Stock 1989 318 w/ 48k Miles - Rebuild Recommendations

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Brandon72

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I picked up a stock 1986 318 with 48k miles out of a New Yorker from a reputable salvage yard. It has perfect cylinder cross hatching on all cylinders when I looked through my endoscope. It has been sitting on a shelf for many years so I know I need to go through it and replace all the gaskets and seals. Trying to keep this as budget friendly as possible since I'm doing a frame up restoration and I know there will be more unforseen expenses coming up.

Parts I have collected for the engine:
- Eddy 1406 600cfm
- Eddy Performer Intake Manifold (newer style not the old LD---)
- 360 Cast Iron Intake Manifold
- 14" round air cleaner assembly
- felpro gasket kit
- I want longtubes but may have to wait. I do have a spare set of 2001 5.9L magnum exhaust manifolds with y-pipe. 98% sure it won't fit but I might give it a try for the heck of it.
- HEI distributor (unknown brand)

Additional Info:
- 302 heads with stock valves but will do some port work and gasket match. Not too much where it kills velocity.
- backface valves
- valve lap job with lapping compound
- replace valve seals
- seal holes by exhaust ports with 1/4-20 allen screws
- replace water pump, oil pump, double roller timing chain
- Carter electric fuel pump with new regulator and filter
- This is just a fun weekend cruise car for the family and I. It will get a cam one day but I may wait until my son is old enough to help and learn.

Questions:
1) What are your thoughts on reusing the stock cam and lifters? All parts will be carefully removed and labeled for each cylinder and which way is up.
2) Can I leave cam and main bearing in place when cleaning the block? Crank will be stored vertically. Engine will get all new freeze plugs with shellac once the cleaning is done, block is dried, and surfaces protected from rust.
3) Thoughts on reusing piston rings, cam bearings, and main bearings?
4) Do you think the valve springs, that have been compressed for many years, are still good.
5) Do you recommend tearing down an old motor to a bare block to clean it throughly before reassembly?

Any recommendations are appreciated.
 
What's it going in? It should be a hydraulic roller engine. Other than pulling the valve covers, intake, oil pan, front cover, and spraying everything out with diesel fuel and putting in a timing set, rear seal, and valve stem seals, I would leave it alone. Get a transmission and starter on it and do a compression test and document what each cylinder is doing . There's not enough gain in port matching a set of 302 heads to merit pulling them. If everything has been reasonably maintained and not caked in carbon and sludge inside, there's not enough wear in a 48,000 mile 318 to merit tearing everything down. Before you take off the aforementioned parts, block off the heater and lower radiator hoses on the water pump (if it's still there). Fill it with cooling system flush and water and let it set overnight. The next day, pull the coolant drain plugs on the side of the block and scrape out the sediment so it drains, check the freeze plugs with a screwdriver. After you get it stripped and everything clean and the soft parts changed out, put everything back together with fresh gaskets and ultra grey RTV. Set up a good distributor curve with 14-18 degrees initial timing and 35 total mechanical -advance. Do 1/4-20 tap and plug the smog holes. I recommend the Edelbrock Performer intake here, I've used on the very same engine with a Quadrajet and good distributor curve and it ran well. I would not even worry about the heads and valve springs until I was going to upgrade the cam.
 
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I agree with the post above regarding the minimal approach. There's two choices. Throw it in with minimal gasket changes, or tear it down and at least do rings and bearings, and do the valve seat refresh you mention. if you want to tank the block, do the refresh - minimal cost for an extra 50,000 miles (thinking 100,000 on a low cost rebuild) . If you leave things be you can probably get at least another 50,000 before you tear it all down and rebuild - If you catch it early you might get away with rings and bearings at that point for another 100,000 miles.
 
Just set the heads up for more lift and positive seals. Pick up the cam you want and have fun.

That would be the only thing with that motor , valve stem seals.
 
MOPAROFFICIAL said:
Just set the heads up for more lift and positive seals. Pick up the cam you want and have fun.

