I've seen A LOT of posts about making HP with a 318-So why is it so ???
Got to be honest I started off with a 360. But found myself gravitating to a 318.. built a nice street 318 and now threw a 4 inch stroke in with big heads. I love the underdog
Would be fun to build a 7500rpm big head 318
I started off with a 340 (which was a lie) that was actually a 318. I was a teen myself and paid my mother to use her credit card to place an order with Summit. I ordered a Weiand Action + dual plane, Edelbrock 600 carb, headers, and a torque converter. Guess what? It was still a mutt although it sounded great. I then found a 360 out of a Cordoba-re-ringed it , Mopar Purpleshaft .450/.455, cleaned up heads w/backcut valves, machined the stock retainers to accept Speedpro VS179 (SBC spring) re-used the Weiand, sold the 600 and got serious with a TQ. When I was cleaning the ring grooves with a piston ring I actually dropped a piston and broke the skirt. I was broke so I chamfered the skirt and back in it went.<<This was very much a UTG style build with $790 CDN (circa 90's) into it however it did see the inside of a machine shop.
Even then I knew enough to have the machine shop -Jetwash the block, deglaze the cylinders with a rigid hone (Sunnen CK-10), install ARP rod bolts/touch up big ends Sunnen rod hone, deck the block .045", back cut valves.
This was where I fell in love with 360's (maybe machining too)and I have never looked back at the 318. That 360 beat any 340 on the street , all 5.0's I found myself beside at a light and would start burning the tires when kicked down into the passing gear at any speed under 50km/hr. It also did something 360's weren't supposed to do and that was REV. It stayed together, could burn the tires at will , which is something the previous 318 could only dream about, got great fuel mileage, had great oil pressure, RPM's like a 340 and probably would have ran a high 13 especially with the highway gearing. I commuted 35 minutes to work with it for a year . In short I love 360's especially when they bolt right into a 318's place. Sorry for the wall of text. J.Rob
