318 rebuild for d200
Hey guys. I'm new to the forum and in need of advice. I acquired a 1976 Dodge D200 recently with stock 318 in it and I'm fixing to do a tear down on the engine. This is gonna be a $1500 budget build. I need some advice on beefing up the motor. Nothing too crazy, just enough to cruise at highway speed. I know I'm gonna need new heads for it as well as new intake manifold. I'd love some recommendation.
Start with a refresh kit from Mancini Racing, I would recommend going with either of the 'B" kits that have main & rod bearings, moly rings, and a complete gasket kit for around $205 and go from there...
Engine Rebuild Kits
Get an old set of 66 - 67 273/318 heads that end in casting number 920, they will bump up the compression on a 318 about .5 point... Have them refreshed with hardened exhaust seats and I would recommend a little porting and putting 360 valves in them (1.88" intake and 1.6" exhaust)... A 340/360 head would flow better, but you would loose .5 compression point with the increased combustion chamber and will end up around 7.5 on a stock 318 of that vintage with the larger port heads...
Get a good double roller timing chain, like this one:
Edelbrock
For an intake, I would go with the Edelbrock SP2P or the Offenhauser dual port dual plane... They are perfect intakes for a truck or van as they have great low and mid range torque and grunt, are good up to 5000 RPM, and will give good throttle response and fuel economy...
Then for a carb, I would go with the Holley 600 vacuum secondary with an electric choke, I've used this one for decades on daily drivers and it works great:
Holley 4160 Aluminum Street Carburetor
Then if you have any money left over in the budget, look into a cam about a stock 340 cam or slightly bigger, and then throw in a set of Rhoades variable duration lifters to get the maximum benefit from the SP2P or dual port dual plane and really get some good low and mid range grunt for powering that van...
Rhoades lifters:
Rhoads Lifters
Articles, read the second one for the best explanation of how they work...
Articles
Part numbers:
Part Numbers
Of course you will need dual exhaust... 2 1/4" or 2 1/2" max with a nice set of low restriction turbo mufflers...
