Those "tired old smogger era 318s" are engines worth building. A good basic engine, with the right intake, carb, pistons, cam, heads and exhaust can easily make 350 HP in pump gas.
The 318 and the 5.2 Magnum are often overlooked as simply gramdma Plymouth car engines. But with the right combo of parts they can make real good power and ready to rev.
Oh I'm not bagging on those old 318s, they're great little workhorses. I swapped in headers and 2.5" duals on my old 77 W200 and they woke up the truck nicely. When it came time for new exhaust on Dad's 69 Dart (84 318 swapped in) the Super Turbos were my recommendation. 15 years later, Dad still comments that I made the right choice for him
What shocked me when we put one on the Dakota was the bark it has compared to the old 318s. I can only attribute that to the higher compression ratio in the 4.7.
