Today, dollar for dollar, is the 318 faster than the 340 ???

[jammied]

Where at?

 

[318willrun]

Where at?

I assume this is to my previous post. Speedmaster. I bought a couple extras just so I'd have them. Not saying they are the best intake for peak performance, but certainly I'd think they are serviceable out of the box to a 350-400 horsepower engine.

 

[318willrun]

Guys..... Don't look now.... but we went over a 100 votes, and reality is setting in as the 318 votes are really closing the gap. It's what this thread was meant to do, recognize a notable time in our Mopar History were the collector price has pushed the 340 to a place where even a 3,000 dollar engine budget still favors the lowly 318 to perhaps yield the most power when the 3k is spent.

 

[jammied]

Yep ok thanks. Yeah I used a few of those. Wish they made one that actually had fuel injector bosses cast in drilled or not

 

[ir3333]

You already have what many want. A 340. Rarely does the "beer barrel" air intake get used. Most just bolt on a intake and carb and roll with it. And yes, the Magnum's do have advantages!

even with a carb they are quite different looking, but you can hide some of it.
There is no right or wrong.I just prefer the LA

 

[Nat]

Yes that's the same thing Ford did with the Windsor. They figured out how to make horsepower while being emissions compliant. When I think of the LA 318 I think 235 Horsepower, restrictive heads, restrictive exhaust and 2 barrel carb. The Magnum is a different thought all together, it already sounds like the heads are better for example, and that's a big step in the right direction as compared to an LA 318. yes the FI I believe runs cleaner, you dont see sludge in valve covers like a 70s carbed car.

sludge was from the leaded gas , never saw sludge on any of my car that ran unleaded gas

 

[jammied]

Sludge is from the additives that the old oil had.

 

[Nat]

So 318WR when ya get tired of beating your head on the wall and build that 440 I know you got laying around, throw this manifold on and let the confusion and controversy begin. Every time I lift hood off at a car show invariably 1/2 the people call it an LS. Arghhhh. Since this thread went in the ditch about a million pages ago I figured WTF post the 440! Thirty pages and still going, classic! The original premise seemed so straight forward!

View attachment 1715778547

only way I'd put a 400 or 440 in an A body is if it were an alu block and heads , why ruin the balance of the car . ALL MY BUDDIES WITH BIG BLOCKS IN Cudas and Darts look like they are going to tip over on road courses o

 

[jammied]

Lol they need to yank those 426 hemi's out of the super stock darts and cudas and replace with small blocks

 

[jammied]

But there can be a pretty good case made for the old mid to early 60's 383's that had the siamese block and closed chamber 516 heads that had the max wedge style ports only with smaller valves.

 

[Sublime one]

only way I'd put a 400 or 440 in an A body is if it were an alu block and heads , why ruin the balance of the car . ALL MY BUDDIES WITH BIG BLOCKS IN Cudas and Darts look like they are going to tip over on road courses o

So I guess I shouldn’t post the pix of my Gen 3 Hemi in my A body either? That is the beauty of this hobby. When folks dog mine at a car show I just shrug and reply, that’s why your key don’t fit!

 

[Sublime one]

Lol they need to yank those 426 hemi's out of the super stock darts and cudas and replace with small blocks

Classic!

 

[318willrun]

So I guess I shouldn’t post the pix of my Gen 3 Hemi in my A body either? That is the beauty of this hobby. When folks dog mine at a car show I just shrug and reply, that’s why your key don’t fit!

View attachment 1715778947

"That's why your key don't fit...." I love it !! I'll remember that, and I'll use it !!!!

 

[Ceedawg]

Ok I'll go along with the better ring package. That for sure is a plus. The EFI thing a maybe, because carburetors aren't dead......yet. Some people still run um. Machining more accurate? I've never seen any evidence of it, but it wouldn't surprise me.

The big reason for less wear, the LEAD was taken out of gas. You oldtimers remember how bad the plugs looked after 15,000 miles. Today they go 100,000. The lead ate up cylinder walls and exhaust pipes in no time, very corrosive.

 

[66fs]

The big reason for less wear, the LEAD was taken out of gas. You oldtimers remember how bad the plugs looked after 15,000 miles. Today they go 100,000. The lead ate up cylinder walls and exhaust pipes in no time, very corrosive.

Unfortunately I can't agree with anything you say in this post. They took lead out of gas, because it was accumulating along road ways, and causing health issues. Plug electrodes used to be made of steel, now they are made of platinum to meet emission requirements for longevity. The byproducts of combustion can be very corrosive, but it is the condensation(H2O) that used to mix with sulfur(sulfuric acid) that could cause premature exhaust failure, especially with short trips. Exhaust pipes are now made of stainless steel. Better fuel management, better oil filters, moly rings and other standard improvements have minimized internal wear. Don't get me started on cheap oil and cheapskates who won't do normal maintenance.

