Making power out of the 318

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carmart1975 said:
very true and i like your thinking i wish i could buy a whole car but i just do have the room for 1 more so i would most likely buy just a motor that was already running or in a perfect world a motor and trans out of something
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Get creative. I've bought cars, pulled them onto a rented/borrowed trailer and then stripped the engine/trans/driveline into the bed of my truck before hitting the metal recycler to dispose of the carcass all in one day. Some places want a car cut into peices first - couple buddies with sawzalls and grinders helps.
Never underestimate the value of spare parts. All the little things you get from a fully assembled engine add up quickly.
 
Phreakish said:
Get creative. I've bought cars, pulled them onto a rented/borrowed trailer and then stripped the engine/trans/driveline into the bed of my truck before hitting the metal recycler to dispose of the carcass all in one day. Some places want a car cut into peices first - couple buddies with sawzalls and grinders helps.
Never underestimate the value of spare parts. All the little things you get from a fully assembled engine add up quickly.
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That reminds me I need to order a LA fuel pump eccentric before they are no longer available...:)
 
Phreakish said:
Get creative. I've bought cars, pulled them onto a rented/borrowed trailer and then stripped the engine/trans/driveline into the bed of my truck before hitting the metal recycler to dispose of the carcass all in one day. Some places want a car cut into peices first - couple buddies with sawzalls and grinders helps.
Never underestimate the value of spare parts. All the little things you get from a fully assembled engine add up quickly.
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so your saying i buy a car put it on a uhaul flat bed take everything thing out that i want/need take it to pick a part and all done in one day?
 
I like the word "boughtten" Its actually proper english too. But I sound like a dutchie whan I say it to the wife..." here I went to the store and boughttened some strawberries..." :)
 
carmart1975 said:
the 3.21 gears are not there to stay i will be putting a new 8 3/4 rear end when this one shreds then i will re gear then but i am not putting any money into the rear end i have now
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That's fine and makes sense, but don't change the fact that your stuck with them for a while, so you a cam for them (my choice) or cam for the future gears and live with it. And what are the future gears to be ?
Like a set of 3.55 helps but it's not really a huge difference from 3.21, it's a 3rd of a ratio difference ain't gonna all a sudden allow a super huge cam in a 318, future gears may still limit you more than you want.
Plus we got to talk tire size that's part of the ratio, so if future gears come with a taller tire you got to factor that in or otherwise you could end up with the same ratio.

Eg.. Divide 24 by the tire diameter to get it's effective ratio. So 26" = 0.92 and 29" = 0.83
3.21 x .92 = 2.95
3.55 x .83 = 2.95

So in that case you'd still have the same ratio

Here's some gear formulas
They don't factor in converter slippage
And gear could just be rear gear or the combination of the trans gear and rear depends what your looking for.

Gear x mph x 336 / tire diameter = rpm

Mph x 336 / rpm x tire = gear

Gear x 336 / rpm x tire = mph
 
carmart1975 said:
so your saying i buy a car put it on a uhaul flat bed take everything thing out that i want/need take it to pick a part and all done in one day?
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Some places like pick a part won't take a car w/o an engine/trans, but some places will - call around first to know your options. Recyclers will take scrap metal though. Sometimes they'll pay you for it, sometimes not - just depends. Best to call around and have options. When I was in college our local scrapper wouldn't take whole cars, but if we cut them in half he would. If they were all steel and we got the glass out of it we'd get paid, if it was a more modern car with a bunch of mixed metals he wouldn't pay us - we didn't care, we were stripping for parts and trying not to piss off the landlord with derelict cars in the driveway, lol.
 
I would search LKQ in your area. Lots of times they run sales on older low mileage engines. I found a Ford GT40P 5.0 with a tic over 100K for 300 bucks. Still had cross hatch in the cylinders with no ridge whatsoever. I've recently looked and the MAgnum engines are in the 1500 buck range. But they run sales quite often. That Ford engine I got also came with a six month warranty.
 
RustyRatRod said:
I would search LKQ in your area. Lots of times they run sales on older low mileage engines. I found a Ford GT40P 5.0 with a tic over 100K for 300 bucks. Still had cross hatch in the cylinders with no ridge whatsoever. I've recently looked and the MAgnum engines are in the 1500 buck range. But they run sales quite often. That Ford engine I got also came with a six month warranty.
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Exactly! I posted 2 in the So Cal area under $600 ea - complete engines WITH accessories. Both look like 5.2L. Patience and scrounging may uncover a 5.9L.
There's no way to even hone and get pistons into that 318 block and assemble it for $600 (rod/main bearings, cam bearings, oil pump, cam, lifters..).
 
273 said:
That's fine and makes sense, but don't change the fact that your stuck with them for a while, so you a cam for them (my choice) or cam for the future gears and live with it. And what are the future gears to be ?
Like a set of 3.55 helps but it's not really a huge difference from 3.21, it's a 3rd of a ratio difference ain't gonna all a sudden allow a super huge cam in a 318, future gears may still limit you more than you want.
Plus we got to talk tire size that's part of the ratio, so if future gears come with a taller tire you got to factor that in or otherwise you could end up with the same ratio.

Eg.. Divide 24 by the tire diameter to get it's effective ratio. So 26" = 0.92 and 29" = 0.83
3.21 x .92 = 2.95
3.55 x .83 = 2.95

So in that case you'd still have the same ratio

Here's some gear formulas
They don't factor in converter slippage
And gear could just be rear gear or the combination of the trans gear and rear depends what your looking for.

