trying to pull ponnies with little cash

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ramman7284

ramman7284

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im new to this site. i no im gona to get alot of responses. but i bought a 72 duster bout a yr ago its got a 318 i was told out of a 68 truck was swapped to 727 original 7 1/4 rear end. now ive had alot of different plans for this like dropping a v10 with a 6spd or a 440. but since im short on cash i have a 318 out of a 84 ram i believe it only has 60000 miles but when i tore it apart is was nasty lookin but what im basicaly asking does any have any ideas on how to get somewhere around 400hp out it with spending as little as possible and as little machining as possible the car will b use on the street more and im hopping to put a 6spd in with mayb a 9 1/4 or a dana 44 with 4.10 or 4.11:burnout:
 
The best thing you can do for the money is change the pistons for some KB167's. It will do wonders for the little 318. Cheap performance cam, anything is better than stock. If you do some basic head work yourself, thats free HP. A little bit goes a LONG way in a stock head.
 
The pistons mentioned and headers won't get you to 400 but with a good cam you can get more than you have now.Basicly 4 bbl,cam,pistons,headers and high flowing heads but thats not cheap so pistons headers and cam is your best shot.
 
1968FormulaS340 said:
Is this your only car? Your daily driver?
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this isnt my only vehicle i try to swap off between it nd my truck after 2 weeks just so nothing gets gunked up in them
i do appriciate all this insite i do want headers a cam one that has a nice lope to it not to radical maybe some aluminum heads ive got a 650 holley dp being gone threw right now
 
Welcome to FABO, yeah, if you breathe on the teen a bit you get easy results.
I would look for a 8 1/4'' a body rear to replace what's in it now as well as the upgrades that everyone else has said so far.
 
ramman7284 said:
a 318 out of a 84 ram i believe it only has 60000 miles but when i tore it apart is was nasty lookin but what im basicaly asking does any have any ideas on how to get somewhere around 400hp out it with spending as little as possible and as little machining as possible the car will b use on the street more and im hopping to put a 6spd in with mayb a 9 1/4 or a dana 44 with 4.10 or 4.11:burnout:
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Mate,to be honest a 400hp 318 is gonna be a pretty nasty engine and it's gonna cost!!!
 
ramman7284 said:
what im basicaly asking does any have any ideas on how to get somewhere around 400hp out it with spending as little as possible...
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Realistically, what is your budget? How much money do you have exactly? Then we can spend your money in the most efficient way possible.
 
400hp from a 318 is cake and would not be Nasty at all. If you want to throw on a set of Eddy aluminum heads, put a GOOD flat top piston in and a cam with around 230* duration @.050" and .500" lift, theres your 400hp.

Would a 340 with 400hp be nasty and cost a bunch? Not really. 318 and 340 are not that much different
 
Ramman What is your budget for this endeavor? Target goal?

MRL Performance said:
The best thing you can do for the money is change the pistons for some KB167's. It will do wonders for the little 318. Cheap performance cam, anything is better than stock. If you do some basic head work yourself, thats free HP. A little bit goes a LONG way in a stock head.
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I'm glad you said that. Every time I say use your 318 head on your 318, I get slammed by the "Intelligent crowd" on it being a poor / wrong choice.

Nice to have a builder of Chrysler engines say it.

nqkjw said:
Mate,to be honest a 400hp 318 is gonna be a pretty nasty engine and it's gonna cost!!!
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MRL Performance, I think nqkjw was refuring to the engine displacement and cm size leading to a nasty chopping idle and street manors, due to the small displacement and cam size needed for 400 HP. How it all reacts in the engine that is only 318 cubes vs. a 340/360 cube engine.
 
If you're building from the 'ground up'...

-- KB-167 pistons
-- modern Comp, Lunati, etc. 268* cam or similar
-- Edelbrock aluminum or RHS iron heads
-- Edelbrock RPM intake or similar
-- Headers (Dougs or TTI if you can afford them, Hedman Tight Tubes if not)
-- 650 cfm carb (Holley or Edelbrock, depends on application and personal preference)

Altogether this would be around $4-5k so if that's out of your budget you could substitute the new heads for ported factory heads and save $1500 or so but of course max power will be less. You could also go with a bigger cam for more power as long as the rest of the drivetrain is built to match (gears, converter, etc.)
 
