My Dad owned repair garages and service stations from 1955 to 1994. He said the same thing! The 225 slant 6, 318, and 440 were his engines of choice by Chrysler, so much so, he didn't care that I bought a car with a 440 as a teenage kid.... He expected me to drive like a maniac, which I didn't since I loved that car. I have to say, that car is still my favorite of all I owned: we drove it all over the state of Washington and Oregon, without a worry of break down, after I slowly replaced all the pumps and ignition since it had sat for over 7 years. The thing ran like a top. Another case where my Dad was right.

Chrysler gets a bad rap but their engines are actually really reliable, with only a couple exceptions such as the 2.7L. The internet blows everything out of proportion, but the real everyday drivers will have a car rust out before the engine finally dies.

Used to be well engineered....

All of them made great engines even amc

Yup, my high-school shop teacher's daily a 1966 Dodge Charger 318 A-block V-8 all original 300 000miles!

And Scotty Kilmer would still claim it be junk.

@@robhargis6980 hahaha nice one!!

did the company offer you counselling to get over the trauma you poor sad man?

I had a 1988 Dakota with the 3.9 V6, at 172,000 miles it was smoking bad, I pulled the engine, and 2 cylinders had both compression rings broke. Had it bored. 030 milled both heads, and block. Had it balanced, rods rebuilt, and it ran better than ever for 21 years from 2001 until 2022 when I sold it running for strong with over 70,000 miles

I don't think they're underrated at all. Even a Ford guy like me greatly admires the 318/340. Great family of engines.

I have a 64 with under 60k

Mopar made some excellent engines, the 318 was a reliable workhorse, as a kid I saw a few of those my uncle owned and the slant 6? what a great engine!

140 hp from 5.2 it's a shame

They made 220hp in the Magnum era. Strong performers, great sounding also.

@@abdulabdanahib9617 mustangs made 200hp with their hi-po engines in the 80s, 400ci firebird made 250hp in the 80s, it is no shame having 150hp coming from a workhorse engine.

@@kuiper6926 BMW M50b20 has same 150 hp but consumes much less fuel

@@abdulabdanahib9617 American v8s are easier to work on and a 318 will outlast any 70s or 80s bmw non diesel engine. Not to mention, they had around 200hp net standard, but those 318s are easy to reach the 500hp mark naturally aspirated with few mods.

One of the many vehicles that I owned one was a 79 Dodge Aspen R/T ordered through the MARINE CORPS post exchange. The sticker on the door jumb said made by Dodge for export no cats or lean burn and very quick 318 without the pollution control garbage.

Well Sir? First off and with all due respect here, Your step Dad sounds like a prick, that's terrible for a man that served to have had that happen. Your car sounds mint! I would love to see pictures of it. I had many GM cars however always had a love for Mopar as well. I wish in my youth I had taken an offer, from friends that ran a auto wrecking yard. They offered me a 70 Plymouth Barracuda with a 273 or beside it was a 360 74 Plymouth Satellite, I could have had either for $ 800 Canadian dolla. I kick my sorry ass for not buying either. Anyhow is what it is eh lol. Thank You for your service. "John S."

I had a '73 in a Dart Sport that really woke up with just a 340 cam, 4v and headers. And of course the advanced timing you mention.

Interesting Luke. Had a 318 in my 1970 Chrysler VIP in Melbourne in my early 20s - LOVED that car!

You need to look up the max wedge intake from the early 60s. They used it on both the 413 and 426 I believe

@@tl5108 those were cool too, but these air cleaners seem even more striking to me

@@tl5108 The Long Ram intake.....383s and 413s got those in the Chrysler line

@@tl5108 enjoy pulling those valve covers lol think I'd rather the whole in my hood with a reg tunnel ram

@@mikecyanide7492 yeah I’d definitely run a hydraulic cam with the stamped rockers if i used that intake lol. Not pulling all that shit apart to adjust rockers a couple times a year

Atleast the 273 had a 4 barrel. 318 never did. What a joke.

Yeah, the stock 318 heads are designed for economy and durability.

Well of course since it's a stroker and modern heads

The 273 4 barrel of '65 - ' 67 was the predecessor of the 340 in ' 68 .

