Making power out of the 318

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junkyardhero said:
you're not wrong, you're just floating around in the non-sequitur lagoon matey.

the correction that the speedo gear makes is about the furthest thing this dude should even be thinking about at this point.

it has no bearing, effect, matter of importance or offer any issue in any of the following: building his 318, swapping in a magnum, selecting and installing a transmission.

this is like worrying about if the cigarette lighter works in a car you're going to buy. a benign issue that is not pertinent to the matter at hand.
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Don't blow a head gasket, I know that it's not a real important issue but it's still something that is part of what will have to be addressed eventually. I kinda think that you don't like it because you know that I'm right on this one. I've changed out many a third member in my time and or tire sizes and found that my speedometer didn't read correctly. If you don't want to believe me that's fine, simply call your local transmission or tire shop and they will tell you what I did
 
Dan the man said:
Don't blow a head gasket, I know that it's not a real important issue but it's still something that is part of what will have to be addressed eventually. I kinda think that you don't like it because you know that I'm right on this one. I've changed out many a third member in my time and or tire sizes and found that my speedometer didn't read correctly. If you don't want to believe me that's fine, simply call your local transmission or tire shop and they will tell you what I did
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You're preachin to the choir bud. Only problem is no one cares because that's irrelevant.
 
Dan the man said:
If I remember correctly, the op car is a 1973? No matter what transmission he uses it will have to be set up to work with the instrument cluster that he has, such as the speedometer. I'm sure that you know that if you change the size of your rear tires that it affects the way the speedometer works, same thing with a gear ratio change. I never said anything about the engine what so ever. If you still think that I'm wrong, drive your vehicle as is for a couple of miles, then put on either a taller or shorter height rear tire and drive it again the same amount of distance and see how far off the speedometer is off.
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The car is a /6 he's swapping in a new driveline either way there's lots of little things he needs, I sure the speedo doesn't match now.
 
remytherat said:
You're preachin to the choir bud. Only problem is no one cares because that's irrelevant.
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I know that it's not a important part of what the op is doing. I just simply stated something that at one time or another would have to be looked into. I thought that the idea was to point out different things that would have to be done. junkyardhero made some very good points and I respect him for that
 
Dan the man said:
If I remember correctly, the op car is a 1973? No matter what transmission he uses it will have to be set up to work with the instrument cluster that he has, such as the speedometer. I'm sure that you know that if you change the size of your rear tires that it affects the way the speedometer works, same thing with a gear ratio change. I never said anything about the engine what so ever. If you still think that I'm wrong, drive your vehicle as is for a couple of miles, then put on either a taller or shorter height rear tire and drive it again the same amount of distance and see how far off the speedometer is off.
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he building a race car,..a strip car dont think seedometer makes a molehill's difference to him! same with most of what your getting up tight over...smdh
 
273 said:
The car is a /6 he's swapping in a new driveline either way there's lots of little things he needs, I sure the speedo doesn't match now.
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junkyardhero mentioned a lot of things, things that I didn't even think about. I didn't mean to aggravate the man, it's just that it seemed to me that he was telling me that I was wrong about the importance of eventually getting the speedometer working correctly.
 
dirty white boy said:
he building a race car,..a strip car dont think seedometer makes a molehill's difference to him! same with most of what your getting up tight over...smdh
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Oh my bad, I thought that I read that the op was building a daily driver. Maybe it was mentioned earlier and he changed plans. Either way I'm glad that he's part of our hobby.
 
junkyardhero said:
if you're going magnum...

start here: Magnum Swap -your source for Mopar engine swap information.

get these:
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Mopar Performance Magnum Engines

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then take a deep dive here:
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junkyardhero said:
all this magnum talk here and i just wanted to take a moment and say, while i'm an advocate of the 5.9 swap and there's plenty of upside, there is also not a darn thing wrong with building out a nice little 318. not.one.thing.

a lot of it is dependent on where you're at with the 318 block, how much work that needs, and how quickly you want to have it all come together.

you could build out a nice bottom end with decent pistons, you don't have to go nuts with studs and rod bolts and stuff. top that with some 360 heads that are breathed on, stab in a white box summit special cam, snap on a swap meet dual plane and 4bbl and go rip it up with a whopping 275 hp

that would be a great daily driver combo with a little bit of flash. it's not gonna beat the world, but it's also not gonna break the bank and would be reliable.

if you backed it up with a low gear transmission and some stall it'd be a hoot to drive.

if you weren't in a hell fired rush you could probably source most all of that used, or NIB that somebody is unloading.

