If you are work on your older cars engine, there are a good many tricks that you can use save a couple bucks and gain a little horsepower.
This one is an oldie but a good.
Have your intake valves back cut, you’ll get a similar boost as if you use high lift rocker arms or cam.
The procedure is best done by a qualified machinist. So while you have your engine apart and laying all around our garage on pieces of cardboard (come…you know that’s what happens!!!) have him take a little off the port side of your intake valves. This creates the same effect as an earlier opening a later closing action like just a like a the addition of a an upgrade cam. The lighter valve means less spring pressure is required to control the valve at higher rmps.
A 30 degree cut is what they do on vortex engines.
The backcut is at the edge of the normal valve cut.
Sorry MOPAR fans, I got sidetracked. Let’s continue with the Dodge’s use of the 318.
Dodge didn’t get a V8 until 1953. That first engine was a Hemi with 241.3 cid and only 7.1:1 compression. They called it the 241. It was improved upon for the next couple of years and very cool names like, Red Ram and Super Red Ram.
Approximately 1956, Dodge began using the 315 with the Polyspheric chamber. (Here is the link from my earlier post on the Polysheric head: http://wp.me/pKHNM-gy)
It wasn’t until 1960 that Dodge began using the 318. This was, again, the Polyspheric chamber, and it came in two versions in 1960, a 2 barrel and a 4 barrel, with 230 hp and 255 hp respectively (of course) and both a 9.0:1 compression (that pretty good compression rate). The 318 was used in the Dart Seneca, the Pioneer and the Dodge Phoenix got the larger of the two 318s.
The 318 carried on through out the ’60s with the horsepower hovering between 230 and 260. Of note during that time was where the 318 was used. I was surprised to find, such as, in 1968 the Dodge 440 Coupe used the 318 (not the 440, which even non-MOPAR peeps know about that one).
The most cars sold by Dodge was the Dart throughout the 1960’s. There were actually 3 sub-models of the Dart, the Sencea which had 3 different trim levels, the Pioneer which had 5 different trim levels and the Phoenix which was the most upscale sub-model with 4 trim levels. The engine options were either the 225 slant six or the 318.
Here are a few pics:
1960 Dodge Dart Phoenix
1960 Dodge Dart Pioneer
1960 Dodge Dart Seneca (I love the fins!!!)
At the beginning of this series I mentioned that I had 1970 Dodge Dart and that it did have the 318 with a manual transmission. There was only one version of the 318 for 1970 and it was has 230 hp and 9.0:1 compression with a bore and stroke of 3.91X3.31 in. That made for a pretty quick car, as light as it was.
Well, I bet you can guess what comes next. Yes a sharp decrease horsepower. By 1972 the 318 was reduced to 150 hp and by 1975 the drop was to 145. 1976 was the last we saw of the 318 used by Dodge. The 1976 Dodge Dart was the last year for the Dart, but it went out in a big way being offered with a Police Package Code A38. One of the options in this package was the 318 and it regained some of its muscle to the tune of 220 hp.
This concludes the series on the MOPAR 318. If you’d like to offer up an engine to see more information on drop me a comment here or email me at timsweet@cox.net.
So I bring the Vette home and the steering feels pretty good and although my 70 Mustang has power steering (I had been driving that all week..yeah..I know..”poor baby!!!”) there really is no comparison between the two. I get home and park it for the night.
Next morning I’m up early going to wash both cars, so jump behind the wheel of the Vette to pull it forward a bit and…..nothing!!! No power, nor lights, no key in the ignition buzzer, nothing. Hey, there wasn’t even a clicking noise when turning the key. I’m think great..what could I have left on that would kill the battery that badly. Answer was nothing.
Now if you’ve some of my earlier entires, you’ll recall that electricity and I mix like, um….like..um…Amps and water!!!! As long as it stays in the wire and gets from switch to device and nowhere else, I’m good. Have that perfect universe interrupted and I’m not hanging with that. I hate electrical work. I hate thinking about, hearing about it and living through it. And this isn’t limited to car, but that’s my topic here.
So I get out and raise the hood, but for I get to far I see a huge spot of fluid laying under the car. Right about now I’m starting to get that…”all old cars should be crushed” thought running through my head and then..”I’m gonna find the guy that did that work, right now, on a Sunday and drag his happy but out of church (if such a demon would be allowed in one) and rub his noise in my…yeah…you guessed it….power steering fluid!!! (Breath…breath..that was two weeks ago….come one now..simmer dow…………..HEY IT STILL FEELS LIKE YESTERDAY!!!! Ok….ok…better now, it’s over and it turned out….OH>>>WHOA….don’t tell them now they won’t read the next two posts and your rating will drop below 2 reads a day!!!…Yes…Yes must get a grip!!!!)
