Well now that I have my Dart looking real good, inside and out, it’s time to think about a change under the hood.
My current setup is as follows:

71 318, bored 030 over new pistons of unknown origin,unknown type
340 auto camshaft
Edelbrock performer intake manifold, and Edelbrock 600 cfm carb (1406)
69 340 exhaust manifolds, dual 2-1/4” exhaust all the way back, with walker quietflows
Heads are “U” heads, which I’ve been told are the same as “J” heads, basically 360 heads with 1.88 and 1.60 valves.
Mopar perf electronic distributor

This engine was built 17 years ago, but only has about 5k miles on it. It sat for a long time.

Car has a 904 auto with stock convertor, 8-3/4” rear with 3:23 gears, peg leg 225/60/15 rear tires.

The problem: This thing is a dog, it won’t hardly spin one tire from a dead stop on dry pavement. It seems to run pretty good once it gets wound up a little, but nothing to write home about. No low end torque.

I think part of the problem, is it’s pretty low compression, (360 heads on a 318), and I have no idea what kind of pistons the machine shop gave me when the engine was built. They said they had to use chevy pistons or something cause it was the only thing they could find with the right dimensions that used a floating wrist pin. This pistons have valve reliefs in them, but are in the wrong place to actually be functional.

I have no idea how far in the hole the pistons are, or what cc’s my heads are. I know when I did a compression test last spring I got numbers ranging from 105-120, quite a variance and not high enough.

So, I’m trying to decide on the best way to get some power in my car. First I need to pull the heads, measure deck height of the pistions, cc the heads and find out what they are and proceed from there.

Options I’m considering include:
New pistons, probably KB167’s which will give me a near 0 deck height, thinking no need for machine work since the engine only has a few thousand miles on it, Just a quick hone and install the new pistons.

A magnum head conversion, to get better flowing heads, with smaller combustion chambers to raise the compression up out of the dumps.

Have my current heads shaved to raise compression ( how much can I shave and how much will it help?)

Or maybe just pull this motor and replace it with a used Magnum 360.

Also if I get the compression up I’m thinking of a cam swap too, maybe a comp xe262h

Intended use for the car is cruising and the occasional spirited driving, not a drag car, I just want a little more power so I can peg the fun-meter !

Whatever I do to it, I’m only working with a budget of $1200-$1500 bucks. I think I could do a magnum head swap for that, or even a used 5.9 magnum swap.

So see the poll, and I’m open to any ideas you have to make this thing run as good as it looks.

How do I proceed multiple choice
	I like Ice Cream
	Do a complete used 5.9 Magnum swap
	Have my current heads shaved
	Replace heads with Magnum heads
	Replace pistons with KB167's
Votes accepted starting: 03/06/15 03:00 PM You must vote before you can view the results of this poll.

What condition is everything in? Is the carb new'ish or could it stand to be rebuilt? Also, how well adjusted is it for running in a mile-high city? That elevation affects performance. You may need to optimize your air-fuel mixture.

Getting everything you already have working up to its potential by tuning up might be in order? Dialing in more distributor advance often works wonders.

You could modernize by swapping in a Magnum Engine, but you'll need to make other changes as well. Maybe a nice old-school 360 and re-using some of your existing parts might work? Swap on some headers and add a Sure-Grip.

Put a 440 in it

Magnum 360
Air gap intake
360 oil pan
Keep the serpantine set up get a cheap in line fuel pump and it will walk all over your current combo. Your current combo is terrible. A piston swap only gets you more compression, magnum heads help power all around but you got to buy different PRs and the heads and still have a flat tappet cam. The best part is you can do it in a weekend VS how long will machining a block have you engine down? You don't even know you can just stick pistons in till you tear it down, the rings on the KB167 go higher up the bore.

Same issue's as you on 318 ended up at 15.7 with 4300 lb racing weight and 3.55s get the total timing up as high as it will go somewhere in the 44-45 range use Vac gauge with no vac advance ditch the carb and get a 600-650 dbl pumper Holley run N-14YC plugs the ones in the 318 are generally too cold. And you will hear get a 360 but you can make that 318 go my buddy's Dart Spt ran 14.4 with 318 and rebuilt stock heads

I'm with HotRod. Do a 5.9 with Magnum heads and you'll never regret it. My '72 b-body now has one with iron x heads, KB pistons, roller cam and lifters, small stall, 670 Quick Fuel with a normal belt drive set up and that engine yanks that car around effortlessly. It revs so quick and gets to the power range instantly. It is a a blast to drive even with 3.55 gears. I just don't think I could be happy with a built 318 period in a full interior and factory chassis car. My experience and

Too much cam and not enough compression or converter for this altitude with that setup. I've been in some 318's that flat out run even up here at 5300'. We've surprised many a big block with them even in a B body. You might be able to tame the cam some with Rhoads lifters and regain bottom end.

That said, I would look for a 360 magnum donor. There are plenty of those around the u-pull lots around here. No replacement for displacement, and you then have a foundation for a future build also. That will be plenty of fun and peg the grin-o-meter.

turbo.

Find you a nice 400 block and a forged 440 crank and never look back...
part out the 318 and do a budget 451 build...

I like the 440 comment! I swapped my 318 for a 440 and couldn't' be happier. It will exceed your budget by a couple thousand but 440 blocks are cheap, cheap, cheap.

(1) adv the cam 4 deg (2) dial in the dist subsystems in order (3) strip kit for the 1406, it's too lean out of the box here & if you're up in elevation it'd be even worse (4) closed chambered heads (mag/302) if you want to go that far. EDIT Google said elev 5,371 feet MORE EDIT with some more thought it might be LESS lean up there (less air) but you still need a strip kit to get richened from the out of the box jetting