Best bolt ons for a small block

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If the tires don't spin, a higher stall Convertor is the only thing that will get you moving quicker from a dead stop. The difference can be astonishing. I have done this now several times in the last 45/50 years and never once have I been disappointed.
Gears are a great second choice, but they trade away cruise rpm to get a lil help once the car gets moving, but you stll gotta wait for the engine to get into her powerband;
whereas the hi stall puts her there instantly, before the car ever moves an inch. If your current TC stalls at 1700rpm, your engine might make 120* ftlbs there which is less than 40 hp.
You can put a 4 bbl on it , and it will not make 1 hp more at 1700.
You can put duals on it and headers, and at 1700 possibly not gain one single hp.
But if you install a 2800TC , maybe your engine has, naturally, 240* ftlbs there, which is 128 hp, more than 3 times the power it had at 1700.
I rest my case.
(*) The torque numbers are a best guess, and while no one knows how accurate they might be; the end result is the same; NOTHING besides supercharging, can compare to a good Convertor, with a stall 1000 rpm higher.
 
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@AJ/FormS Considering he said “Best engine” I’ll have to agree with what you said as AFTER he gets done with the engine questions.
 
Dan the man said:
I'm hoping to check out a car after Thanksgiving. Supposedly it has a recent rebuilt 318, it has a 2 barrel carburetor and dual exhaust. If it's what I'm told it is it would be awesome, what would be easy bolt on modifications? I plan on keeping it simple for now.
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RustyRatRod's Guide To Hot Rod Bliss

Edelbrock Performer and 600cfm summit 4bbl. I did that plus a lunati 10200701 and detonated my 7 1/4 pegleg within 2 years.
 
rumblefish360 said:
(LIKE!)
@Dan the man
Keep your eyes out in the for sale ad section and eBay, FB Market place etc… you’ll find an intake inexpensively. The Edelbrock Performer is an equal to the factory iron intake. I like the Carter carb vote. Jet it, set it, forget it. Your done. On low level HP builds, it’ll make the same power as the Holley. It has plenty of cfm @ 650.
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Man, I've used plenty of the Eddy Performers over the years... never done me wrong!
 
Dan the man said:
Should I have the distributor sent out and have it phased?
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That's a Great Question, and RustyRatRod, Rumble, and many others would be better info for you, However, " phasing" the distributor (not dizzy, RRR, lol) is setting the rotors tip, to the plug tower. For guys like us, it's not worth the hassle, IMHO, but when you get your engine Mods dealt with, then a " curved " unit will kick it in, hard, depending
 
Ironracer said:
Man, I've used plenty of the Eddy Performers over the years... never done me wrong!
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What would you recommend for a air filter? K&N?. Back in the day I used either a Fram or a Wix. Like to get the most from every performance dollar spent.
 
K@N. I recently built a home made fresh air set up for my snorkel hood, as designed my a Member, w/ a few other Members modifications to their own..., I could not get several of the 14" American Made (big thing to me) filters. Summit had a 2 1/8" high, and a 2 3/8" ..really needed the 2 3/4. Found a 3x14" less than a mile away.. that was cool the K@N open top, needed, kept getting pushed back for months, finally got a Speedway Motors ( Taiwan, but still Woven Cotton. Had to have it to finish the deal. So, Yes, if you can locate the K@N that'll fit, do it!. I put one in my old 5.9 ram, I could hear, and feel.it
 
Most original Chrysler distributors will be phased pretty good. Certainly won't hurt to check. Where you need to modify will most likely be the advance curve. A performance advance curve will have a lot of initial advance at idle but a narrow band of mechanical (total) advance. My slant 6 for example, I have about 19 degrees initial advance at idle and about 29 degrees total, so I have 10 degrees mechanical advance. I reduced the mechanical advance by disassembling the distributor, welding up the governor slots and then grinding them back out smaller than factory. This allows you to run a lot of initial for quick acceleration but limits the total advance so you don't end up with too much on the "other end".
 
Dan the man said:
What would you recommend for a air filter? K&N?. Back in the day I used either a Fram or a Wix. Like to get the most from every performance dollar spent.
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No. K&N sucks and not in a good way. There've been many people show that the K&N filters, while they allow more air to flow also allow more dirt. Some say if you keep the filter oiled they're good, blah blah blah, but who the hell keeps up with that kinda thing? So I always recommend an over the counter paper filter like WIX or another decent brand.
 
