Spacegrasss, Here are some questions and suggestions. #1 STOP BUYING PARTS! Slow down, take a breath. Establish a plan. You said porting wasn't a possibility for you. Do you weld or just turn wrenches? That helps us understand a bit, but there's more to it. There's more to a 10.5 car than a checkbook or credit card. Do you have a secure garage? Do you have tools? Are you going to do the work yourself, pay someone to do it for you, or pay someone to work with you? How long are you willing to have the car inoperable at a time, and how often being able to take it out for a drive between mods? Try and get into the mid 12's to low 13's with basic mods to your 318 first while you learn and build a separate engine while you work on the rest of the car. Those last two seconds are going to be expensive. Do you want to run pump gas, pump gas with octane booster, or race gas? What % street use and what % dragstrip? Do you want to be able to drive to a car show on the interstate? If so, then you are looking at an upgrade to an overdrive trans of some sort with any ratio over 4.00. Do you even know if you have a 7 1/4", 8 1/4", or 8 3/4" rear in it now? Do you want to buy a new driveshaft now for the new rear, then turn around and buy another one if/when you go to an overdrive so you can drive it on the highway? Can you weld in frame connecters, or are you going to take the you tube advice that it's better not to and allow the body to flex so you don't pop spot welds? How far from home is the dragstrip? Are you going to drive it to the strip or trailer it? If you drive it, how are you going to get home when you break it? 10.5 with a 318 isn't going to be happy in stop and go traffic. Price your rear end, suspension, brakes. Price your tranny. Price your converter. Price your driveshaft. Now start to think about your motor. You have to get your fuel system - carb, efi, fuel lines, fuel pump, maybe a new intake, too. Mid 10's with a stock bottom end? If you can't check pushrod length, how are you going to measure clearances? If you can't port, how are you going to deburr casting flash and clean your oil passages? Price oil pans and pickups. Have you priced the bolt on TTI headers, then the exhaust? Are you going to add cutouts to the exhaust for at the track? Do you want an interior with creature comforts? Stop buying parts until you establish at least a baseline plan and be honest with yourself about what you can and can't do. Know someone that runs mid 11's at the strip? Volunteer to be on their pit crew, not just at the track but to see what they work on between visits. Don't give up, but maybe slow down and open your eyes a bit wider. 318willrun has lots of hours working with vehicles, same with Gas Tap and Uncle Tony. You can see what Gas Tap has done in steps with Mr. Jones, with narrowing the rear, moving the springs in, adding subframe connecters, working with a 360 and turbo, and see what his best time is? And he broke the motor because he didn't do the basic increase of ring gap before adding boost. There are pitfalls, mistakes cost money. Try and figure out how you are going to reach your goals, what parts it will take to get there, what order to do the upgrades, etc. Maybe start with a spiral bound notebook that has sections, or a notebook with loose leaf pages. Divide it into sections, number them the same as the factory service manual for your specific car. Then you can fill out each section with what you are going to do to the car and the price to do so. As you do things, keep track in that notebook of what you change, what you put in it. Then 5 years from now when you need a brake rotor or axle seal or brake pad you will be able to know what to replace it with. Even better if you record the actual part #'s you used. I'm no racer, but I wish I kept better track of things I did. I know it's an 8 3/4" sure grip 3.23 with 10" drums and SBP. The old ball and trunion 4 speed 833 upgraded to a newer slip front yoke on the custom shortened driveshaft - early A that had a 7 1/4" that I blew the spiders out of. Replaced the 9 1/4"(?) clutch with a 10 11/2" - that meant a shortened Z bar. Wore out the hi-po 273 that was 10.5 to 1 and was tired of adjusting valve lash, hello '72 low compression small valve hydraulic lifter 340 that was early '72 so still a forged crank. That meant welding a triangle into the motor mount. Upgraded dual points to electronic. Done in steps - broke the rear, then broke the ball and trunion, left 9 1/4" clutch set up when I first went to 340. Change clutch. All baby steps compared to what you have in front of you. Make a plan, go slow, HAVE FUN! Get ready to get dirty and get used to grease under your fingernails. Hope this helps .........................
