318 rebuild suggestions
I will definitely get the rebuild refresher kit, Thanks KrazyKuda.
As far as the Cam goes I have seen recommendations for nothing higher than a 268 duration. RustyRatRod, you mention a 340 cam, do you know the specs on that or should I look for something else?
The stock 340 cam shaft specs can be looked up and what you will find is a very mello cam. The XE268 has an increased duration making it bigger. The "Performance" replacement 340 cam is bigger than the 268 cam by about the same amount as the 268 cam is over stock.
Read it like this;
XE268 = 1 step bigger than stock, can use a stock converter
340 performance cam = 2 steps bigger than stock, should use a 2000/2200 stall converter
I plan on trying to do most of this myself with limited machine shop use to save on some money. I may have to have the crank shaft smoothed, but I will check when I pull the pan. I will clean the heads myself and have been researching porting but that seems to be very complicated to me right now.
Skip porting. Let a good shop handle it for you since a good job also includes (or should!) new valves (or at the very least regrinding the valve seats) guides and etc.... Hardware all new for the heads even before any porting is done. A bowl porting and a gasket match with pushrod clearance made larger is a lot of work and more than you need for a long time.
Any recommendations on lifters or springs? What about a timing chain; would any brand I pick up out of summit work on these?
The cam should be purchased with springs & lifters as a set. A Summit double roller chain is a nice unit. Check out the Comp a a web site as they have listings for full kits to do the job. Call them before you order anything after you talk to your machinist on what exactly is being done.
As you all have stated and from what I have been reading, compression is very important. Any simple home mechanic ways to raise compression on this 318? For right now I want to keep the heads I have, if I find a cheap set of 360s I don't mind throwing them on. If I change out pistons (such as the mention 10.5), do I need to balance the block?
It is not the block that gets balanced but the rotating assembly that gets balanced and it must be done if you do anything to the crank rods pistons and rings. There is no home mechanic way to raise compression. If the engine is stock. What you will need to do is do a piston replacement (like the above mention) and/or mill the heads.
IMO, the best way to go about this is a piston replacement and 360 heads. Compression is good but not as important as you may think. For a street car, the max for a ratio I would recommend to run without problems of octane requirements or other issues is 9.5-1 iron head, +1 point for aluminum heads. And that my friend is pushing it with a small cam.
