Hi guys, I may soon need to rebuild a 318 ci which is old and completely stock.

The motor is in a 74 Dodge Challenger with automatic transmission that needs complete restoration.

The 318 has the stock 2v carb and intake.

How much would it cost to get the motor completely rebuilt ? New heads, camshaft, pistons, valve train, ignition etc.
I'd like to get 300-400 HP out of it, and it has to be a streetable engine working great with the auto tranny.

What are my options ? What do you suggest ?

Thanks a lot for helping out

 

Your best bet ? http://www.hughesengines.com/Index/index.php
Have a motor built and shipped to you..

 

I'd say it depends if you are going to be doing the rebuild yourself or are you going to have a shop do it. Also is that 300-400HP at the crank or wheel?

If you are going to be doing it yourself, then that will cut the cost down quiet a bit. If a shop, make sure you search around and find a respected shop that stands behind their work.

 

Problem is that I'm in France and shipping cost/custom fees will make a huge jump in the final cost.


I plan to do it myself, my father in law has a long experience in old US cars. We've been restoring a 72 Mustang Coupe with a 351 Cleveland for a while and it might be soon finished. I'm about to buy a 74 Challenger so that's why I need to have an idea about the cost of such a project.

Only the porting job may be done by a shop, if needed.

350 hp @ the wheels/400 @ crank sounds great to me, and sufficient for my needs (which is weekend cruising mostly)

 

You could also Buy your parts from Hughes Engines and have them shipped over? I have no idea what kind of performance parts are available in France. I would not do a lot of porting. Just a little gasket matching on the intake and a valve job. I would stay away from oversized valves unless you are planning a Hi RPM screamer. Maybe switch to 4 BBL heads if available ? For a cruiser I would shoot for a more conservative 300- hp. A 400 hp 318 is going to require rear end gears 3.55 minimum and a Hi stall trans converter