My favorite's engine has died. It's the red 99 Sport in my sig. So, I plan on rebuilding her engine. This truck will be turned into a plaything for weekends, and the occasional trip into town or to pick up girls. First off, I want to keep the original 318 block. I have scoured Hughes Engines' website. This is the most informative Mopar engine site I've found, so far. I'm aiming for power on a budget. I'd love to break the 400 HP mark, but my budget will be pressed at $4,000, with power add ons, new bearings and internals (pistons, rings, bearings, machine work for .030" pistons, lifters, gaskets, etc.)The thing is, though, I don't want to leave a bottleneck; for a well planned motor, where everything works together optimally, I will save up more for. But I don't know exactly what I need, except:

I found out far, far too late that the engine's vacuum had collapsed the air filter once it got wet (and muddy). This is the point she started burning oil. So, the block has to be bored out.

I am sure the heads are cracked. I've tried junkyards for them, they ALWAYS seem to crack. I want, good, strong heads. I'm looking at Hughes Engines Iron Ram heads with the over sized intake valves.

As for the rest, I'm in the dark. I've rebuilt several engines before, but they were always "back to stock", where the only change was being, in my most extreme case so far, a "stock" 6.0 Vortec to a .030" overbore.

I'm researching all of this. I'm reading about custom pushrods, adjustable rocker arms, clearancing certain parts. This will be my first modified engine, and it's special to me. What do I need to know?

The first question to answer: What do I want this vehicle to do that it cannot do as it sits?

Don't even bother with stock heads, replace them with new, there are a lot of choices available, at reasonable pricing.

What do you typically use your truck for? What do you want to be able to do with it? Is fuel economy even a concern?

To be honest, first is to start and run. She jumped time, and I replaced the chain and most of the valvetrain, engine sensors, PCM, and took her to two dealerships and a specialist. I then concluded that it must be mechanical. So I'm gonna pull the motor and examine it.

Highway driving, most of the time. I want more power because she has 4.10 gears that give me around 17 MPG's, even with 37" tires, and I like that. But the last time at the local mud bog, she didn't have the horsepower to spin the tires fast enough to throw the mud out of the tread.

I want a streetable mud truck, if that makes any sense. A truck that I can drive to the mall if I want, of throw into a mud hole if the mood strikes me. I don't want to go too crazy with the motor, and fuel economy is kinda a concern. I don't want to have to trailer her to an out of state park because she gets too thirsty.

Did you set the fuel sync?

For a mud truck, you want more cubes..... You could score a rebuildable 360 for a couple hundred, or less..... rebuild that, and end up further ahead than the same money spent on a 318.....

Yeah, that was the first thing I did. I paid the dealership to set it, so I'd know it was right.

Okay... Good thing you aren't asking much out of that four grand, huh?

I'm going to second the motion of starting with a seasoned 360. The hardest decision to undo is the choice of engine block; for what you say you want to do, you want an all-around good truck motor, and it's easier to get one with the 360 due to the way cams interact with the greater cylinder volume.

In fact, I suggest that the very worst thing you could do to yourself would be to build like it's a race motor so give yourself lots of high RPM horsepower. The truck you're putting it in is one from which you've removed high speed stability, directional control, and braking ability, so you don't need that invitation tempting you to go where only ambulances and coroner's wagons drive away from.

Are we singing from the same hymnal so far, or should I take my old man ideas and put them back up my *** where they came from?

Unless you were there watching them do it. It might still not be right. No one knows what fuel sync is. I and a guy try to time mine with a timing light. That's when I left and bought an old MT2500 to do it myself.