Having built a few 318s I gotta disagree with getting 400 horse out of stock early 318 heads. Maybe later 318 heads but not the earlier ones. runners are small for low rpm torque and its a lot of work to put 1.88s in them.I ended up with 700. in a pair for a plunge cut 1.88s and hardened seats. If he uses the 84 heads he might be ok but 72 318 heads are boat anchors.
 
72 318 heads are boat anchors.[/QUOTE said:
your opinion... 400 hp with these heads is not out of the possibility although starting from scratch it would more difficult then a 360 head. but used in the right spot these heads are great. we as mopar guys are in great shape with our factory heads. go build a chevy and you will understand. read this thread http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=167865 if you have the skill to do some of your own work you can make some really good power with 318. good suggestion have been stated already. but heads are the key to power and if the pistons are there like suggested and a better cam like suggested do some work on the head like the head porting thread you will make some good power.cheap power
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318 and a 340 are similair in measurements but a 400hp 318 would also need stronger rods to be safe which is even more money.IMO you can't get 400hp from a 318 CHEAPLY unless you already have the hp parts.Stock 318 manifolds are pythons(restrictive) and the piston is down in the hole so those two are your top concerns then a 4bbl and finally a thumping cam.This order is the way I would go if did the same thing.Only the pistons and headers will make a difference together without the others,the 4bbl and cam will be useless without the pistons and headers.This is just my opinion.
 
72 318 have the same rod as a 360 witch is the same as a 340 minus pin bushings
 
It was my understanding that the 318 rods were lighter and to an extent weaker.Same legnth tho.
 
69 and maybe 70 and earlier 318 and 273 rod are thinner same length and pin bushed. in 71 they went with the same rod as 340 and 360 340 being bushed 318-360 have pressed pins.
 
the wall said:
your opinion... 400 hp with these heads is not out of the possibility although starting from scratch it would more difficult then a 360 head. but used in the right spot these heads are great. we as mopar guys are in great shape with our factory heads. go build a chevy and you will understand. read this thread http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=167865 if you have the skill to do some of your own work you can make some really good power with 318. good suggestion have been stated already. but heads are the key to power and if the pistons are there like suggested and a better cam like suggested do some work on the head like the head porting thread you will make some good power.cheap power
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I was stating that to transform these to perform isnt cost effective. Starting with a 302 head would put you ahead of the curve. The intake runners are too small.
 
daredevil said:
I was stating that to transform these to perform isnt cost effective. Starting with a 302 head would put you ahead of the curve. The intake runners are too small.
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well 1 wild got 159 @.500 ex 210 @ .500 int stock valves and valve job with those small ports. if you do the math that adds up to 400hp and he tells you what he did to get those numbers. now 400hp would be well tune every thing in great order and other thing but you can see that it would be good realistic numbers at 350 plus with 318 heads and these aren't 302 heads. even if you do the work on the heads there is money needing to be spent to get there and the OP wants to do this on a tight budget so there are still things to consider for sure.
 
I have a set ported like wilds but with 1.88 intakes and I would do different knowing what I know now.Maybe boat anchor was too harsh. Should have said performance challenged.
 
thanks for the insite again. ive heard both from around here that getting sum ponnies out of a mopar is gona cost me alot nd that its gona be a cake walk. my intentions for this car is to make a nice show car out of it since theres not to many in my town and i want it to perfom as it looks cause this '68 318 cant break the tires loose to me it feels restricted but yet its a beast. as for headers i was thinking some flowtechs cause they are on the cheaper side and they are in coliation with holley
 
ramman7284 said:
thanks for the insite again. ive heard both from around here that getting sum ponnies out of a mopar is gona cost me alot nd that its gona be a cake walk. my intentions for this car is to make a nice show car out of it since theres not to many in my town and i want it to perfom as it looks cause this '68 318 cant break the tires loose to me it feels restricted but yet its a beast. as for headers i was thinking some flowtechs cause they are on the cheaper side and they are in coliation with holley
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Do NOT buy flowtech headers!
Unless you really like swearing and bending pipes, especially if you have power steering.
 
If your running the original 7 1/4 rear it most likely has 2.76 gearing. It's not going to be a tire burner even with 400 HP with those gears. I would change the rear end first and then start with some bolt on parts. You can add 100 HP to a stock 318 with bolt on parts using stock heads. 300 HP is easy to come by 400 will take better heads or head work and a larger cam.
 
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