 

[448Scamp]

Unfortunately I can't agree with anything you say in this post. They took lead out of gas, because it was accumulating along road ways, and causing health issues. Plug electrodes used to be made of steel, now they are made of platinum to meet emission requirements for longevity. The byproducts of combustion can be very corrosive, but it is the condensation(H2O) that used to mix with sulfur(sulfuric acid) that could cause premature exhaust failure, especially with short trips. Exhaust pipes are now made of stainless steel. Better fuel management, better oil filters, moly rings and other standard improvements have minimized internal wear. Don't get me started on cheap oil and cheapskates who won't do normal maintenance.

I can make the argument that the moly ring is obsolete and it really is. In any performance engine a moly ring is a downgrade compared to other ring finishes and materials today.

 

[Dave_J]

OK...
A 273 had 1.78" Int and 1.50" Ex valves
A 318 had 1.78" and 1.60".
A 340 (some) had 2.02" Int and 1.60"
A 360 had 1.88" and 1.60"
The 5.2 and 5.9 have 1.92" and 1.625 in closed chamber heads. The ports were raised just a little.
Per (my memory) the Magnum book by Larry Sheppard

• The Magnum combustion chamber size is said to be 62 cc.

• The inlet port flows about 207 cfm at 0.400 valve lift at 28 inches H20.

• The exhaust flows about 171 cfm at 0.400 valve lift at 28 inches H2O.

• OEM Head gasket is 0.0475 crushed. Tops of the pistons are 0.040 inches down in the magnum block

• The Magnum has a 9.58" deck height, old pre-magnum spec was 9.60".

Richard Holdener is doing a Dyno test on a stock junkyard 5.9 Mag.
Dead stock without running the pulleys and a short head pipe without mufflers got 288 HP @4300 RPM and 386 Torque @3300 RPM.

 

[jammied]

Yeah add a bored throttle body and some computer tuning and I suspect it will be around 300hp just like the 300hp crate motors. Just my thoughts on that

 

[Dartswinger70]

Lol they need to yank those 426 hemi's out of the super stock darts and cudas and replace with small blocks

I was watching Ronnie Sox and Dick Landy on YT .They were running A bodies, I said to the wife "those aren't 340s in those cars, those are Hemis..."

 

[RustyRatRod]

I can make the argument that the moly ring is obsolete and it really is. In any performance engine a moly ring is a downgrade compared to other ring finishes and materials today.

"Other" ring finishes? Like what for example? I'm ready to learn sumfin. lol

 

[Dave_J]

Yeah add a bored throttle body and some computer tuning and I suspect it will be around 300hp just like the 300hp crate motors. Just my thoughts on that

Richard Holdener is NOT done. He will be adding a lot of parts and even a turbo system.

Part #2 Dyno run was same DEAD stock 5.9 but adding 1.7/8 LONG tube headers.
300 Hp and 399 Ft Torque....

Then he did a dry NOS spray and with fat fuel he got 470 Hp and 457 Ft Torque.

 

[RustyRatRod]

The big reason for less wear, the LEAD was taken out of gas. You oldtimers remember how bad the plugs looked after 15,000 miles. Today they go 100,000. The lead ate up cylinder walls and exhaust pipes in no time, very corrosive.

That's an argument I've not heard. The lead was introduced for cooling and lubricating purposes, I do KNOW that. That's why we got hardened valve seats and stellite faced valves after the reduction and elimination of lead from gasoline.

All of the health reasons are all I've ever heard about why lead was removed. I'll not argue because I don't know of any other reasons.

 

[jammied]

Yeah it would be interesting to see just a bored throttle body and some tuning. I think some of the dakota r/t's with throttle body, headers and tuning were making around 320hp. And they used the same cam as all 5.9 magnums

 

[RustyRatRod]

OK...
A 273 had 1.78" Int and 1.50" Ex valves
A 318 had 1.78" and 1.60".
A 340 (some) had 2.02" Int and 1.60"
A 360 had 1.88" and 1.60"
The 5.2 and 5.9 have 1.92" and 1.625 in closed chamber heads. The ports were raised just a little.
Per (my memory) the Magnum book by Larry Sheppard

• The Magnum combustion chamber size is said to be 62 cc.

• The inlet port flows about 207 cfm at 0.400 valve lift at 28 inches H20.

• The exhaust flows about 171 cfm at 0.400 valve lift at 28 inches H2O.

• OEM Head gasket is 0.0475 crushed. Tops of the pistons are 0.040 inches down in the magnum block

• The Magnum has a 9.58" deck height, old pre-magnum spec was 9.60".

Richard Holdener is doing a Dyno test on a stock junkyard 5.9 Mag.
Dead stock without running the pulleys and a short head pipe without mufflers got 288 HP @4K'ish RPM and 399 Torque

I'd be interested to see what it would do with a really good carbureted intake and a well tuned carburetor.

 

[RustyRatRod]

Guys..... Don't look now.... but we went over a 100 votes, and reality is setting in as the 318 votes are really closing the gap. It's what this thread was meant to do, recognize a notable time in our Mopar History were the collector price has pushed the 340 to a place where even a 3,000 dollar engine budget still favors the lowly 318 to perhaps yield the most power when the 3k is spent.

Again, I agree 100% with your original point and probably more so now.....that said, if you paint a box small enough, you can make a Briggs and Stratton your hero, if that's what you want.