newbie from idaho needs help!

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vj318

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I posted this on the welcome wagon but it was suggested that i repost it here. I am in the middle of restoring a 70 belvedere with a 318.the motor was badly cracked from freezing,so I picked up a 318 from a wrecking yard out of a 69 pickup.I didnt notice till I got the motor home and cleaned up that it was a 1974 318. I think I am ok with it though. the problem is that I am trying to identify the heads that are on the motor. the casting # is 3870277 on one head the other has a -1 after the #. It also has cast into it 0425 aawj. and also has the word TRUCK cast into an intake port on each head:banghead:. I have been to just about every site that has head casting #s but the higest # I have found starts with a 376. I really need to identify these heads before I decide what to do with this motor. any help at all would be greatly appreciated. thanks for the welcome and I glad to be here.
 
Are you sure that is the correct number? Sometimes they can be hard to read. Secondly where is the number located?
 
yes it is correct I have checked it a couple of times. the #s are on 2 places. first under the valve cover on the head and also on the bottom of the intake and exhaust ports.
 
Mayber you can post a couple pics? I'm sure some of the "gurus" (I am not one of them! LOL) here can help you ID them...
 
thankyou very much for the info. I went directly to that site and it appears I have a 74 318 block that has 1975thru 1979 truck heads on it. now I need to know what the difference is between truck heads and car heads. depending on difference how will they affect engine performance ect. once again thankyou.
 
Check the spark plug holes. Some heavy trucks/ motorhomes did not use the long reach plugs we are familiar with, but a "Ford style" plug with larger threads and I believe tapered seat.
 
I'm not sure that 318 heads had anything special for truck use. You might have exh rotators like the 360s had... But I don;t recall seeing them on anything besides 360s before. Regardless, basically every small block head is pretty close to it's simblings in terms of performance. All 318 port size heads are similar, all 340/360 sized are similar. So really I'd say do what ever you feel like with/to them.
 
moper said:
I'm not sure that 318 heads had anything special for truck use. You might have exh rotators like the 360s had... But I don;t recall seeing them on anything besides 360s before. Regardless, basically every small block head is pretty close to it's simblings in terms of performance. All 318 port size heads are similar, all 340/360 sized are similar. So really I'd say do what ever you feel like with/to them.
Click to expand...

To me, "truck" heads do NOT necessarily mean "pickup." HEAVY truck heads ARE different. 318-3, example

Please read:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=452422
 
yes 67dart273 you are correct, the heads do have the ford style shorter reach tapered seat spark plugs. It made me take a step back when i removed them from the head, cause i had never seen this style plug in other chrysler engines.
 
welcome! and i would use whichever set of heads are in the best shape; i would even go so far as taking both to a machinist and let them choose. sometimes the exhaust valve seats are pretty bad. generally speaking, pickup trucks take more of a beating than van engines or car engines. it's not always the case, but pickups get the towing / load carrying / plowing jobs.
 
vj318 said:
yes 67dart273 you are correct, the heads do have the ford style shorter reach tapered seat spark plugs. It made me take a step back when i removed them from the head, cause i had never seen this style plug in other chrysler engines.
Click to expand...

Well alrighty then. There are allegations around the www that these different water ports, IE the choke is heated with COOLANT and not exhaust.

It would pay to take a very careful look at these things.
 
these are the only heads I have. they are in very good shape. they appear to have been rebuilt not to long ago. the guides and seats are in very good shape. norshor got me to a website that had the correct casting # and in the notes for this it says,premium engine with water cooled center exhaust crossover, no chamber above center intake port.
 
You will want to research these carefully. I read one place that you cannot use aftermarket intake manifolds on em. Those are most definately "heavy truck" heads.

Look carefully at the "center exhaust port." According to what I've read, that goes into COOLANT, not exhaust.
 
the center port on the intake side of the heads flows water thru it. it does match up with the center port on my edlebrock manifold so that water would flow from the head thru the intake under the carb and then into the other head. just looking at it,it appears that it would work,
 
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