Durable, Streetable, Economic 318

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65CudaFish

65CudaFish

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In 1998 & 1999 in my spare time I built a very simple but effective 318. I went to Pick & Pull and pulled a 1973 318 out of a famed 1973 Plymouth Valiant 4 door, a Howerd Stearn car, hey the spark plugs looked good. I had to pay 99.00 for it. I stripped it down and checked the crank clearance, the end play was a little much but I figured good bearings would tighten things up.
I simply had the block tanked and bored, new cam bearings installed, and distributor driveshaft sleeve installed. And the crank turned 10/10. I had a simple 3 angle valve job done on the heads and installed the orange Mopar Performance springs in them.
I used a deluxe engine rebuild kit from P.A.W. 30 over pistons included. I bought a Comp 270H .470/.470 Magnum camshaft.
I used a 340 Torker intake, MoPar Performance orange box conversion kit as the engine was going into a early A body. I bought a new 625 Competition Carter. A 1900 to 2100 stall on a 1200. dollar built 998 transmission. I left the little 7 &1/4 inch rearend it the car and even ran a solid flex fan and stock 318 exhaust manifolds, sealed nice. I did have performance exhaust pipes and dynomax ultra flos on it out the back.
This engine in long block form was cheaper than the transmission and ran hard and fast with second gear chirps. And get this that built transmission was the first to go out. I put 35,000 on it and like I said hard miles, the trans went out and I sold the engine for 650. in long block form which was installed right away into a 68 Dart. The rearend was stock and still working when I upgraded it for my newest power plant.
The reason why I chose 1973 318 is it was the first year of unleaded only fuels.
The car ran consistent 12.50 1/4 miles, a little 65 Barracuda. Not bad at all for a little engine that could. I pulled into a fuel station in Carson City Nevada to fuel up one day out driving and a guy comes up and said wow! that sounds awesome what does it have a 383, nice!:thumbup:
 
So the only way to put a photo on here is from a web site? You cant just upload a photo fom your drive?
 
What kind of gas mileage did you get with that combo? Also what compression ratio did you get with the new pistons?
 
MOPEkidD-3 said:
What kind of gas mileage did you get with that combo? Also what compression ratio did you get with the new pistons?
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The compression was right at 9to1 and the gas mileage was 12 mpg but my foot was always in it. (Drive It Hard, Don't Hardly Drive It)
 
One of the important things I have found in LA engines is to put the 273 & 318 in one class and the 340 & 360 in another. The engine pictured in my avatar I built. Really the only difference was the cam and bore. I Built that with a 67 273 block, 65 heads with the bolt matched Holley Dominator for the 65 heads because the 64 & 65 273's had a different intake manifold bolt pattern then the later ones. That cam was kicker it made great streetable power very much like the stock Commando Cam, it is a Crower # 31320 Solid Lifter. And of course I downsized the carburetor to a 570 CFM Holley Street Avenger. That car ran a stock 7 &1/4 inch rearend and a stock transmission with a stock converter, stock exhaust with high flo exhaust too. It did have a steel crank rather than a cast one. The thing about the 64 & 65 was the center hole cut in the back of the crank too, it was smaller than the later ones and the transmission slines were different than the laters as well. The transmissions were in fact set up for push button control cables which the government banned because of unsafe run aways. So the 273LA was replaced by the 318LA and the 273LA Commando was replaced by the 340 But you have to put it into an entirely different class because the only thing the same was the stroke. The bore on a 340 was huge, one of the factors for racing. Not to mention it was replaced by the 360 which made just as much power but through stoke rather than bore, that is why the 340 is in the same class as the 360 and only the upper engine parts are interchangable. Other than bearings, rod's timing cover and the such, and some of that stuff even had differences. The 340 was the one to have, it was the best of the best cast balanced crank on the ciruit at the time and the transmissions were built to accept them as well. See this takes us back to (The Little Red Engine That Could) the 273 Commando. So putting the 340 into the 360 class is debateable but done because of power factors and componet interchangeable parts. Nothing better to do tonight then rack a few brains. Go Valiant! Or how about Fast Back Valiant, nice! That being early Barracuda/Valiant. Valiant being the longest lasting car line throughout the muscle car years. Fabo's home page show's the years it ran! Cool stuff, these old MoPar's
 
Correct me if I'm wrong? Throught the years I heard it through the grapevine that the 340 fitted with cast cranks were also fitted with a different trans package. And if you wanted it to have the full value of balancing technology that package offered you could not swap the trans with one other unless it was of another 340 cast package without compromise!
 
I never heard that. The 1 year only 73 340 was an external balance engine, auto or manual. So on a auto trans car, the torque converter was balanced and not neutral like a 360's. The trans itself as far as I k now and ever heard is a standard unit with nothing special about it.
 
rumblefish360 said:
I never heard that. The 1 year only 73 340 was an external balance engine, auto or manual. So on a auto trans car, the torque converter was balanced and not neutral like a 360's. The trans itself as far as I k now and ever heard is a standard unit with nothing special about it.
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....I thought 360s are externally balanced???????

318s are internally balanced......
 
65CudaFish said:
Correct me if I'm wrong? Throught the years I heard it through the grapevine that the 340 fitted with cast cranks were also fitted with a different trans package. And if you wanted it to have the full value of balancing technology that package offered you could not swap the trans with one other unless it was of another 340 cast package without compromise!
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340 automatics were all 727's from the factory. The only differences were the single wire neutral switch type in '68 and the externally balanced converters in late '72-3 to match the cast crank engines after April. 1, 1972.
 
shadango said:
....I thought 360s are externally balanced???????

318s are internally balanced......
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I think it was the chunk in the front of the trans that was different. I'm not sure about how many 340's were externally balanced but I do think it was only the one's with cast cranks. As far as I know all the 360's are balanced externally, they replaced the last 340's and yes all 273LA's And 318LA's are internally balanced. I believe the early 318A's all had steel cranks with internal balancing as well:banghead:
 
cudamark said:
340 automatics were all 727's from the factory. The only differences were the single wire neutral switch type in '68 and the externally balanced converters in late '72-3 to match the cast crank engines after April. 1, 1972.
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So it was just the converters, and some wiring that were ever different. I was just wondering about this because a racer friend and a shop owner in California told me there were differences. The shop owner said it had to do with the drum in the front of the trans.:wack:
 
There may be some internal difference in parts due to upgrades through the years but as a whole unit, not counting the converter, the '69-73 727's will interchange and the '69-73 will fit in the '68 with minor wiring mods. If you don't need back-up lights, you can put the '68 trans in the '69-73 models. I know....those trannies will fit other years and models but we're just discussing 340 cars here, ok?
 
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