I have an 85 ramcharge that will be my son's first car. It has tons of issues, but I have an 84 for parts, and it's a simple truck so I proceed with blissful ignorance. It came with a busted 318 and I have a running 01 1500 ram truck that is a nice truck minus I don't have the title. So I figured I'd pull the 318 magnum engine and do a swap. I rebuilt this engine years ago and put over 150k on it so I know its a good engine.

While I know there will be issues that plague me, I am immediately concerned about fuel pressure delivery. The 85 is carburetor and I'm installing a fuel injected engine. What's the best course of action? Buy an intake to carb swap the magnum, then figure out the non computer ignition and distributor, or try to figure out a way to get high pressure fuel to it, and if so, how?

 

Not only would you have fuel pump but also computer to manage the ignition and fuel injection system. Id go with a carb new distributor (possibly the one from the 85) , you may have problems with LA motor mount tabs not being on the block but you should be able to get mounts to fit the two together…
also you could use the timing chain cover and cam esentrik from the LA on the Magnum the use the stock mechanical fuel pump.

 

A lot depends on the skill level and budget.....
For me.... I would do the carb style swap... Though I like the EFI, the stuff you have is old and we know what happens when you start tugging and pulling and banging old wiring and connectors and electronics... It gets you chasing your tail when trying to get it running and keeping it that way...
OR you could just swap out the short block....

 

I guess I will just swap the LA engine in. Going to tare it down first, seeing as how it will already be out of the truck. It's in my 66 charger right now, and considering it's going into a 4x4 ramcharger, I should probably put a different cam in it. What would be a good cam to allow for highway driving, and still have a little down low torque? Fuel mileage is also a concern.

 

A Cam that will work from Idle to about 4500 rpm should be fine

 

There is a lot of information about swapping a magnum block in out there. I've done it in a W series. If you have both the LA and the magnum then you have all of the parts you need for any swap you want to do. The mid mounts on the magnum block do get in the way of headers but they are easy enough to grind off and the new magnum blocks still have the original castings for the forward mounts so they bolt right up. So if you did a legit build on that magnum and want to run it that's certainly an option. I wouldn't say it's hard but it does require planning.

 

I would highly recommend a Comp Cams XE256H, used this in our '92 D250 with an LA 318 4bbl, worked as advertised with more power than I expected.