Hi,

I've god a '88 Dakota 4WD with a 3.9 that will be replaced by a 318, but first I will give this engine a rebuild and some upgrades.

I'm new to V8s and I'm not very familiar with common upgrades or what's generally needed.

I would like at least 300HP at the flywheel, and lots of torque. The car has got a 3 speed automatic transmission and I believe it's the 2.94 differential ratio. This car is my daily driver and I do some towing once in a while.

The engine I'm using is a 318 taken out of a '89 B350 Van with the roller camshaft and 302 cylinder heads. The bottom end appears to be in good condition, so I would like to keep the pistons if suitable for my setup.

Upgrades:
Hughes whiplash roller camshaft
Hughes 1110 valve springs
Edelbrock Performer intake
MSD Ready-to-Run Pro-Billet Distributor
Holley 390 carburetor
1.88" intake valves

So, any thoughts regarding the upgrades?

Thanks,
Ole

 

Depends What trans do you have ?, Maybe get the 89 van trans.. 390 carb is too small for a 300 hp 318 get a 600

 

I've got the 32RH transmission with Red Raybestos clutches going in it during the rebuild. Any specific 600cfm carburetors I should look at?

Is any porting needed with the 302 cylinder heads?

Thanks,
Ole

 

Did the same engine for our truck. Kept the 1.75 + 1.5" valves, pocket port, port match, plugged the exhaust holes, clean-up plane, new guides and cut them down for Comp 901 springs with posi locks.

Comp Cams XE 256 H flat hydraulic cam.

Same manifold with 625 Street Demon carb.

Mopar Electronic Ignition.

Headers, stock oil pump, truck pan with welded in deccel baffle.

Works very well, lots of low end with a surprising top end.

I never liked the Thumprs or Whiplash series of cams, I'd look at something with more lobe separation.

 

Yep I did a similar set up to coronet 500, I have 302 heads that were mildly ported and milled, performer intake, 340 cam, eddy 1406 600 cfm carb, headers and a fbo ignition kit. Ive never had it dynoed but Id assume that it would be close to what you want. Great low end power too.

 

32RH is just a 3 speed. Light truck Go for a 42RH? (A500) (A518 if you can afford it)overdrive trans and a 3.21 / 3.55 gear

 

I forgot earlier to comment on gear ratios. Our 1992 truck started as a 5.2 mag efi 4 spd auto 3.91 rear axle.

Needed an engine had an LA and 904 put it in and was unhappy with the 3.91, always felt like I was waiting for another gear with the 1 to 1 three speed.

The 3.91 does a lot of work with a little engine but changed to a 3.55 ratio.

Like it much better and I wanted to go 727 but my son has a 833 O.D. manual and has gathered all the stuff to put it and a 143 tooth flywheel with an 11" clutch in it.

I guess in sharing our experience I'd have to say get the engine dialed in and see if the ratio meets your driving habits and usage. Don't get caught up in all the calculators and the math, go by the seat of your pants "feel"

I'll tell you though with that cam and the 3.91 when I mashed it with the AFB I had on it for a short time it sounded like a musclecar and HAULED!

 

Thanks for your replies!

Are you happy with the carburetor and what milage do you get? Is there any difference between the van and truck pan?
The whiplash camshaft from Hughes does have a short duration (208°/214° at .050") and is supposed to have the sweet spot between idle and 5500RPMs so I think it should fit my setup pretty good?


How does the 302 cylinder heads flow with the mild porting? What CR do you run?


I'm from Norway, so I'm not able to just go to the junkyard and pick a transmission. That's why I'm keeping the 32RH and doing some upgrades to it.


I can tell you that I won't have the problem feeling like I'm waiting for another gear, as the highest speed limits we have here are 60MPH. With the weak 3.9 engine I really need to push it to the limit up the hills so with the 318 this should be a lot better!


Should I get the RPM Air-Gap manifold instead? I've read some articles showing that the RPM Air-Gap outperforms the Performer on both peak torque and HP.

