My 318 isnt running right i need some ideas please

I need some help. I have a 72 satellite with a 318. the motor has no power. i tryed a few things and nothing seemed to help. First off i got a new carb for the car, changed the timing chain, put in a new distributor, everything i could think of that would affect the power loss of the thing. When i drive it, it doesnt have the power it should. it will get to a point and sound like its just sucking in air. I dont know what to do know does anyone have any ideas????

try to richen ur mixture or advance ur timing more

-GearHead

what did you put on the car a bigger two or a four? what size carb did you put on the car? if you put to big of one on that could be the reason its just sucking in air.

also, a buddy from work mentioned to me that he once destroyed his aftermarket posi's and he told me that he went out and bought a rear that fit but wasnt the right size which caused his car to bottom out and suck air. what kind of rear do you have and what size?

Try To Advace The Timing Slightly And Also Check All Vacumn Lines And Not Only That They Are Connected, But Conncted To The Riht Spots, Also Maybe You Have A Leaky Intak Gasket, So When You Give It Gas It Sucks Air In, Good Luck.

Ok...Starters, if yer using a 4bbl, go no bigger than 650cfm. Next, a cam swap. High milage 318s wear out the cam, which in my experience is the big weakness on this mill. Swap out to a mild 340 grind, rememebering to use a hydrualic flat-tappet cam. Once that is done, play with the timing. Should have no more the 28 degrees total advance for a mild cam. The Crane 272 H-10 is a good starter level cam. It runs hard from 2000rpm on, will work well with the 1200rpm-stall torque converter, and not too noisy on the street. Install it straight-up. Next, the ignition. The Mopar Performance Orange box is excellent, as is the MSD 5, or even MSD 6A. Making sure you have a decent vacuum-advance distributor (Lose the point-type if you haven't already). Now, should you decide to keep going, it's exhaust time. a 2.25" true duals is plenty for the 318, but a 2.5" is better sould you hop-up the 318 or switch to a biiger engine (340/360). Go with 1.58" primary headers and use good dual mufflers. I recommand Flowmaster 60-series, or 50-series if you want more noise. I would also recommend either rebuilding the A904 (I assume) tranny and add a decent 1500rpm-stall torque converter and a second stage B&M Shift Improver Kit, and use no less then either an 8 3/4 rear or modern (In Dakotas) 9 1/4 rear. Good Luck!


I need some help. I have a 72 satellite with a 318. the motor has no power. i tryed a few things and nothing seemed to help. First off i got a new carb for the car, changed the timing chain, put in a new distributor, everything i could think of that would affect the power loss of the thing. When i drive it, it doesnt have the power it should. it will get to a point and sound like its just sucking in air. I dont know what to do know does anyone have any ideas????

First things first, go back to the basics, take a compression check, if
you need a vavle job you can change everything and it wont help. You
said that you changed the timing chain, did you degree in the cam. Is
the spark good, these are just a few thing to look at

I second Mr P Body. Check the basics before you go changing internals. First A then B. Compression? Intake and exhaust gaskets leaking? All you vacuum lines? Spark? Coil? and so on down the line...

It seems everybody is telling you to do the same
thing. If you've done all this(and then some),try
checking the exhaust for a restriction, maybe a
pipe collapsed internally. Disconnect the pipe
from the manifold and see if it makes a diff!

Check your sparkplugs and ur battery lol