Ive been searching for an early poly motor for my 46 dodge pickup but am not having much luck. I found a few 318 magnum motors complete with 5 speeds on craigslist (specifically a '99 318 out of a ram). I know its not as cool as a poly motor, but it fits my tight budget well and there are plenty readily available. Im curious how difficult this would be to swap from injection to carb. I did a search and found a couple threads, seems its just an intake swap (with an intake that will fit a magnum), but I cant seem to find any info on what to do for ignition. Also can I swap this setup from serpentine belt to v-belt? Do v-belt pullies from an older 318 fit the magnum motor? Any help is greatly appreciated.
The intake has a different bolt angle than the non-magnum, so you either need to buy a new magnum carb intake or have an older intake drilled and spotfaced. http://chucker54.stores.yahoo.net/inman.html Ignition is any dist, coil and wires you can find. I'd suggest an electronic ignition with a stock box and E regulator for the alt. You could also go with points or aftermarket. The earlier pulleys will fit, remember that pre-70 are a different pattern. You will want to swap waterpumps too, since the pulley won't interchange. You will want to use the later small starter for clearance. The motor mount brackets are different on later motors, but you have to fab that up for a swap anyway. All the magnum engines also use the 360 style oil pan, so your 318 will have a '360' pan.
Thanks RodStRace! I was looking at the 4 bbl intakes on Summit. They have a few for the magnum motors. Good to know the pullies interchange, and the old style waterpump will work on the magnum. I was planning on fabbing motor mounts and trans mount. Very helpful info. Thanks!
There air gap intakes drilled for both the magnum and the la engines. One is listed on Ebay for $169. http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Mopar-D...pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr I'm running a Mallory unlite 318 distributor in my Desoto hemi. Plug and play. No external box. Magnums still have the ears for the earlier LA mounts as well as the middle of the block 3 point mounts. FYI the 3 point side mount is an inverted SB Chevy motor mount bolt pattern.
We used a 318 Magnum in one of our cars. Easy swap switching it over to a carb setup. We bought the mopar intake and used a stock ignition from a late 70's Aspen. We used the stock timing cover from the earlier style 318's so we could run a mechanical fuel pump. The problem though is that the snout on the cam is too short to bolt the parts up to it for the fuel pump, but they do offer a kit to fix that. I'm not completely sure if the one from a '99 is the same. The 318 we used was from a '92. We bought the parts for that when ordering the intake. Then we just used the water pump and pulleys from the old style 318. A 450 to 500 CFM carb is the perfect size for the magnum if you happen to have one.
You should be able to buy everything you need at your local Dodge/Chrysler dealer. Look in their Performance catalog.
Hi. Did you have to replace the intermediate shaft in the Mallory unilite distributor? I was going to use an HEI unit for a small block mopar I got from skip white performance. Love their HEI units and always under $80 bones BG SO CAL
Since the distributor was used in a hi deck early hemi I did have to change the shaft which I bought from Hot Heads. The intermediate shaft I am refering to mis the shaft with the gear on it that drives the oil pump. If it would have been used in a Magnum then the shaft would not need to be changed. I did not do anything to the distributor. You need to remember that a 318 oil pump uses a hex drive shaft and the early hemis use a slot drive. I have a 354 on the engine stand that has an adapter to use a 318/340 oil pump.
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