318 Full of Chunks of Rust, How Bad is That?
If you're not going to do anything else, at least replace the timing chain with a double roller...
The stock 318 timing chains are junk... They are single row and the cam gear is coated with nylon plastic to help 'quiet' the engine down... The nylon gets brittle over time and will chip off, eventually making the timing chain loose up to the point where it can skip a tooth.... I once replaced a stock timing chain on a 68 Barracuda 318 with 84,000 miles and gained 2 MPG because of the looseness of the stock chain (before it skipped a tooth)...
If you don't change anything else, at least change the timing chain to a double roller... It will pay for itself over time with less variation on your spark and more accurate timing... It's worth the money to do now...
Here's the timing chain that I've been running for decades in many engines and holds up well over 150,000 miles with minimal stretch... It's a step above the stock 340 double roller chain and will give you many miles and years of reliable service... It's the Edelbrock true roller doubler roller timing chain....
Edelbrock
Here's some pictures of an old stock nylon tooth 318 timing chain to show you how they get with age... Do you want to run this in your engine???
Here you can see the cracks in the nylon where the red arrows are pointing and where some of the nylon has already broken off in the red circles...
F*ck your mechanic, here are step by step instructions on how to assemble a timing chain and front of a 318 so you can do it yourself... If you need any other advice if you attempt to do it yourself, I can walk you through it...
How to Assemble the Front of a Small Block
If you're not going to do anything else, at least replace the timing chain with a double roller...
The stock 318 timing chains are junk... They are single row and the cam gear is coated with nylon plastic to help 'quiet' the engine down... The nylon gets brittle over time and will chip off, eventually making the timing chain loose up to the point where it can skip a tooth.... I once replaced a stock timing chain on a 68 Barracuda 318 with 84,000 miles and gained 2 MPG because of the looseness of the stock chain (before it skipped a tooth)...
If you don't change anything else, at least change the timing chain to a double roller... It will pay for itself over time with less variation on your spark and more accurate timing... It's worth the money to do now...
Here's the timing chain that I've been running for decades in many engines and holds up well over 150,000 miles with minimal stretch... It's a step above the stock 340 double roller chain and will give you many miles and years of reliable service... It's the Edelbrock true roller doubler roller timing chain....
Edelbrock
Here's some pictures of an old stock nylon tooth 318 timing chain to show you how they get with age... Do you want to run this in your engine???
Here you can see the cracks in the nylon where the red arrows are pointing and where some of the nylon has already broken off in the red circles...
F*ck your mechanic, here are step by step instructions on how to assemble a timing chain and front of a 318 so you can do it yourself... If you need any other advice if you attempt to do it yourself, I can walk you through it...
How to Assemble the Front of a Small Block
