Category Archives: Chrysler

MOPAR’s 318 Part III

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You may only have ever heard the name Imperial with the name Chrysler in front of it, but there was a brief period when it was its own company…sort of.  In 1955 Chrysler spun off the Imperial as its own separate marquis in an attempt to compete directly with the Cadillac and Lincoln luxury marquees offered by General Motors and Ford.  It was to be a luxury branding.

Beautiful ’55 Imperial (not a Chrysler…well not one on paper)

Imperial continued as its “own” company until 1975. Even though it was always sold in Chryslers dealerships, it was, on paper, a separate its own company. From 1976 to 1978 no Imperials were made, at least by name the Chrysler New Yorker Brougham was the name plate used at the time.

However, in 1981-1982 Chrysler was looking for a luxury model to add to its line up and decided it would try it again. The new luxury car would be named the “Imperial”.  This was in fact a K car but let’s not dwell on that.  What was really important was the latest Aerospace technology that was being used under the hood for the first time in a car.

1983 K Car Chrysler Imperial EFI

 

The Imperial was the first car fully fitted with a continuous-flow injection system.  Oh and the workhorse engine they choose to make this historical leap…yup the one, the only 5.2L, V8….318, thereby, making this a historic event in the auto industry and for the 318.  This new fuel delivery system was monitored by a combustion computer and adjusted the fuel/air mixture to the driving conditions.  The idea was to improve gas mileage.  The 318 was able to produce 140 hp and 240 ft lbs asphalt gripe and go from 0 to 50 mph under 10 seconds.

EFI Set Up from a 1982 318

Unfortunately the design was flawed.  There were issues with the fuel, octane content and vacuum connections (not unlike issue with GM’s Crossfire engine used in the 82 GM models and including my 1984 Corvette).  It was so unfriendly that customers began trading the Imperials in 1981. It reached a tipping point and Chrysler recalled the 318s and most were fitted with a two barrel carb instead.  It is difficult to tell but according to some sources the 318 Imperial may have been fitted with 2v or 4v carb, producing 130 and 165 horsepower, respectively, in 1982 and 1983.

Either way the 318 had been the center piece for a leap forward in design…ok…ok…there was a leap and then a fall and then a backwards somersault.  Nonetheless it was historical.

Thanks for reading.  Next up with the how Dodge used the 318

Tim

Dodge Super Bee

The Super Bee was only available with the V8 318 engine (270 horsepower (hp) and the buyer could choose from either a four-speed or …

Auto Factoids for 8/22/2010

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Very like week this week. 

OH….the Corvetttes at Carlisle is a huge event going on over in Carlisle PA.  I might make it there one of these years. 

For all you caddy lovers on 8/27/1902 the Cadillac company was born.  Yup it was its own company. 

This sure isnt' what one thinks of when they think of a Cadillac

 

Oh and this was the olds from around that era: 

1897 Olds.

 

London, England had an auto (and plane) historical event this week.  Charles Rolls was born on 8/27/1877 (Rolls Royce). Beside creating the an iconic car, they did plane engines and more. 

1903 Rolls Royce

 

Thanks for reading. 

Tim

Auto Factoids for 8/8/2010

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8/8/55 – test of first solar car.  William Cobb  created a prototype, but it was only a 15 inch model. Basically, an electric current was produced that in turn powered a tiny motor. The motor turned the vehicle’s driveshaft, which was connected to its rear axle by a pulley. I couldn’t find a pic of this one.  However, Alan Freeman developed the solar-powered car  in 1979 that you could actually put a human in.  Here’s the pic.  (It’s really just a bike…I think.)

Alan's Solar Car.

 

8/11/66  Chevy introduced the Camaro.  There is some discussion on whether there is such an animal as a 1966 Camaro, they  were, build in 1966 but sold in 1967.   Here a  pic.

8/15/56 Packard no longer producing cars in Detroit.  Previously the Packard company bought Studebaker and tried to keep the Packard name a live in 1957 by reworking a Studebaker and give it the Packard name.

1956Packard

 

1957 Packard...looks alot like Studebaker

8/21/1897  Oldsmobile becomes a company. Of course the company is no longer in business another icon gone.

1897 Olds

Thank’s for reading.

Tim

Wrenchin’ Tip Engine Swap 8/15/2010 Label It!

