Cylinder head decision for 318

toolmanmike said

I chuckle at our head and cam threads. They always go off the rails and soon we are building maximum horsepower, competing with the magazine builds. We should start a couple threads and have people vote on the best cam and head for a stock 318. But that's what we do. Lots of good information come out of these build threads.

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I’ve been here for like 8 years we haven’t came to a census yet on the subject of what to do with 273/318. There always the most popular threads cause 340/360 is pretty easy to figure what you want or need. Most think you shouldn’t even bother with a 318 and if you do leave stock or treat it with kid gloves, Ford guys have no problem doing a 302 or even 289 though they have 351 etc..
Chevy guys think nothing of doing 5.3l or even 4.8l ls engines or even a 327.

Problem with 318 is it’s stock Cr and head will get you about 280 hp with 4bbl cam and headers after that something needs to be done with the head Most aren’t gonna port so 340/360 will give airflow but cost valuable cr. Magnum cracks or by time you grab a set in the junkyard you might as well do a magnum swap. Which I’m for, most would be better off with a running 5.2l or 5.9l both would be 300 hp with a 4bbl and more with cam and headers. We should see Magnum as are versions of a LS swap it’s more like Vortec but should be for most guy looking for a drop in 300-400 hp depending on cam.

Putting a lot of money into stock heads is a waste since we have decent alternatives, it would be nice if someone came up with a aftermarket 318 Head that bump cr on a stock short block to 10:1
with smallish ports that matched 340/360 intakes and about 400hp since that’s about most you want to go with a 318.

I like the saying some here say build a 318 likes it’s a 340 it won’t know the difference.