Best 318 headers

-
73Charger318

73Charger318

Member Rt 66 Mopar Club
Joined
Mar 19, 2016
Messages
128
Reaction score
30
Location
Missouri
Hey guys. First post here, came over from the Dodge Charger forum. They treat 318's like grocery getters over there so hoping to find more help here.

My 318 is about to come out of my 73 Charger. Rear main seal, new cam, and some other upgrades coming. Will ask for advise in the proper threads for those upgrades.
While it's out I'm thinking about some headers. The car has dual exhaust now but straight back pipes coming off the old cast iron original logs. Don't know if I should replace a section of pipe and put in an H pipe or if the straight pipes are fine. Who has had luck with what headers in a 318? I've already installed a mini starter so hopefully won't have any clearance issues if I choose the correct headers.

Thanks
Alan
 
Alan, welcome aboard. They treat the 318 like grandmas Sunday church engine? LMAO, no surprise there and for a good reason since the Charger is a good bit heavier and longer than most A body cars but worry not!

Adding some power to that engine is easy. However! Do not expect much. It can be made enjoyable.

Now about headers, there are 3 choices to choose from. The first two I'll mention are expensive but worth the cost.
TTI and Doug's headers.

The next one I'll mention have a few cave eats. There the one size fits all header made by everyone including the local nut case that is probably dropping acid and smoking meth right now around the corner from you.

He may actually make a better pair than some of the other major places do, depending on what day the major market places made them on and if they had a fight with the wife and/or are hung over.

Sometimes they fit great!
Sometimes they fit with a few tweaks of the sledge hammer.

I have had the cheap Summit headers fit better than the all high and mighty Hooker brand.
These headers have 3 tubes that run under the front drivers side steering linkages. Sooner or later, they hit the floor and sent up. Hit them enough, you'll wear a hole through them. Oh! They also love to rust out at the contact points!

Check Summit racing or Jegs for there exhaust kits. I used a Jegs kit on a old Duster of mine and it fit very well with just a little trim needed on the drivers side at the bumper. Get the 2-1/2 pile size for a performance oriented stand point. The 2-1/4 is good for very mild engine enhancements.

While they were actually designed for hooking up to Hooker headers, it is more than likely a minor tweak is all that is needed to fit it in with other brands of headers. An "H" or "X" pipe connection will need to be purchased sepreratly and spliced in. While it is not needed, it will quite the exhaust note down a few decibels and aid in power in a modest way.

Just be aware that header installation is a huge pain in the *** and a buddy, hopefully one that has done this before can lend a hand.
 
rumblefish360 said:
Alan, welcome aboard. They treat the 318 like grandmas Sunday church engine? LMAO, no surprise there and for a good reason since the Charger is a good bit heavier and longer than most A body cars but worry not!

Adding some power to that engine is easy. However! Do not expect much. It can be made enjoyable.

Now about headers, there are 3 choices to choose from. The first two I'll mention are expensive but worth the cost.
TTI and Doug's headers.

The next one I'll mention have a few cave eats. There the one size fits all header made by everyone including the local nut case that is probably dropping acid and smoking meth right now around the corner from you.

He may actually make a better pair than some of the other major places do, depending on what day the major market places made them on and if they had a fight with the wife and/or are hung over.

Sometimes they fit great!
Sometimes they fit with a few tweaks of the sledge hammer.

I have had the cheap Summit headers fit better than the all high and mighty Hooker brand.
These headers have 3 tubes that run under the front drivers side steering linkages. Sooner or later, they hit the floor and sent up. Hit them enough, you'll wear a hole through them. Oh! They also love to rust out at the contact points!

Check Summit racing or Jegs for there exhaust kits. I used a Jegs kit on a old Duster of mine and it fit very well with just a little trim needed on the drivers side at the bumper. Get the 2-1/2 pile size for a performance oriented stand point. The 2-1/4 is good for very mild engine enhancements.

While they were actually designed for hooking up to Hooker headers, it is more than likely a minor tweak is all that is needed to fit it in with other brands of headers. An "H" or "X" pipe connection will need to be purchased sepreratly and spliced in. While it is not needed, it will quite the exhaust note down a few decibels and aid in power in a modest way.

