the vacuum thing; HUH???? that makes NO sense at all.. I have been working n cars for over 30 years, there is not enough vacuum in an engine to do this, you want to tune for highest vacuum reading possible with any given engine combo for best power, fuel economy and emissions
and that is no indicator of needing to be bored at all, need to disassemble the engine, inspect and MEASURE to determine that.
on the Iron Ram heads; they are exactly the same heads as the EQ heads only reboxed and priced higher..... though I think Hughes does offered a ported/polished option for even more money.

 

4k to spend?!? That's easy! Put a 6.0 vortec in it. Its almost a direct swap if you already have the 318 in there now. All the hooks ups are where the need to be and on the right side they need to be on. Problem solved.

 

where's my gun?? I think I'm gonna shoot myself next time I hear of someone saying to put a Chevy motor in a Dodge.... they have been doing that since old school hot rod days, I am so sick n tired of the "throw a Chevy motor into anything" idea... You want a 5.3 or 6.0 Chevy motor, FIND AN S 10 to stuff it in!!!!!

 

Amen. Nothing special about Chebby motors. They wear out just as fast or faster as anything else. It's just they are so plentiful, they end up being a cheaper fix. My folks have a 5.3 in a Tahoe--couldn't give me that thing.

Wanna be cool? Throw a 4bt in her!

 

Chevy's are easy to find, cheap to buy, cheap too build, cheap to rebuild.


And That's all I have to say about that.

 

Mainly because they are so ubiquitous, the aftermarket goes crazy over them. TONS more support than pretty much any other motor.

 

You're moving a truck, you want as many cubes as you can get, so bag the 318 idea. Get a 360 Magnum and have a stock re build dome on it, just up grade the rod bolts. Get some EQ heads decked .030 to raise your compression a point, mod the Beer Barrel, (about your only budget choice), get the biggest ported TB you can find, Spintech Mid headers, a decent cam...Flyin Ryan to tune it and be happy.

If your budget was a tad (lot) bit bigger I could show you how to put 487 horsepower to the rear wheels with a NA Magnum 408.

Talk to Richard at Hipotek, http://stores.hi-potek.com/ He's a great guy with of ton of knowledge, but you need to build for torque, not RPMs.

 

Like this.

 

6.0 vortec out of an ss silverado makes 345hp stock. Engines, tranny and tcase should run anywhere from 1500-2000. And will make more horsepower dollar for dallor then any magnum ever will.

 

You are leaving out the cost of fabricating mounts, driveshafts, adapting the wiring from one truck or the other to run the engine, and get correct info to the gauge cluster. (much more of an issue on the 98 and up trucks)

If you wanted to go to all that trouble, just drop a Hemi into it. Less work.