Road Runner Nest

Okay so today I am going to order a full gasket set and timing chains set for my 318.I have never had an engine apart,this will be my first.What I would like to know Is does anyone have any tips or useful information for on rebuilding a engine?(as far as gaskets go).My dad will be helping,hes done engines before,but I would still like to know what I'm doing.Either today or tomorrow I'm gonna get my engine outside to clean It,so Its ready when my packages come.I'm kinda anxious about this.....I don't want to goof or anything doing this.Ive searched for how to rebuild ____ books at my local bookstore and I have also tried finding info on google,but nothing useful.

depends how worn the motor is. once you get it disassembled (take pics), you can take it to a machine shop and see if you need to bore the cylinders if they're worn pretty bad. also need to see if your crank will need to be turned or hopefully just polished. hopefully your cam bearings are okay, otherwise you'll have to invest in that, but if you take it to the machine shop for checking-out, they'll probably hot tank it and put in new cam bearings and freeze plugs.

if you don't need pistons, you need rings, rod and main bearings, timing set, cam and lifters (you could use stock pushrods - for as little as they cost, i'd just get them), oil pump, intake and carb(if you wanna ditch the 2bbl set-up), full gasket set, maybe go ahead and replace water pump while it's out if not recently replaced.

if the motor was running okay, not using oil or knocking, etc. you could probably get away with rings, bearings, timing set/cam/lifters/pushrods, oil pump, and gaskets. definitely soak your oil pickup tube in gas to get any crap out of it if there's some in there.

Nah I don't think It needs all that right now.The engine ran fine before I took It out,everything worked fine In the car,Id be 100% okay with just putting It back into my car how It Is now.(and just to have the engine In my car though)I just know I could use gaskets,timing gear set and I can afford them.I'm more concerned on the actual taking apart the engine and putting It back together,I don't want to tighten bolts too tight,lose things,like are there any pain in the a55 things that can happen you can worn me about??,stuff like that.I know what I'm asking depends on what I need to replace during the process,so on so forth but just for gaskets right now.

I'm aware I'm doing a noob thing by just saying I need gaskets and a timing chain set. but right now they are the only things on my list that I feel my engine does need,of course If I find out I do need something else while Its apart I'm gonna have to eventually order more parts.I mean yeah my engine ran fine but who knows maybe If I didn't decide to park It in the garage that 7th day of September 2 years ago the engine could have had a serious malfunction later the next day.You know?i don't know...(and i take time engine has been sitting into consideration)

If I do find out It needs all that stuff, i will personally high five you through the computer.

and then go put a nice vase on my 318 cubic inch end table..you know until I can get the parts.

the 318 is a pretty cool engine you can do a lot of things to it.
if you are rebuilding it. i would suggest timing gears and a electric fuel pump with a fuel pressure regulator.
http://www.carcraft.com/techarticles/cc ... index.html
you can do a lot with it check out what car craft says about it..

because you're tearing it down, you'll definitely need new rings, rod and main bearings, timing set/cam/lifters/pushrods, oil pump and water pump(might as well), in addition to gaskets. these things are just the basics, from here you can go nuts

take pics while taking it apart, but basically it's all just nuts and bolts. putting it back together, you'll need a torque wrench. i have all the torque specs and sequence (i'm sure others do as well) to make sure everything is of equal tightness and not going to break anything

Guess I'm not doing It then...thanks

JosephGiannini wrote:the 318 is a pretty cool engine you can do a lot of things to it.
if you are rebuilding it. i would suggest timing gears and a electric fuel pump with a fuel pressure regulator.
http://www.carcraft.com/techarticles/cc ... index.html
you can do a lot with it check out what car craft says about it..

I took the time to read the entire article and I have some thoughts about It.


When people say they have so much horsepower out of a 318,isn't that sentence invalid when they bored It to make It bigger?I mean the horsepower they are talking about Isn't from 318 cubic inches Its from 324.That's a totally different engine to me,It may be made from a 318 block but In the end Its a not a 318.

And what did they do to Road Runner 318's to give It 20 more hp then the Satellite 318s In 1974?

well, boring is just part of a rebuild - technincally, my 440 is now more like 444-446 cubic inches, but it's still a 440 to me. the 74 318s probably just having a 4 bbl carb is the difference in HP, but i'm not sure - either way not a powerhouse

landon1 wrote:well, boring is just part of a rebuild - technincally, my 440 is now more like 444-446 cubic inches, but it's still a 440 to me. the 74 318s probably just having a 4 bbl carb is the difference in HP, but i'm not sure - either way not a powerhouse

But going by that article they said no 318s got 4 barrel until after 1978.

http://www.allpar.com/mopar/318.html

more info on the 318

interesting information on naturally aspirated smallblock engines with no power hmmm

the engine in this article is based upon a 340.....

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/auto-raci ... ngines.htm

statistics speak for themselves... i wonder why nascar uses smallblocks?

I've always wondered why everyone in the Mopar community were absolutely ga ga over the 340 and dismissive of the 318. The difference between the two is minute; cams, lifters, intake, and others I'm brain cramping on, from the 340 easily goes into the 318 and wakes that small block up. ..

it's a wonder. ..

Thanks guys!


I rely on my collection of books but sometimes things aren't correct,or exceptions aren't stated.

a 318 in stock form is no more of a powerhouse than a smogger 440...but i do sometimes wish whoever did my 440 swap would have just left it alone - then it would be a monster 318 with aluminum pieces to take the cake, not to mention probably a hundred pounds lighter on the front end

nascar can now use small blocks because of aerodynamics, not to mention modern engine technology, which created the ability to build a 700 HP small block that can rev at 9K, where a big block more like 7K. when these cars were built, nascar was all about the big blocks - no replacement for displacement - general rule then, and most of the time now. i think the main reason racing went to small blocks other than weight is that the chevy guys had the 350 that you can build a very nice one for a few grand and nascar wanted everything to be "equal". just my opinion.

anyhow, did you start the work yet?

Ha ha It doesn't bother me when people say that the 318's are weak or whatever other clever comments they come up with.I'm fine with a small block,I just wanna cruise with the satellite.there's plenty of other projects I could have more power with.

Nah haven't done anything else.this weekend I'm gonna do a bunch though.

When I take more pics and all Ill post them here: http://www.roadrunnernest.com/forum/vie ... f=1&t=3464

I don't want to have two posts going of sorta the same thing.

As far as warnings go..the bolts that hold the water pump to the/through the timing cover can and sometimes do break. I got mine out by melting the aluminum water pump back with a torch until I had some stud to grab, sorry had to pay the core on that one. Also saw an article where a 70 318 was taken out of a project car and put on a dyno, with 100,000 miles on it, and a 2-barrel,the best pull was 310 horse. No flys on any 318 I ever owned. It is a great motor.