road race engine...
You can get 400 hp out of a 318 just by fixing the compression ratio, and allowing more flow in/out of the engine.According to this article
318 Engine Build - A Parts Book 400HP 318 - Mopar Muscle Magazine it can be done on the cheap.
That article gets referenced often but I have yet to see anyone out there prove that it can be duplicated. Factory 318s are low performance engines no matter what model year base you start with, good luck with that.
Sustaining high RPM using 'factory' type parts at a 59 degree lifter angle? Sorry, that's wishful thinking. Drag racing, sure, of course but not for long periods of time at varying loads like you say you require.
Guys will argue that "they did it in Trans Am with de-stroked 340s" but those were factory engineered race engines using special parts designed to last one race. And if you research it, there were lots of engine problems where teams had to drop out of races due to blown engines. Longevity had ZERO to do with the program.
Shot peened factory rods, seriously? What pistons are you using? Stock stroke pistons are heavy. Think about what you're trying to do with a relatively heavy rotating assembly. Cast crank? Good luck! Hope whoever balances the rotating assembly can do it to within like a half a gram or so. You'll also need a really good crank balancer unless you want to see what happens when a used factory piece decides it can longer do it's job while you have your foot in the radiator out on some back road.
But if you want to blow through these roadblocks, you're going to want to look into doing some oiling modifications like someone mentioned already. In reality that's merely scratching the surface of your block prep. Sorry but you're not cobbling together a reliable "road race oiling system" with factory ("cheap") parts. OK, maybe you don't need a dry sump system but certainly you're going to want to have a REALLY GOOD OIL PUMP, a good pan with all sorts of baffles and kick outs, crank scraper, maybe even a vacuum pump...
355 V8: the little-known Mopar LA racing engines
