Well i'm sold. For MY needs right at this moment, the 318 Magnum will do fine. Again, WHEN i install it i'll be using an RPM Air-Gap, small Holley, Doug's headers, true mandrel 2.5" exhaust w X and real mufflers, and it will have no accessories to rob power, plus a 4-speed. The only crappy point will be 2.76 gears, but thats a necessary evil until i can afford a 5 or 6-speed. Its not a drag car anyways... only needs to be fast from a 20-30MPH roll on. Down the road i'll be getting some Edelbrock Magnum heads and a better (modern) cam. When that happens, maybe i'll get lucky and find the pistons only .020-.030 down the hole and can actually scavenge some quench with steel head gaskets. The basic bolt on Edelbrock head swap should make an easy 400HP on a 318 (it made 450 on the 360). That'd be cookin'...


Fort what its worth, i've always thought the 360 in all its forms was a great engine. I drove a car with a first-year 71 360 (from a Fury) that someone had swapped a 70 intake/carb and exhaust manifolds on. That engine felt every bit as fast, if not faster than any 68-70 340 i've driven, even my really nice A66. For what it was, my 100% bone-stock 78 Volare with its 360 was not a slow car, and it had even worse than 2.76 gears.


Right now i just like the idea ov small engines that make big HP higher up the tach. Provided it doesn't have a stooopid cam in it, you can drive a high-RPM engine normally in the lower ranges to get around and still make decent MPG... well, with a stick anyways. Hard or impossible to do that with a big engine. Again, it helps to have a light car.