Summary for those that don't read or desire to comprehend??:
Some people have a 318 in hand and not a 340 or 360 and/$$ for such.
318s are proven good and durable engines, been that way for many decades.
The 318 can serve many purposes and can be made to make power to suit many needs.
End ofsummary.
Right away I thought," did you forget to torque a rod cap. My brother did that on a Volvo P1800 years ago when someone arrived with a box of browns. Knocked the rod out the side of the block. Pieces on the floor. Dad helped after that. They took the block and pieces to a welding shop where they brazed the pieces back in place. It was a low stress area so no worries. New rod and grind the rod journals.
The problem 318 suffer from besides smaller displacement is intake lift, especially after emission regs hit. Ford and GM on their bread and butter engines did the same thing, intake lift short by 0.050". Ford 302, Chev 305 and Mopar 318. When Ford and Chev brought out their HO 302 and 305, they put 350 cams in.
Preach
Its nice to do a burnout for a few hundred feet...you know just to get the chics...
You didn't mention anything about where the hole is so I will say this, I ran into a project where I installed one of those HV pumps in a small block a long time back and there were clearance issues which made a small puncture point in the pan from one of the pump cover bolts. If I recall the sump was a center sump. I can't image an engine failing that fast after working on it but anything is possible. Also you didn't say anything about hearing bad sounds and knocking as would be a case if a rob bolt failed. I can only hope you have at least part of the engine to salvage and hopefully the cam is not trashed. On a note of fast failures, I did have a 65 396 Cheby that was supposed to be a rebuilt that another guy did the engine and sent it to the shop I was in, working on the frame and drive train. He failed to find and remove the 2 bolts for the choke cover inside the runner for #5 or 7 and the engine block was scrap iron within about that amount of time. Fortunately I was able to salvage most of the engine which I used for building a replacement. I found a 454 block that had been machined, used the 396 crank and 7 rods, replaced the one that bent, bought a set of KB 427 pistons, and was able to use the bearings aside from one pair of rod bearing halves. Had to source a new set of heads since the 396 heads were closed chamber which I would never use on a pump gas late model street engine. I did a lot of other stuff to this new engine to make it a much better build than the 65 396 but since this is a MOPAR site, Just keep your fingers crossed and hopefully you still have a 360 you can fix cheaply.
My guess is the same guy with the 3/4 cam with port and polished double hump heads on his 4 bolt 350.
Amen we are blessed to live in the US and have all these toys at our disposal , think how hard it is for people across the pond to obtain what we simply stumble across at buddys house shows etc !!!
Amen - its kinda like BRA sizes we all like what we like etc !!!Summary for those that don't read or desire to comprehend??:
Some people have a 318 in hand and not a 340 or 360 and/$$ for such.
318s are proven good and durable engines, been that way for many decades.
The 318 can serve many purposes and can be made to make power to suit many needs.
End of
I purchased a 1976 [886] Power Wagon and after fixing all that Wasnt the problem [popping thru carb ] I found # 7 exh lobe wiped out so I purchased a Isky towing cam and installed a Dual port Offy intake and it really woke the little 318 up pulls very well now with a decent cam in it .
Run what you have or is available. All the small blocks are reliable if assembled correctly. Yes a 360 should make more torque but the right cam can equalize that. Now the old expression " there is no replacement for displacement" is correct, it just means torque is easier to come by. With the number of 318's built and installed in different models, they are vastly more available than 340s and 360s. If I had a numbers match car I would take it out to show and shines. If I wanted to track it, I would stroke a 318 and keep the original engine hidden in a back corner of the shop. If you blow the #'s match engine, you just lost a pile of happy cabbage. If you blow a stroked 318, cores are plentiful for next to nothing.
C cups for me. Big enough to be noticeable, but not distracting.
Tony has stated he intends the Miata to be a slalom car. Now how he gets to the slalom event is the point you bring up. Now legality is an issue. Cars like that get driven on public roads very little, so emissions output is not much. Don't get me wrong, you crack the door open and all sorts of numbnutz will push it further to do daily drivers. Then there is the crowd that wants to crush every vehicle over 10 years old as a "gross polluter". The concept they get taken out toWednesday evening show and shines or weekend cruise for the fun of driving their carefully restored old car, does not generate a huge amount of pollution due to the low number of miles driven per year. Also when "cruising" the engines get well warmed up so operate at their best. People jumping in their new car to drive 5 blocks away for dinner at McD's or a sports bar polluts pretty much as much. A cold engine does not run clean. Also enthusiasts generally spend a lot of time keeping the tuneup in top condition, in contrast to Joe Public that is happy as a pig in mud as long as it starts.Uncle Tony's Miata is going to self destruct before it sees light of day in high gear...one thing for sure it wont be street legal,and these YT guys are gettting busted by the EPA I am starting to observe,and the problem is you cant have Uncle Tony and his following retro modding street cars back to 1966 emission standards it is illegal. It's cute to be an outlaw but these days no one can afford it...
now if he keeps t off road,(which he doesn't and you can see in his videos thats how they will get him.)
