[1937MoPar]

Hey guys! I appreciate all of the help you guys have given me throughout the build of my hot rod(1936 chevy truck fenderless). I am getting close to the motor build and I am seeking advice.

I bought an 1987 SB 318 and a wieand tunnel ram.
Advice on a stahl size? gear size? cam size? etc?

I am going to race on the streets with it and drive it alot.
Thanks guys!

[richard stewart 3rd]

Hi
Street racing is not supported here at Hot Rodders
Rich

[1937MoPar]

any MoPar guys or engine builders with advice>?

[the nitro man]

you will get more advice here. if it ain't a chevy or ford, these guys don't know it. http://speedtalk.com/forum/viewforum...d476b181aba970

[68NovaSS]

Originally Posted by 1937MoPar

I am going to race on the streets with it and drive it a lot.
Thanks guys!

Oh, OK, good idea... here, let us help you with that...no way pal!

[oldbogie]

Originally Posted by 1937MoPar

Hey guys! I appreciate all of the help you guys have given me throughout the build of my hot rod(1936 chevy truck fenderless). I am getting close to the motor build and I am seeking advice.

I bought an 1987 SB 318 and a wieand tunnel ram.
Advice on a stahl size? gear size? cam size? etc?

I am going to race on the streets with it and drive it alot.
Thanks guys!

Are you intending to use this or rebuild it? The 318 is a good engine but somewhat of a challenge to hot rod cheaply.

Converter stall, gearing, and cam walk together. To a large extent best power has to include the heads and compression which can easily get you into pistons as well.

Racing and daily driving are very opposing themes it's difficult to satisfy both. Racing takes a lot of compression, long duration high lift cams and valve train components, stiff gearing, and high stall converters. This is good for going fast but bad for drive-ability and mileage. Lower compression mild cams, high ratio gears, and tight converters have good street manners but sub-optimum power out put. Historically Detroit's answer to having both was to make the engine bigger but rather mild in tune. A 318 is a little small to satisfy both, so you'll need to be a bit more definitive as to what you're willing to live with.

The 318 is something of a gift horse, while it may be fairly cheap to acquire and look promising as that result, it soon proves to be rather expensive to build due to it's lack of popularity which makes parts more costly and it demands a higher level of ability on the part of the builder than say a Chevy which has a ton of stuff available at more reasonable prices which makes building a stout Chevy a lot easier on your technical abilities as well as your bank account.

Bogie

[engineczar]

Originally Posted by the nitro man

you will get more advice here. if it ain't a chevy or ford, these guys don't know it.

Don't know it? Speak for yourself.

[the nitro man]

well then by all means, spew fourth your vast amount of knowledge instead of just trying to call me out! there are like three mopar guys on this site & i'm one of them (big blocks, not small blocks). i didn't offer any help because i don't know enough about sbm to give advice, so please jump in or shut ***********

[engineczar]

See how I did that. Keep it up and you'll be on the outside looking in.

[the nitro man]

well just so you know, i went back to edit my post & couldn't because the edit button wasn't showing. i had one of the worst days ever, & yes it was uncalled for. But, you still haven't shown your mighty mopar knowledge.

[engineczar]

Hey you made the comment to the original poster to go to another website because no one here knows SB Mopars. I'm sorry but I take a little offense with that statement. I've been successfully building them for 30 years with a couple of track championships, touring series championships, and a couple of Stock Eliminator national records along the way. I don't consider myself an expert but I do think I've managed to retain a little bit of know how along the way about how to make them go.

If I told you I've built a '87 318 and tried to stick a tunnel ram on it I'd be lying. What I will say is that just because a head has a heart shaped chamber doesn't automatically mean it's going to make big power. With the exception of the chamber and a couple of changes to the rocker shaft pedestals the ports on those heads are the same as all the earlier SBM heads. The weakness is in the exhaust ports. Whatever cam you end up with is going to need an additional 5-10 degrees of duration on the exhaust side.
Stock those engines had something like 8.5:1 compression and unless you bump that up you're going to limit your cam choices. That head because of the chamber shape is heavily shrouded around the intake valve which is also to the small side. To open them up from a 1.88 to a 2.02 valve is more than just a valve job in this case. The whole wall around the intake would need to be laid back and re-blended.

Most people I know who build 318's or any later LA small block and don't want to go aftermarket aluminum tend to go to the later Magnum heads. The change is pretty straightforward and like the Chevy Vortec head is a bolt on 30hp.

[the nitro man]

actually what i meant is 99.999999999% of all threads & engines builds on this site is ford or chevy, & most people only know one or the other. i do know there are lots of people over on racing secretes that are mopar guys. didn't mean to offend anyone.

[UPandComing]

Originally Posted by engineczar

Hey you made the comment to the original poster to go to another website because no one here knows SB Mopars. I'm sorry but I take a little offense with that statement. I've been successfully building them for 30 years with a couple of track championships, touring series championships, and a couple of Stock Eliminator national records along the way. I don't consider myself an expert but I do think I've managed to retain a little bit of know how along the way about how to make them go.

If I told you I've built a '87 318 and tried to stick a tunnel ram on it I'd be lying. What I will say is that just because a head has a heart shaped chamber doesn't automatically mean it's going to make big power. With the exception of the chamber and a couple of changes to the rocker shaft pedestals the ports on those heads are the same as all the earlier SBM heads. The weakness is in the exhaust ports. Whatever cam you end up with is going to need an additional 5-10 degrees of duration on the exhaust side.
Stock those engines had something like 8.5:1 compression and unless you bump that up you're going to limit your cam choices. That head because of the chamber shape is heavily shrouded around the intake valve which is also to the small side. To open them up from a 1.88 to a 2.02 valve is more than just a valve job in this case. The whole wall around the intake would need to be laid back and re-blended.

Most people I know who build 318's or any later LA small block and don't want to go aftermarket aluminum tend to go to the later Magnum heads. The change is pretty straightforward and like the Chevy Vortec head is a bolt on 30hp.

very well put, i work in a ,machine shop building race engines and stock engines for anything that comes through the door and i own ford mopar and gm vehicles so now there is a 4th mopar guy here .. Now i dont like to cause friction but Nitro Man i take great offense to the way you are conducting yourself here, we all have room to learn and grow, i do it every day im no expert but then again i dont claim to be either. point is if you dont have anything nice to say or anything pertinent to the topic please refrain from stressing everyone out> thanks

[engineczar]

Originally Posted by the nitro man

actually what i meant is 99.999999999% of all threads & engines builds on this site is ford or chevy, & most people only know one or the other. i do know there are lots of people over on racing secretes that are mopar guys. didn't mean to offend anyone.

No sweat here. Everyone's entitled to have an off day. We all have them. I've never known you to be anything but a good guy. Us Mopar guys need to stick together.