Hey everyone new guy here I have been on the side lines reading many of your posts\articles and think I have the right place for this question. I have a 1988 W150 318 that I am in the process of converting to carb ( I know this is kinda a back and forth subject around here but I have had nothing but bad luck with the tbi and parts for a carb are alot easier to come by ) and came across a 1999 360 mag out of a Durango for a smoking price. It was pulled because one of the rear frost plugs was leaking
Now Idk if there hiding something or just don't know what to sell it for. Is there anything specific I should look for on this motor that the Magnum motors are prone to?
I want the bottom end to make a mpg torque motor out of with my swirl port heads. Any help would be great.
P.S. the motor has 90K on it.

Ther is no way to get oil to the rocker shafts just bolting that all together. You have pretty much 2 options to do that, for both you tear your block apart, first method: find a good machine shop that can drill the hole through the deck through about 6 inches of iron at a funky angle and make it intersect with a tiny hole in the side of the cam bearin in the block. The second option is to drill and tap a line into the oil galley somewhere and run a transfer tube into a hold drilled and tapped into the end of the rocker shaft.

The best solution is to use the magnum heads the block has already, just bolt on an eddelbrock rpm air-gap intake and carb. They will make quite a bit more power and MPG than your 318 swirl port heads.

Magnum heads oil differently than LA based heads, and the magnum water pump turns backwards(?).

How much better are the swirl port heads? If the difference is minimal I'd just buy, or modify, an LA style carbureted intake for the magnum.

Magnum heads seem to be pretty prone to crack between the valves. So long as the valve seat isn't affected and the head isn't leaking it's no big deal. There are a ton of vehicles being driven around with cracked magnum heads. If your not going to use them you can sell them to help recover some of your money.

90k is worthy of a new timing chain + a new oil pump pickup tube. Maybe even do a new oil pump while it's apart. I'd knock out the steel freeze plugs and go with brass instead. The rest of the engine should be ok.

Ok this is why I came here . You guys know your stuff. I had read somewhere here that taking a 360 block and putting 318 heads on it with a good intake (duel plane)and a RV cam would make a strong torque with good mpg motor, and I read (somewhere else) that you can put the swirl port heads on a Magnum block. Boy am I glad I stumbled across this forum

What would a good combo be for an everyday driver\trailer pulling setup?
Maybe an older 60's to say 91ish 360 with the 318 heads (for mpg and bottom end) or something completely different?

Just put a carb intake on that 360 magnum motor from the durango, throw in some good headers and you got 300 easy HP and good towing TQ without removeing the valve covers.

True.
Will the magnum block bolt directly to the 727?

Thank you, I think its time to spend the $75 and pick up the Magnum

No reason to put 318 heads on anything,unless you want to kill it. If the 360 magnum is in fair shape just run it. Keep the serpentine belt setup and throw a intake and small carb on it.

A little slow on your post. Sorry
I agree that it would need a new Tchain and oil pump and while I'm there I thought I would do the water pump to and am trying to decide how far I want to take it but might just go throw the hole thing (mains, rings cam baring ect) but will go one step at a time as its a winter project.

dose anyone have an opinion on the '78ish (need to look at the casting) BB 400?
I have one sitting in my shop on a stand and cant decide what to do with it just yet.

Not looking to kill it, I had just read somewhere that it makes for a good low end torque motor(?) that got really good mpg (of corse anything beats the '88 318 tbi for mpg )
Is this just a myth?

Lot's of internet myths,just hard for some to know the difference.

Can you elaborate a little on why it would "kill" the motor?
Because if you over carb a motor say 750 manuel secondaries on stock 318 you loose all the vac and kill the motor on the bottom end but if you under carb it you raise the vac and bottom end torque (and up your mpg) and loose the top end. Now this is a little different but same idea with the heads I would think. Kinda like a broke mans stroker lol.

But I am always willing to learn.

I'm not going far with this topic. I'd guess you've been lead to believe the 318 swirl port heads are the greatest thing but the reality is they are just the beginning of the 5.2 magnum,which shares heads with the 5.9. So why go to any trouble to reverse engineer this? What do you hope to gain? Nothing there,so move along,or not. I don't care to help,just giving some advice based on testing(which is sorely lacking,and getting worse by the day on this site). Good luck to you.You card?info? You mean CARB? theory is sort of correct,you don't need lot's of CFM to make bottom end torque for towing at less than WOT.

I like the idea of the lighter package but am just starting to get into the stroker side of things. I ordered the sb stroker book that alot of people rave about on this forum and cant wait to read it along with the MOPAR -9th Edition Engine Speed Secrets Manual and MOPAR -Magnum Engines 2nd
The compression side of the 400 BB sounds like it might be a good build if you want to stay low for pump gas street stroker maybe?

Alright thanks man.
I wasn't trying to get you worked up or anything and I'm not sold on the swirl port heads thats why I joined this forum was to learn and get different opinions.
But I understand where your coming from.
Again thanks for the info.

I'm not an expert on these engines by any means, but, to me, it sounds like some facts got mixed up. I've read quite a few times about putting 318 swirl port heads on pre-Magnum engines, but, not on Magnum engines. Magnum engines/heads were the next step of evolution of the small block head after the swirl port. The swirl port heads helped with fuel atomization and bumped compression up a little. Just the things a smogger LA needs.

Thanks for that.
I think I will drop the idea of those heads on a Magnum it seems to be to outdated for the block witch dose make sense but I'm still curies about the idea of 318 heads on a 360 block (Magnum heads to Magnum block OR LA heads to LA block) because of the mpg and torque idea\theory I have read about. Not saying everything you read is true lol

I am VERY open to any facts,ideas or real world experiences anyone might have.

Ok I found this on this forum and this is kinda what I am talking about= http://www.moparts.org/Tech/Archive/smallblock/8.html

Dose anyone have any real world experience with this type of set up?