Your Opinions Please

Hey All,

My 69 A108 currently has a tired 318/2-barrel/automatic setup. I have been playing with the idea of
putting a fresh 318/4-barrel/automatic in it [I have a couple of spare 318 engines].

The current setup is drippin’ oil & trans fluid all over the driveway.

Here’s my dilemma…I also have a fresh 360/4-barrel sitting on an engine stand that was destined for
my 1976 True Spirit pickup. This project hasn’t even started yet.

What would be to pros/cons to putting a 360/4-barrel setup in the A108 instead of a 318/4-barrel?

Are there any issues that would prohibit this?

Are there any special parts I would need?

Is there a huge difference in MPG between the 318 and the 360?

Has anyone put headers on a V8 A10x before? If so, which ones? If not, any ideas on what might
work?

Now the best part…which setup would you guys put in?

As always, thanks for the help!

Matt

I asked a lot of the same questions in other posts and here is what I was told.
Your 318 is internally balanced if you go to the 360 you will need a different torque converter. MPG will suffer, but if it is not a daily driver who cares abouot MPG? There's a header post in another forum do a search for it, I think it is in " A van general discussion" about half way down the page. I am staying with the 318 and stroking it to 390 with a kit from manciniracing, and "freshening" up the trans at a local shop for 300.00

i was going to put a 340 in my 108. its in my duster, got it running, its staying there. i have a few big blocks. but thats a whole differnt game., mounts, tranny, ect. im doing like 67a100pickup. im using the 318 with some modes.

A STROKED 318 GOES TO 390 CUBIC INCH............ I GOTTA GO TO MANCINI'S SITE TO READ UP ON THAT.
my 360's fuel use isn't to bad at all. possibly 20 mpg in its present form. 2bbl carb and 273 gears. the engine mounts are a little different for the 360 versus the 318 but not enough to worry about. the block tabs are different and you will need to modify the originals to get three bolts to hold them in or make new ones like i did. headers are no problem. as mentioned above the biggie is flywheel for standard or torque converter for automatic.

does a 273 crank on a 318 block with a good cam and 340 j heads quallify as a stroker 318?

will need to know what rods and pistons are being used. the heads are a decent choice though.

When i changed from a 318 to a 360 i was told if you build a 318 use a 360 head /intake /4brl/ and so on when building a 360 use the 340 head and so on

i thought a stroker was, examlpe.. 440 crank in a 383, 40 to 60 over on the pistions. heads, intake,yes. you can bolt thoes on the block., strokers are on the inside, your changing the bore and stroke frome a smaller block to a bigger one. thats my plan fore my 318

strokers are made by changing the ;
crankshaft
length of connecting rod
changing pistons
in one or all of the above combonations how duane's engine comes to 390 would be something to see for sure. standard bore for a 318 is 3.910" and standard stroke is 3.313". now what there using for a crank is probably a 360 thats been modified to increase stroke from the stock 3.578" and having a set of rods from some other engine. remember a small block chevy has a 4.00 bore and 4.00" stroke so they might be using chev rods and boring the engine to about 4.125". thats my guess for what its worth but it would be something to see and hear running for sure. what ever they are doing inside this engine is going to need some serious machine work to clearance everything and keep the pistons from hitting the heads and valves.
the chev guys know to get a 383 stroker you use a 400 crank in a 350 block and have to machine the connecting rods to clearance the camshaft plus all the other changes inside (rods and pistons).now the 318 and 360's have more room between the crank and cam than a chevy so this will help with clearance issues for sure.

to benwah; the 273 from my books has the same stroke as a 318 @ 3.313" therefore its does nothing more than standard. con rods are a bit shorter i think so you would lose compression ratio if you used them in a 318 block and the pistons are considerablely different in size 3.625" for the 273 and 3.910" for the 318.. i stand to be corrected on this though.

Here is some of the goodies they are using in the stroker, LA 318 block,
bore 3.940, stroke 4.000, crankshaft: cast steel, main size 318/340, rod type forged, I-beam 5140 chrome moly steel w/arp wave loc bolts & bronze wrist pin bushings, rod length 6.123, rod ratio 1.53:1, pistons- diamond racing forged pistons(630 grams w/pin) suitable for nitrous shot up to 125hp, Rings moly (file fit), Bearings federal mogul, 8.9:1 compression w/65cc head w/ .0039 compressed gasket, 9.4:1 w/60cc magnum heads. I'm still trying to find out how much machine work has to be done to the block.

look at pouplar hotroding artical-318 cheap as dirt- it takes a 318 over 400 hp.

so what i see is a .030 overbore on the cylinders . thats easy to do. how they get an extra 3/4" stroke on the crank to clearance would be interesting. remember the stock stroke is 3.313" and your going to 4.0". the magnum heads are marginaly better than 360 heads from past experience. our machinist did a flow test on stock over 360 heads and the difference was about 6%. still should be a strong running piece though. beware botie boys.

wylee...I picked that article up when it came out and that is what started the research. I am trying to get most of my parts locally to try and keep them a float. The way things are here in Michigan every little bit helps.

benwah wrote:does a 273 crank on a 318 block with a good cam and 340 j heads quallify as a stroker 318?

All 3 engines use the same stroke. The later '66 - 67 273 cranks work in the 340's too, if you find one with no crank. '67 (and early '68) 318's have that same forged steel crank.......
Only issue is the early (64 to 66) 273 crank having the smaller recess in the rear of the crank for the smaller center nub of the convertor. You can have it machined out to the larger size if needed.
Ter'