torque monster 318

[dusterbd]

i know a toeque monster and 318 dont necessarily go together, but its what i have to work with, so here goes
84 dodge ram. 4x4, automatic. 6 inch lift, 35 inch tires, 4:11 front and rear. power brakes.
the 318 is stock, and the customer is complaining about lack of power. so im going to do some budget modifications. what im thinking is to use a set of mildly ported, small valve 360 heads that have been milled for compression, a performer squarebore intake, a 600 holly, and a cam from the top of the page from summit. blackjack headers, 2 1/4 exhaust. also ditching the air pump, egr, and any other emissions that i can.
is there anythiung i am missing? shoukld i leave the 318 heads on?
ive never done a 318, and never one for pure torque. so point me in the right direction. thanks guys
mike

[rumblefish360]

Well, thats true. Being down on cubes creates a problem with torque. For an off the self cam, I would do a Comp Extreme. I would pull the XE256 off the shelf. It has a power range of 1000 (which is a blip of idle) to 5200 RPM's. There taking better advantage of the larger lifter, but not like a custom Racer Brown or other cam grinder.
The milled 360 heads may give you a problem in mounting the intake. But should perform well. I myself would stick to the 318 heads with the 360 valves, intake and exhaust. A mill of the 318 heads for target comp. is OK to. You'll mill less with them. 9.0-1 max for a heavy truck and small cam on pump gas. 9.5-1 may be pushing to far, I would push it myself, but it is possible. I just wouldn't want to run 92 - 92 octane for the power in this case.
The ports will match up with the Performer intake manifold and provided excellent velocity. Which is good for the little engine.
The high velocity will keep the fuel atomized better. The fuel won't have any time to form droplets like a big port head would.
Exhaust looks good.
Hows his ;
Ignition, type of air cleaner?
Does he have a Viscous fan? (No flex fans)
Keep the carb vaccum seconday. (Of course) 600 cfm is fine.

[dusterbd]

stock electronic ignition, recurved. air cleaner will me a 14 inch open, paper element. want to go electric if i can talk him into it.
will the new cam require stiffer springs?
also, if the 318 heads will be sufficient, should i do any port work?
thanks, rumblefish
mike

[rumblefish360]

Up grade the ignition to an MSD at the least. You can have the stock ignition system fire the MSD for leagal reasons if need be.

want to go electric if i can talk him into it.

Electric what? Fan? Good idea.
Cam will require stiffer springs. At a $100 bucks (?), it's worth the expense.
Hold off on any big porting. No reason to go that far yet. After all, he's paying, keep it cheap for him. If another 25 hp is what he wants, port them.
Install the 360 valves in the 318 head with a nice comp valve job and open the bowls under the valve to take advantage of the larger valves. Thats it, thats all it'll need. Any further porting is not really needed. Your under .500 lift.

[dusterbd]

thanks. will do.
very much appreciate the help, rumblefish
ill send you pics when i get this monstrosity done. or post it to my website.
mike

[rumblefish360]

Good, look foward to it.

[451Mopar]

If he is still running the stock intake, carb, exhaust and ignition - I might hold off spending all the money for new heads and cam and install small tube headers with dual 2-1/4 exhaust system, then put on a performer intake and 600 cfm Holley carb. Then re-curve the distribitor and install a MSD ignition box and a high output ignition coil (with good plug wires too.)
I think this will increase output by 50+ HP, and have a power curve from idle to 4,500 RPM.

If you decide to replace the heads and cam, you could use the small chamber swirl port 318 heads and a Hughes or comp extream cam. Also, if your replacing heads, cam and intake, you could convert to the newer magnum heads as an option also. You just need AMC lifters, the correct length hollow pushrods, and the intake that fits the magnum heads.

As for compression, I just built a 360 with 9.5:1 compression and a small 208/214 duration @ 0.050" lift Hughes HE0914AL Cam, and with the vacum advance connected, the engine would ping on cheap 85 octane fuel, but was OK with 91 octane fuel.
It does run on 85 octane, but with the vacuum advance disconnected. I think if I adjust the vacuum advance for less total advance it may work on the cheap gas. FWIW, I am running 35-36 degrees total mechanical advance.

[dusterbd]

him and i discussed this last night. what the current idea is, is to add an intake and a spreadbore, ditch the emissions (dont need them to pass up here), and put headers and 2 1/4 ehaust out to the bumper on. i am then going to tune the ignition, and see where that brings us.
so basically, im doing nothing of real difficulty to this piece. if he wants/needs more, ill put reworked heads and a stiffer cam in it. maybe a little bit of nitrous just for giggles.
thanks for all the help, guys
mike

[Kevin Garceau]

hmmm or for the money of all that you can freshen up a bigger motor and make more power with less

[powerdodge]

well, my crewcab moves very well with the 318,
I use the edel-shit cam and intake, a carter 625 carb, ported 318 heads, headders, dual exhaust with x-pipe and the heads milled .040

but I would'nt say no to more torq in the bottom-end! I use the edelbrock performer plus cam-shaft, but I believe this cam does a poor job in this heavy car!

anyone hwo have a tip for a cam that produce good torque? I have been thinking of the holley truck avenger camshaft for a while... anyone hwo have tried it??

[rumblefish360]

Click here for an idea or 2. http://www.geocities.com/alwest_83/index.html
Stop looking at Edel. Package sets and such type sloganed gimmicks for selling you a cam.
Call racer Brown for a custom cam that will cost just pennys more. Tell him ALL of your specs so he knows exactly what your driving and what it is intended for so he can gring you a cam.

[rumblefish360]

http://www.moparchat.com/forums/show...threadid=76245

[powerdodge]

well, thanx for the tip!

I have been thinking of racer brown too, but I guess I'm too afraid of speaking english!?

should I take the chanse that he understands me? maybe I can't explan some of the componets and so on?

if it's easey to talk with him I will try!


BTW , how are the openings? I found out his local time is : UTC/GMT -5 hours...

[1980cobra]

I WOULD FIND A NICE 360 AND INSTALL THAT. YOU WILL HAVE MORE POWER AND TORQUE THEN YOU COULD EVER DREAM OF WITH A 318

[rumblefish360]

1980cobra;

You do realize that this is his customer truck. Not his own.
And caps is seen as shouting.

[1980cobra]

i see rumblefish360 is replying to all my post. maybe i forgot to turn the caps off.

[rumblefish360]

I allways harrass the new guy. Just kidding......

[awalsum]

Check out my old truck. It has a tickled 318