Sorry to drag this out but I gotta respond to this one. First let me say that
of the last 20 years there have only been 2 of those years where I didn't have
a 318 in my corral. I now have a '00 Dak with a 4.7 But the comment about
the 5.2 (318) lasting 3 times as long as the 4.7 needs to be rebutted. If you
had looked at the link to the tech article that was posted about the new
'cammer hemi' back in Feb or so you'd know that that particular statement will
likely be refuted as time rolls on. You want to talk 'beefing up the bottom
end'? Well the 4.7 has a single graphite iron bedplate to hold the crank in,
not 2 bolt 1950's main caps. The oiling system is state of the art, from
specific placement of the oil ring to reduce heat and wear, to a much improved
oil journal system to an integral windage tray, to an expanded oil capacity.
The machining tolerances are by Ma Mopars own admission tighter than any
production engine they have ever built, basically race specs. Other factory
installed goodies, needle bearing roller rockers driven from the overhead cam,
an intake manifold with runners that are longer and smoother than some of the
best aftermarket intake manifolds for the other engines. I mean why do you
think the measly little 287 is punchin that kinda power dirt stock?
Technology. The above list sounds like many of the lists of mods that everyone
seems to do to the pushrod engines, and they came on mine from the factory
with a 3 yr 36K mile warranty. Personally I, and I'm sure there's many others
out there that feel the same, don't really want to drop over 20 grand on a
brand new truck and them have to mod the heck out of it. I'll probably do
some stuff in a few years. And by then I'm sure there will be aftermarket
items available. In any case, I've owned a wazoo load of 318's over the
years and I'm bankin' on my 287 to at least match up with them in longevity if
not greatly surpass them. YMMV
----- previous post ----
why don't you give me a holler when you get in the 13's. that ought to take
about 2 years since you can't find crap as far as aftermarket stuff for that
motor. meanwhile my 318, is heading deep into the 12's since I can actually
do stuff to my motor. and it ought to last about 3 times as long.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jun 20 2003 - 11:51:15 EDT