So I started up the Mustang (they sit side by side together in the driveway nose to butt – have to back the Vette in or it won’t clear the end of the driveway) and maneuvered it over to the Vette so I can jump it with jumper cables. I have a fairly new jump box but it never really seemed to work, and then I lost the power adapter ( stupid electricity) and it just sits in my garage. I hook the cars together with jumper cables and allow the Mustang to run on high idle. Get in the Vette and …nothing… not even single dash light. The charging when on for some time before I could get the Vette to turnover and she started up, but she wasn’t happy. I took the cables off and then for some unexplained reason I turn the vette off.
Crap!!! So I turned the key, but I already knew how that would because there was still no key in the ignition buzzer..nope….and no click of the starter solinoid…and that would be a triple “Crap”!!!! It took just as long to get her started again only this time I wasn’t going to turn it off. I drove it over to the guys that put in the rack and pinion steering (of course it’s Sunday and I call and let some one know I was leaving it and to put it inside. At this point I wasn’t happy, the power steering leak on a new system and now an electrical issue!!!!
Next day was a Monday and I called up my friend Tim and said, “Hey..uncool to find fluid leaking and my electrical system is f ‘ ed (short for fried….yeah right).
In the end it was just a hose that didn’t get tightened, oh and my alternator was in fact f ‘ed (short for fried). The alternator came that afternoon and the car was ready the next day. And that is that…end of ……………..yeah…nope…..I wish!!!!!
If you can guess what’s next, I’ll send you a DVD.
OH..here is the new rack and pinion all clean and nice looking!!!
New Rack and Pinion This was taken today 8/31/2010
Thanks for reading and yes Steve Sears..you have to wait for tomorrow for the rest.
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.
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 …
At some point I’ve promised myself I would cover the restoration stories that center around my 1970 Mustang. There is a lot to tell, trust me!! I’ve learned a lot!!!
Engine - Before (250)
Engine After - (302)
But for this Wrenchin’ Tip, I’d thought I’d share a few hints that I did pick up. Just to be fair I didn’t do a lot of the engine swap work myself (Average Guy w/ average tool and average skills) but I learned a lot of general helpful hints and some Mustang specific helpful hints!!!
So here are a couple of tips:
1. Planning and scheduling a restoration is important. If you are doing an engine swap or pulling it out for an overhaul make this the first step in your restoration. Yes, I’ve seen the TV shows where they put the engine after the car is back from the body shop. But hey this is the real world, and in this world, money is tight and body work is expensive enough not to what to afford to re-do it. In this world, my average guy world, wrenches slip, grease stains and sometimes swinging 400 lb engine at the end of a chain can be…well…a bit dicey.
2. Before preparing the engine for removal, you know, disconnecting all the electrical, fuel, A/C, vacuum system, etc., take the hood off and store it someplace safe. You’ll have a ton of room and you won’t bounce that shiny, newly painted engine against it.
3. Test fit the headers before you install the engine, especially if you aren’t putting stock headers back on. You need to check the clearances around them and ensure you can get to key components , such as starters, after the engine is completely installed. Nothing is more insane that having to pull an engine or headers just to replace your starter. Here is a pic of my Mustang’s engine with all the attachments.
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.
Here’s my story of using household items to fix cars. Kinda like a turkey baster tool. Ha Ha.
Finally solved the fuel boil over problem on the 82 Cougar wagon with an inline six and 1 bbl carb.
I live and drive mostly above 2,000 feet and with the fuel blending today the fuel in the carb bowl will boil over and come out the fuel vent in the carb throat, pooling in the intake manifold causing a flooded condition resulting in hard starting when the engine is hot with the huge plume of black smoke when it did start. I’ve tried all manner of fixes that included: lowering the float, retarding the timing, advancing the timing and investigating whether the manifold, catalytic converter or the exhaust was restricted in some way. I built a heat shield out of aluminum and tried that. Some people had suggested using a thicker carb base gasket or even doubling the gasket which would have required longer mounting studs for the carb. Since it hasn’t been a daily driver in the summer due to a broken a/c I’ve put off the fix. I tried to find a phenolic material to make a carb base spacer for the carb that would insulate it from the heat with no luck.
