Steve Dulcich on building a budget 318

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Yeah and it takes VERY little to cross that line. Like sittin in traffic gettin heat soak. All it takes.
Exactly, unless you are class racing and need every last horsepower, your engine won't know any difference if the compression is a few points lower than the danger zone.
 
Exactly, unless you are class racing and need every last horsepower, your engine won't know any difference if the compression is a few points lower than the danger zone.
Yup and no matter how hard you try to get that through, it never hits um. The big issue is, once the heat gets to the point of creating detonation, it's pretty difficult to get it to cool off. About the only option is to shut it down and sit there.
 
I wanting to say Jim made 787 Hp with 9.5 comp 451

Imagine making more power with 87 octane fuel than 100 octane race fuel: 318 Wolf in Sheep's Clothing


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The right octane for the right job…. Winner!
 
It's been said before probably a million times--Just get a 360. Building a 360 is an investment with great R.O.I. Bandaiding (not building) a 318 is throwing good money after bad IMO.

If its science experiments your into just follow the Mission Impossible 318 build and enjoy some popcorn in the comfort of your living room--or wherever you access YT. J.Rob
Major RED X time
 
The right octane for the right job…. Winner!
Has nothing to do with octane and everything to do with vaporization rates of the various fractions used in the fuel blend. If the fuel is designed for low comp engines then it will convert to a gas much easier.

Remember that nearly all fuels generate the same heat energy. Avgas being a little higher.
 
Has nothing to do with octane and everything to do with vaporization rates of the various fractions used in the fuel blend. If the fuel is designed for low comp engines then it will convert to a gas much easier.
So your saying the right fuel for the right job octane be damned.
 
So your saying the right fuel for the right job octane be damned.
Low octane street fuels are designed to be used in low comp engines. If you don't compress the mixture much then it needs to be able to vaporize easily in those situations.
 
Low octane street fuels are designed to be used in low comp engines. If you don't compress the mixture much then it needs to be able to vaporize easily in those situations.
You side stepped the answer
 
This is not what I was asking .
That was my point. Maybe go back and re read post #131 and realize the difference in octane levels and ones a street fuel and the other is a race fuel. Ones designed to be compressed the other isn't.
 
That was my point. Maybe go back and re read post #131 and realize the difference in octane levels and ones a street fuel and the other is a race fuel. Ones designed to be compressed the other isn't.
So I’m right. Then why the circle of babble leading around and around.

Nevermind….. I should have known better to engage with you.
 
Low octane street fuels are designed to be used in low comp engines. If you don't compress the mixture much then it needs to be able to vaporize easily in those situations.
The lower the octane the more volatile. Different way of saying what you are. J.Rob
 
That was my point. Maybe go back and re read post #131 and realize the difference in octane levels and ones a street fuel and the other is a race fuel. Ones designed to be compressed the other isn't.
They are both designed to be compressed --just one will "light off" or pre-ignite much easier which leads to serious negative work otherwise known as detonation. J.Rob
 
Major RED X time
Be my guest. Everyone is entitled to their opinion--which is what I was expressing.

I'll state it again--If your 'teener is running fine then leave it alone and save for a 360 or...

Money dumped into a 'teen trying to get it to make the power of a well built torquey 360 is a waste. J.Rob
 
I'll quote myself just to launch into a memory from when I was fifteen years old. I had just moved to eastern Ontario and made friends with an older kid that had a Olds Cutlass with a 265. Yep an actual 265 V8. Sounded great but wouldn't spin the tires on wet grass. His father was a talented mechanic that helped out some local roundy racers and had a 305 SBC laying in his shop. We swapped it in one weekend and wow I though the 40 cubes plus the same stroke as the vaunted 350 would surely be an amazing power bump. Nope thing was pretty much the exact same--and we wanted what all kids want--to burn rubber. No rubber burning here. It sucked just as bad as that little 265. Actually I think the 265 sounded better at high rpm. About a year after that my buddy is offered a GM target master 350 out of his bosses Caprice because the car was going to scrap--the engine had maybe a year or two of small town running around. He decides to swap it at his fathers urging. Now I'm reading all the car mags/rags and I'm thinking OK the last time 40 cubes did absolutely nothing so this time with the same stroke as a 305--is a 45 cube jump on bore size alone going to amount to much? I figured this would be a repeat. Well after the swap we couldn't believe it. The Cutlass could burn the tires at will, get sideways, and the passing gear would burn the tires from a roll. The car was actually decently fast. I couldn't believe it. Now I've been a Mopar guy since I was born I guess so did I jump right to a 360 after the above experience? Nope, my first V8 car had a 318 and I dumped a 4bl intake/carb, electronic distr, screened gaskets (remember those) electronic dist, headers etc........ Did it wake it up? Barely. It sounded fierce but I dreaded meeting a 5.0L Mustang which there were seemingly dozens of them around. After farting around with that 318 'till it had a rod knock from revving the **** out of it everytime I drove it...Did I learn? Nope. Remember I'm 17 at the time and ZERO $$$ at the time the wreckers did not have any 360's and they charged 1$/cube so I scraped together $318.00 and went and comp checked a 318 in a Mirada (pumped 120psi) and off I went. Surely I thought the healthy 318 would be an improvement. Nope it was exactly the same as the first hunk of junk. After many a stoplight embarassment I realized I was going to need some machine shop intervention. Only problem was the 2 race shops in the area were mega $$$$ from where I was sitting. So I bought all the Mopar engine books I could and then entered an apprentice ship program and got my foot in the door of a machine shop. The rest is history but my first 360 build was an amazing performer for an investment of $749 for cam/lifters, t-chain, rings, bearings, gaskets, ARP rod bolts. Burned the tires at will and I turned it 6500-6700rpm many many times. I figure it made around 320hp/375tq. The rest as they say is history or His-Story. J.Rob
 
Be my guest. Everyone is entitled to their opinion--which is what I was expressing.

I'll state it again--If your 'teener is running fine then leave it alone and save for a 360 or...

Money dumped into a 'teen trying to get it to make the power of a well built torquey 360 is a waste. J.Rob
I get it makes sense to want that extra 50lbs-ft or so across the rpm range especially in a street car, for basically free but some don't for whatever reason, not like you can't build a decent 318 and if that's what they want and know the pros and cons, I don't why people insist on trying to change their mind. A 318 has probably a 300% potential over a /6 and what a 90% of a 340/360 there could be far worse things to spend your money on.

It seems to me most non stroker 340/360 are in the 275-450hp range no reason a 318 can't be built to the same with similar parts, sure it's gonna need more rpm stall gear and be less street friendly but if that ain't a problem for the owner don't know why it would be for others.
 
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