I remember the 318 in my 72 Charger...man, I loved to rip turns in that car....

 

your transmission problem is your front bands, it's ok to adjust them that will fix it for a little while, during that period it's probably best to replace it, which is fairly simple, you can do it without taking the tranny itself out. ive adjusted mine twice, then replaced it. just search on the forum, gauruntee there's 400 topics asking about slipping from 1st to 2nd, and they are all answered the same way. if it's not the band its a bunch of things to do with your governing system, which i couldn't explain, because i only had to deal with the bands. the fact that you can't peel out, probly because it's just an ol 318, get a new plenum plate, or intake kit, maybe en exhaust, all i have is an exhaust, a throttle body spacer, and a K&N Intake system, mine peels out good enough. mind you if you have to replace your front bands more then once within 20k like i had to, it's time for a new tranny. i'm just not going to until my $500 truck is worth $2200

 

My 1996 with the mods listed bleow would have blown the doors off the 2001 bone stock (except for fastman) that i have now.

The deathflash does A LOT to hurt performance.

 

My little 318 isnt very big about burning the tires, but once its wound out it will hold its own against a hemi. Well until around the 100mph mark, then my friend just walks away. Even so he was very impressed with my truck which was nice because he has every bolt on u can get without getting into engine work. These trucks have great 2800 - 5000 rpm power but fall below that, just hang it up. Almost like the engine chokes up or something

 

Erm... Its a TRUCK. Mine weighs somewhere north of 5000 pounds, without me in it.... I am thinkin' anything over about 75 or so on the freeway is pushing my luck.....

And tires are expensive........ and I am poor.