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My wife and I inherited a ‘69 Dodge with an ‘88 318 in it and am largely thinking about how to go forward from here. I would assume the transmission is an ‘88 as well, but haven’t climbed under to confirm this assumption. I’m thinking of modernizing a lot of the wiring and putting on a larger alternator to support the electronics. Largely, the original VIN is missing and only has a factory stamp on the door frame. I want to put a standard transmission in as personal preference and at this point the entire vehicle needs work. Mostly here for help, pointers and sources for after market or OEM replacement parts. It’s missing it’s gas tank.
If it's really in as good of shape as it looks, you appear to have a solid base to start from. If you are feelin' froggy, I would be tempted to go for a crate hemi, with electronics, with a five, or six speed behind it.
that thing looks pretty solid. i would definitely look at a hemi/new transmission swap. also looks like you need a new heater core since someone bypassed it. may be a good time to decide if you want a/c if your doing a engine swap and having to replace the heater core.
It still has the old heater core, but something tells me it doesn’t work. I was going to rebuild the current engine and sell it, the seals are leaking profusely. I will be getting an engine and standard trans, still have a ton of other things to do. Only the body suffers from rust issues, the frame is very solid, got lucky with it being a TX truck.
usually when someone bypasses the heater core it means it is leaking. its not worth rebuilding the 318 unless you plan on using the engine. there is really no value to 318LA because the magnums are alot more common and you get a better breathing engine
My wife and I inherited a ‘69 Dodge with an ‘88 318 in it and am largely thinking about how to go forward from here. I would assume the transmission is an ‘88 as well, but haven’t climbed under to confirm this assumption. I’m thinking of modernizing a lot of the wiring and putting on a larger alternator to support the electronics. Largely, the original VIN is missing and only has a factory stamp on the door frame. I want to put a standard transmission in as personal preference and at this point the entire vehicle needs work. Mostly here for help, pointers and sources for after market or OEM replacement parts. It’s missing it’s gas tank.
Nice '69!
If you plan on keeping the 318, you can put an A833 behind it. They're a nice transmission for cruising, especially if you get one of the OD units from the 80's (which are pretty common in junkyards and have the advantage of already being set up with the correct tailshaft length and shifter mounts for a truck). But, if you want a power upgrade, I'd agree with others on here about just swapping in a modern crate motor with transmission. You CAN build a 318 to produce some serious grunt, but it's more $$ than it's worth unless you're working with an original engine/transmission/body setup and want to keep it numbers matching. I personally stuck with just a mild cam, headers, and a bigger carburetor when I rebuilt my 318, because I was working on a bit of a budget at the time. But even if I wasn't, I probably wouldn't have bothered with upgraded heads, forged crank, hot cam, etc because you can take a bone-stock 383 (they fit fine in these trucks, since they were a factory option), drop that in, and have a huge power upgrade over the 318 without any $$ spent on modifications.
If I'd had my choice I'd have stuck with the original column shifted 3 speed, too, to keep it original-ish, but it had already been replaced by an A833 when I bought it and the original transmission was long gone. Which isn't a big deal; the A833 is easier to live with anyway
Here's mine:
Last edited by Noelie84; Feb 26, 2019 at 10:24 AM.
First time Dodge owner 1969 D100 body