Finally my wife went to Wal-Mart and bought a plastic cutting board for me on my request. It’s made from a hard polyethylene material that’s just over 7/16″ thick. So, I did the obvious scientific test on the material. I got the car to operating temperature and held the cutting board to the exhaust manifold and it did not melt. So I cut the board, drilled the carb bore hole with a 1 and 7/8″ hole saw, drilled the stud holes, made a thin gasket for both sides of the material and sealed it with red high temp permatex gasket maker and installed my new base plate. To test I drove the car in 108 degree heat to full operating temperature for 10 miles with the now fixed a/c blowing hard and the boil over problem is gone. There is no longer any fuel smell or hard starting when hot due to fuel in the intake manifold. Finally after almost 8 years this annoying problem is fixed. I don’t know why this material insulates so well over the factory thick gasket but it does.
The material doesn’t seem to be affected by fuel either.
I’m sure others have been baffled by this problem since most fuels today contain ethanol and other materials that lower the boiling temperature of gasoline. Altitude certainly plays a part as my car never did this at sea level even in 100 degree weather.
Two guesses as to my next project on my C4……cricket…cricket…cricket…Give up? Fine, its replacing the power steering reservoir and connected hoses.
Just for fun? Nope, who’d want that mess of a job, just for fun? No…no it is not an upgrade but a serious leak.
Hey kids its story time!!!! Let me tell you about the big shiny Vette that ate all of the average guy’s car budget. Grab you binkies…it’s horrifing.
If you’ve been reading my posts, you may recall (“come..you ‘member!!!” {I stole that from the comedian George something}…..What you don’t hang on every word I type?…You don’t re-read my post to memorize all my car woes and tips and humor???..that’s what I figure…yet I keep on typing….its good therapy for me!!!) that my vette over heated, not once, but twice!!! Freak catastrophic radiator hose split and then the fan frying it’s self.
After I got it back from the shop, where I had them check the electric work I did when installing the new fan, I noticed a leak under the car in the driveway. I hate leaks under my cars, almost as much as the Ms. hates the side affects they have on our driveway (I’m not crazy about them either). The leak was not too big and when I cleaned it up, I chalked it up to left over coolant from the over heading, it had the right consistency. Then I washed the car. Nice shiny beautiful red…money swilling Corvette!!!!
Drove the car to work and home again and came back out a bit later to put the garbage cans on the curb….errrkkk…hey…Tim..no one, not one single person, cares why you came back outside, and just as many care where you put the trash cans… and I’m going out on a limb here…but I’m betting the total is the same for whether you drove it to work…to the store…or Japan…got it bro???!!! These are valuable minutes of our lives being spent here reading this!! Ok..I got it. The pool was bigger than before and it no longer could be mistaken for coolant. It was without a doubt, transmission fluid, or power steering fluid. Whether it is GM or Ford, either of their recommend power steering fluid looks and feels similar to the transmission fluid.
Dreading the worse news, I decided to first check what I hoped was the problem, power steering fluid, I’d hate that less then tranmission issues. Luckily…(isn’t that the way it is with older cars..your happiness is measured by the size of what’s broken, or needs replacing)…it appeared that it was just the top of the hoses on the reservoir, near the hose clamps…perfectly understandable….it’s an old car..and simple to replace (remember that later on in this post).
Here are the hoses:
Hoses leaking near the clamps.
I’m thinking…oh..”SLAM DUNK” easy fix. Perhaps, but come on….really….does it really ever turnout that easy…yes it does…but not this time!!!
After further inspection, I noticed something else..oh…you’ll love it!! I’d tell you but you know a pic is worth 250 cuss words (most of those aren’t real words but I do have some unique arrangements of the classic 4 letter ones and a few bigger). Ready??? NO!! For the pic… make up your own cuss phrases!!!
Sigh!!!
Well that does make it a clean sweep…everything above the pump up needs to be replaced!!! Ok, still not horrible, so I’m much happier knowing it’s not the transmission!!!! Just order the parts and we are home free.
And that’s the end of the story…expect for the part where the hoses aren’t available any more and OMG, you betcha, they aren’t straight hoses. Here…take a look!!!
From the reservoir, down to the pulleys, nothing but bends!!!
Better look at the hose going straight down the Front of the engine block
They are molded to hold shape, there is no room for anything but the exact bends or they will rub against the pulleys and last..oh..maybe a week!!
And finally…
And a little wider view.
The reservoir and one hose that is supposed to fit are on their way…be here tomorrow. The other hose is not available…no not out of stock and on back order…not made any longer.
But I have an idea….I’ll give that to you tomorrow.
