14x6 Cragar SS wheels were $49.95 as were Pro Stock headers and #4412 Holley 2 barrel carbs. Those were the days.
Making power out of the 318
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Cams were "on special" for 29.95. That was General Kenetics, but they were good grinds.
back in the 80s when I went thru the local community college auto program I built a 318 in engine class. It was pretty much stock except for the cam I chose. I don't remember what specs but I remember it had the same lift as the 340 cam don't remember the rest of the specs. It was in a Cordoba with 2.something gears.
I bought all my parts from super shops but got the typical "well if it were a Chevy......."from the counter people who worked there
I knurled the pistons (we didn't have machine shop capabilities and we had an old timer who owned a machine shop, and came in once-twice a week to help out and give "real world" pointers. We did have a (I forget what it was really called) head resurfacing machine, it was a huge flat grinding wheel in the middle of a machined flat heavy steel table, and the grinding wheel was adjusted to be just a couple of thousandths above the table height, part of everybody's rebuild was to run their heads on the table and take off just enough to make for a uniform surface. If that head had gotten away from the operator and "oops" their hands accidentally came in contact with the wheel it would have made for "hand-hamburger". The other thing we had was a piston knurler and valve guide knurlers and reamers. I knurled my pistons and valve guides "for the experience" but won't do so again.
There was never a mention of porting heads or grinding off "casting boogers" even. Just basically teardown, clean up and reassemble. That remains the absolute worst sucking pig of a 318 I've ever had. And I've had several.
I had pulled it out of another car that ran and drove that had been totalled, was a good engine before but it made lots of noise but couldn't get out of it's own way after the rebuild.
Other than that cam, it was stock besides a 4 bbl manifold and carb and a set of cheapie headers that never did seal worth a ****.
I've done a few since and every one ran better after than before I went thru them/ unlike that one.
Cam specs (and making heads/tails of them) still makes my head spin, I've taken to going a step below what I think I want for a cam ever since that school experience.
Oh ya. GK had some good grinds. We had Crane and TRW for our street cams before Comp got going. Didn't GK switch to Comp back then?
I don't remember what happened to them. They may have been one of Comp's first "acquisitions". Harold Brookshire (RIP) was involved heavily with GK for many years. You can look at the grinds and tell it was him.
....and how bout those 19.95 complete engine gasket sets? We didn't know how good we had it.
And for some reason except for that 318 I did in school ice always had much better luck, dependability and service out of 318s over 360s.... Most 360s I have had have been nothing but thirsty pigs that haven't been able to get out of their own way. I've had a "360 build" in my head for a while now but haven't had anything worth putting such an engine into...
No doubt. For the stock stuff we started with Fitzgerald Gaskets and switched to Fel Pro. We had Filko ignition and switched to Standard. Trw engine and suspension parts. Champion Rebuild for out rebuilt parts. Airtex for our new fuel and water pumps. Walker exhaust and a ton of softline suppliers Yep. Those were the days
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I remember Fitzgerald gaskets. I actually have those on my 331 Hemi. The thin steel ones.
Phreakish
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Dodge Ram 1500 Engine
99 Dodge Ram 1500 V8 Magnum
I would budget less for the machine shop and more for gas. Find some deals, assume every engine is junk but try to find a decent bottom end and probably a junker with a decent intake and carb. Sell the excess parts off cheapish to pay for the small stuff and try to get an engine assembly together for around $1000 out of pocket, or $500 if you can't find a decent bottom end and plan for $250 on pistons and $1k for machine work which should keep the engine under $2k.
If you're patient and resourceful, hopefully you can score an engine with a trans for cheapish - look for junk motors with the intake and other accessories you'll want. You'll wind up greasier but money ahead.
99 Dodge Ram 1500 V8 Magnum
I would budget less for the machine shop and more for gas. Find some deals, assume every engine is junk but try to find a decent bottom end and probably a junker with a decent intake and carb. Sell the excess parts off cheapish to pay for the small stuff and try to get an engine assembly together for around $1000 out of pocket, or $500 if you can't find a decent bottom end and plan for $250 on pistons and $1k for machine work which should keep the engine under $2k.
If you're patient and resourceful, hopefully you can score an engine with a trans for cheapish - look for junk motors with the intake and other accessories you'll want. You'll wind up greasier but money ahead.
I got the crate engine in my 68 Valiant with 2.94 gears 26" tires and a 2800 stall, it's the way it came when I bought it 6 years ago the gearing definitely ain't ideal but not bad enough to make me change it.
I plan on doing some drag racing this year so definitely gonna be adding some gear 3.91-4.30 depending on tire size is the plan. Right now I got to get it up to 40 mph in 1st to start to feel what she really makes.
So with a good stall and 3.21 on a short tire should be ok, going with an airgap might help it out some, Maybe a step down in cam 225 ish.
Cipher_Z
New Member
From the old Mopar performance book. Nice little guide for some ideas on the build.
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Dan the man
Well-Known Member
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.
Dan the man
Well-Known Member
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
junkyardhero
Well-Known Member
as usual dan, you're about 1/2 right, late to the party and lacking in reading comprehension.
do some research before you post up half baked information that you've somehow concocted in your head, it's more confusing and further muddying the conversation rather than being of help.
do some research before you post up half baked information that you've somehow concocted in your head, it's more confusing and further muddying the conversation rather than being of help.
Dan the man
Well-Known Member
There are several things that I mentioned that no one else has, maybe it's because no one else thought of them
Dan the man
Well-Known Member
Concocted in my head? I guess that I'm not going to get any credit for pointing out a few things. I didn't say that I was 100% correct and I haven't followed each and every post as sometimes the information is being repeated or it's used in a argumentative way. I'm no expert by any means but I do have a little knowledge. It would be nice once in awhile to be given a little credit.
junkyardhero
Well-Known Member
*rubbs temples*
*sighs deeply*
okay dan, here's your cookie.
for future edification, it would behoove you greatly to real all of the responses before adding one of your own.
Dan the man
Well-Known Member
Since you think that it's more confusing and further muddying the conversation, I simply won't respond to anything else I don't care if I may be of help or not. It would be nice to get some credit once in awhile
Dan the man
Well-Known Member
I wish the op the best of luck with his car. I'm sure glad that he's interested in the hobby.
junkyardhero
Well-Known Member
your sentence structure is contradictory to the statement you seem to be trying to make.
credit given when credit is due, and i don't see anything worthy of it.
at any rate, i mentioned all of that in post #140
RIF, dan, RIF
Dan the man
Well-Known Member
I repeated some of which you already said. Take credit for the speedometer cable gear too
junkyardhero
Well-Known Member
well, if you insist on being priggish... he probably won't have to change the speedo cable.
the chances are that he's going to use a 904/727 or a variant therein, which *gasp* takes the same mechanical drive speedo cable and uses the same speedo drive as his specific 904 slant six transmission.
in fact, they used the same stuff even with some of the electronically controlled transmission that had mechanical speedometers.
swapping in a magnum engine doesn't have any bearing or effect on the speedometer cable, that is purely a function of the transmission.
Dan the man
Well-Known Member
It affected by the gear ratio. If you change the final gear ratio from say, a 2.76 ratio to a 3.21 and you don't change the drive gear on the speedo cable where it goes into the transmission your speedometer and odometer will not work correctly. Guess I'm wrong here too
junkyardhero
Well-Known Member
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.
Dan the man
Well-Known Member
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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