The LA engine was developed because the A engine was a very tight fit in the Dart/Valiant engine bay. They were eventually able to shoehorn the B engine in there!

@@bill90405 I had an O.E. '67 formula s 383 4 speed coupe in H.S. I put in a 440 with a button clutch with the STOCK engine it had a 160 m.p.h. top end and consistent 11.00 second quarter mile e.t.'s AND 25 m.p.h. had highway ! I also had an O.E. '68 formula s 383 4 speed sport coupe till recently with O rust

Right! Compare the smog era 318 to a Chevy 305, Olds 307, or a smog Ford 302. The 318 doesn't seem weak after comparing it to them haha. Better fuel economy and longevity too!

@@johneckert1365 they all last a long time, they don’t make enough power to do any damage they make enough to get the job done effectively, had them all, all great engines.

A 318 can make 600hp with a stroker kit

You would be STUNNED to know how many "young" MoPar fans DO NOT know of this GREAT MOTOR!

@@johnmaki3046 Agree! And it was in just about every work truck Dodge produced or a slant 6. They were the Olds 305 of GM fame but were produced for decades.

I had the same car '63 Fury 4 door sedan 318 wide block , 2 barrel stromberg carb , push button auto. and 8 3/4 rear end with the tow package .

The A and LA 318's share much in common and with little modification heads are interchangeable, Both the A and early LA have pretty heavily duty and rugged block castings. Both used internally balanced forged cranks.

I. " loved " my ' 67 Barracuda Coupe ( original ) formula S 383 , 4 speed , 8 3/4 rear with 3. 23 : 1 sure grip . i installed an ( O. E ) 375 H.P. " 440 " and a button clutch did consistent 11:00 second quarter mile w/ L60 15 street tires with 5-7 p.s.i. and with 25 p.s.i. did 165 -170 M.P.H.and got 25 M.P.G. and " loved " MANY OTHERS i built .

​@@keithpearson7059 this video is about the 318. Love um.

I have a 392 HEMI and think it has a HEMI tick.. great design !!!??

The ( STOCK ) 440 I put in my '67 Barracuda was 375 HORSEPOWER ( with 0 mods. ) 😁😁

My first car was a 68 barracuda, 318 . I took the engine out,an built a giant killer. 340 engine Built, 727 turbo action,and at the end of the cars life, 5.38s in the rear.

@@davidbarrus6542 Way cool!

. FACT : NO small block ever beat my '67 440 Barracuda once i let out the clutch and hit the gas peddle .

@@keithpearson7059 Ok

That was the 318 poly. It would have been a nice to have seen improved poly heads offered on the LA. But, I guess that's why they offered a big block. The poly engines were as heavy as big blocks and would not fit into the A body.

My ' 65 Formulae S's pinion gear contracted broken tooth syndrome. Dropped in a '70 Duster 340 engine, 'rock crusher' transmission and rear end. A perfect combination. Went fast enough to scare hell out of me.

I bought a 92 Dakota 4x4 new with that Magnum 318 . It sat on the dealers lot for months none of the employees there even gave it a second glance . I had a couple of friends that worked at that dealership that drove my truck after I bought it and couldn't believe the performance . If I had a rolling start taking a then current 5.0 or a Z28 was no problem .

@@edwardt9585 I could woop mustangs with it. And it put other trucks to Shame. My friend's dad worked high up in Chrysler back then. He told me it's nickname was the little rocket.

I bet mechanics hated doing a tune up on them in the late 60’s until 1973 when electronic ignition became standard.

I'd rather change plugs , distributor , oil pump or water pump on a B or RB engine over an A engine any day !

My dad had a 58 Plymouth with a 318 Poly (Powerflite) which later became mine. Then, as a young man, I ordered my first new car, a 70 Duster with a 318 LA (3 spd man). Would give anything to have either one.

@@vinceschimoler6674 what does that have to do with the slant six?

Another great motor

Good little engines but the slant made them a little tighter to work on than the straight in line sixes of GM and Ford

@@ronripplinger5235 yes, however, you really didn’t have to do much repairs because it was so dependable. The Ford inline 6 300ci was another great 6 cylinder

True Jerry! I had a 1970 Australian Chrysler VIP (basically a luxury stretched-wheelbase luxury Dodge Dart with the Fireball 318 and torque flite. Metallic green with bone vinyl roof. MAN l loved that car with that sweet V8 as did my friends ☺ The 318 was a large capacity V-8 by Oz standards…

Starting in the late 1960s most 318 car applications used the A904 transmission. Trucks and vans may have continued to use the A727.

