I'm looking for all the help I can get, I've raced on the dirt for about 9 years. Due to going to college we sold the race car, however I ended up staying local and going to my community college. This will be my second year out the car and being away from my passion is painful. I'm attempting to start piecing together a 318 based sprint car engine which will eventually power a USAC West Coast 360/VRA 360 sprint car. You may be familiar, but these small block V8s are very expensive to build due to the high number of extremely specialized parts required. For now I'm just going to try to get the ball rolling on an engine, while the cost may be too high to jump right into sprint cars; at earlier stages in the process I may be able to get it into a VRA Hobby Stock then maybe an IMCA modified. I need all the help I can get; I'm looking for mentors, supporters, sponsors, fans, and anyone else who is willing to help. I need all hands on deck. Here in minor league racing in local So-Cal, Mopars on the dirt tracks are almost non-existent. I'd like to change that. It might be easier and cheaper to build a small block chevy, but unless someone gives it to me I'm not gonna spend any money on something that isn't a Mopar. It's been my dream to have a Mopar sprint car for about 7 years now, and I'm on the search to make it happen. I have a 74 Duster, everything that has been done to it I have done myself and I strive to be as self sufficient as possible, daring to do things that are tedious and difficult; but I'd rather spend the money I have on the tools to do something than to spend the money on labor. As a result of this mentality I continue to learn more and more about cars, I love it. I'm willing to do all the work myself I just need someone to help me by either teaching me, or supplying me with the resources to do it myself (for example, the machining to the crank and rods).

Here's what I have:

-I've got a forged 273 crank that needs to be turned, I'd like to have all the old school hands on work done to it; radiused journals, nitrided, lightened, etc. It needs to be inspected and worked someone who knows what they're doing.

-I've got a set of bushed 318 rods that need to be worked over; I'd like to get them shot peened, inspected, lightened, machined also by someone who knows what they're doing.

The Goal:

Okay, so this thing is going to be a beast. Unlike almost any high rpm race engine built today, I'm going to be using almost an entire OEM short block that's been reinforced and done up old school to maximize strength. I wanna pull out all those old tricks for when there were no specialty parts available. I have the rods, and the crank. I'm gonna use an 318 block. I'm not sure what heads would be best, but they will need to flow 300+ cfm. This engine is going to make max power between 7000-9000 rpm in sprint car trim. Maybe less if it's to go in a hobby stock or a modified first. It will need to be built for maximum longevity due to the very tight budget I have. Roller lifters, rockers, and maybe even a roller bearings for the cam. We're talking 13:1 compression at the least, so it's gonna need to be o-ringed. All the hardware will be ARP. I'd like to maintain shaft mount rockers of the LA variant because I strongly believe that they're just better than the oil through the pushrod stud mount type. It will be a dry sump also. The class limit for displacement is 360 cubic inches, which will be hard to get out of a standard 318 possibly, at a later time a stroker crank could be installed possibly but for the time being about 326-332 c.i. should suffice.

Idea for what's going to go into it:

-Early 70s 318 block (maybe a truck block for the thicker casting) or a late 80s block for roller lifters
-Bore Sleeves
-ARP Rod bolts
-ARP Main studs w/windage tray
-King Bearings
-Main Stud Girdle
-Forged Pistons
-Bushed Piston Pins
-O-rings for heads/block
-Double Roller timing chain or gear drive preferably
-SFI Harmonic Balancer?
-ARP Misc. Hardware
-3 or 4 Stage Dry Sump oil pump
-Cam mount or belt drive for Oil Pump
-Kevko Oil Pan
-Oil Tank
-Magneto or electronic ignition with a small alternator (No battery)
-Roller lifters
-Roller Rockers
-Titanium/Chromoly Retainers
-Hardened locks
-Dual Valve Springs
-Oval Track Cam
-Heavy duty rocker shafts
-Heavy duty rocker hold downs
-High pressure Fuel pump
-Carburetor for now (hilborn injection eventually)
-Brodix/Edelbrock/Procomp Aluminum CNC-Ported heads (eventually)

and probably more that I can't think of off the top of my head. Thanks for reading