318 vs 360

[money pit]

Since 340's are rare and expensive, I decided to look for a 318 or 360. I have a 70 Barracuda with a slant six. I looked at the specs online for both engines. It looks like the 318's from the late 60's to the early 70's had more horsepower than the 360's.  Any one have an opinion which is the better of the two engines?

[70chall440]

This subject is covered pretty extensively on this and a number of other forums, however since you asked the question.... 

What do you want from the engine/drive train? Will this be a simple driver, hot rod, race car, etc?

Bottom line however is that you can make more power with a 360 for what its worth. Since you are changing completely, you should look at either a Magnum 360 (5.9) or a Gen III hemi.

[money pit]

I'm looking for a daily driver that has more power than the slant.  Had a little trouble getting up and over a section of the freeway that was all up hill. Thanks

[70chall440]

Well for a driver, either will work fine, however if you are going to go through all the effort of changing the engine and all the requisite equipment, might as well go for a 360 IMO. Nothing wrong with a 318, I've had a lot of them but there is no replacement for displacement. Again, strongly suggest you go with a Magnum motor at least and would also recommend you go with EFI.

[1 Wild R/T]

1990 I bought my first Challenger convertible.... \6 & a 904 plus strangely an 8.75 & disc brakes.... Really nice car but leaving the guys house the freeway on ramp was a hill & once you joined the freeway the climb continued for nearly 1/4 mile......  Getting up the on ramp all the car would muster was about 35 mph....  Top of the hill it was still struggling to hit 40 mph....  The next weekend I was at Pick & Pull pulling a E58 360/727 out of a cop car....  The car showed less than 80K on the odometer & the heads were fresh.....  I tore the heads, pan & timing cover off.... Slid a cam in, had the heads shaved .050, gasket everything & did the Krylon O/H.. Next I pulled the trans down & put a O/H kit & a shift kit in it.....Over the next two years I slowly gathered parts, a K member here, a pair of 70 340 manifolds there....  I picked up everything including a rear valance, tips, a bulge hood, driveshaft, LCA's with tabs & a swaybar.... Everything..... Winter of 92 I took the car for a drive & after about 15 minutes the car started loosing power.. Well power might be an stretch..  Turns out temps had gotten cold enough to pop the freeze plugs & I'd driven it without coolant..... I put freeze plugs back in & drove it for another couple months but it was clear the time to swap was at hand.... Took the car off the road for about two weeks while I swapped everything out, that J/Y 360 ran well enough that I hung with a 440-6 Challenger.. End of a 1/4 mile he beat me by less than a car length..... We were both surprised....

[70chall440]

Perfect example. Go to any salvage yard, try and find a low mileage 5.9. Put a decent cam in, perhaps a set of aluminum heads and good exhaust and you will have a blast with the car.

[jimynick]

I agree with the lads about the 360 and remember, you don't have to go nuts; as a cam, decent intake and headers will do a pretty good job of wakening the 360 up even without the heads. The 308 casting # heads are considered to be superior to the 340 J head as well. The magnum engines have no provision for an engine driven fuel pump for what it's worth. 

[money pit]

Thanks everyone, great advice.