just some food for thought.
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I really like that to but that 5.9 mag is really growing on me the more i keep reading the their forms the more i am leaning toward it
 
Dan the man said:
Several have mentioned that the op would be better off going with a 5.9 magnum. But I haven't seen anyone mentioning that he needs to be sure that the one that he gets has a cam that works with a mechanical fuel pump, if not he'll either have to change the cam or use a electric fuel pump, a added expense. That he will need a torque converter for the 5.9 as it's balanced differently than the 318, another expense that he probably hadn't planned on. And the last time I checked the magnum heads are limited to one intake manifold choice. The op mentioned that he has 3.21 gears, nothing mentioned about that he'll need to change the speedometer cable gear so that the speedometer and the odometer will read correctly, unless he's already done this. Isn't it true that the 5.9 and the 360 require different motor mounts then the 318 does? I'm not sure about the harmonic balancer, but would it require replacement as well because the magnums have computer controlled fuel and ignition systems, if so that's another expense. I don't know if the flex plate is different from the 318's. The oil pan, oil pump pick up tube have to be swapped out as well.
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I have taken a lot of that into the consideration I did not know about the fuel pump problem, and the motor mounts are the same except the passenger side you half to run a longer bolt
 
carmart1975 said:
I really like that to but that 5.9 mag is really growing on me the more i keep reading the their forms the more i am leaning toward it
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send the stock cam and get reground cheaper than buying one,its a roller cam and factory lifters and all already there!! theres intakes with magnum bolt pattern on ebay and amazon for cheap! look up hei mods on here, good cheap spark!! you can get there for 2 grand, less if you find a running 5.9! then you can start building rest the car to match your engine! trans, rear gears and all!
 
carmart1975 said:
I have taken a lot of that into the consideration I did not know about the fuel pump problem, and the motor mounts are the same except the passenger side you half to run a longer bolt
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run the front cover off that 318 gives you fuel pump mounting, can get adapter from hughs for cam eccentric to drive said fuel pump....
 
273 said:
The car is a /6 he's swapping in a new driveline either way there's lots of little things he needs, I sure the speedo doesn't match now.
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Matter of fact not trying to be a smart *** but i am very proud the speedo is only 2 mph faster i think that’s pretty good.
 
dirty white boy said:
thay got a good valve spring kit for magnum heads up to 600 lift without any machine work and works with most hdr grinds very well to
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I have a question, is the magnum heads still limited to one intake manifold? They have said that the magnum heads are known to cracking, does this make them unusable?
 
Dan the man said:
Your welcome. are you building a daily driver or a race car? Either way I'm looking forward to seeing some pictures of it
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Its a street/strip car i am 15 by the way its a 75 with a 71 clip

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carmart1975 said:
I really like that to but that 5.9 mag is really growing on me the more i keep reading the their forms the more i am leaning toward it
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This is what I was talking about originally. You won't listen to seasoned, experienced people, yet, you said you would. You just "gotta have" 400 plus horsepower and I will "just bet" that at 15, you've never been in anything with an honest 400HP.

Now, before I go further, let me say, I'm not saying any of this in disrespect or trying to run you down, so lets get that outta the way now. I'm saying all of this as a fellow car guy that's been doing this since 1974, so I have a tad of experience. So don't get your panties in a wad and go off half cocked thinking I'm insulting you. I'm not.

Go ahead and get the 5.9 if you must, but I think as your first project it's a mistake especially since you already HAVE a 318. You're money ahead of the game RIGHT THERE. What will happen is, you will spend "whatever" part of your 3K budget on a whole nuther motor. Even the Magnum engines are getting old now and chances are slim you'll get one with low enough mileage that it won't take probably HALF your budget.

Then, even to reach 400HP with a magnum, you going to have to have "some kind" of cylinder head porting. You've already said your knowledge is limited, so that will cost another chunk of your 3K. 400HP will likely need 2.02 and 1.60 valves. Valves is another chunk. Gone. Valve guides sloppy? There's some gone. Heads will likely need milling to get them flat again. There's some gone. There's your budget pretty m uch down the toilet and we've not even gotten to intake, carburetor, ignition system, headers and on and on.

If you would just listen to common sense and experience, you'd get something running pretty quickly that would be respectable and keep your fire lit to collect parts as you go for build #2. As it is now, you're going to run out of budget. The project will stall and you'll lose interest and there it will sit. All these guys on here are spending money that isn't theirs with their recommendations. You need to think about that.
 
Dan the man said:
I have a question, is the magnum heads still limited to one intake manifold? They have said that the magnum heads are known to cracking, does this make them unusable?
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There are many intakes now I didn’t know about the cracking heads
 
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