Well after months of d#$%ing around, the '64Dog made its first journey under new engine power.

Here's what it is: '86 Fifth Avenue 318, home ported 302 heads, thin head gaskets, 1976 T-quad intake, 570 Street Avenger with 52 jets in front on an open adapter, 360 LA roller cam, Crane 833 valvesprings, exhaust manifolds and 2 1/2" dual exhaust. Distributor is an old Direct Connection electronic with the HP curve.
Truck runs a 3.23 rear and 32-11.50 x 15 rear tires.

For a clutch I used a Schiefer 11.5" disk and a McLeod 12" B&B high performance pressure plate that bolted to the flywheel in place of the stock 11". Roller pilot bearing from late model Ram.

First of all it took some timing corrections to get it to run. I think my damper ring has slipped, because at 11 degrees initial it would barely run. Twisted the distributor to around 22 degrees initial and it starts every time. So with 22 in the initial I'm running over 40 at full advance, and the engine didn't ping no matter what. I think the damper ring is off, I'll have to check when it gets warmer.
Second, with the open adapter it seems to run extremely lean, with stumble on tip-in. Probably the open adapter reduces the signal. Probably should rejet, but.....
Mileage was over 20 for long stretches of 70mph driving! I couldn't believe it. Lean carburetion plus tall gears, I guess.

With the Poly I only got 18mpg once, and that was at an even 60 with the two-barrel jets half-filled with gum. With the Avenger and a good tune, I occasionally touched 16 at highway speeds.

So now I try to tune for driveability without sacrificing this great mileage. I also have several Quadrajets to try out. Let me say, 20mpg from the 'Dog is really good news.

On another note, it took 600 miles for the new pressure plate and the new throwout bearing to "wear in" to each other and not make noise when I pushed in the clutch. It's still a work in progress, but maybe I won't have to change parts.
I'm hoping the HP clutch/large diameter will be more clutch than any 318 could test.

Happy New Year!

R.

No pics, just hearsay...

that's quite the imaginative yarn!!! of course, a few pics would dispel all the skeptics......

Ask me if I care about others' thoughts...meh!
My truck is in such bad shape it's embarrassing.

Still I would like to post a pic or two, if only to show off my "new" gold-colored engine.

I've thought about faking it up with a "Golden Lion" emblem from a '59 or 60 Chrysler. But I'm too busy driving.

R.

I post my junk & ain't skeered even on the other Ram forums where if you aren't 94 & newer they won't look or answer any posts unless it's a "Vintage Truck guy" like myself.

I put my RC in their total project builds where you wouldn't expect new trucks to be & pissed in the pool
Those guys can't post quick enough to keep it off the 1st page

So post your stuff When you talk here we can relate to you easier

We dont care if ya paint em green!
Post up the pics!
I post pics of my junk, like this one from a previous engine swap thread...