That would be the only thing with that motor , valve stem seals.
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MOPAROFFICIAL said:
Just set the heads up for more lift and positive seals. Pick up the cam you want and have fun.

That would be the only thing with that motor , valve stem seals.
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Leave the heads on the block its hard to find the right head gaskets iv hade that problem my self aperently you can use magnum gaskets iv heard
 
No offense to anybody but you get many different opinions/advice.
I would do the basic stuff as mentioned. I guarantee that if you doing even a basic resto on the whole car you will definitely spend by far more than you budgeted for. Get her going and after you have cherried the car then pull the motor and redo it.
my own and other magnums have shown cross hatch at 100k
100k is a walk in the park for a magnum. Get it drivable then redo the motor and the fine details.
I have more than once done the drivetrain before the car and had to wait years to finish the body. Been there done that. If your flush with $ that’s a different story.
 
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I would pop out one of the rear freez pugs to see how much rust is in it and that determines for me if it needs to be boiled out. Other than that re seal, new timing chain with a tensioned and you are good to go.
 
That should be a 9.2:1 engine.


Smallest Lunati roller cam would really wake it up.

...or for a budget, a junkyard 5.2 cam and a bolt on fuel pump snout.

Roller lifters can be reused.

If you have manual steering those Magnum exhaust manifolds might work.

Check where the exits are going to end up, especially the trans dipstick and kickdown linkage.

Just as good as headers, a LOT easier to work around and they sound good.
 
Change ALL the freeze plugs while it's out.
 
Thanks everyone for commenting so quickly. I know it's not an A body, but this engine is going into a 91 D150 with a AX15 for now. If it gets more than 5 to 7k miles a year I would be surprised since this will be a weekend truck or used when my 2014 Ram eats another set of lifters. I just want to get it running, stop the rust, and give it a decent paint job. Being able to not dive into a full overhaul or refresh really helps. Keeping the heads on will be nice too. I'd like to save the internal engine stuff for when my son grows up. I hoping he'll want to spend time together in the garage instead of being attached to video games.

Do you still recommend removing the old freeze plugs and replacing with brass or just removing the block drain plugs?

I've never used diesel fuel to clean an engine. What's the best method? I can always search through the forum and see if anyone has posted information on that.

I have been searching through this forum and others and always find this one to give better information with less keyboard warriors. Thanks for all the good information and the great how-to threads.
 
Definitely change out the freezout pugs and at a minimum when they are out flush it with a water hose to get whatever in ther that is loose out. Diesel I have done one quart in a running engine for ten minuets and then change the oil, It takes a bunch of sludge build up out but can mess with the valve seals.
 
Those Magnum manifolds should work in a truck, although you might need to be creative with the PS pump and brcket if it has that.
 
You all made a good point. I might as well. I already have the Indian Head shellac.

The cab and bed are already off. Once the frame is cleaned and painted I'll get the whole driveline placed and check exhaust clearances. I have a spare set of shorty headers from a 5.9L ram but I doubt those would clear. Never hurts to try I guess. It does have a power steering pump. I'll have to look at my old photos and see how close the stock manifolds were to the PS pump, bracket, and steering shaft.
 
Good advice on the freeze plugs, go ahead and change them out. I like steel with a thin layer of Ultra Grey on the back side. I've never had a steel freeze plug lose it's grip and start leaking or blow out. Can't say the same for brass. Speaking of Ultra Grey, I use the caulk tube of the ultra grey and skim coat all the gaskets with it. Zero Leaks. If something else starts leaking, it's always there for the next gasket replacement. Cap the tube off with the a cap off of a bottle of gear oil. On the Magnum manifolds, the later hydraulic clutch makes the magnum manifold a happy installation, the left side exits right into the Z bar on the older clutch linkage.
 
Sounds like you'll have plenty of time to save up for the Speedmaster Black Friday sale and and some machine shop work for when teardown time arrives.
 
plymouth1937 said:
Leave the heads on the block its hard to find the right head gaskets iv hade that problem my self aperently you can use magnum gaskets iv heard
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Be cautious using Magnum head gaskets on an LA- they may or may not have the holes for the oiling passage to the rocker gear. I have yet to have this issue, but I always check... I've heard stories. Better safe than sorry.
 
