Steve Dulcich on building a budget 318

66fs said
That is all well and fine if your major goal is just "burning" tires. My goal was to have a fast car that could handle and get good mpg as a daily driver. I prefer not to burn tires. I did have the luxury of a 4 speed. Burning tires was merely an adjustment in rpm at clutch release. So starting with a 64 Barracuda and a 273, and also being financially challenged, I pulled the 273 and had a set of forged 10.5:1 pistons fitted along with 284* duration solid cam. From there it became my test mule for the next 10 years and 150,000 miles to try all kinds of combinations, culminating with "71" 340 intake and TQ, "72" 340 heads milled to NHRA min spec, a used 340 cam and lifters on the same original short block. I've had 340's, 360's, 318's and 383's. The 273 is still in the Barracuda with a ready to go 340 on the engine stand... Not everybody wants a 360 or stroker. Not everybody is a drag racer. Most any small block can perform well with decent heads and the right combination. A 360 is the only small block I do not, and will not, have saved in the basement.

It seems a lot here build what I call "full throttle blip burnout machine" something you only can go full throttle seconds at a time or other you be at crazy speeds for the street and to be able to spin the tires at will.

Some might want a more balanced driving experience at normal road speeds especially if you setup for twisty back roads you don't want the pedal so finicky you end up wrong end into a tree.
One funnest cars I had was an old Honda Prelude wasn't overly powerful but peppy as hell could do 7800 rpm shifts had something like 4.88 gears, an was real fun at reasonable into road speeds even the 4.6l Crown Vic cab I drove was fun beating the **** out of them driving drunks home at fairly high intown speeds trying to clear out the town after the bars closed or chasing down runners through parks fields school yards hitting them with a drivers doors as they tried to run :)

One thing people seem to overlook is where and how wide the powerband is, to me it seems like you like a 273 for similar reasons I liked the Honda, rpm, for a relatively modest hp you probably have a wide and high top end to your powerband probably and if you had a 360 or larger be more like a truck's powerband.

I wouldn't mind one day build like a gutted early A 4 gear road carver that does 7000+ rpm shifts at reasonable road speeds, maybe a 170 /6 or 273 :)