Why the 318 is a phenomenal engine...

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413 said:
All this love for the small blocks and how great they run.
OK Anyone ever drive a 1960’s 440?
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Yes I have, and had a '69 Coronet R/T with a 440 magnum, 4 speed, and a 3:54 Dana rear end.
Stock other than headers and electronic ignition, and it went like hell.
Sometimes I think that if I put that engine and combination in an A-Body, it would be awesome.
It really set you back in the seat with the torque, and it still had the stock cam...
Beautiful!
 
One thing I loved about my 318-2 was how easily it pulled away from my friends car. A buddy with his 67 Buick Skylark remarked how power it was, he couldn’t believe it. I have 4 people in the Duster and he has only himself…. Getting pasted!
 
rumblefish360 said:
One thing I loved about my 318-2 was how easily it pulled away from my friends car. A buddy with his 67 Buick Skylark remarked how power it was, he couldn’t believe it. I have 4 people in the Duster and he has only himself…. Getting pasted!
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My Pal Tommy Lauber in Tampa had a Petty Blue ( b5?) Dart Sport, shoved a 440 4 spd in there. Had an old Eddy Tarantula sticker on the driver's rear glass. He took 4 of us kids for a ride in 1990..... Sheeeitttt
 
Dan the man said:
I've had a few 318's, there are a good, they have excellent bore to stroke ratio. My main complaint about them is for the most part they are gas hogs. I had a 1989 and a 1998 1/2 trucks and neither got better than 14 on the highway.
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When the emissions BS hit, the big 3 did the same thing to the smallest small blocks. They reduced intake lift about 0.050". I had a 1982 Blazer 305 4 barrel with the 700R4 overdrive. On level highway it would cycle between D and OD. Poor vaccum, power and fuel economy. When the General came out with the hi output 305 for the Camaro, they used a 350 cam. Valves were bigger and combustion chamber a bit smaller. That lead me to check the TRW cam catalogue. The lowest Chev cam was the 305. There was another cam and then the 350, another cam and a "RV" cam. I bought the RV cam and installed with new lifters. Driveability was greatly improved as well as mileage.
While checking cams, I noticed the 302 Ford and 318 Mopar had the same design issue. When Ford introduced the 302HO for the Mustang a 351 cam was installed.
 
Back when I was just out of high school, my Duster 340 engine blew a freeze plug up front one cold night about two miles from home and I drove it on home. The block cracked so I got a 318 two barrel out of a 1967 Satellite and put in it. Right away, I was amazed by the torque the thing had. I had headers on the Duster but the engine was completely stock. I was talking to a friend one day who had a 1972 Demon 340. He says to me, "you would have to put $2000 into that 318 to make it run with this 340." I told him to bring it out and we would see. He pulled me by about a fender on takeoff (he had an automatic where I had a four speed) but when I shifted to second we were even again and the same through fourth but when I hit fourth, the 318 started to pull away from him and then he just let off on it when he saw he wasn't going to reel me back in. I like my 340s but I was really impressed with that little 318.
 
That's it. I'm building a 318 because i have the parts and a good 85 318. bowl ported and gasket matched 302 heads, summit 272 .454 216 at .050 cam, 901 springs, eddy performer intake, 600 holley. Should be 9 to 1 compression. Have a 64 dart to put it in. should be a good cruiser.
 
aaronk785 said:
That's it. I'm building a 318 because i have the parts and a good 85 318. bowl ported and gasket matched 302 heads, summit 272 .454 216 at .050 cam, 901 springs, eddy performer intake, 600 holley. Should be 9 to 1 compression. Have a 64 dart to put it in. should be a good cruiser.
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Should be a dandy. I really don't need a engine for anything but I have a roller teen, a 273 forged crank, and a pair of Speedmaster heads all waiting for something to do.
 
Just remembered. I have a charger 273 top end. Factory cast iron single plane, carb and valve covers. Won't that be cool. Guy wanted it but has never come up with the cash. It's a 67, so it has the same I take bolt angles.
 
nckennyb said:
Back when I was just out of high school, my Duster 340 engine blew a freeze plug up front one cold night about two miles from home and I drove it on home. The block cracked so I got a 318 two barrel out of a 1967 Satellite and put in it. Right away, I was amazed by the torque the thing had. I had headers on the Duster but the engine was completely stock. I was talking to a friend one day who had a 1972 Demon 340. He says to me, "you would have to put $2000 into that 318 to make it run with this 340." I told him to bring it out and we would see. He pulled me by about a fender on takeoff (he had an automatic where I had a four speed) but when I shifted to second we were even again and the same through fourth but when I hit fourth, the 318 started to pull away from him and then he just let off on it when he saw he wasn't going to reel me back in. I like my 340s but I was really impressed with that little 318.
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The manual trans was a factor here. You didn’t say what you had for a carb or exhaust, camshaft change from 318-2bbl? I doubt is was a stock 2bbl carb doing that. Plus just because he had a 340 doesn’t mean it was in good shape or tuned properly. And did one have 410’s and the other 2.76? Too many unknowns to make any conclusions other than it happened, but why?


There is a reason Chrysler sold thousands of 340 cars and the slogan was 6000 RPM for under $3000

we’re all these buyers silly because the 318 was just as fast?

