Tell me about the 318 engine, please?

[Alaska Hemi]

I'm looking at buying a 1985 Ram 150 2 wheel drive, with the 318 engine and an auto tranny (not sure which one)...anyhow for now the truck will be a beater truck, but eventually I'll pull the engine and rebuild it for installation into a mid 60's Dodge/Plymouth car (which I don't have yet!).

Is the 318 a good engine to work with for mild hot-rodding? Are parts readily available for it? What about the '85, is there anything about that year I should know about?

Thanks in advance for the help!!!

Andy
Kodiak, Alaska

[ChallengerChuck]

In the balance of things,the 318 is an excellent engine.It has been around for almost 40 years;that in my opinion says a LOT about its basic design.Does it have the high-perf reputation of the 340?Well,no.However,it is indeed upgradeable to almost 340 levels.Indeed,a steel crank originally made for the 340 will directly fit into a 318 with no modifications required whatsoever!
With your 318 being an '85 model,you may just have something that would most definitely sweeten the pot.That something being that many 318s of that vintage had their blocks machined from the factory for a hydraulic roller cam.(Technically,Chrysler beat Ford to the market with blocks that were machined for hydraulic roller cams.Being at heart a Ford Fox man,admitting this pains me no end!)
Make sure that the block is in good shape,but if I were you,I would keep it!

[Frank]

Some easy upgrades for your 318 are 340 or 360 heads. the standard bore of the 318 will support the 2.02 intake valves available on 360 heads.

The 340 6 pack set up works well with the 318, too.

There is also a multitude of cams available for the 318.

There are 302 heads that were on the '86 and 87 318 trucks that were pretty good stock heads. They are refered to as High Swirl heads, and offer improved combustion.

Wonderful little V8 the 318 was.

[Alaska Hemi]

What about a 318 from a 1988 truck? The guy originally told me it was an 85, but we just got back from driving it and it's an 88. Sure looked like a bunch of emissions crap on it...is it worthy of a rebuild and a new home inside a musclecar, or not?

I'm thinking not...

Thanks!

Andy

[rumblefish360]

Funny how people equate emmision engines to bad performance engines. This is true to a point of keeping the emmisions clean at the tester. If your not concerned with emmisions on an older car, then any engine can be beefed up above it's normal performance levels that the factory must limit themselfs to due to emmisions.

Hot rodding the 318 is easy and mostly cheap. There are tons of parts for this engine. It will respond well to hot rodding technics. Being down 22 cubes from the 340, just chose a smaller cam for the 318. The same cam in the 340 will act one way, but more radical in the 318. They are easy to over cam.
Depending on the car choosen, the 318 will do very well.
A fav. car of 318 builders is an "A" body car. These being Darts & Dusters. Mostly for there light weight.

I recomend Larry Sheppards book called, "How to hot rod small block Chrysler engines" and the MoPar "Engines" book for small blocks.

I'm unsure if that is a roller cammed block. If it is, you have a great advantage there.