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318 camshaft swap??

2K views 8 replies 4 participants last post by  threetwos 
#1 ·
i'm in the process of rebuilding a 318 out of a chrysler fifth avenue to go in my 84 ram because the original block was shot

i have a 318 magnum cam out of a 93 ram.

according to all my research i can take the magnum cam (which is not crossdrilled) along with the lifters and lifter rods and put in the non-magnum motor

the rocker arms i have will allow this

does anybody here have any experience with this? Will this for sure work?

i want to do this because a fifth avenue motor is designed to make all it's power on the bottom end for fuel economy with 2.23 rear end. but my truck has 3.55 and i would be dead going down the road. The magnum cam is the specs that i'm looking for. Any advice?
 
#4 ·
The magnum cam drive keway is shorter and wont support a fuel pump eccentric. Also the roller lifters are longer and will change the pushrod angle... This will cause interference with heads not clearanced for roller lifter.
 
#6 ·
i had roller lifters in it to begin with BUT the previous owner ran quaker state motor oil and after 30000 of quaker state things tend to gum up to an extreme i have more money invested in this project than i orginally intended and thought with an electric fuel pump and the new rocker arms that i already have that they would work
 
#7 ·
If your heads are clearanced for use with a roller cam you should have have no problems there.
It sounds as if you are going to put a magnum top end (heads, valvetrain etc.) on a pre-magnum, roller cam block. This should work.
Also note the magnum and pre-magnum engines use different oil pans and the 360 has a different external balance weight.
 
#8 ·
that's pretty much the plan-i have two projects going at once

i'm buying all new parts for the magnum regardless of their condition

i'm also rebuilding the pre-magnum-but had planned on a low budget project and it's turning out to be just as expensive due to the ammount of damage internally to this motor

but the cam, lifters, and lifter rods should get me up and running

thank you for your help B-300
 
#9 ·
Just make sure you dont use hyd. roller lifters in a non-hyd. roller block. The lifter bosses and attachment points for the retainer,(spider), prevent this. Crane Cams does make hyd. roller lifters for LA blocks but they are application specific. Reg. hyd. lifters may be used in roller blocks as long as pushrod oiling is utilized.
 
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