DEED6590-559F-46BB-AABB-EB50BB968E82.jpeg
 
413 said:
The manual trans was a factor here. You didn’t say what you had for a carb or exhaust, camshaft change from 318-2bbl? I doubt is was a stock 2bbl carb doing that. Plus just because he had a 340 doesn’t mean it was in good shape or tuned properly. And did one have 410’s and the other 2.76? Too many unknowns to make any conclusions other than it happened, but why?
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The manual probably was a factor. I had 3.23 gears and I assume he had 3.55s which was standard for the Demon 340s I think but I had the stock 2bbl on the 318. His car my not have been in the best of tune but he seemed confident before the race. It's a known fact that some engines just run better from the factory when they should be equal based on the same parts being used and that may have been an unusually good running 318. His might have been an unusually bad running 340 car.
 
nckennyb said:
The manual probably was a factor. I had 3.23 gears and I assume he had 3.55s which was standard for the Demon 340s I think but I had the stock 2bbl on the 318. His car my not have been in the best of tune but he seemed confident before the race. It's a known fact that some engines just run better from the factory when they should be equal based on the same parts being used and that may have been an unusually good running 318. His might have been an unusually bad running 340 car.
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Your friend had a sick 340.
 
Any one ever use a 360 2bbl and intake on a 318. That would be a sleeper. 95% of people wouldn't know the difference.
 
aaronk785 said:
Any one ever use a 360 2bbl and intake on a 318. That would be a sleeper. 95% of people wouldn't know the difference.
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Good idea, except the ports are larger on the 360 intake than the 318 mheads, so it would work too good with that step in there.
 
aaronk785 said:
That's it. I'm building a 318 because i have the parts and a good 85 318. bowl ported and gasket matched 302 heads, summit 272 .454 216 at .050 cam, 901 springs, eddy performer intake, 600 holley. Should be 9 to 1 compression. Have a 64 dart to put it in. should be a good cruiser.
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Should be a tire melter.
 
I wish the 318 my Duster came with ran remotely as well as everyone's talking about in here. I don't think the OP is lying either but it's still hard for me to believe. Granted my 318 was quite worn out, lots of bore wear and rings were stuck from carbon build-up but it ran smooth and I was also at 7000' elevation which killed a lot of power. But with the stock cam, 2-bbl and single exhaust it could NOT rev over 4000 RPM while in gear, just completely ran out of breath by that point. After I put reman'd 302 heads on it, Lunati Voodoo 256/262 cam, 625 cfm Carter AFB and dual exhaust off the stock manifolds, then it would pull to about 5500 RPM. 6500 RPM is really really up there for a stock 318.

It was my first engine and in hindsight I should have gotten a healthier short block to swap in but I had no idea how to do things back then I was just getting started in the hobby. I saved that 318 block and crank since they were in good shape, would be fun to build it up one day but once I experienced 360 torque I've had a hard time rationalizing building a 318 unless it's going in a light car with stick-shift, big heads, solid cam and rev to the moon. Like the OP wants to do with his. I just don't have an appropriate vehicle for it lol.
 
The 318 has always been a want to be engine, as itself it was as blaaa as having the ****'s on a rainy day. Chysler never saw fit to make a performance version for a reason and it wasn't because the 318 was the greatest engine ever.
 
The 318 really digging in, tac it up, tac it up buddy gonna shut you down.
 
MoparMike1974 said:
If you love a 318 you gotta try a 340.
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Exactly. 318's are great for what they are and were intended for.
After that... externally... they all look the ******* same.lol
I can make ANY OF THEM haul ***.
One thing is for certain...
When you need power beyond a certain level... you dont go smaller cid...you go bigger.
Look the same..but they dont all perform the same.
:usflag:
 
Dartnut said:
I have had a lot of cars over the years with 318s.
Some are better than others in stock form, but the best ones I have found are the '68-'69 318s.
Of course the compression was higher in those years, but they just plain worked.
They are dead nuts reliable and it doesn't matter the year, they go good for what they are.
I have never had or ridden in one that was hopped up from stock other than dual exhaust and a 4 barrel, but they have a lot of potential.
It's like a 340's little brother...
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One of the best 318 I ever had came out of a 69 dodge truck, fun engine, weird single plane 2 bbl carb, and front sump oil pan.
I beat on that old truck hard, it was rusty.
The day I bought it, drove it down the interstate 60 miles home in the rain.
I ended up soaking wet from the waist down, floor boards rotted, but what do you want for $50?
Fixed the floor, and drove it for a couple of years, it finally got so bad sometimes you had to slide the cab over to get the clutch to work.
Rear end finally went out, pulled the engine and junked the truck.
Slid that engine in a duster. it was a really fun car to drive.
Ended up selling the engine to a guy saying it was a match to the one in his boat.
 
sireland67 said:
One of the best 318 I ever had came out of a 69 dodge truck, fun engine, weird single plane 2 bbl carb, and front sump oil pan.
I beat on that old truck hard, it was rusty.
The day I bought it, drove it down the interstate 60 miles home in the rain.
I ended up soaking wet from the waist down, floor boards rotted, but what do you want for $50?
Fixed the floor, and drove it for a couple of years, it finally got so bad sometimes you had to slide the cab over to get the clutch to work.
Rear end finally went out, pulled the engine and junked the truck.
Slid that engine in a duster. it was a really fun car to drive.
Ended up selling the engine to a guy saying it was a match to the one in his boat.
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69 was the best year I believe. (highest compression)
 
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