Dan the man said:
Should I have the distributor sent out and have it phased?
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That's up to you. I think Halifaxhops on here can do that. Theres a place online that makes a drop in disc that sets the advance limits and such. I cant remember who it was though. Heres a basic schematic I made on how to wire in the HEI. It includes the coil to use, and the advance springs I'd recommend. The Mr gasket 925B spring kit recommends you replace only one of the OEM advance weight springs if for street use. I cannot remember which one since it's been awhile. I think it was the heavier one. But to leave the stock lighter one. For my distributor I used the GM end, and mopar end on the plugs and made a short adaptor so I wouldent have to cut the mopar pickups wires to use it. This short adaptor I used 3-1 shrink tube with glue on the inside, then bent it 90° before it cooled.

HEI.jpg


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Ottmundr said:
RustyRatRod's Guide To Hot Rod Bliss

Edelbrock Performer and 600cfm summit 4bbl. I did that plus a lunati 10200701 and detonated my 7 1/4 pegleg within 2 years.
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Bam! Home run link.

Ironracer said:
Man, I've used plenty of the Eddy Performers over the years... never done me wrong!
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Absolutely! In several tests I have seen & read over the years, the OEM vs Performer intake shoot outs have show the Performer at the very least as capable as the better OEM 4bbl intakes. The intake was (& I don’t know if it still is) often listed as a “Replacement Part” so there was no issue to there legality for use.

IMO, from what I see/seen, I consider the Chrysler OEM 4bbl. & the Edelbrock Performer as equal with an obvious weight difference.
 
Dan the man said:
What would you recommend for a air filter? K&N?. Back in the day I used either a Fram or a Wix. Like to get the most from every performance dollar spent.
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The K&N flows the most steadiest throughout its service while the paper flows highest when new and less than the K&N when dirty. As long as the paper filter is clean, your good to go.
 
Best bang for the buck. A 4 barrel carb, adapter or intake. Upgrade ignition to Pertronix or Factory Mopar is OK but not necessary. A quicker advance curve will help a lot. You already have duals and unless you have a performance cam and compression, headers aren't necessary. I like a 3.23 or 3.55 gear.
 
For an air filter I’d try one of these AEM dry cleanable air filters:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/334000331996

I run one exclusively on my setup, early on I did some track t&t’s and saw no drop off or improvement over a K&N oiled equivalent filter. Search around they are still some NOS out there, not made anymore unfortunately just never caught on I reckon. It’s a quality made filter though.
 
Look up FBO ignition. They make a drop in advance curve limiter disc for mopar V8 distributors. It has several different length slots in it to fine tune and set your advance weight limit without welding and filing the slots. They also sell a kit with a bunch of different tension advance weight springs to fine tune it further.
 
Only 8 lbs too. These mini densos are great. The junkyards are full of em. Every magnum 3.9 V6 and magnum 5.2 and 5.9 V8 had one. Heres pix of mine on a mock up

20210508_155421.jpg
 
moparmat2000 said:
Only 8 lbs too. These mini densos are great. The junkyards are full of em. Every magnum 3.9 V6 and magnum 5.2 and 5.9 V8 had one. Heres pix of mine on a mock up

View attachment 1715826073
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Yessir! Loved the " winding down sound " of the old ones, you knew you were goin' fer a ride then! But Heavy, and wrestling them and headers? Caint say I miss that...
 
You’re on a road trip in your old Mopar and stop at a gas station for a refill on a Saturday only to try and restart it and nope! That old style starter took a dump.... but! There’s an Oreilys right next door so you strut over thinking you’ll just snag another. But alas they gotta order one so you’re really screwed as it’ll be Tuesday before they get it ..... or you can grab a newer version they have on the shelf and off you go. But if you’re really sharp you carry a spare old one along with spare alternator, vr, coil etc etc for road trips in the trunk for times like that:thumbsup:
 
One 1600 mile road trip I did in my van with a slant six was back in 2005 where I had a tote filled with one of everything: starter, alternator, ballast, points/condenser, belts, hoses etc AND a new battery! After the event free trip I took only the battery back for a refund. Thank god I didn’t have a water pump go out on me in the middle of BFE on that trip or ida been screwed!:realcrazy:
 
My first car was a 72 Barracuda with a 318 2-barrel automatic. I put on headers and dual exhaust, Performer intake, and an 1850 Holley 600. Made it a completely different car. Never got to the heads and cam on that one but those were a great start.
 
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