Dyno shop tested 318
Well I got about one month's worth of fun driving, but after bringing it home from the dyno, it felt a little "off", ran just bit rough. After replacing cap & rotor, plugs, wires, header gaskets, intake gasket (oil leak), it started puffing smoke out the breather and exhaust. It wasn't the PCV system. Did a compression test and it showed me what I didn't want to see or believe. It got progressively worse each time I started it, to the point that it started to backfire bad. Didn't even drive it but a mile in February and March. Pulled the motor a couple of weeks ago and took it in to the machine shop. Blown head gasket, pushrod found it's way into the head and a spring retainer in the intake. My guess is that the person who put it together slapped in a new cam and lifters to an already worn engine without doing anything else. It wasn't so much an IF, as it was WHEN this was going to fail, the dyno pulls just sped up the process. There are already enough threads that ask "what should I do, build up a 318 stroker, 340 or 360/408". Knowing what it would cost to rebuild this 318 with a stroker kit or build the 1971 340 I had sitting around, I think I know which route I'm going with. I'll hold onto the block for now but will probably sell of the any of the good parts like the 273/318 heads.
Well I got about one month's worth of fun driving, but after bringing it home from the dyno, it felt a little "off", ran just bit rough. After replacing cap & rotor, plugs, wires, header gaskets, intake gasket (oil leak), it started puffing smoke out the breather and exhaust. It wasn't the PCV system. Did a compression test and it showed me what I didn't want to see or believe. It got progressively worse each time I started it, to the point that it started to backfire bad. Didn't even drive it but a mile in February and March. Pulled the motor a couple of weeks ago and took it in to the machine shop. Blown head gasket, pushrod found it's way into the head and a spring retainer in the intake. My guess is that the person who put it together slapped in a new cam and lifters to an already worn engine without doing anything else. It wasn't so much an IF, as it was WHEN this was going to fail, the dyno pulls just sped up the process. There are already enough threads that ask "what should I do, build up a 318 stroker, 340 or 360/408". Knowing what it would cost to rebuild this 318 with a stroker kit or build the 1971 340 I had sitting around, I think I know which route I'm going with. I'll hold onto the block for now but will probably sell of the any of the good parts like the 273/318 heads.
