need more from 318

[ram50 440]

I recently rebuilt the 318 in my 87 gran fury, (its a cop car with a roadster top).it has 9 1/2to1 trw's, stock heads mild bowl work,215/220@50 479/494 engle hydraulic roller,performer intake, performer 600 carb,727,1600-2000 stall converter,8 3/4, 3.91 sure grip. on 275/60 bfg's it ran 15.10@91 through the mufflers, very dissapointing. my main goal is beating these punks in their mustangs, and that just isnt going to do it. I'm looking for any kind of help i can get.I tried lightening it up a bit cant find much more to take off. i have a 3500 stall converter that will go in this weekend, hoping that will help a great deal.any additional help would be greatly appreciated. thanks

[DartGT66]

The converter will propably help some, if you still have traction. Headers would be great, and bigger valves in the heads. But I can't see anything special wrong about your combo. The 727 robs a lot of horsepower, and according to my SB experiences really responds to bigger stall speed. And then there is tuning, the carb, ignition curve and total advance etc. A fact is that the 5.0 Rustang is a good package, and it needs some serious power to outrun one with a pretty heavy car and a 318. I think your car doesn't run that bad at all, but maybe you could cut 0.5-1 seconds from the ET with headers and the converter + tuning.

[bruce]

ram 50 also try a K and N air filter, an orange box for ignition gives a hotter spark, and either use synthetic or duralube. I know duralube works ive used it for years. bruce

[rb77413]

I have an 86 Diplomat (an ex-cop car) with a 318-4bbl and 904 tran with 2.94 gears that ran an 18.4 So don't feel so bad. Another trick you can do for e.t. wise is try shorter tires. I run BFG's in a 245-60-15 on the 15-7 cop wheels. You could try 360 heads as they already have bigger ports. I'm porting a set of 318 heads now for mine and putting a 340 spec cam in it soon. Hopefully I''l break out of 18's. As mentioned before try a different distributor with a faster curve. My dip has the computer under the dash.(cause it's an orig. 4-bbl car) and it seems like the original distrib has very slow advance curve. Hopefully not but pull your smog pump off. I did and it still passed emissions. If you have to test your car for emissions. Let me know how it turns out. I want to see how another cop-car can run. Good Luck.

[The Dartman]

You may have noticed from my earlier posts that my main ideas are limited to easy, cheap horsepower. It looks to me that you can do the following easily for little money:

Install your 3500 stall converter. This will make your tame ride into a launching beast (hopefully). I went from a stock 2000 340 converter behind my old 340 that ran 14.2's and changed to a TCI 4500 and ran a best of 13.70. 60 foots went from 2.05 to 1.80 as well. This is a little more extreme than your 3500 unit, but you should still see 3 to 4 tenths drop off your ET. This is dependent upon getting traction thought too.

Go with the above mentioned orange box ignition system. They are relatively inexpensive (VS MSD or comparable) and you would see a jump in performance. If you want to go with the Chrysler Chrome box, I suggest going with a Mallory(?) Fireball or Street MSD or some other street after market ignition sys instead. Gap your plugs at .038 or .040 for the hottest spark from these units.

Get some cold air in there!! Can you make a cold air induction system somehow? I seen store bought kits that have air ducts in the bright headlight holes or under the bumper. Cold air is supposed to be good for about 10 Horse Power, espicailly if it is forced. I assume your going for sleeper so a Pro Stock hood scoop is out of the question? (hee hee) As a CHEAP alternative, try raising the back of your hood about 1 to 2 inches off your cowl. This will act as a cowl induction and vent all that crappy air out from under your hood. If you ever go to a stock/super stock meet, you'll see that a lot of these guys run their hoods this way.

Back to traction: if it is an issue start looking for an adjustable pinion snubber. I myself don't use one, but they can really help plan those tires. I myself use a traction bar rubber snubber drilled and bolted directly to the stock flange (with small stock rubber snubber removed). This setup in my car rides about 1.5 inches from the floor board, and my car has the typical Mopar launch (back end raises up and plants the tires). My curent best 60 foot is 1.67.

HoWZ Dat?

[ram50 440]

thanks for the help guys. more info on the car. it has sanderson streetrod headers 1 1/2" primaries 2 1/2" collectors with single 3" exhaust. have the mopar orange box and distributor, msd coil and wires. and it has a pinion snubber. traction isnt a problem (so far). it cant even burn the 205/70 white walls that came on it. just for fun i got a 2" carb spacer and a hilborn, its not on there yet, and will only be on there for the track. but that should help. been thinking of making an air grabber hood for it. well i'm putting in the converter tomorrow, i'll keep you posted. thanks guys.

[ram50 440]

well thanks everyone for the help. last saturday i got the trans back in the car with the new converter. WOW what a difference. this is what i was looking for. that excitement only lasted a little while though, then i wanted more. swaped the 600 carb for a slightly modified 750 edl. 2" 4 hole carb spacer, and a hilborn. once again WOW. thought the 750 might be too much, but not a problem. that little 318 loves it. she really moves now. blazes those 275 bfg's like nothing. i still have a few ideas in mind, but i'm more than pleased with what it has now. going to the track friday night, we'll see what happens. not sure what to expect, but mid to low 14's seems easy. i'll keep you posted, thanks again.