-as stated before The rearend differential swap is the first and cheapest way to improve performance.

-point of interest, if you stick with a small block, all the top end you can buy for the 360 that some here promote can be placed on the top of your existing 318 if you keep >heads-intake manifold< either all 360 or 318-the only thing to consider with this approach is the combustion chamber volume of the heads you put on the existing motor and the amount of compression it already has.- 360 heads on a low compression 318 is a bad idea. I just cannot remember what the 318 compression is for 72' -it is low for my 73 road runner.

as for motor choices - the 440 is the cheapest way to go fast-check out ebay, be patient, the winter provides the best automotive purchase opportunities as people up north drive less, and pay off christmas debt with auctioned stuff.

Will you use this car ever as realiable daily transportation or mostly for fun? -bad gas mileage generally. you will also probably need to upgrade the leaf springs in the back of the car if you build this motor fairly stout.
-the front end of your suspension is only interchangable with 71-72 models- the 73-75 b-body models use a different K-member

one of the Northrup Gruman engineers i work with use to have an early 70's charger like yours and said that after 150 mph the front end of the car lifts up off the ground-my 74 road runner is similiar and it had no problem doing 150 without overdrive with either a 2.94 or 3.23 rearend gear ratio. the only thing exciting was the steering which takes a 90 year old ladies' single finger to steer after 30 mph. There was no play in the wheel and a sneeze or radio station change made lane changes when going fast. I got the polly urethane bushings and the handling is awesome! In my opinion, you can whip the car around like anything you have seen in the movies without flipping.


-if you want to try the stoker route with the original motor, i have and extra cast 4" crank we could negotiate on. I have a lot of extra small block stuff as well. I have many mopar books that i can look up research something for you as well. i am not sure if i can leave my email address on these threads but i will try on the next thread/post. i might have forgotten some info but just ask and i will see what I can look up for you.

79 Dodge 440 Mopar ENGINE & Transmission COMPLETE 1
$100.00
$400.00
Pickup only 4d 20h 00minutes, 90 miles away from you
Pennsylvania
-this is because i needed to double check my geography-I am not sure of all the North East distances/locations.