 69 318 that really woke up after that junk timing set was replaced. Best money spent would be tune up the two barrel or at least figure out if it is mechanically sound and fit for a tune up. get it running good with a two barrel, and go from there, a two barrel car should be able to lay rubber and do 120 mph use that as a seat of the pants test. basic testing and tuning is on the cheap.
 
Used TRW repro 340 cam with (matching) lifters broken in on this cam these
lifters and cam older quality stuff circa 1980s in perfect
condition $100 plus shipping
 
If you want to increase your horsepower by 80-100 and still get good mileage and great driveability , go to your nearest junk yard and get a late model 5.2l. out of a truck , clean it up , put it in and enjoy . SIMPLE
 
Dartswinger70 said:
There is probably no way to do this on the cheap, it isn't like there are small block Mopars with 4 barrel setups sitting in the u pull yard, not in my area anyway. .
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Getting harder at the bone yard, I agree. But still can be done on the cheap. a person just has to get busy, and be a little patient.
  • intakes for example- Cast intakes can still be found for under 50. CL, local swap meets, maxi vans or ramchargers sitting in the back weeds. Even being lazy I bought a real nice '73 340 cast intake right here on FABO for 60 shipped. I also bought a real nice Holley Street dominator intake at a local swap meet last year for 30 bucks. That's right, 30 whopping bucks.
  • If he took the time to read my 1st post of my 318 build, I did new cam/lifters, 4bbl and intake, new timing chain, new gaskets and expansion plugs, freshened up the heads with new springs and exhaust valves, lapped the intakes and home ported, all for 497.00 bucks.
 
Stock TQ intake and carb (small primary version)
Dual exhaust off the manifolds
Screw the cam
 
If you willing to get an 8-1/4 rear I’d suggest 3.21’s for a driver, 3.55’s for a hotter driver. A nice and mello cam would be 218@050 intake with approximately high .400’s in lift and 6-8 degrees more exhaust duration for the stock heads that should be milled down about .050.

This is about 300+ hp capable of moving the car into the low 14’s high 13’s (weight & gear ratio dependent) and no converter change out.

An excellent driver with reasonable mileage.
 
rumblefish360 said:
If you willing to get an 8-1/4 rear I’d suggest 3.21’s for a driver, 3.55’s for a hotter driver. A nice and mello cam would be 218@050 intake with approximately high .400’s in lift and 6-8 degrees more exhaust duration for the stock heads that should be milled down about .050.

This is about 300+ hp capable of moving the car into the low 14’s high 13’s (weight & gear ratio dependent) and no converter change out.

An excellent driver with reasonable mileage.
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Mill or how about a pair of #302's?
 
There all have a small chambered head.

The 302 will port out best according to research and other sources of head porters. But we’re not going that far now are we? He he he he

If a power 318 mill was my target, then a full rebuild with a zero deck piston and ported 360 heads would be the start of the monster.
 
rumblefish360 said:
There all have a small chambered head.

The 302 will port out best according to research and other sources of head porters. But we’re not going that far now are we? He he he he

If a power 318 mill was my target, then a full rebuild with a zero deck piston and ported 360 heads would be the start of the monster.
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Does anyone really know how big the chambers are on 302's compared to other 318 heads? I know different years are different. All my engine books list 302's @ 56-65cc where as standard 318 heads are 60-69cc depending on what year.
 
toolmanmike said:
Does anyone really know how big the chambers are on 302's compared to other 318 heads? I know different years are different. All my engine books list 302's @ 56-65cc where as standard 318 heads are 60-69cc depending on what year.
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I’ll dig up my 302’s some day and cc them.
 
yeah those Paxtons were available for the 4.6/5.0 Injected Mustang, but they would work on a Mopar with say a throttle body injection. its only like 6 lbs of boost.
 
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