Thread: My 318

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LIKE OTHERS IN THE PAST I HAVE AQUIRED A NEW TOY. I HAVE A 72 DODGE CHARGE WITH 318 (5.2L) THAT WAS RECENTLY REBUILT. I AM HOWEVER LOOKING TO BOOST THE HORSE POWER. CAN ANYBODY POINT ME THE RIGHT DIRECTION??

AND WHAT SHOULD THE FIRST THING I SHOULD DO??

In my opinion, the first thing you should do is leave it alone and be quietly building a blown 360 to drop in later. See the Oct. 2005 issue of Car Craft for a great article on centrifugal blowers and blow-through carbs.

http://www.powerdyne.com/
http://www.vortechsuperchargers.com/welcome/index.asp
http://www.hotrod.com/featuredvehicl...no/index7.html
http://www.paxtonauto.com/

A 4BBL on a hirise, a good cam, headers and dual exhausts will bring your 318 to life. Any 340/360 manifolds, heads, etc. fit, so if you want to go bigger later on, the stuff works on the bigger mills. Don't let anybody talk you out of running a 318, it's possibly the most reliable passenger car engine ever built.

i agree with pope when i was young i built up a 318 in a 76 volare(ITS WHAT IT WAS IN) went with all 360 top end pieces and a bigger cam but no headers but dual exhaust and it was amazingly strong i milled the heads also to get the comp up.

72CHARGER, you'll get many different answers to your question. Although most of the guys on this board have a central passion, hot-rodding, their experiences have taken them in slightly different directions. My opinion is that you need more cubic inches to start with. You also need a decent gear in the rear and a way to get the power to the ground. You basically have an 17 second car right now. After you spend $1,000 for cam & kit, manifold, carb, headers and duals, you'll have a 15 second car. So what?? Some kid will come along with a ricer Honda and blow your doors off, that's what!!

This chart shows a '72 318 at 8.6:1 compression ratio, so you won't be able to put much cam in it without closing the intake valve too late and really making a dog out of it.
http://www.440magnum-network.com/inf...ications.shtml

tech i agree with you completly that a 360 or bigger would be a better way to go but 72 has a fresh 318 and its kind of a waste to just swap it out.
"72" it comes down to how fast you want to go or spend

in some famous words .....................................................


......."run what ya brung"..................

Although I tend to be a little blunt from time to time bear with me. SCREW the HP, what you need with a big car like the Charger is torque at the rear wheels.

Cheapest/easiest bang for the buck, headers with dual exhaust, 4 BBl intake (look for something that starts making power in the 1200-1500 RPM range) and a lower set of gears (something in the area of 3.50 for the street). Go with a stock or RV type cam for a 318.

When you get through you still have a small block in a big car that will do better, but won't be anything to write home about. You will also have spent in the area of $1500 in parts.

You can spend more, heads, stall convertor, bigger cam even a supercharger etc, and guess what YOU STILL HAVE A SMALL BLOCK.

After you have spent all that money, a 72 Charger with a mildly built 440 will still probably hurt your feelings and have spent a lot less doing it.

I have a 318 from a 71 charger,originally 230 hpw/2barrel carb. I had it bored 30 over and ballanced . I used later model heads with 1.88 intake and 1.75 exhaust valves w/triple angle seats. It has a performance cam,dual plane edelbrock intake and 650 edelbrock carb. It is in a 39 Dodge D-11 weighing 3045 lbs. with 904 trans and 2:94 positrac 83/4 rear. With the weight and rear end it has excellent low end response as well as other ranges
for a small block.

It has always been told to me that an engine is basically an air pump. That thought in mind, the more you can get your motor to suck and blow the more power you will achieve. My first mods to a 318 would be exhaust (headers and duals), secondly I would up grade the intake, carb and air filter. These are quick and easy mod to make.
Remember when you start making more horsepower the tranny will become a weak link. I had a 318 in my 69 B'cuda and went through trannies on a monthly basis (guess I should have just splurged on the high performance after market model).

