Would like to build up a 318 LA for my daily driver '67 Coronet 440, but am finding out that finding aftermarket blocks are very limited... So far the only ones I've found are the Mopar race blocks and Ritter, are there any others?

My race car is a non-Mopar (please don't kill me, ha), my '66 Biscayne, and I built up my 406 small block starting with a Dart Little M, but unfortunately Dart doesn't make anything for the Mopar world, but that's the way I want to go if possible, I'd rather not start with a stock block.

The 318 in my car needs a rebuild badly, but being it's my only daily driver at the moment that's not an option, so I want to just build up a stout longblock replacement, and then swap over my current intake, headers, etc. on a weekend and back to work on the Monday. (so far I've just done add-on parts to it, MSD Pro Billet dist., Patriot headers to 2.5 Flowmasters 44's, Eddy RPM Air Gap, QF Slayer carb, Champion rad, etc...)

As far as wanting a 318 which I'm sure all of you would say, why? I just want to keep it a small displacement engine for fun... Everyone and their cousin has a 340, 360, stroked versions, etc., etc.. I like to be different. It's all for fun, and a nice 400hp 318 built with the best parts is where I want to go (with lots of room to grow in the future when I eventually run it at the track), but finding blocks, geez... I would think Mopar would have just as much aftermarket stuff as the Chevy guys... Guess not, or am I just looking in the wrong places?

Thanks!

In a word - nope. Ritter or good luck finding a good, usable or NOS piece of the X or R variety. Be prepared to peel off many Benjamins when you find one.

A stock block will support all the horsepower you plan to make, if prepared correctly. And you can likely find one for free. Big RPM will require some attention to the oil system.

I'd be tempted to build one using a 318 Magnum block as a starting point. Better heads and a roller cam are pluses

Not many people race Mopar cars like they used to so that might explain why blocks fell off the radar for awhile. The Ritter block is in response to nothing being available. Not that you really need one for a 400 hp goal.

We don't need them in 550 HP or less aplications. This ain't no SB chevy with tiny main bolts and short little deck heights and main bearing oil feed trying to go around a cam bearing first. You should be able to find a block for free or really cheep, I scrapped 3 the other day I been trying to give away for years, the only one I saved is an early block that is bored out to 4.070 with 12.5 TRW forged pistons and was a running engine when I bought it. If you want the best stock block, get a magnum, they have extra meat in the pan rail to help hold the mains still as well as the aforementioned roller cam.

As far as blocks that were made, as far as I know the X block was the only one made with small enough bores to actually build a 318 with stock bore/stroke without sleeving it, if you did that to say an R3 or ritter you are going to have a block with really thick cylinders that weighs more than a 440. It's also going to want to detonate because it can get rid of heat fast enough. Any aftermarket block is going to cost more than your entire build should cost.

As much aftermarket support as a chevy....you trying to be a comic?

The beauty of a 318 is they are disposable. Build it, run it, frag it, repeat. Ask around when you need a new one and you'll have people offering them to you just to get them out of the garage. The block is more than capable of 400 hp without issue.

The crappy thing about 318s are the small bore and small airflow numbers the stock heads come with. Even with big heads, the small bore hurts. Think along the lines of 283/307 sized bores, maybe a skosh bigger, but not much; 3.91 Dodge vs 3.875 chevy

FWIW, the 318 and 340 share a number of internal component dimensions with the bore being the biggest difference in the blocks. 360s are a different animal and only external parts and heads interchange with the 318/340. Also, putting 360 heads on a 318 block creates a dog of a machine as 360s have larger chamber heads and compression suffers on the small bore 318. Unless, you put the big heads on and and a hair dryer or two on it.

Buy a 360 block and even with the stock crank you can easily run 10.50’s-10.90’s. Build a stoker and run high 9’s to 10.0’s in anything under 3200 pounds. 360’s are cheap and strong and lots of nice heads like ProMax or TrickFlow and you are set.

thanks for the replies everyone... I'm just surprised there's no market for aftermarket small blocks... Chevy i get why there's so many options, but I would've thought Mopar is at least more popular than Ford (at least when it comes to the older cars) but Ford small blocks are available but Mopar not so much (or at all). When it comes to big blocks they're there, was just looking at the Bulldog blocks, I guess they were the company that actually made the Mega Blocks that were sold through Muscle Motors until they kinda stopped or shut down or something, just wish they made a small block too.

I personally like to overbuild everything for several reasons, even if I'm starting out at low HP levels... I know that down the line I'll just end up up'ing the HP to the point that things will start breaking anyway, so I like to be ahead of the game and not have to rebuild it again, I just like to do it right the first time, and aftermarket blocks are (usually) always an improvement, OEM design flaws fixed, and it's a nice clean slate with no surprises. Yeah I may start at 400hp but we all know how that goes in a couple of years.

Also I had no intention of using stock heads, was going to start with either the Eddy head or the new Trickflow, but I was very disappointed with the Trickflow balancer I just bought so I'm having reservations about them, and hard to go wrong with Edelbrock...

You guys suggest the 360 block but don't they have cracking issues at the head bolt areas, or at least with the later versions of the block? and I think I read pretty thin cylinder walls that don't allow for much future rebores? Just reading bits and pieces of info here and there, trying to learn...

Something else I wanted to write but can't remember.. dog is barking at me to go out, wife is barking at me too... hard to think... lol

Can't speak for other parts of the country, but here just a handful of Mopar racers around. Most have a-bodies with big blocks in them as it's the cheapest combination to go fast.

Most desirable B body cars came with big blocks, and while e-bodies did come with small blocks those cars don't get raced anymore. The guys that own those cars here lean towards restorations and don't care about racing.

I don't recall cracking issues with 360 blocks. I do recall hearing of cracking issues on Magnum heads on later 360's. I know you wanted to stay with a 318 but I think you'd be much happier eventually if you went with a 360. You're still with a small block, but have the advantage of more cubes and performance parts.

I'm with you on overbuilding it from the start! I always prefer to do things that way too.

Later 318 blocks will crack around the headbolts. Buddy of mine had one that did and he bought an insert kit that repairs them.

I have torn apart hundreds if not thousands of SB mopars and never seen a crack around a head bolt, maybe it was over torqued or something. The only cracks I have ever seen is freezing because of insuficient antifreeze or because the engine had other issues such as over bored with no sonic testing or rod/piston/crank failure.