gzig5
Well-Known Member
That shows the difference pretty clearly. Doesn't look like much, but apparently the engineers thought it was important enough to justify additional molds and machining setups. That costs money and speaks volumes to the importance of the difference in parts, because they didn't do anything to add cost without a pretty good reason. Personally, I don't think you would get into trouble until you are over 500hp with 318 caps, but I have no proof.And this is another sorta "psa" post, it's been discussed many times, that the 318 and 340 main caps are the same. They are NOT! they will interchange, but 340 caps are taller, and have more material around the bolt holes. Hes a few pictures to show the difference. Rodney's 318 caps on the right, '71 340 caps on the left
View attachment 1716399345
Do you happen to have a set of 360 caps handy to see how they compare to those two? I know the bearing bore is larger, but I'm curious how much more or less meat there is in the web because of that. There are some pretty stout 360/408 motors out there an nobody ever mentions worrying about the main caps, outside of the supposed 600hp limit for stock blocks.