Gear x mph x 336 / tire diameter = rpm

Mph x 336 / rpm x tire = gear

Gear x 336 / rpm x tire = mph
Click to expand...
i am looking for a light to light car but i still need to daily drive it on the freeway and stuff i will look more into tire size when it gets closer to putting new rims and tires on
 
RustyRatRod said:
I would search LKQ in your area. Lots of times they run sales on older low mileage engines. I found a Ford GT40P 5.0 with a tic over 100K for 300 bucks. Still had cross hatch in the cylinders with no ridge whatsoever. I've recently looked and the MAgnum engines are in the 1500 buck range. But they run sales quite often. That Ford engine I got also came with a six month warranty.
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i did look at it its about 400$$$ for a mag 360
 
carmart1975 said:
they have a few, you just need to pull it i dont know how it works do you pull the motor your self or they pull it out. and have it next to the car
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How in the world would I know? lol
 
carmart1975 said:
they have a few, you just need to pull it i dont know how it works do you pull the motor your self or they pull it out. and have it next to the car
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Go check them out, you'll figure it out. I yanked my first engine in a junkyard with nothing but hand tools and a wheel barrow when I was your age. It sucked, took all day, but I learned a ton.
They often have lifts and stuff available to rent, and you may find some folks hanging out who will yank it for you in exchange for cash money. $400 for a mag 360 is more than fair. Just buying a hone and pistons for the 318 will cost that!
 
carmart1975 said:
i am looking for a light to light car but i still need to daily drive it on the freeway and stuff i will look more into tire size when it gets closer to putting new rims and tires on
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Good thing is A bodies are light, the later ones like yours are a little heavier, which you can get rid of some of that, point being the don't need much power to be fast, look at 318willruns youtube channel and builds on here he loves doing low dollar performance https://www.youtube.com/@318willrun out of 318/360 etc..

You don't have to get all the way there on first try, an honest well setup 300-350 hp 318/360 is gonna be a fun car and you have your whole life to go faster.
 
Dan the man said:
I mentioned the torque converter because the op said that he was going to use the 904 transmission that he already has. Of course if he gets a 5.9 and transmission he wouldn't have to worry about the converter. He'd be lucky if he found a 5.9 already swap over to a 4 barrel. I think that in my above post that I made some good pointers
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IF he went with a 360 magnum (I hate "liter" designation) they changed the weights to be on the flex plate after 95, same converter as a 318 then. (Means he can use the existing 318 converter) just have to oval 1 hole a bit because they then got rid of the "1hole offset" way of mounting flex plate to converter.
I honestly never understood why they went to external balance on the 360, whether LA or magnum
 
carmart1975 said:
I have no clue I thought you would know because you seem like you would know i am sorry
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I'm in Georgia, they are way out there. All I can tell you is call and ask them. Different locations handle things different ways. No sweat.
 
carmart1975 said:
they have a few, you just need to pull it i dont know how it works do you pull the motor your self or they pull it out. and have it next to the car
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you pull it, yank off all the **** you don't need or want to pay for (they will charge you for every.single.little.thing). some yards will pull it for you, but i don't have any idea what they'd charge for that.
 
carmart1975 said:
the 318 i have is in very good condition just needs a good clean up like a hone, the rods are good and the crack has a Little surface rust i already have new rings and bearings for it i would just get the cam bearings done and i would need to by a oil pan and a front timing cover and the heads would need a full redo because they have like dried up sluge or carbon from the 360 they came off of and i would half to get new pistons because the owner before me droped one and cracked a peace off
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i would roll all of that to the machine shop and see if you've got viable parts. they'll check the block and crank and let you know what all you need and how much it'll run you in machine work. same with the heads.

from there you can sit down, do the gorilla math and make a decision on which direction to head.

LA parts come up used here ALL the time, good pistons, heads, intakes, so if you're patient there's deals to be had.
 
volaredon said:
IF he went with a 360 magnum (I hate "liter" designation) they changed the weights to be on the flex plate after 95, same converter as a 318 then. (Means he can use the existing 318 converter) just have to oval 1 hole a bit because they then got rid of the "1hole offset" way of mounting flex plate to converter.
I honestly never understood why they went to external balance on the 360, whether LA or magnum
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he's got a slant with an automatic, he's starting from square 1 with the whole trans/converter situation.
 
junkyardhero said:
i would roll all of that to the machine shop and see if you've got viable parts. they'll check the block and crank and let you know what all you need and how much it'll run you in machine work. same with the heads.

from there you can sit down, do the gorilla math and make a decision on which direction to head.

LA parts come up used here ALL the time, good pistons, heads, intakes, so if you're patient there's deals to be had.
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that is a good idea also
 
oh, and if you stay with the 318 sourcing the bits that you need shouldn't be difficult at all. hell, most of us got stuff like that littering the shop floor or collecting dust on a back shelf somewheres.

or, there's smattering of 73~76 a-bodies (and trucks/vans) in local yards that you can rob the ancillary pieces you may need: oil pan, timing cover, pulleys, brackets, exhaust manifolds, transmission, motor mounts.

and spring fling is right around the corner, the swap is a good size and there is always tons of good parts and great deals.
 
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