Chevy eating small block

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chuckwagon2004

71 dartswinger
Joined
Feb 9, 2008
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Location
Palestine Texas
Allright guys need a lil help with figuring out the lil 318 monster Im bout to put together. Gotta have pump gas, need to be able to work my power brakes and AC... Man gotta have AC where I live or it will kill me!!! Im lazy and gettin a lil fat. Im wanting to build a stroker out of it but I hear all kinds of stuff about having to dress up the Cylinder bores for clearance. I would like to stay away from this but if its not too much trouble so be it..... How many stroker option do I have and would yall sugest using a milder cam with some 1.6-1 rockers to get some lift? Im bout to tear into this thing pretty heavy. I need to get it in the machine shop!!!!!!
 
So I suppose a 360 stroker is out of the question? IMO it wouldn't cost that much more. BUT if you're staying with the 318 I'd say just go with normal perf. parts. Flat tops, ported J heads (stick with smaller intake valves), mild cam...
 
One basic combo would be: KB107 pistons, reworked stock heads with three angle valve job or 302 heads reworked for 1.88/1.60 valves, Mopar thin head gasket, appropriate dual plane intake, 600-650 cfm carb of your choice, headers, and a Comp XE262 cam, or XE268 for more aggressive top end.

Top it off with a decent converter and put a good rear gear in (maybe bigger rear if it has the 7.25), put a kit in the trans, and go bowtie hunting.

Sure the 360 would be the most effective way to make power, but if you want to go to the beat of a different drum like I did in my duster with a 318, then more power to you.

My combo has near stock compression pistons, stock heads and valves with a 3 angle and a bit shaved off the heads, stock head gasket, Eddie intake, and 65 DP Holley with .072 jets and 4" K&N Xtreme filter. It has hooker headers, flowmasters, and a Comp XE268 cam, which is aggressive as one should go on a 318 cam. It lopes and sounds good, though it could have more low end torque below 1,500, but it pulls hard above 2,500 rpm. I have already creamed my share of 350 bowties and 302/351 Fords with the disrespected 318 and I love it. This is all done with room for improvement in the converter(stock) and gears (3.21s).
 
moparJ, he has a 318. KB107's are a 4 inch bore. (360 sized)

Chuck, I'd look for a 360 to stroke. If the 318 is allready out and your going to stroke it anyway, the lower side of the cylinderbore needs to be addressed with at most a slight cut with a rotary tool for clearanceing of the rod ends. This is not allways needed. It is also a easy thing to do for your machinest. Real easy.

You have 2 stroker options thatare easy. 4 inch and 360 crank - 3.58, into the teen. I'd go 4 inch.

I myself would ethier get a cam that has the lift I want built into it or use a Magnum head for the 1.6 rocker. I'd skip the 1.6 rocker on the LA head if I could for the cam built with the lift.

Easiest way to pick a cam is to get the (Intake) duration of the cam in the power RPM range you want the engine to perform in and then look for as much lift as you can get/squezze in until the head can't use anymore lift. (Head flow stalls) Exhaust should be a bit more in duration. The more ported the head, the less exhaust duration over the intake is needed.

Ideally, P/B and A/C will still work well at a cam duration @ .050 of 230. 236 is doable but borderline in somecases to over the border in others. The large engine should be able to go the little extra. Beware.

Custom grind cams are penny's more than of the shelf grinds, if need be.
 
Any good references for cam ppl. I really want to put this 318 back in or I would go with the 360... Hell I dunno how much trouble it would be but I have a 440 I could use if I wanted to get ignorant LOL. I want to keep it reasonable though and use the same block really. Been thinking about forkin the money over for some heads... Ive found several cast heads that are reasonable.
 
The amount of trouble for a big block isn't much and worth the bang for the buck in many areas, but I myself would stay with a small block for less trouble and ease of completion of the project. Less complication in a not doing a swap.

You can order a custom cam from any grinder. Lunatti, Comp and Crane etc........

Just make a plan and stick to it.
 
Easiest way to pick a cam is to get the (Intake) duration of the cam in the power RPM range you want the engine to perform in and then look for as much lift as you can get/squezze in until the head can't use anymore lift. (Head flow stalls) Exhaust should be a bit more in duration. The more ported the head, the less exhaust duration over the intake is needed.

Well said Rumble,..couldn't have said it any better myself. You the man !
 
Thanks Terry.

Chuck. We are also missing some vital info that pertains to cam help.

Car weight, tranny, will a aftermarket converter be sought, gear ratio, tire size.

It is best to pick a performance level in seconds for a car rather than say I want a 537 HP engine that makes 500 lbs. of torque. While getting those numbers are obtainable, on my dyno, you dyno may differ and, most of all, it may not provided the performance your looking for.

While it's great to say, for bragging purposes only really, that (I) you have a engine *** powerful, it's more important to make full use of what you have than have an overkilling amount and getting only 70% - 80% out of it.
 
Search here for 349 CI on the cheap and 322 both posts by BJR racing and you,ll have a little insight on what can be done with the little engine that could.
 
Sorry for the delay on answers... I dont know the car weight off the top of my head and right now its hard for me to get.. Someone help me out its a 71 swinger 318 all stock right now..... Its got a 904 in it and I plan on rebuilding it even though everything seems to be fine and yes I am going to put a stall in it... I plan on keeping the gear ratio reasonable somewhere around 4:10 maybe a hair lower.. Probably going to set it up for a 4:10 ratio and change gears out down the road a lil.. Not too far down the road though... Im working on getting the car back together after paint..
 
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