Hi everyone. After determining that my 69 Barracuda's 318 had more than enough wear to warrant a winter rebuild, I decided to start a new thread to get some advice on which parts to use. Coming from the Porsche world the selection is frankly pretty overwhelming...with old Porsches you have "the expensive option" and "the really REALLY expensive option - which in a way makes things easier if not less painful.
I'm intending to breathe a little extra livelihood into my 318 as I rebuild it, but probably not much. I'm married to the 14" poverty wheels and bias ply tires, so traction alone negates the point of putting out big power. It's going to be a daily driver (or weekly grocery getter since I work from home) so reliability and sturdiness is tantamount, with thriftiness being a not entirely irrelevant concern. To that end, I'd like to keep compression low enough (or timing mild enough) to not need premium gas. For durability's sake I'd also like to stick to cast iron heads.
With all this in mind, what would the recommended "recipe" be to live within these constraints but still have an engine more lively than the regular two barrel thrifter the car came with? Just port/polish the heads, bolt on a 4 barrel intake, and call it a day? OR is there more I can do without having a negative impact on the other aspects?
