Aluminum headed 318s?

If you are street driving, in my view the #1 thing to do is put in some pistons that will bring the CR up. That is the biggest drawback of the 318: the low stock compression height. If you do that, then the low RPM woes with lack of grunt go away; you just have a small bore 340. PS: I just read the article linked... that is exactly where they went with the pistons: KB167's. Use them and the .028" thick 1121G gaskets on an LA block (or Felpro 1008's on a Magnum 318 block) and you have instant good quench gap around .040"+/- with no extra machining beyond clean up, and you have a nice a 9.6 or so SCR for pump gas using some closed chamber AL heads around 63 cc's or Indy LA-X at 62 cc's , and pick the cam you want to tune the torque/HP curve. You just pushed the 'Easy Button' to the 350-400 HP neighborhood with good low end torque (if you don't go overboard on the cam). No need for high rear gears and higher stall TC's....