| Author | Message | ||
     Mr_grumpy |
My old pickup is using a bit of oil these days & performance is not all it might be. Also I don't think it's got unleaded heads as it's a '69 block. It's got a 600cfm Holley & an Edelbrock performer on it with Hedmann's & I'd like to keep it like that rather than going to a Magnum set up. Got no idea what cam's in it or whether the timing chain is any good etc etc, so if I pull it to rebuild it I'm going to need an awful lot of parts. Any of you lot got ideas for a decent crate motor? I'd love a 408 stroker but that's too far out of my budget & would necessitate too many other necessary upgrades so I'm just looking at stock a 318. Bear in mind that it's got to be shipped to France, so a service exchange is out of the question. Alternatively if any of you know of a good smallblock mopar going cheap from a wreck, let me know. | ||
| Ratbuell |
I've got a 99 (I think) Magnum 318 (they call it a 5.2) out of a Dakota. EFI motor but easily changed, it was a milkshake motor that popped a headgasket and was shut down. Bores and bearings look good enough to use, but I'd re-ring and re-bearing just to be safe. Not using it for anything, it's in Maryland about an hour out of DC. Worst case...change to hardened valve seats (for unleaded), port with a dremel to remove any ugliness, slap in a 340 cam with stock lifters and a new doubleroller chain set, new oil pump, new water pump, new style gaskets, and let 'er eat. The 340 cam makes good power, but doesn't sacrifice torque - it's a great workhorse cam and you don't lose vacuum to your brakes at lights like the 288/292 .513" that I ran in a 360 for a long time. Great power out of that one, but hit the brakes more than once? Might as well hit the gas, 'cause you're moving. LOL. | ||
| Thumper74 |
You should be able to drop in a Magnum 5.2 or 5.9 liter easily. I'm pretty sure that you can buy carburated intake manifolds for the Magnum engine series. It's a drop-in 300 hp motor... | ||
| Bill0351 |
Have you looked at Summit Racing? The complete rebuild kit for your engine is right around $360. I used them for a 351W Ford about 10 years ago, and they were a great company with good customer support. As long as you have a good local machine shop, it would be a fun project. Bill | ||
| Hughlysses |
Wow, a Dodge pick-em-up in France. That must be a more unique vehicle than a Buell!  The 318 was a very good engine. Decent power, decent mileage, and seemingly very durable. If you try to rebuild it, I'll bet you'll run into difficulties trying to have machining done on an English dimensioned engine in a metric country. I think I'd lean towards the crate motor too. | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
Ratbuell, don't have any worries about vac for the brakes, got drums all round. All you need is a strong leg & strong nerves. Bill0351 thanks that looks like a decent price, I'll have a look. Hughlysses, I've only seen one other Sweptline here & it was converted to a wrecker, the guy wouldn't sell it when I asked him because it was his Dads. I've been told about a couple of others down in the south, but no details. Machining is no prob, there's an agricultural tractor sales/breakers/repair shop a mile down the road & one of their sidelines is reboring & grinding old motors, they're used to doing old Fordsons & Fergies as well as metric stuff. | ||
| Texastechx1 |
i've rebuilt old school domestics small blocks, so my opinion may be biased. But i call for a rebuild it can be done cheaper than a crate motor and can be just as reliable if you take it to the right place for the machine work. I hope I'm not offending any mopar fans, i like em too, but the old 318s didn't leave ALOT of room for power, don't try to throw a bunch of money into with performance parts... the outcome will be disapointing, DAMHIK. I'm with RatBuell when it comes to the rebuild/parts advice. | ||
| Loki |
One thing to watch for rebuilding a LA 318 vs the 5.2 magnum. They changed how the top end gets oiled. Another point to watch: if you go with magnum heads you will need to use a magnum intake and vice versa | ||
| Ratbuell |
Yes - magnum heads use pushrod oiling, LA heads are traditional oiling (you can use AMC lifters to run Magnum heads on an LA block). Also Magnum heads have intakes that attach with bolts that are vertically oriented; LA intakes have bolts that are perpendicular to the head surface. There are any number of carb and efi intakes for either of the head styles. I ran a Magnum crate motor for years, an 03 or 04 Magnum 360/380, carb'd, single plane intake, the cam I mentioned above...it ran consistent hi 12's/lo 13s at the track in a 4400# Satellite station wagon street car on street tires. There's quite a bit of power to be made in the ol' LA platform...but it's a specific recipe. One guy with a 69 Dart's recipe? STOCK 318, 4bbl intake, procharger and intercooler. 20+mpg around town, low *11s* at the track. And yes...1/4 mile track, not 1/8. Best bet in a truck, though? I'd go for torque. I love me a purpleshaft Mopar cam like the OEM 340 stick I mentioned above, but Comp and many others make good, torquey bumpsticks for the LA series. Single plane intake if you want higher end power; dual plane if you want low end torque. I'm an Edelbrock carb guy (*hate* 'puddle dumpers') so I always go with an AFB style 4bbl with electric choke (what I ran on my crate motor); Mopar orange box electronic ignition or just electronic distributor with MSD box (6A for street cars, 6AL if you want a rev limit), and a clutch type fan (or you can go electric on the radiator if you want to lose ALL the parasitic drag). Dammit. Now I'm getting the "Car Itch". Our Magnum R/T is likely totalled from a T-bone (bonehead ran a stop sign and plowed into us; *I* think the frame is bent, insurance hasn't verified yet, but the buckle in the roof tells me "yep"). I'm dying to put its 5.7 EFI hemi and 5 speed autostick into my old Satellite. Maybe with a Procharger  | ||
| Thumper74 |
Rat... That's an easy 500 ponies with a conservative tune. The bigger Hemis are pumping out 600 | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
Sounds like it's rebuild time  Have to source some later lead free heads, & a rebuild kit. If I take it down I'll probably do the lot, cam, timing chain, water pump, alternator etc, & put a serpentine kit on at the same time. ALready got a Edelbrock Performer (I think it's dual plane) on there & carb is a Holley 65-1850, remanufactured 600cfm, with manual choke. Got Hedmann Hedders, & dual pipes with cherry bombs. There's no balance pipe between the exhausts though, what do you reckon? worth doing? Single pickup distributor with orange box, ignition. 727 trans with a B&M shifter, is weepy at the converter & tail shaft so that'd get looked at at the same time. Again don't know if the valve block has been tinkered with or not. Axle is stock except for 3.23 gears. If I was going for power I'd slot a big block in, but a 318 has plenty enough to scare the crap out of gti drivers, usually the noise howling out of the pipes when the secondaries are wide open, is enough to put them off! | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
For those that haven't seen it before, here's my baby with what you'd call a Isuzu Rodeo on the trailer. It's a '68 D100 shortbed.  | ||
| Ducxl |
THose WERE cool trucks.Wasn't there an early 60s versus later 60s version of the 318? | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
Yeah early were poly & later were LA series, if I remember correctly. | ||
| Ducxl |
I used to hang with Mopar freaks.The 340,440,413 engines were desireable.318+400 were not,strictly from a performance standpoint REbuild sounds right,good luck/w that cool truck. | ||
| Thumper74 |
Cross overs are worth the work... It's been a while, but get a tire crayon, mark a line down the pipe. Drive the truck and note where the wax is burnt off. put the cross over there. Usually, it's right under the trans. It's beena while, I'll see if I can dig up the article. |