Professor Fate said:
Be cautious using Magnum head gaskets on an LA- they may or may not have the holes for the oiling passage to the rocker gear. I have yet to have this issue, but I always check... I've heard stories. Better safe than sorry.
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The reason I suggest these. Fel-Pro 540SD Fel-Pro Head Gaskets | Summit Racing
But a caution, nonetheless. It may require some minimal trimming at the pushrod holes, I have yet to fully trial fit them.
 
So Ultra Grey over shellac? I'll add that to my list of research because I don't know the difference between them yet. I'm guessing ultra is more of a permanent sealant.

I actually have a full set of LA gaskets from Fel-pro but I haven't opened the box yet. If I ever use a magnum head gasket I'll make sure to look for it. I probably wouldn't have thought about it unless you mentioned it. Thanks!
Fel-Pro KS2114 Fel-Pro Engine Gasket Kits | Summit Racing
 
I like it. I have some commission mechanic friends who swear by it, but use it sparingly. An 1/8 to 3/16 inch round bead over each side of the gasket and spread it with your finger is plenty. Nothing wrong with that gasket kit, but it probably has equivalent to Felpro 8553 PermaTorque gaskets. Those aren't a bad gasket, and will usually seal when anything else won't. But the 4.18 inch bore and usually .051 compressed thickness usually loses a half a point in compression on a 318. On the 5.9 Ram shorty headers, they'll probably work. But, check the flanges, every set of used shorty headers I've seen need the surfaces trued back up on the belt sander.
 
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Brandon72 said:
So Ultra Grey over shellac? I'll add that to my list of research because I don't know the difference between them yet. I'm guessing ultra is more of a permanent sealant.
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Shellac is used to hold gaskets in place. Most if not all of the sealing is done by the clamping force on the gasket.
RTV is a vulcanizing rubber and can be used in place of a gasket. In this case Garret is using it very thin in case there are irregularities or other issues with the surfaces. be very careful not to use too much. Bits of RTV that come off inside (fill in the blank) can cause issues down the road.

Not much to add. I would not use the 360 intake with a 318. Much more important to keep air velocity high than it is to increase volume. A late 318 factory 4 bbl intake would be OK. Regular Ede Performers are fine and will save weight. Is '91 still a copper and brass radiator? If so, use a coolant with conventional inorganic inhbitors , not universal which are HOAT.
 
Yes, just enough to where the gasket will stick to your finger and stay once it gets tacky. It's a high torque and high yield strength RTV, so any excess tends to stay stuck in place if it gets squeezed out. It works pretty well as water pump and front cover bolt thread sealant, too. Just clean all your gasket surfaces with brake clean and wipe dry until your blue paper towel comes back clean, and you'll have zero issues. As Mattax mentioned with intakes for a 318, the taper to 318 sized port outlet on the performer intake works good with 302 heads.
 
Mattax said:
Shellac is used to hold gaskets in place. Most if not all of the sealing is done by the clamping force on the gasket.
RTV is a vulcanizing rubber and can be used in place of a gasket. In this case Garret is using it very thin in case there are irregularities or other issues with the surfaces. be very careful not to use too much. Bits of RTV that come off inside (fill in the blank) can cause issues down the road.

Not much to add. I would not use the 360 intake with a 318. Much more important to keep air velocity high than it is to increase volume. A late 318 factory 4 bbl intake would be OK. Regular Ede Performers are fine and will save weight. Is '91 still a copper and brass radiator? If so, use a coolant with conventional inorganic inhbitors , not universal which are HOAT.
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Yupp you can use spray glue on bothe sides dont use a 360 intake the ports are way to big slows the air fuel micture down a lot reversed funnel effekt any body tried to amp up the octain whid e85 like 25%of it in the fuel im running 12:1 comp ratio a little high on regular 95 we have 98 to hear in Sweden but the price is a bit high can even bay e85 racing fuel in 10 gal jugs that will do the trick makes a hell of a margarita to lol
 
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