A friend has a 1995 Dakota 4WD with a 318 magnum and manual transmission. The engine is getting tired and I am helping him with options (he is in CA).
1) Should we rebuild/build the 318 magnum or swap in a 360 magnum?
2) If building the 318 magnum, what improvements do you suggest?
3) If swapping in a 360 magnum, what issues are we going to run into (motor mounts, flywheel/clutch/pilot bearing issues, computer, etc)???
4) Building a stroker. Nothing wild, just more cubes to get more power/torque...around 350-360 cubes.
Usage Info: Not a race truck. Truck will be used for lite hauling (off-road motorcycles and misc., a little bit of off-roading and mostly as a transportation vehicle. He wants more power and torque. Since he only wants to build a 305-360 cubic inch stroker 318, I told him it would be cheaper to swap in a 360 magnum. We have to keep it "smog legal" (sort of for CA). Anyone do this swap???
We were thinking of some porting on the heads and intake, installing a larger throttle body, slightly bigger cam (recommendations?) and maybe swapping heads), smog legal headers, bigger exhaust through the catalytic converter, etc.
Thanks in advance for your ideas!!!