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Now the Mustang is a fairly simple machine, even the electrical system is easy to work through. Pls note, I hate electrical problems and I equally dislike having to chance them down and I don’t care how simple it is.  My 84 Corvette is nothing short of a nightmare. 

Keeping this stuff straight is hard to do.  Now tearing out an engine doesn’t necessarily mean you are starting out with all new wiring, but it could.  A tip I use is to label everyone single wire with (normally) white duct tape. 

Like so: (not white duct tape!!) 

This actually reads: Starter Relay. (Yeah...spelling issues..like you haven't noticed!!!)

 

This is eXtremely handy.  For example there are no less than 18 different wires just on the driver’s door for the Corvette.  I’ve taken the door apart so many times for repair, that I started leaving them labeled. 

Of course you can use this for hoses, lines and parts. 

Thanks for reading. 

Tim

MOPAR’s 318 Part II

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Before I start this next segment on the 318, I have to admit that organizing and presenting this work of art (oh..yeah..I’m laughing too!!!!) could have gone in a lot of directions.   The two that stuck out the most for me was by year (chronologically) or by brand.  Neither was a solid idea and at some point in the ’70s the only thing separating brands within most U.S. car manufacturers wasn’t much more than vinyl vs cloth seat covering.  So I decided to go with brands, Chrysler, Dodge and Plymouth, knowing that there we would be some crossover information and it might look a bit disjointed.  There’s some good stuff, and a couple of things you might know about the 318.

Chrysler began using the 318 in 1967 and carried that power plant until the late 1990s.

From 1967 to 1971 the 318 carried a 230 hp rating w/ the standard 2 barrel carb, managed 340 ft lb of torque and sported 9.2:1 compression ratio.  (that is actually a lower compression ratio than the original Ford 250 straight six I took out of my Mustang).  In 1967 the 318 engine was used in the Belvedere, Satellite, Fury, Coronet, Polara and Charger and in 1968 they added as the base option in the Dart GTS and Barracuda.

1967 Polara 4 door.

 

From 1972 to 1979 the 318 was bounced around in the horsepower arena between 150 to 140.  That’s nearly 100 hps lost from the late 1960’s.  At lower end of the new scale were the California models with the extra smog control.   It was still a mainstay, being the base engine choice for the Duster,  Cordoba, Monaco, New Port and unexpectedly the Road Runner,  just to name a few. It was never sported anything bigger than a 2 barrel carb and the compression dropped to 8.5.

It didn’t get any prettier in the 80s either, although there a bit of a bump in the high-end of the hp range to 175 hp but the company more than made up for that dropping the lowest number 120.  Interestingly, they made the California models with 155 hp and a 4 barrel carb.  The compression stayed about the same, but  in ’83 – ’90 they made a HD version of the engine that had between 165 to 175 hp, depending on the year and sported a 4 barrel carb.  This configuration managed to lay down 240 – 250 ft lb of torque, not too bad in one of the lighter cars, like the Dart, but barely power enough for the big old St. Regis. The 318 was also added to some of the most memorable cars….come on..you doesn’t remember “vooo..la rau….oh..oh…” (Volare )and the LeBaron, and Aspen.  Even some larger cars like the St. Regis, New Yorker, Gran Fury (I can’t see any car begin called grand with only 120 hp, but that’s just me.) and the Imperial.

1976 Volare

 

Oh and speaking of the Imperial something interesting happened in 1982 and 1983.  That little something was EFI.  More on that in the next segment.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

’89 318 efi intake to ’79 carbed 318 – Mopar Forums

Hello, my brother and I are thinking of taking on a project and would like to know if the throttle body injection components from the 1989 318 in his truck will work on a 1979 318 engine. The reasoning behind this is due to our …

Auto Factoid 8/8/2010

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This isn’t my normal “on this date back in…” factoid.  This one is current.

8/6/2010

At the VW Automóveis Ltda. plant in Portugal today the hundred-thousandth third-generation Scirocco rolled off the production line. Since its launch in 1974, this compact sports coupe has been the most successful Volkswagen two-door with more than 800,000 sold to date. Another notable Giugiaro coupe is the breathtaking beautiful Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint.

These cars were a hot item in the use for a short while.

2010 Scirocco

 Thanks for reading

Tim

Auto Factoids for the weeks of 7/25/2010 and 8/1/2010

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7/26/1945 Kaiser-Frazer Corp organized – it also include what was left of Graham-Paige car manufacturer. Frazer Nash was a British car making company.  In 1953 it became just Kaiser Motors. 

