Get you a junkyard 360 magnum and convert it to a carb.Use the magnum manifolds.Keep your tranny and rear end.No sticky tires/stall converters no problem.
A good 360 will fill your goal easily but a JY magnum may be easier to find.Lots of ways to skin this cat.Comes down to budget/preference.Finding a running motor ready to drop in is usually cheaper in the long run.

Sell your 318 to offset some cost.

Nothing wrong with a top end swap on your 318 either.If it is truly a cruiser then keep it as is.
Are you confused yet?

Option 3: go 360 stroker. Again, 727 SB with larger SG rear-end.

Can I do Option 3 for $6,500?

Please weigh in. Thanks. Don't bother saying BB is the way to go. I wanna keep it SB.

If you have the 318 already, stroke that. Look into the CNCMotorsports website. Scat cast crank plus I-beam rods, $650. Icon forged dish top pistons, $500. That'll get you to 392 cubic inches.

Set of heads, Promaxx aluminum or EQ iron, $1400

Performer RPM $330

Holley Street Demon carb, $350

Or you could buy a shortblock for $2600 from CNC or one from Blueprint Engines, don't know the cost. Or a longblock. Or a crate engine. Blueprint Engines 408 with iron heads $3995.

So you see you have many options.

Or go bigger with a longer stroke. BPE has cranks like that and can put together a kit for you.

Here's some simple rules:
1. Don't build anything with less than a 4 inch stroke.
2. Pay attention to the weights of pistons and rods.
2.1 Basically, any aftermarket rod with a 7/16" rod bolt is good enough.
3. Buy your heads from someone who checks them out before shipping.
4. Don't use a used head.
5. Don't go crazy on the cam selection
6. Limit compression ratio to 9.5:1 with iron heads and 10.5:1 with aluminum heads.

Good Luck!

R.

Lets start by saying 318s have been hauling more weight then 3500 for many years.

Will you have to pay someone to perform all the work? $6500 disappears pretty quickly when your paying for parts and labor.

... Gene

Take a junkyard 5.2 or 5.9 magnum and drop it in. Even stock it will have twice the power of your old 318. I would retain the fuel injection for the ultimate turn-key street cruiser, however a 4bbl swap would do nicely for you.

If you're not mechanically inclined enough to handle building an engine yourself, you won't make any of the other suggestions in this thread for 6500 bucks.

"Hauling" is different than motivating rapidly from rest ("Torque"). And not only torque, but torque low down.

Will the 904 be stout enough to handle the extra torque? Pls, don't think strip launches.

Can always drill holes in the bottom of the 318 single snorkel air cleaner.

I don't need to keep the 318 exh manifolds, but it will be manifolds, not headers.

I don't intend to keep the carb. I have a partially rebuilt Carter AVS at home that I will try and reuse.


Thanks for all the replies.

Congratulations, JohnRR, for running your post count up to 73,100 with that last post...and doing a very close imitation of my ex-wife.