1970 la318 head choice

[drewkins]

Looking at replacing my head on 1970 318. I have a ld4b intake with a holley 600 on it. I am looking to increase it breathablilty. I have looked at 302 casting heads and magnum heads. I have heard that stock magnum heads are prone to cracking. Looking to get 300 to 350 hp out of the engine after complete rebuild is done. And I dont want to spend a ton of money either. Any advice?

 

[moparleo]

Go with a set of heads that were made after 1973. That is the year that the heads were modified to use unleaded gas. Of course any new head should be modern fuel ready. Are you trying to use the original engine ? What is your engine build budget ? Some times it is makes more sense to go with a new engine rather that a stock rebuild.

 

[RUNCHARGER]

302's are what you want, the Magnums have a different bolt pattern than your LD4B.

Sheldon

 

[Locomotion]

302's also have closed chambers so it will bump up your compression a bit without having to get into the short block. Find a knowledgeable Mopar machine shop and they can put 1.88"/1.60" 360 valves in it after opening up the bowl area and simply touch up the ports. I like to stay conservative, especially with a stock short block. There have been discussions on this mod on other sites. Stick with 1 5/8" headers. TTI 1 5/8"- 1 3/4" step headers are very good in durability, fit and performance, but on the expensive side.

 

[drewkins]

leo want to keep the motor as its original to the car. just want to give it a little more pep. I will be doing a complete lower end later in life.

 

[moparleo]

In that case, I would just replace the heads with a new aftermarket head. New, stock type heads are available for less than 1K and have the advantage of modern materials, modern combustion chamber design, hardened, unleaded ready valve seats, All new components, not rebuilt 40 plus years old . There are heads available in the standard LA bolt pattern but with Magnum chambers. One popular head is the EQ cylinder head.

 

[AUSTA]

Looking at replacing my head on 1970 318. I have a ld4b intake with a holley 600 on it. I am looking to increase it breathablilty. I have looked at 302 casting heads and magnum heads. I have heard that stock magnum heads are prone to cracking. Looking to get 300 to 350 hp out of the engine after complete rebuild is done. And I dont want to spend a ton of money either. Any advice?

Whatever the head check the pistons to see if they come up out of the bore if using an E/Q or other closed type head they may make contact with the head I found out the hard way.

 

[Chryco Psycho]

My vote is the 302 head , best factory head ever with closed chamber & swirl with port clean up these make serious power , the 308 casting is awesome to but it was used on the 360 with slightly larger ports & combustion chamber