i have a 318ci in my truck right now. Plan A: is to swap the 318ci for a 360ci. Plan B: is to swap the 318ci for a 440ci. Need a little help with going about with this. Thanks

 

I would guess its a personal choice and how much $ you got and/or time. Personally I would go to a stroked 440. Are you going to wheel it offroad, or haul stuff. If you are going to wheel it offroad, it then would be a question of, how do you wheel?

If you want the rig for hauling, how heavy are the loads? I would just buy a truck with whatever engine you want, and go from there.

 

my plan for my truck is to be a street truck. no offroading no hauling. the most i might haul is my jetski. my truck about a foot of the ground. the wheels tuck up in the fenders. i have about $4,500 is going to spend on the motor and transmission.

 

I wouldn't spend that much on engine/transmissiont. You can buy a really decent rig for that amount of money. Heck you could probably buy a truck already lowered. If you are just going to be driving it on the street, then I assume you mean daily driver, not street racing (very dangerous and very illegal, I know a few people who lost their license for 10 years, from back in my highschool days) .

I would keep the rig you already have. 318 D-series 2WD ram (I would assume), and buy nice rims ($1k), decent tires ($800), lowering kit ($?250?), and get a nice paint job ($no clue), body work if needed, full exhaust from headers to tailpipe ($?500?), K&N filters, cold air intake, decent audio system, XM/Sirius hookup, timing set, belts, window tint, etc etc etc. Plus alot of other stuff, especially if you want to blow 4 large on your rig.

Remember when it comes to paint, and you want to impress da ladies, dont skimp on the paint, you get what you pay for (Stay away from Maco) Stay well away from Canadian Tire, if you are in Canada. They like to rip you off, because I think the counter people get comminion (I could be wrong) If your 318 runs, then dont swap it out, keep it. well maintained, keeping up all the fluids etc. Checking level constitaly. If you are dead-set on having good engine/transmission ---> I would start looking for another 318 of the same year/vintage and rebuild the spare 318, do the same with the transmission. This allows for quick swaps. Do it yourself, if you get someone else to do it, you are paying a hell of alot of cash. You could also buy a rebuilt engine, or a crate engine. Many web sites offer them. Google is your friend, use it. Search the internet.

318 is good for what you want to do with the rig. Anything more and you will be spending more cash on gas, plus if you swap in a different engine you will need alot more then just the engine, which means more outlay of g-note$. Harnesses, computers, engine mounts, maybe some clearance issues.

I have a early 80's dodge 4x4 truck. I plan to tear it up in the mud fields. I will probably rip out the bed and put in some tubing and exo-cage. It never hurts to media blast the truck. See whats rusted and whats not. Again way more coinage.

 

I don't if you have seen my truck, but it has a brand new paint job, new rim, new tires, i already have it dropped pretty far, everything is awsome on my truck, but the enigne and transmission. I have two sets of rims for this truck, one setis black and the other is chrome.I have the full exhasut system for my truck, FLOWTECH Headers,DYNOFLOW h-pipe muffler with 2 1/2 dual piping. 4.10 gear in the rear from RANDY RING AND PINION. ACCELLSuper-Street Coil, 8.5mm ACCELL wires, ACCELLplugs. The thewhole thing withthe truck is the engine and transmission. The 318cimake very poor horsepower and torque. 140hp @ 4000rpm and 245lb-ft @ 1600rpm. Not impressing me! Transmission was ok, but i lost 2nd gear. I smoke the through 1stand half through 2nd, but 2nd gave out.My dad is going to rebuild it for me because it's kind hard to work on a truck half way across the world (Iraq). I'm looking at a 360 crate engine with way more horsepower (about320hp). I now the 360 came inthis truck, nowI'm trying to find out if there is anythingI need to put it in.

 

I would go for a 318 to 390 stroker kit. This will keep your engine exactly the same on the outside ( mounts and accessories) but will give you better displacement. I have found kits online for about 2 grand- comes with crank, rods, and pistons. If you have the magnum 5.2 I wouldnt swap to the 5.9. as they both had the same hp (230) but different torque. 360s are dogs anyway. A 440 would take more work to put in,weighs more, and will rev slower, but its probably worth it for a street truck. Hope this helps. I have a 93 with the 5.2 magnum, and am looking at similar mods. By, the way, what did you use to lower the front of your truck? Did you just chop the springs like everyone else?

 

i did a 360 swap just recently u can use the old 727 if thats what u have in ur truck if not(i have one for sale) u need the left side motor mount off a 360 truck a 360 truck pan van pan wont work except maybe late 80 van non magnum. if u have a 904 trans u can use it although depending on ur power levels on ur 360 u may not want to use it. a 318 to 390 build is quite expensive i got my motor for a 1000 bucks with a trans i rebuilt it was built extensivly for mild street and strip use with over 600 lift cam and a victor manifold. do some research u can find a motor if ur patient. if u want to go the 318-390 route speed-o-motive makes a kit for bout 2 grand but u probably will want some 340 360 or edelbrock heads to really get it going 360 and 340 need to be milled down about 5 or so grand just in getting it to reach a good power level. 440's u will probably need both motor mounts and the trans to back it up. but ur 8.25 rear end wont handle it any how built mildly btw if u want to bag ur truck i got the schematic to make the front lower control arm bracket.

 

also just so u know a 318 pan will not work differant crank sizes need a 360 truck pan and oil pick up

 

Thanks for the info., and on the front coil. I cut the stock coil to get it down there. It rides ok. Can't really find lowering spring for it so I'm going to get the heavy duty ones for my truck and cut them, put a sway bar on, and better shocks. But 1st the engine and transmission. 390 stroker sounds pretty good, I look in to it. I need to rebuild the heads to. Would it be cheaper to buy new heads or rebuild the ones I have right now. Thanks again!

 

What about the transmission in this truck. I've heard it had a A-518 from one place then a 904 from the next place. How would i go about finding out what transmission I have?