I am planning on building a 88 chrysler fifth avenue into a figure 8 car. Actually it will be more like an outlaw derby car and I'm having alot of trouble finding information. Can anyone tell me a very cheap way to gain horsepower out of a 318. im planning on putting demo headers on the car. i know that will make a big difference but what else can i do? Can i pull the intake off an older car and gain power or the heads? i know some motors can work that way. im trying to keep it as cheap as possible cause it will probably get destroyed. also i cant find any info on rearends. from what i gathered my car most likely has 2.92s or 3.29s. i would like to find a stock rearend that are up in the fives or greater. Possible? any other info would be great. I figured im better off asking mopar enthusiast than anyone else. thank you very much. Also the car will not be street legal so anything goes
First of all, welcome aboard. As an M-body fan I'll refer you to
www.forfmjbodiesonly.com, but hang around and get to know the E-bodies, too. The more the merrier. Even though your plans are to beat the hell out of that 5th Ave, I'll tell you, that one M-body can set little Mopar "M" s into your blood stream and you'll have it in there pretty much forever.
Not sure when Ma Mopar began the use of 302 heads on the 318, I think '85, which means that you have the heads you want already in place. Check your casting numbers and see. These heads have a lot of potential to build power on the little engine that could. A cam swap and an intake can go a long ways. Check craiglists and you might be able to score a 4 barrel 318 set up on the cheap. But beware: if you find something that says "factory 318 4bbl intake" don't buy it. It's actually a 360 intake. Port mismatch will be your enemy.
The majority of rears in the 5th's were 7.25's. You'll be lucky if you have 2.94's. Most were geared numerically lower. No stock set up in the 5's, unless you can score something from a 4x from the '50's or '60's and make it work. Even then most of those came from 3/4 ton or bigger trucks, so the feasibility of using one and the cost of doing so makes the swap to an 8.75 from a late '60's B-body and buying a third member with the proper gearset a wash. And it ain't gonna be cheap. But you might get lucky and find some parts off craiglists, eBay, etc, from drag racers getting out of the game. Just a matter of searching.
