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Idk if this makes a diffrence but the 318 actually came out of a 83 pickup. The motor is on a stand atm. Does anything change with that motor? It really sounds like its a matter of opinion or choice with the 318 vs 360 arguement. I'm going to stick with the 318 an stroke it to a 390 an bore the block .40 over. I'm going to stick with the 318 cuz i have a 383 block sitting soooo buying a 360 would just mean another motor sitting until I can sell it. I may plan on using nitrous for track use only permitting that the motor will handle it. The car will have a A833 for sure an a 8 3/4 axle for sure. Im new to this so any advice is appreciated. I am going to lighten the car as much as possible since it will see the track but i need to keep in mind it will also be a friday night cruiser. Thanks for all the input!!

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The '83 318 block is different than the older 318 blocks. The decks are weaker, and susceptible to cracking between the coolant hole and the nearest head bolt hole. I know this, because I was going to use a 1983 318 block to build a 390, and that block had a total of 10 cracks on both decks. They weren't discovered until after several machining operations. Here is a pic of what my engine builder found. Two differences you can see are the head bolt holes going through the deck, and larger coolant holes, both of which weaken the deck. On the older blocks, the head bolt holes are blind and the coolant holes are smaller.



I'm not saying your block WILL have these cracks, all I am suggesting is that you have those decks carefully examined before sinking money into machine work on that particular block. Also, have your machinist check for twist in the block. Seems the '83 blocks in general are on the weak side, which proved to be the case with mine. It was twisted pretty bad. Although my machinist informed me that the cracks could be fixed, I decided to cut my losses and start over with a beefier 1970 318 block that was available to me.