My newest purchase...

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vntned

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So I responded to an ad on CL recently about a 318 for sale for $1000. The ad said it had about 7000miles on a rebuild, and that he pulled it to put a hot 340 in his restored duster. He didn't build the engine or the car, he had purchased from a dealer out west that specialized in old Mopars.

So I took the bait and went to look at it. It had obviously been touched up with a paint can after removing, but it looked fairly clean. It had an Eddy Performer 318/360 intake and some cheapo chrome valve covers. No distributor, pulleys, carb, etc.., as he repurposed those parts for his 340.

He let me pull the valve covers to take a look, and sure enough, it looked like new. Beefy double valve springs and retainers, new rockers and pushrods. He had tons of receipts but many of them were faded and hard to read. Anyway, we struck a deal for $700 and he threw in a new set of 8mm plug wires. I was happy with deal has he was.

Anyway, I brought it home and put it on a stand in the shop where it sat for a few weeks. Then had a friend looking to but a cheap aluminum intake, so I pulled the Eddy Performer and sold it to him for $100. Sweet! I'm at $600 for the engine!

Well when I pulled the intake I noticed a few things, namely a Mopar Purple cam and the heads, which are "302" heads, had been heavily ported and actually we're larger than a stock set of Jheads. So I did a little digging through the receipts and found that it has a MP P4452761 cam kit.

At this point I'm dying to know if the builder put bigger valves or pistons in it. So I pulled the head and sure enough, it has 1.88/1.60 valves in it! Woot woot! The pistons are valve relief factory replacements that are sitting 0.080" in the hole. Sadface...

Any ways, I pulled out my head CCing kit and did some math. Looks like, with stock head gaskets I'm at a true 8.5:1 and with the thinner Mr Gasket head gaskets, I should be at 8.75:1.

I'm thinking I'll throw on one of my Eddy LD340 intakes, a 625 Street Demon, some headers and throw it in my old '77 D100. Should be fun!
 
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Some pics...

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yes- it's usually worse
that motor might just outrun his 340
re-lube the cam and rockers/ tips etc take a peek at the retainer clearance just in case
you can use some thinner head gaskets if you want to
double check the cam timing- often cams just put in on the marks easy to do on the engine stand
check all the little things like drilled galley plugs behind the cam sprocket
double check the retainer clearance
looks good
post up your cranking compression when you get it together
watch out for shop rag or scotchbright crap and check a couple of bearings for scratches
I doubt if it was put together dirty but you never know
 
Horsepower is all in the heads
If his heads outflow whatever 340 heads he has he can make more power at higher rpm, just spin it up
of course his 318 heads on the 340 or 360 or 400 would rock more
 
...and make sure you fit the intake. Looks like the one he had on it leaked at the bottom - the heads are probably milled...
 
they did a good job on porting those intake ports...


Not to be a smart azz but how the heck can you tell that? Nice job gasket matching yes but it’s past that point where the horsepower is made and you sure as heck can’t see it from that picture
 
Not to be a smart azz but how the heck can you tell that? Nice job gasket matching yes but it’s past that point where the horsepower is made and you sure as heck can’t see it from that picture
sorry..... Here, i'll correct.... " nice gasket matching on the intakes! "
 
So ive been making slow progress on the truck engine. I ended up milling the heads 0.030", adding a windage tray, and swapping cams. I've about got it back together now...

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Don’t forget to take a fast look to make sure all the oil plugs are in the block. Easily now than once it’s in the vehicle.
 
Oh yeah, I've been going over it with a fine tooth comb. Whoever built it last did a quality job! Brass freeze plugs, crank has been balanced, Melling 72HV oil pump with a high pressure spring, Comp Cams pushrods, Mopar HD rockers, Comp calve springs, stainless valves, titanium retainers, etc..
 
A lot of non Mopar shops forget about the one in the rear of the oil galley that you can see before you set the distributor in. And a lot of shops forget the small one under the number 5 main cap that forces oil over to the oil filter.
 
Oh yeah, I've been going over it with a fine tooth comb. Whoever built it last did a quality job! Brass freeze plugs, crank has been balanced, Melling 72HV oil pump with a high pressure spring, Comp Cams pushrods, Mopar HD rockers, Comp calve springs, stainless valves, titanium retainers, etc..

If it has the Melling 72HV oil pump with a high pressure spring, I'd make sure you check for a hardened/pinned gear oil pump drive shaft like the one on the right!

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The cam looked like it may have been run with questionable oil. I'd buy an oil that has some zinc in it...more than the junk that's ok for catalytic converters.
 
I always run Valvoline VR1 high zinc oil,and I do my break ins with Joe Gibbs break in oil.


Ok. Nothing wrong with that. Do you see what I'm seeing in your pictures? There is some streaking and what appears to be some hot spots developing on the nose of some lobes and even on the ramps and base circle.

It may not hurt to pull each lifter and put a little cam lube on the bottom of each lifter before you fire it off again.

I'm just a coward like that.
 
I already swapped in a new Comp Cams 262XE cam with new lifters and timing set. Not using the old MP purple shaft or lifters.

And I coated the cam in Moroso Moly paste when I installed it.

I'm scared of wiping flat tappet cams, so I take no shortcuts.
 
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