I'm going to look at Shelby Dakota #1230 and is red. I've been doing a lot of ready on these truck, and am having a hard time understanding how a 318 is only making 175hp/275lb tq.

The torque seems decent but the hp rating seems rather low compared to my 99' Dakota that had the 318. I understand that one is a pre-mag and the other a magnum, but curious as to what can be done to get more ponies out of her.

The rear gear being a sure-grip 3.90 and a 2000 stall from the factory is a good basis for the drivetrain, so I'm not too worried about those. I've read mopar had a hop-up kit that was something like a 360 throttle body, computer, and a high flow muffler. Supposedly bumped up power 30hp/40lb.

Any advise appreciated.

That was the rating. The 318 that wasn't in the Dak with its freer flowing exhaust was rated at 170hp.

The engine was just a regular 318 throttle body injected motor, so the two weak points are the 135 cfm intake ports and the .378" lift camshaft.

The heads were IIRC later versions of the 302s, and while they had decent combustion chambers, the ports need a lot of work. I've been through a set of 302s and it took me a weekend with a die grinder to smooth out the bowls, trim the valve guide protrusions, open up the roof of the bowl area, it is really congested up there, and widen out the pushrod pinch.
Steve Dulcich max ported a set of 302s for his Junkyard Jewel article, made a little over 400 hp but he later had problems with the heads cracking, probably due to the extensive porting. The article is very informative on the mods to the heads. I think you can home port the 302s to an easy 175cfm which should get quite a power increase possible.

Then there's the Mag head swap, covered in detail a million times.

Of course a pair of Edelbrock aluminum heads or EQ/Iron Ram/aftermarket performance heads would be easier and quicker.

The other weak point is the camshaft, which is close to the smallest cam put into any American V8. This is assuming the cam is the same one in my '86 Fifth Ave motor. It's a hydraulic roller camshaft and Bullet Cams will regrind it for you for $125 or so. The largest lobe that'll fit on that cam is their 259/316 which has IIRC 209 degrees at 50 intake and .316 lobe lift, which turns into .474 in an LA engine. The stock cam is ground on 110 or 109 LSA and to keep your fuel injection happy you may want to go smaller in the intake lobe.

You need springs to go with a bigger cam if it's much bigger, and watch the retainer-to-guide clearance.

One thing that I don't know about is the electronics, but improving airflow by porting and a little bigger cam will probably work.

R.

your convertor stalls around 2800, not 2000. not sure where you found that number at. probably from the torque numbers shows "at" that rpm speed. but, thats not "the" stall speed.

just throw some headers on it, a good cam (like a hughes whiplash) and remove the computer and throttle body for a carb. my warmed over 340 is going into mine, when i get home in a week.