Rebuild 318 or go Crate
Thanks everyone for the feedback! Yep, I'm in St.Pete FL. It seems like I might be better off getting discs all around(I'm still gonna try for hydro boost) and getting the wheels and tires on there. I have to admit, all you guys with thousands of posts and conflicting opinions have my head swimming at the moment...so many paths forward! I really want to do as much of the work myself as I can so I can increase my knowledge, yet space and tools are an issue. Also--I don't know how much of an appetite I have for spending even more money fixing my mistakes. Those of you defending the 318--what did you do that made it what you wanted? I mean--enough to keep it over going up to 340/360? I've studied that rebuild post for $1500 a few times over the past month--I just don't feel its realistic without knowing exactly what to look for and how to troubleshoot used parts and issues.
I threw a 318 together for my daily driver 68 Barracuda back in the 80's. I took a short block that my brother gave me that he decided he wasn't going to use. He had it ready to go, 60 k original mile 72 block with forged 10.5 TRW pistons.
I put the top end of my 68 318 on there, the old cam from my brother's Lil Red Express pick-up truck (stock 340 auto cam), Rhoades lifters, and 2 bbl. I put it in my car for $300 including fluids.
However, it had too much compression and was overheating after 20 minutes when the temp got over 80° F. My engines teacher told me that my compression was too high and to lower it.
I found a set of 77 360 heads with a fresh valve job and stock spread bore intake for $150. Then got a stock 69 340 intake so I could run a holley 600 vac secondary carb. This brought my compression down to 9.2 and was fine after that. Great daily driver.
I put that engine together and it got 17.75 MPG highway and lasted over 200 k miles before I rebuilt it again for another 250 k.....
With the 2 bbl heads and carb it idled at 24" vacuum, and only dropped to 22.5" vacuum when I put the 360 heads and 4 bbl carb on it... I was able to run a 10.5 power valve and still be able to part throttle accelerate over 10" vacuum for better economy...
I had less than $1000 in it total, as it was put together with spare parts that we had laying around already.... All I had to buy was fluids and a gasket kit to install it in my car originally.
Stock 318 exhaust manifolds with a 2 1/4" dual exhaust and turbo mufflers...
Great engine. It wouldn't smoke the tires off the line (2.76 gear), but would still go when you jammed the pedal to the floor. (ask the cop that pulled me over once and was very impressed with the performance. I got pulled over one day after work when my wife called me to tell me our son, 4 y/o, had jumped out of a tree in our yard and broke his arm...)
There's nothing wrong with a 318 for a daily driver. Yeah, 340's and 360's can make a little more power, but a 318 will still get the job done.... And they can be had much cheaper...