Quote: The 360's in trucks that i have seen always had lower gears in them. 3/4 and 1 tons had 4:10 and lower gears. If it was a half ton it had 3:91... The 318's I have seen in 1/2 tons in the 70/80's had 3:23 gears and in the 90's and up had 3:55's Those low gears realy hurt MPG.
Yup... 1/2 to 3/4 point in extra gearing is going to do far more damage to MPG than 40cid.
Reading ALL the replies though... it seems pretty clear now. Unless a cherry 5.9L falls onto my lap for free before i nab the 5.2 at the yard, i'll go with the 318.
Reading all this i am reminded ov a friend's 72 Dart i used to work on. It had come to him with a badly modded (original) 318. Unported 318 heads, stock CR, an ancient single plane, big Holley, awful and bashed headers, way choked-up exhaust, the WRONG cam... etc. That car flat-out flew. It was 300-400lbs heavier than my car will be, automatic (727 no doubt...), its only saving grace was 3.91 gears.
That was almost fast enough. If what i've planned isn't considerably quicker (even with the crappy gearing i'm gonna use) i'd be shocked. Totally forgot about that car...
