Budget 318 build

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No you don't have to. Us older guys get a charge out of these threads especially 318 cam threads I think. No perfect answer, no perfect cam, no magic bullet.
 
nm9stheham said:
The .075 in the hole would be the higher car pistons. The .045" in the hole is not making sense to me... any way those are maybe early 90's Magnum truck engines? Re-check the 'in-the-hole' measurement very carefully, and if it truly .045" then that a notable improvement; that gives you nearly 0.5 point in CR. (And we're assuming either flat tops or flat tops with 4 small eyebrows.)

(FWIW, the truck pistons that are very low CR were around .100-.110" in the hole.)

You asked about seeing the lifters rotating; there are 2 ways:
- Mark the pushrods with a mark along the upper side with a light colored grease pencil or welders pencil. (Makes it easy to see the rotation). Turn the engine over by hand with it all assembled and look to see that the marks move around for each pushrod.
- If you have some old valve covers, take a pair, cut out large rectangular holes to take the tops off, put in some gaskets, and and then you can watch the pushrods 'live'. This way is more fun but by the time you get around to looking closely at them all at startup, the damage may be done.

As for cranking, I have done as much as 15-20 seconds with a cam with moderately heavy valve springs, and not had any issues. I could not tell you how long is too much, just that less is safer, but if you have stock valve springs, then it is going to be less critical IMHO. BTW I always use a moly based cam lube, which many folks think gives better protection, not the runny kind.
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Yes my two Model year-1990(pre Magnum) truck engines with original flat top no valve relief pistons are .045" in the hole.
 
It's a good thing I didn't spend my extra budget money on pistons and rings yet cause now i have to buy torsion bars! Projects are funny that way!
 
dartfreak75 said:
It's a good thing I didn't spend my extra budget money on pistons and rings yet cause now i have to buy torsion bars! Projects are funny that way!
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Did you use a grinder to remove them?
 
If your driving on corners think 1" plus 1.1" etc
do NOT install a rear sway without larger bars

ON the cam get the heads and cr nailed down
Measure twice- cut once
keep up the questions
 
Wyrmrider said:
If your driving on corners think 1" plus 1.1" etc
do NOT install a rear sway without larger bars

ON the cam get the heads and cr nailed down
Measure twice- cut once
keep up the questions
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I'm not installing a sway bar I'm just gonna put back in the Oringals size luckily a member on here give me a good deal on a set. I'm very thankful cause that was not in the budget but i learned from working on old guns when working on anything old things seldom go as planned!
 
Back to engine stuff...... It is interesting how a few simple questions can grow and that's good. How we learn.

The engine build questions would be great to first mention the intended purpose and all that we have to work with including budget. This thread started as "budget" build and that is what always gets my intention. Used to be my budget was a trip to the boneyard for a good 3838 out a 69 runnner!
After so much discussion, the info all seems to run together. It would be great if everyone had the build info from the old mopar performance catalogues for basics. I know that is all old and antiquated but still serves a purpose.
I look at return for $ when I do things. What needs to come first, like more HP or better brakes for a start?. Dead stock 318, can I use and love a better gear? Before I start spending $ on the engine? If I bang some gears and never see higher rpm's will a single plane be smart?
We see tons of great discussion and info her on FABO, like the tread about... should I buy a crate engine, who's? or send mine to the machine shop? I know Joey will take all this stuff, write a book, get rich, and retire to the Bahama's!???
 
Yea i agree the return for dollar is my main objective with this thread and I have learned so much i am still really lost on the cam suggestions but i guess i will learn more about that later. But I have learned alot more than I knew before about compression and flow and how the combo comes together. The bang for the buck side is what really interested me like if I spend 8 hours of my time with no money spent to gain .4 of a sec then to me that is time spent. I'm not sure how how that adds up to hp but seems more beneficial than spending 200 on pistons to gain 3% ! To me that's bang for your buck! I started this thread with the intentions of just building an engine that would start and run but the more I read and the more I learn the more I wanna squeeze ever ounce I can out of it! Lol i guess that is what makes us motor heads! Ok so with cams here is what i know the first two numbers the duration is how long they valves stay open the 2nd 2 numbers is lift the first being intake and 2nd being exhaust is the lift how far they open love separation is how far the two are apart other than that everthing else is Spanish to me i do not understand how any of the numbers affect other stuff like stall and power curve etc! I chose the cam i have because on summit website it said works well with stock converter and highway gears (that's me) and has a power range from 1200-5000 and the numbers where very close to a stock 340 cam which is what i was going for! I almost bought the 6901 and I didn't cause it said it runs better with 9:1 or higher cr and I knew I have about 8.5:1 so i read somewhere that it's better on performance to undercam than to over cam so i went with the milder one casue I didn't want to kill my bottom end!
 
Ok after several suggestions from members I have decided to go with a different cam I have a couple in mind but im opening up the floor to suggestions I'm trying to save up for some pistons to give me a cr bump. But as of right now here is my combo stock 86 bottom end somewhere around 8.1-8.5 cr home ported 302 318 heads stock 1971 340 intake holley 1850 600 cfm carb and hooker full length headers. And 2.76 gears with 3.73 for later I dont plan on using the 373 rear end for a while so i need a cam to work with both. And go
 
Mike Jones only has one .904 hyd on his website the bottom one
H440D64307 DC 260 for comparison
265 @.004 284
256° @.006 269
246 @.008 260
202° @.050 212 newer grind may be 221/228 some were 221/221 over the years
120 @ 200 115
64 @ 275 DC 260 is 42

.307″ lobe lift
.461″ 1.5
.491″ 1.6
The 20 degree shorter duration obliterates the need to over advance It closes about 10 degrees earlier than the Direct Connection Cam
Most posters do not have a camdoc to show the whole profile but note how this cam is 50% bigger than the DC cam at .275 lift which is about where the port flow demand is the greatest
Howard or Bullet can grind something similar but IDK about their .200 or .300 numbers
Shelf cam look at a Lunati Voodoo 256-260 intake
Lunati, Howard and Bullet use the .006 number for comparison
as you can see the .050 number is meaningless except for degreeing the cam
.200 gives a hint
so short .006 big .200 is what works on a low compression mopar
even that DC cam is superior to a 256 Comp chevy lobe which closes the intake at around 54 degrees ABDC @ .006 - Jones would be the same but JOnes is shorter at .004 and it is where the valve actually closes that counts (The DC cam is more like a 268 comp)
comp does not have a cam that works best 4 U
start here
Street Performance | Jones Cams
if it does not work out use the other suggestions above
 
I read through ten pages of this novel and it's like somebody before me tore out the last page! Not that I'm looking to expand it to twenty pages but how about a brief update/wrap up of the progress made in the past year?
 
Robj said:
I read through ten pages of this novel and it's like somebody before me tore out the last page! Not that I'm looking to expand it to twenty pages but how about a brief update/wrap up of the progress made in the past year?
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Well the 318 In thread needed to be machine so instead of spending the money to machine the 318 I decided to spend the money to machine the 360 I have instead. It still isnt finished yet . I have collected all the parts just haven't finished the machine work.
 
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