My two cents,
Andy

i have a 71' charger that i bought with a worn out 318. i went to an engine shop and the guy flat out told me with a heavy car nothing beats cubic inches. so i went with a 360...bolts right up, might need a new driver side engine mount. so he built me a 360 with 10-1 comp, 490 lift cam, ported and polished heads, air gap manifold and a holley 750. dyno sheet says it should make about 420 hp....im guessing its making about 250-270 hp at the wheels once i put in my new tranny and gears. you could put on a set of edelbrock heads, headers, air gap intake, 650/750 holley. but for that price you could just have most engine shops build you a 360 with stock heads ported. another option is rebuilding the 318 and stroking it to a 402 i think, but that will run you some bucks. so pretty much what it comes down to is for the money a mild 360 is your best bet. a complete 360 shouldnt run you more then 3500 bucks.
and after saying all that if your short on money...like i am now haha...just put in a set of 3.91 gears, youll rev high but you should be able to light up the tires and make sure you have sure grip or get it....you dont want to be smokin one tire in a muscle car.....sadly thats what i do now, and man does that one tire stay smokin for a long time haha

I just had my numbers matching 318 rebuilt. It's bored .030 over, RV cam, high-rise intake w/ 600cfm holley, headman headers w/ dual exhaust. That woke the 318 up and I'm getting better mileage now, than when it was stock w/ the 2bbl.

79 Dodge 440 Mopar ENGINE & Transmission COMPLETE Item number: 170120774972

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/79-Do...QQcmdZViewItem

Chester, PA 19013 12 miles south of Philadelphia; 19013.

$100-$400 expires Jun-17-07 06:37:09 PDT (4 days 20 hours

-as stated before The rearend differential swap is the first and cheapest way to improve performance.

-point of interest, if you stick with a small block, all the top end you can buy for the 360 that some here promote can be placed on the top of your existing 318 if you keep >heads-intake manifold< either all 360 or 318-the only thing to consider with this approach is the combustion chamber volume of the heads you put on the existing motor and the amount of compression it already has.- 360 heads on a low compression 318 is a bad idea. I just cannot remember what the 318 compression is for 72' -it is low for my 73 road runner.

as for motor choices - the 440 is the cheapest way to go fast-check out ebay, be patient, the winter provides the best automotive purchase opportunities as people up north drive less, and pay off christmas debt with auctioned stuff.

Will you use this car ever as realiable daily transportation or mostly for fun? -bad gas mileage generally. you will also probably need to upgrade the leaf springs in the back of the car if you build this motor fairly stout.
-the front end of your suspension is only interchangable with 71-72 models- the 73-75 b-body models use a different K-member

one of the Northrup Gruman engineers i work with use to have an early 70's charger like yours and said that after 150 mph the front end of the car lifts up off the ground-my 74 road runner is similiar and it had no problem doing 150 without overdrive with either a 2.94 or 3.23 rearend gear ratio. the only thing exciting was the steering which takes a 90 year old ladies' single finger to steer after 30 mph. There was no play in the wheel and a sneeze or radio station change made lane changes when going fast. I got the polly urethane bushings and the handling is awesome! In my opinion, you can whip the car around like anything you have seen in the movies without flipping.


-if you want to try the stoker route with the original motor, i have and extra cast 4" crank we could negotiate on. I have a lot of extra small block stuff as well. I have many mopar books that i can look up research something for you as well. i am not sure if i can leave my email address on these threads but i will try on the next thread/post. i might have forgotten some info but just ask and i will see what I can look up for you.

79 Dodge 440 Mopar ENGINE & Transmission COMPLETE 1
$100.00
$400.00
Pickup only 4d 20h 00minutes, 90 miles away from you
Pennsylvania
-this is because i needed to double check my geography-I am not sure of all the North East distances/locations.

Originally Posted by Wilkram

I just had my numbers matching 318 rebuilt. It's bored .030 over, RV cam, high-rise intake w/ 600cfm holley, headman headers w/ dual exhaust. That woke the 318 up and I'm getting better mileage now, than when it was stock w/ the 2bbl.

sorry to highjack the thread a little ,but this was the set up
i was planing on running ie - 600cfm holly /headman headers
is it good ?? some people are saying go for a 750 cfm holly !!
sorry and thanks phil