Posted by Brian in Oregon [216.26.4.95 (apx1-06-95.pdx.du.teleport.com)] [Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.01; Windows NT 5.0)] on Friday, May 17, 2002 at 4:02PM :
In Reply to: Need the 318 Lowdown posted by J. Vietti on Friday, May 17, 2002 at 2:47AM :
The motor mounts and bellhousing mounts are the same on all 318's. However, some may have 3 ears, others may have 4 ears. That's explained in the Helitool instructions. Either will work.
The best crank is the 1967 forged steel crank, which I'm running.
After that, until you get to the Magnum engines, a 318 is a 318 is a 318.
You will need a front cover that has the timing pointer on the drivers side. The correct water pump for this has the lower rad outlet on the passenger side. The waterpumps are not interchangable.
The front pulleys are also set up depending on the timing cover/water pump used. I highly recommend you get a 72 and up motor that does not have air conditioning, with all pulleys intact. I'm having to fiddle adapting parts because my engine is a mix of parts, and it is a paint digging up the right pulleys. (The '67 forged steel crank uses a thicker dampner that will drive you nuts for pully alignment when swapping on a 72 timing cover and water pump.)
You will also need a rear sump pan from a truck, plus the longer dipstick and perhaps the righ dipstick tube. My dipstick tube was broken off, and I have not gotten that far, though I do have the right dipstick. Have the pan hot tanked. There is a welded in channel for the dipstick that always fills up with crap. It needs to be cleaned. If you must sandblast rust off, hot tank first, then blast, then hot tank again and make sure all sand is out of that channel or you will destroy the oil pump and scratch cylinders and cam lobes from gritty oil splashing on them.
You need two 318 center dump exhaust manifolds. Supposedly they exist in a non-dampner version, but I never found one. I took two passenger side manifolds, pressed the dampner shafts outs, and had all the holes welded shut.
I added a windage tray and valley pan to my engine. The windage tray is free horsepower, as it keeps the oil from wrapping around the crank, thus reducing friction. The vally pan serves two purposes. Mainly it keeps hot oil off the underside of the intake manifold. But it is also designed to retain a lifter in the bore if a pushrod or rockerarm fails. If a lifter pops out it dumps oil pressure.
For an intake manifold I suggest you look at the new MOPAR Perfomance Parts M1 dual plane for A engines.
I went with a points distributer because I can fix them easy even in the middle of nowhere. An electronic system can onlyh be replaced, and if you have an electrical problem that is frying them, you are screwed.
My engine is .060 over, which is max overbore. It had minimal taper, so I rehoned it and did a rering. The pistons were in good shape. Make sure if you need to rebore that the engine is not over .030 already. .060 overbore makes it a 327.
Because my engine will be working in the off-idle to 3200 rpm range, I felt no need to go to bigger valves. Stock valves will be more streetable and have better low end torque. If you must go to larger valves, I'd not go larger than 1.88 intake. The 2.02's are just too dang large for a mild 318.
I used a hydraulic RV II cam P/N D0615RV2 from Oregon Cam Grinding (the owner is an old racing buddy of mine and a former boss). Specs are:
Intake .415 lift - 258 adv dur - 198 dur @ .050
Exhaust .420 lift - 264 adv dur - 208 dur @ .050
Lobe centerline is 112
If you are not going to degree the cam, DO NOT advance it. Run it straight up. Oregon Cam 503-252-5505.
I aso used brass freeze plugs. The drivers side is in a tight spot, so don't get cheap and use steel plugs.
Buy a new MOPAR Perfomance Parts oil pump drive shaft. More reliable, less spark scatter due to flexing. SAVE the old driveshaft and press the pin out and toss the gear. Weld a nut on the end (I welded an extension and a nut on it) so you can use a socket extension and a large drill and prelube the engine.
HP Books has a couple that you'll want to buy. How to Rebuild Small-Block Mopar Engines : 273, 1967 & Later 318, 340, 360 V8 Used in Dodge, Chrysler and Plymouth Cars and Trucks
by Don Taylor, et al (Paperback - June 1982) About $13 from Amazon, $18 elsewhere.
How to Hot Rod Small Block Mopar Engines : Covers All Chrysler, Dodge & Plymouth LA Series Engines-1965 to Present-273-318-340-360 C.I.D.
by Larry Shepard, Shepard Larry (Paperback - December 1989) Same price.
If you are not totally familiar with the 318, these are "must have" books.
The bellhousing specified in the kit uses two sheetmetal covers. A lower inspection cover and an upper dust cover. They are hard to find in wrecking yards.
I went through a lot of Dodge parts counter books and finally tracked what they are. They fit a 74-77 truck with a 318 or 360 using an 11" clutch. They were definitely used on the 4x4's. However, some 4x2's use the 11" clutch, while others don't. The ones that don't are 318's with a 10-1/2" clutch. You sould be safe with a 74-77 4x4 or 360 powered 4x2, as it seems the 360 did not use a 10-1/2" clutch.
The upper dust cover, which fits the face of the bellhousing, is P/N 2955-218. I just bought one from my local Dodge dealer for $23. Took him a day to get it from the warehouse.
The lower inspection cover is 2863-480. I did not order one because I found a used one. I should have checked availability, but spaced it.
I've also run sealant around the areas where the bellhousing, adaptor plate and transmission meet, plus the opening in the bellhousing side for the clutch fork assembly. The clutch fork has an o-ring held by a collar. I've also sealed the bellhousing to the block. The inspection cover and dust shield will also be sealed, as will the starter. The idea is to be able to do a reaonable amount of fording without worrying about water getting into the clutch and tranny. To that end, I've welded a large nut where the drain hole is on the lower inspection cover, and put a oil drain plug there. That duplicates the fording plug on the original bellhousing. I've also tapped a hole into the bellhousing so I can run a fitting to it for a vent line.
Be aware that the position Ray shows for the throwout bearing return spring worked for the prticular spring Ray had. I had to locate mine lower because my spring length was different. I used an NOS M37 spring from VPW. My hole is approx 1-1/2" to 2" lower than in the photo on Ray's site. My upper hole will be used for the vent line.
Definitely use the small starter Ray mentions. It's a tight fit, and you won't have to trim the lower frame rail if you use it.
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