I also have another issue to solve. The lockup of the converter is now controlled by the ECM. The ECM will be removed when I do the 318 swap. How can the lockup be controlled other than a switch? How was it done on the older cars?

Thanks,
Ole

 

I would not use the Air Gap, unless you put Ed,s on or 2.02+1.6" valves in X or J's with a piston change and bigger cam for above 3500rpm operation. Too much for the small cubes.

The carb I love with the triple primary boosters it is super snappy of idle, no hesitation at all. Gas mileage we haven't calculated but my son drives it to work 120km (75 miles) round trip each day and says it gets way better gas mileage than the AFB and as good as the BDD 2 barrel that was on, if he keeps his foot out of it and isn't passing everything he sees.

The idea for a large car or truck to get that low end torque is to keep the port velocity high at low rpm, this the 302's can do and why I kept the small valves. This thing is not going to see much over 5000rpm with normal useage.

As soon as you increase port, valve or manifold size plan for torque and fuel efficiency to drop. Then to compensate you'll be looking at higher stall converter and higher number gears, and with those fuel mileage falls even more.

The different converters I've looked into and can't remember all that stuff right now, if you search you'll find it. I just threw in the manual lock-up that came with the 1987 904 trans we had.

 

What you're saying about the intake makes sense, I believe you're right.

Are you saying the older 904 transmissions just had a OEM manual switch for converter lockup?

 

Probably "manual" was the wrong word. It used trans hydraulic fluid in high gear above a certain mph depending on rear gear ratio opened a valve to push a plate against the converter shell to "lock it up".

The trans has a special input shaft to match the converter. If I was changing to a 727 for heavier towing I'd never use one. They can be problematic..

 

What about using one of these vacuum switches? http://www.ebay.com/itm/320739156799...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

 

What is the gain by replacing the pistons to increase the CR and squish? Is it worth it?

 

Your engine is listed as 9 to 1 compression, I don't see any reason to change pistons.

 

Is there any headers out there made for the 318 LA in the 1st gen Dakota?

 

If they have 5.2L Magnums, they are the same exhaust flange on the head as the LA.

 

Thanks, Coronet 500!

Is there any difference between van and truck oil pans?

 

The truck and van pans have a large rear sump, the ones that go in the Dakota have a small rear sump I think, not positive though.

 

So, this is what I've ordered so far:
Hughes Whiplash roller camshaft with their matching valve springs
Edelbrock Performer intake manifold
MSD 8388 ready-to-run distributor
And other things like bearings, piston rings, roller lifters, oil pump, balancer, water pump, timing chain etc.

I will also get a Holley 570 cfm Street Avenger carburetor.


I've also been thinking about replacing the kickdown rod linkage with this kit from Lokar. Any comments regarding this?

 

Hey guys I'm looking for some guidance. I have a 318 that is in a 87 Dodge Ram. I am looking to make it strictly a street truck. I'm going to get the block cleaned, bored and honed. I want to install the biggest cam that will give the biggest lopey idle. I will be installing new valve springs. Also getting new intake manifold and new carb. Should I get the heads ported or is that a waste of time since I'm not taking to the track? What other things will need to be done and how much power should I realistically expect? Thanks

 

Alright, I now have most of the parts for the engine build.

I deglazed the cylinder walls using a flex hone.


The cylinders seems to be in pretty good condition, but I have some concerncs regarding them being tighter in diameter in the middle of the stroke. The biggest difference seen from middle to top of the bore is .0015". I do have a portable rigid hone, so I might try to straighten them out.

The crankshaft has been sent off for rebalancing, and the cylinder heads has been sent off to get improved valve seat angles.

Now, as I'm not familiar with torque converters and stall speed, what stall speed should I get for my setup? Hughes tells me that the Whiplash camshaft works with OEM stall speed, but I have no idea what it is (or if I should increase it).

 

A set 360 heads with factory valve sizes
a comp cams or more perferably a voodoo cam 268 272 duration range dual duration works really good in 318s
a mopar factory stall 2000rpm get it at you local trany rebuilder/supplyer