Hey guys, new to the forum and was looking for some advice on my truck. I have a 1983 Dodge Ram D250 318 ci engine and 4 speed manual transmission that i'm making plans to restore next spring/summer and i could use some advice.
She's an old farm truck that's seen alot of wear and tear. I want to completely restore her, top to bottom. About the engines, I want something that gives great power, isn't excessively hard on gas (will be driven fairly regular), is fun to drive, not ridiculously expensive to get (don't want to cut corners, but don't want to go broke either XD), and has that impressive factor. So I was wondering which engine is in your guys opinion the best option for my case. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Welcome to the forum.

Sounds like you want a big block for the power/wow factor with a small blocks mileage and a cheap price. Good luck. The questions you ask are very subjective as different people are impressed by different things. What would impress you and what do you consider ridiculously expensive? Personally I think a big block is easy to get great power out of but a 318 putting out 400 plus HP is impressive to me (see below) and doable for the price of a high HP big block but neither are inexpensive or easy on the gas. What is your use for the truck? Hard road rover, daily driver, heavy hauler, or tow vehicle? I guess what I am saying is that you need to give us more info about your expectations to get good usable advise.

http://www.popularhotrodding.com/tec...e/viewall.html

http://www.bouchillonperformance.com/BPEtruckKit.asp

 

The 408 will be the easiest to drop in. The hemi will probably net the best power to mileage combo, but could also be an absolute terror to retrofit. The 440 won't be as simple as the 408, but might cost half as much as the other two options, and still won't be nearly as much of a headache as the hemi. Have you thought about doing build on your 318 with a stockish bore?

 

Agreed with SEAL. If you want max wow factor, import a slant 6 hemi from australia, and put a turbo on it.

 

Honestly my 318 will run with 90's era 350 powered Chevys and past 4.6L Fords. If it were me I'd do the best bang for the buck upgrades on the 318 (heads, intake, 4 bbl, headers, ignition, cam) along with a rebuild on the bottom end with some 9-9.5:1 pistons and have a blast with that 4 speed. You'll still have decent fuel mileage when you're not roasting the tires off it too.

 

i don't think it would be worth the effort or the money to install a 5.7 hemi. installing a hemi would require an extreme amount of work. you would have to completely rewire your truck and possibly replace and custom make new gauges.

a 440 could be fun but would be a big pig on gas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9LT1omFAwc

a 408 could also be fun but could also be expensive.

i would probably stick withe the stock 318. maybe stick a better cam in it and some better head on it and better intake and carb and it could be more to your liking. i think 360 heads are suppose to have bigger valves and ports and can give the truck some more get-up and go and not hurt you gas mileage too much.

 

The 360 heads will help as far as bigger vales and ports, but they also have bigger combustion chambers, which will drop a stock engine's compression down to somewhere around 7.5:1. They're pretty useless without higher pistons or machining on the heads because of this. But definitely, I think the 318 gets respect for longevity but not for performance. They're built very conservatively from the factory.

 

@ SEAL
Your first sentence about sums it up lol. I've been very impressed with what i've seen of big blocks (though i must say after reading that 318 link i think i'm gonna hold onto it for another project down the road) which why i was kind of thinking of the 440, but like its been said the 440 is a pig on gas, thats why i was considering the 408 stroker. It's big, the 360 to stroke should be fairly easy to find, should have pretty good power, yet not be as hard on gas as the 440. It would be mostly a daily driver,maybe occasionaly towing but not regularly. I want her to be able to put out good when i need her to, but be fairly conservative when i don't. If i got around 12-16 mpg i'd be happy
Also i want to swap the tranny for a 6 speed, any advice on some good ones for the 408 or 440 and what i'd need to put it in?

@ wontacceptthis
I didn't think the hemi would be much of an option, but i thought i'd ask anyway lol So the 408 would be the easiest to put in, but may end up being more than the 440 initially? What would be a rough estimate of the hp/torque/mpg of each?

@ crazzywolfie
Sick vid! That's what i want to do

 

A stock 318 wont win many drag races, but can get pretty good gas mileage, and still make enough power to have fun and get out of its own way. I like my 318, and all it has done is a 4bbl Carter AFB on an Edelbrock performer dual plane, and long tube headers from Jegs. It torques all day long. Oh, and i get 12 MPG in that monster of a 72 on 39" bias ply's. Thats not too shabby.

 

you could possibly stroke a 318 to a 390