318 problems no guts

[newmant]

I am new to Mopar and have just finish restoring a 72 Duster for my son. here what has been done 318 .030 whith TRW forge flat top pistons, 360 heads stock, 480 x280 cam with int. open at 30 btdc w/ 60deg overlap, weind 8007 dual plane , holley 1850 with 3.5 PV, adj. rockers,electronic ing out of 74 duster orange box, 727 trans stock converter and 323 SG 8 3/4.

Heres my problem with car in gear idling 800 rpm I have 4 in of vac. out of gear 800 rpm 9 in vac. (130 psi per cylinder compression) this produce a condition that is unable to adjust carb. to run the same every time it is start and we are plaged with a flooding condition after a hard run. I know that rear end and converter are robbing some of my bottom end, but there is something wrong.

Can anyone give me advice is the cam wrong for street every day driver, if so what would you recommend that would give me botton end and a choppy idle. or what stall converter would you run. I want to stay with 323's

[andy w.]

hey man I think alot of your problems are coming from your heads and cam. my guess is that your dealing with only about 8.2 to 8.5 to 1 comp. and your cam needs comp. to work proper. You need at least 9.5 to 1 comp. with about 160 to 170 cranking pressure. if you want to keep your 3.23 gears I would most likely put a cam with .450 lift and 260 or 270 duration or maybe a stock 340 cam. What kind of intake do you have and what is your timing set on?? GOOD LUCK!!!!!

[andy w.]

I forgot to tell you also that cam is not going to work well with that converter. I KNOW I had a .484 284 mopar cam in my duster with a stock conv. it ran like a dog.. it wanted to jump when I would put it in gear and, the bottom end was awfull. If you keep the cam I'd put at least a 2800 to 3500 rpm stall. depending on how bad you want to go fast. I have a B&M con. and it works great. but it was expensive. you have a good intake I didnt see it the first time I was reading.

[andy w.]

I forgot to tell you also that cam is not going to work well with that converter. I KNOW I had a .484 284 mopar cam in my duster with a stock conv. it ran like a dog.. it wanted to jump when I would put it in gear and, the bottom end was awfull. If you keep the cam I'd put at least a 2800 to 3500 rpm stall. depending on how bad you want to go fast. I have a B&M con. and it works great. but it was expensive. you have a good intake I didnt see it the first time I was reading.

[The Dartman]

My Dad runs the 484/284 cam in his duster with a stock 200 stall converter with no problems.

I too am plagued by vacuum problems as well with my 318. The problem may be fixed by doing what I did:

My 12.5:1 318 (750 double pump, high rise single plane, 517/292 HYD cam) did not make enough vacuum for the vacuum advance to work correctly (I forget the actual number) so we disconected the vacuum advance and set the timing appropriatly to allow for no vacuum advance - kind of a happy medium. From here you may continue your carbuerator adjustments. My 318 pulls 12.8's with a 4500 stall converter and 3.91:1 gears.

[Richard Reardon]

NEWMAN, see the reply I gave to SUBLIME on his 318 earlier today.
I don't know much about your vacuum problem, however have you got the carb. floats adjusted @ the correct height. Those little Holley universal 1850s are a good carb and flow 600 cfm. You are absolotely correct about the stock converter and cam combo robbing you of low end torque. With those 360 open chamber heads @ 130 lbs per sq. in. you're barely making 9 to 1 compression. Again the cam is too radical for this low compression. And those 3.23 gears are struggling to make up the differance.

Good luck, Richard

[newmant]

Richard
We are checking cam timing this week end. I believe that we will be doing the following

Mill .030 heads, change cam to Comp 270 and install 2500 stall converter. What your take on that.


T

[cudadude]

newman,i don't know what kind of performance level you are looking, but i would guess that you would like to be able to out perform the occasional rustang or chebbymarrow!!!!.the 270H is a good choice of cam's.i would probably suggest that you find a good set of '71-,73 360 heads or '68-'71 340 heads.if you mill .050 off, your compression will still be around 8.3:1-8.6:1 depending on your head gasket you use. the only way i have found to bring the performance up on any '73-'86 318 is to change to a higher compression piston.i dont know how budgeted your project is but you can drop down to a '69-'70 stock piston and rod combo and achieve a 9.0:1comp. with factory parts.the reason for the rod change is the earlier pistons used floating pins.if you use the earlier rods/pistons the earlier heads and mill them .050,install the 270H degreed in , use edelbroc sureseat springs,comp cams push rods,have the heads ported,polished,unshrouded with a 3 angle valve job.your intake is a very good intake,but i would switch to a 625 carter.the carter,even though its mechanical,will meter the air going into the secondaries.with its step up springs, metering rods,and jets readly changeable within minutes it is a very easy carb to tune in.a 2000-2500 stall with 3.55:1 cogs should send the stangs on a stampeed.if your car has electronic ignition dont buy a performance kit you can re-curve your distibutor and just purchase an orange box for it.this is about as budget as it can get to be able to run with ford and chevy.i hope that my 2 cents helps and i wish you very good luck on a adventure in the world of mopars as i have enjoyed them foy many years