As the sponsorship blossomed, and the Valiant became known as the "318 car", a plan was hatched to capitalize on that notoriety. That's when the car was fitted with a cage, ladder bars, tubs, hood scoop, and the engine that would power it into the 21st century.

Tom wasn't a big time gearhead, so the sponsor tabbed a well known pacific northwest super stock racer to build a rock solid bottom end, with a conservative top end. With "318" prominently displayed on the hoodscoop (you can barely make it out in this picture)Tom was sworn to secrecy, taught how to lash the valves, and given a rigid maintenance schedule which he adhered to religiously. The "318" was a virgin 4 bolt X block with stock 340 bore, 3.79 stroke crank, stock 340 rods, and Ross custom pistons which stuck .035 out of the hole. The top end was a pair of J heads, ported, Crane 1.5 gold rockers, the classic 296-557 MP solid cam, an M-1 intake with a 750 annular booster holley straight out of the MP catalogue. They rounded it out with a 4.88 geared 9", Turbo Action 4500 stall, and a low gear set 904.
When it debuted in the mid 90's running high 10's in good weather, and low 11's in the summer or at altitude, most people were impressed, and very few questioned the validity of the 318 claims.