318 Build suggestions

66fs said
I never cared for standards. I disprove them every day of my life. A 4 inch bore means nothing. My 273, with a 1.88 intake 340 top end and cam, ran the same as AJ's 340 in the quarter mile with Early A factory exhaust manifolds and 2" duals back in the day. If I had a good 318, I for surely would not trade for a 360. Heck I didn't trade a 273 for one, and I had 360's laying around. I would never bore any block more than just enough to clean up the bores. That is not where you make power. As for AJ's 360, how much money is in that thing. 11:1 compression and Edelbrock heads? I don't need any of that either. Trying to put that up against a low compression 318, what a comparison...

AJs build and yours ,it sounds like two different engines for two different uses are you drag racing your 318? I am in the middle of a 340 build that I am trying to keep "as stock as possible" as far as cam, heads ,compression...I want it to run on pump gas and not over heat in traffic etc. The point with my 340 is, it had all the good stuff stock. A gasket set is all I would need basically... I believe it is possible to have a 273 in a 65 barracuda that moves that car scary quick...but that is a street car. Take that car to the strip and try to compete, and eventually out will come the 273 and in would go a race worked 340-360. it would come to that naturally I believe the 318 would only get the car to a certain bracket and it would stop there. However I am not up with the times and do not know what is out there as far as 318 internals for racing engines. I am fairly certain the heads would have to go , the stock 318 heads. Just my thoughts and I could be wrong. I figure the truth is 318s are drying up, and 340s have all but dried up, they definitely aren't cheap, and figure the things you have to know, what years did they go low comp, what valves are in what heads, internal vs external balance etc. I'm not sure 318s have that issue is there an external balance 318LA engine? Keep in mind I always talk in terms of LA I am not all that familiar with the magnum, I know a little about them but never owned one. I like the roller cam setup in the magnum though that makes sense to me, and i wish it was in the LA :)