88 318 upgrade

[Johnstoy]

picked up a nice 88 le 150 pu but the motor is a little tired and im looking for more hp. looked in the archives and saw that the subject has been discussed. looked through some old mags and found great articles but they were all for carbed models. looking to keep it as a driver on regular fuel.i'm new to the site ,hope i've given enough info to get some input. thanks

[MoparMarcIdaho]

A friend just stopped by yesterday with a 92 4x4 and we kicked around a few ideas for his 318 TBI.On the cheap the best way to go would be dump a 4 barrel intake and points distributor on it after removing the cat.Then we got to digging in my parts stash and came up with 5.2 magnum heads and beer barrel intake-might go that route too.Depending on how tired it is you need to bring up the compression somehow also,getting the heads shaved would do nicely.

[dwc43]

Originally Posted by Johnstoy

picked up a nice 88 le 150 pu but the motor is a little tired and im looking for more hp. looked in the archives and saw that the subject has been discussed. looked through some old mags and found great articles but they were all for carbed models. looking to keep it as a driver on regular fuel.i'm new to the site ,hope i've given enough info to get some input. thanks

1st off I'd mill the heads about .035, but that's a last resort if you just wont bolt ons. Get rid of the cat and get some Hooker or HEdman headers and install 2 1/4 pipes with an X pipe and some flowmasters. That will help it out quite a bit. Comp CAms will have a computer cam to fit your truck. A spaver between the TB and the intake will help, but you most likely will have to make your own. It's not hard, we have made several. Another trick is to make spacer to raise the injectors higher out of the TB to increase cfm somewhat.

[rumblefish360]

It has been recomended by the factory that you should not bother trying to much at all with that computer system. It is not flexable or upgradeable. You would need to swap it out for anothe system. Weather that be a carb or another fuel injected system.

[triggerbear]

Welcome to the site john first off you need to set some goals on what you want&expect out of your truck.and how much you want to spend,you said `a little tired`if you mean worn out ie:low compression,poor oil presure,noises,etc.throwing a bunch of perf.bolt on parts is only going to give you problems down the road.run some tests on it to make sure its worthy of the time&$$$ your wanting to put in it.as stated above intake/carb,headers,mild cam,upgraded ignition are all good advice,if you do pull the heads mill them & have bigger valves installed with a good 3 angle valve job & bowl clean up and it will really wake her up.just my .02 good luck&enjoy triggerbear