318 rebuild...

[Sean62687]

I'm looking for a rebuild for my 318 73 challenger engine, nothing crazy maybe a little more horsepower.  i just want it to be more reliable and easy to deal with for an everyday driver.  I'm an 18 year old college kid whos been pouring money into this car for about five years now...so i dont have an unlimited budget but am willing to spend.  i live in the central jersey area...so if anyone knows a good rebuild in that area thatd be awesome

[Follicly Challenged]

I'm sure you'll get lots of good imput in here, I'll start off.

What can the budget afford ? Bore & hone etc ? Regular type rebuild ?
How about adding a new set of Keith Black pistons, redo the rods W/good bolts, a mild camshaft ie; xe260H comp cams stick and some 360 heads W/1.88 valves. Don't forget to clean-up the bowls on the heads if you can. Other than that, add a stock 4 bbl manifold and carb.
Should be nice little motor with good manners in traffic.

Anybody ?

FC out.

[Sean62687]

yeah im probably gonna get the bore and hone, the budget is flexible to a certain point, maybe like 1800.  it depends on how much my parents feel like sponsoring haha.

[dimples]

Since you are going mild, I would stick to the 318 small port heads, and just have 1.88/1.60 valves installed. The 360 ports are too big to have good velocity on a 318, in the lower RPM's. (which is where the tiny teen suffers because of it's smallishness)
As for your cam, the 260 Comp, or close, sounds like a good one, they make good power off of idle, and pull nice to about 4800 in a small port 318. If it was me, I would opt for a Weiand action plus manifold, and a Edelbrock 600 CFM carb. The reason for the weiand, is it has small ports for your 318, where other manifolds are made for big port heads. (this can give you a dead spot, and hurt overall performance)

[zerfetzen]

I just spent $1,600 rebuilding my 318 for my 73 Cuda.  They did everything to it short of balancing it, including jetting, porting, boring (30 over), etc.  The guy's reputed in the area as THE performance builder for MOPAR's, but he treated my project like he couldn't care less, making some comments here and there that it's only a 318, and I really had to coax details out of him, such as my specific cam info and compression.

On the other hand, it runs GREAT!

[dimples]

LOL..........only a 340, minus a mount ear and 22 cubes......................................
I like that mentality.