I think the mounts are a little different between the two also. I think because the 360 is external balanced, whereas the 318 is internally balanced.

Also, anyone who says there is no different between a 318 and 360 does not know what they are talking about. I'm sorry, but there is a big difference. The power is like night and day. I had a friend of mine try to pull a car trailer for me with his 2001 Dodge Ram with the 318. He was lugging so bad, once we picked the car up, we swapped using my current 97 with the 360. No problem at all. Off the line, well thats obvious 360 hands down. You have to do a lot to a 318 to get it to the 360. Sure there is only about 20hp and I think 35tq difference, but you know the difference if you've driven both. Gas mileage is only different by 1 mpg. Its a bigger engine, so it takes less to move the truck, therefore its only a 1 mpg difference.

 

Crate 6.1 (this is for the short message requirement)

 

I'm willing to bet why the engine blew up.

Did you check or replace the plenum intake gasket, the v-8's are notorius for sucking in 5 qts of oil without you knowing about it.

Durango and Ram's/Dakotas seem to exhibit the problem, something to do with the gasket being junk from the factory.

Do a search on google, Dodge Plenum Gasket, or dodge ram plenum gasket You'll see all the problems with them.

I know I've dealt with 2 dodge ram's, and a Durango that had the problem, 1 Ram I got the joy of trailing home. Dang thing sucked 4 qts of oil and bang, dead, within 1 mile of running it.

 

http://www.carcomplaints.com/Dodge/D..._failure.shtml

http://www.dodgetalk.com/forums/arch...p/t-27051.html

http://autorepair.about.com/library/a/1i/bl816i.htm

 

Marty86 has it right, the 318's are internal 360's external. The 360's also use a different oil pan. And I agree about the power, the 360's just have more get up and go. But they are no match for the mighty Cummins. I've driven mopar stuff for most of my life. Can't wait to finish my 392 hemi project.

 

360s use a different pan because they have larger mains, and hence larger caps.

360s aren't really that much heavier than 318s.

But for a truck app, a GREAT option is to stroke that 318 to 390 using the 4" MP crank.

You'll have a 390 that's the same or less weight than the 360. Plus, since it will be undersquare, it will have good grunt down low and decent MPG.

So build a stroker 318 to 390. You can even use the heads you already have-- just check the compression to make sure it's not too much. Keep it under 11:1 for a truck app I like that higher compression for gassers.

Ideally, you'd have the quench at about .030" to .035" with decent rods. Stockers will work, just use really good bolts.

Campbell enterprises has the Diamond pistons for this kit to stroke a 318 to 390. All you need are the pistons, a $400 crank, and a good balance job and you're in business.

 

I don't know about all the parts but I do know that 318 heads bolt right up to a 360 with no problems. I had a '76 and got about 13-14 mpg out of it on the highway.