Just be aware that header installation is a huge pain in the *** and a buddy, hopefully one that has done this before can lend a hand.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. Is that Doug Thorley Headers? I contacted them and got this reply, "Unfortunately we recently discontinued those headers based on very low demand and also got rid of the tooling jigs to make room for new development". So I guess that would leave TTI or the guy next door banging out headers while cooking his meth. :violent1:

I had planned on the 2 1/2 inch and glad to hear they can splice in the H pipe and I don't have to replace everything. I'll be letting a muffler shop do that work. That's beyond my skill level. Would rather pay someone to do it right! Anyone had any luck with the Hedman headers? Was looking at 78500, the tight tube, or 78050.

Thanks
 
In case you are not dead set on a 318, you could get yourself anything from a 440 to a 360 and have more power and not much money spent. My guess is that a good used engine would cost you at very most $1000.00 and then the rest is up to you.

Just another option :blob:
 
leblanc said:
In case you are not dead set on a 318, you could get yourself anything from a 440 to a 360 and have more power and not much money spent. My guess is that a good used engine would cost you at very most $1000.00 and then the rest is up to you.

Just another option :blob:
Click to expand...

The 360 has been suggested to me before. I'm pretty set on keeping the car with it's original power plant, just juice it up hopefully to around 300 HP. Cam, performer intake, 600 cfm carb, the headers to connect to the existing dual exhaust, and eventually a gear upgrade. Thinking 3.55 ratio but honestly no idea what would be the best gear upgrade for the car at this point.
 
I used Hooker Competiton Series on a 67 318 Barracuda and the fit was perfect. They cleared the power steering box and I didn't have to ding a single tube. I bought them though Advanced Auto Parts with one of there 20 percent off deals and were like $185 shipped.
 
LOL - here we go again.. hang on, this could get bumpy.. oodles of opinions here for sure! Let your fingers do some searching.. generally speaking, the heavier gauge, more expensive ones are better - they last longer. Again, spend some time with Google or (insert your favorite search engine here) before you spend your $$.
 
wannadrag said:
I used Hooker Competiton Series on a 67 318 Barracuda and the fit was perfect. They cleared the power steering box and I didn't have to ding a single tube. I bought them though Advanced Auto Parts with one of there 20 percent off deals and were like $185 shipped.
Click to expand...

Great! Do you remember the OEM number of the headers? Were they 1 5/8? Thanks
 
ScampMike said:
LOL - here we go again.. hang on, this could get bumpy.. oodles of opinions here for sure! Let your fingers do some searching.. generally speaking, the heavier gauge, more expensive ones are better - they last longer. Again, spend some time with Google or (insert your favorite search engine here) before you spend your $$.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I've looked at so many headers the last week I see headers in my sleep. :banghead:
 
Rumblefish covered it pretty well. To just add a little to his comments; in terms of fit, you have more off the shelf choices that should fit than an A body.

As far as an H-pipe goes, it can do a couple things. One, if flow gets really stuffed up, it can help share the volume with the other side. This is not going to be a problem in your case unless you have very poor flowing mufflers for some reason. Two, it can help with the harmonics which in turn can help reduce sound if placed in the proper location. Additionally, if the location is about right, the pressure waves formed will help flow in an rpm range that you may care about.
Pipemax is a relatively low cost program that can ballpark H and X pipe locations if you know enough about the engine. I've not run a 318, but have run a number of variations of a 340 (different cams, compression ratio, VE etc). Based on that I'm going to guess that ballpark an H for your setup should be 19 to 24" from the end of the primary tubes. Don't expect a lot, but at least it won't hurt having it in approximately correct location if you do it.

IMO your biggest problem with headers will be that most were designed for 340/360 applications. Used on a 273/ 318 there is a big step up from the head port to the header. The step, especially if noticible at the top, will produce turbulence and the effect is somewhat unpredictable. Additionally, once the exaust gas gets into the primary tube the gas slows down because the tubes cross section is much bigger than the port. The faster the exhaust gets sent away from the head the less that can be sucked back in during valve overlap. Ideally a 273 or 318 would exhaust into a 1.5" primary, then possibly step up. Not many off the shelf 1.5" tube headers - but if you see one, its worth looking into fit etc. IIRC Sanderson may offer one.

There's a number of exhaust theories out there. The ones we know about that I respect the most come from Larry Meaux, engine builder, tester and creator of Pipmax softeware; and Calvin Elston, exhaust builder. I've relied both as appropriate for my current header project.
Some of Calvin's thoughts on tube sizing are here, which will explain in more detail my comments above:
Exhausting 101
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top