1946 Kaiser Nast Sedan

 

1953 Kaiser Darrin Convertible

 

7/29/1916 Nash Motor Company as founded by Charles Nash when he purchased a company called Jeffery Company which made a car called the Rambler.  I bet you can guess what came eventually  American Motors and their Rambler. 

Oh..in 1909 Buick purchased Cadillac on the 29th day.  

8/3/1900 The Firestone rubber company was founded by Harvey Firestone.  It was based in Akron, Ohio and had only 12 employees. Six years later Mr. Henry Ford contracted with Firestone to supply tires for the Model T. 

8/7/1937 the Cord company stopped production car, but of course when one to build planes etc. 

 Thanks for reading 

Tim

The MOPAR’s 318 Part I

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Before we start, I’d like the readers to know that these segments will not be an all-encompassing reference effort.  But I will have details that might not be well-known and some long forgotten.  Hopefully, it will be fun to read and informative.  The first few segments will be engines I’m familiar with.  I’ve owed a lot of cars and at least one of the Big 3 (Chevy, Ford, Chrysler) and all with different engines (and one with two).  First engine I am going to tackle is the 318.  I owned a Dodge Dart in the mid to last of 1970’s and it did have the 318 manual transmissions and at this very moment I can’t recall the other specs, but I’ll find them in this research. It that a great engine and simple to work on.

I’ve heard it mentioned that the 318 was Chryslers’ 350 (referring to GM’s 350, that’s been in existence for… just about forever…no it hasn’t but that’s another segment).  Of course the 318 didn’t have near the run that the 350 has, but it’s got some pretty interesting history of its own.

Let’s start with when the first 318 was used in a MOPAR car and what followed that up.  We’ll also look at some specs and some configurations it came in, you know carbs, cams and the like.

In the 1958 Plymouth the 230 c.i.d Powerflow Six was used as the standard engine, same as the previous year.  Chrysler did have V8s that were a possible option in 1957 and 1958, namely 301 and 277 cid.  However, it’s believed that the 318 was to replace the 277 c.i.d and the 301 V8s as the car maker moved toward try to capture a larger market.  The 318 had 9.25 to 1 compression ratio with 225 horses, it became the standard V8 used in the Plaza, Savoy, and Belvedere.  Perhaps the most powerful configuration you could get at the time was called the 318 Dual Fury (Sport Fury) V8 aka the Super-Pack rated at 290 horsepower; the dual was for the two  4 barrel carbs. The rest of the configuration included solid lifters, high performance cam, dual point distributor and dual exhausts.

The drive specs for the 1958 (which was a great looking car)

’58 Fury

 

shows that the standard block of for the Fury was the 318.  You could add the sport fury to it and go from 225 horses to displacing 350 cid and producing 305 hp, with 2 Carter, 4bbl carbs.  The nickname for the engine was the “Golden Commando” and it was paired up with TorqueFlite auto trans.

Oh, by the way 1958 Ply Fury was the star of the Stephen King book entitled “Christine” and later the  movie.

There is a lot of talk, even today about the Hemi, “Yo..dat got ah Hemi?”  It was a great design. But we won’t talk about the Hemi in this article, but we will mention the polyspheric cylinder head.  What is a ployspheric cylinder head?  That was a question asked by one of my frequent readers and this was my reply.

Poly is short for Polyspherical head. Some say it was a forerunner to the Hemi (Hemispherical head). Basically it was based on a theory that you could get more combustion or volume by angling the intake and exhaust valves then if you had them parallel. From Hemmings  Motor News book of Chrysler Performance Cars…”The ploy’s exhaust valve is located parallel to, but offset from, the cylinder axis.”

This increased the efficiency.  The hemi was constructed and designed to increase the efficiency with a more angled system. The shape that the valves make are semi-circular with the Poly being a little flatter than the Hemi.  I did the below image in Paint.

Poly-Hemi

 

This image is from Hot Rod and Hemis.com and shows the Hemi, Poly and the regular A series engine chambers.

www.hotrodandhemis.com Compare Hemi, Poly, Series A

 

Plymouth was not the top of the brand at Chrysler so back in 1956 it didn’t get a Hemi.  It did get was called the A series engine which came in 4 different displacement (277, 301, 303 and the 318).

To be continued.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

plymouth fury