Do you know the mpg you would get

@@markpaulo9584 It wasn't good... and this was over 30 years ago... But the few highway road trips I took and paid attention to the mileage, I ended up around 13-14MPG. Just city trips, back and forth to school/work... I'd guess it was probably 9-10MPG

I had a 71 satellite 318, loved it.

I learned to drive on a 1970 Fury wagon with a 318. I agree.

Not only that, but a few cheap and easy mods can get good power out of them for anyone who wants it. See Uncle Tony's Garage for that.

You are absolutely right about people in general being more realistic about the engines in their family cars. I took my driver's test in our Olds Super 88, with a 394 4-bbl, and it consumed a tank of gas just to go around the block! Our Driver's Ed car was a 1968 Dodge Coronet, with a 318 and Torqflite. A perfect match of body and power train.

@@chuckz8053 I had the '74 with 318, only 318 ever had.

360 water jackets are further apart, allowing for a bigger bore potential for the 360. 360 also has minor casting differences that are also shared with the 340

"Chain tensioner " lol , put in a double roller chain or a gear drive $

@@keithpearson7059 has a double roller and the tensioner

Absolutely. All the 340 parts bolted right up to the 318, the heads were much better.

"giant killer" 😂 riiiiight....

She … Lmaoooooo

The Lean Burn computer killed it.

They were great engines...

Every engine has some sort of "quirk". I've seen, heard, & read nothing but great things about the 318.

@@johnnie2388 So true.

Oh, BTW - had removed the Holley before it got towed away, so used it on the '73 Challenger later on with a proper mid-rise 4bbl manifold in the early 90's. That same friend said that he'ld been chasing the same performance and sound for years when we mounted it up.

Which was a breath of fresh air after the abomination that was the tbi and hall effect ignition they ruined it with either it ran (closed loop rich) as a muffler bombing pantload or didn't run at all. Tuning was like trying to tune a piano with a brick.

Actually it was 91. 318 and 3.9 V6 went Magnum in 1991. The 360 stayed TBI through 1992. When the 360 went Magnum in 1993 they went like hell, and it was the most horsepower in a half ton pickup until 1996 when Chevrolet's 350 went Vortec.

I believe 92 and 93 had the good exhaust manifold

Darts were only considered full sized around here, in the US, the Late 60's dart (the one we know as the early-late 70s) were already compact sedans

yup get some good heads on there and they wind up.

Dodge put the viper engine in a pickup called the SRT-10, Car and Driver clocked it at 153 mph, it's still a top speed record for a pickup truck.

To be fair, any repair manual would've told you to use sealant on those bolts that go into the water jackets. Also if good quality coolant was uses and changed at reasonable intervals, the timing covers really shouldn't rot through. Lastly, even if it does, the motor shouldn't get wrecked if the driver checks thier oil once in a while and notices it turned milky. Obviously they're already under the hood to add coolant. Now I agree with you, I prefer Chevrolet's design for water pump & timing cover. Chrysler B-RB is similar to that, as well as Ford FE. But all other GM V motors of that era had a timing cover with water passages, as well as all the other Fords. They deserve some criticism too! How about Buick, Cadillac, and AMC also building their oil pumps into the timing covers?

And EVERY manufacturer used those damn nylon camshaft sprockets in that era, not just Chrysler.

@@johneckert1365 Yes, I found that out. I immediately replaced the plastic sprocket on my next car, a 1974 Nova, as soon as I got it. That 318 only has around 70,000 miles on it when it failed. I now have a 1979 Chevy truck with a 350. It has a steel cam sprocket, and I replace the timing chain every 65-70,000 miles. I notice they start to get a little loose by then.

@@johneckert1365 First of all, most engines have a few design issues that should have been obvious to whoever designed them. The small block Chevy has the fewest design problems of any '60/'70s engine I've ever worked on. As far as that 318, I was 16 when I bought that car, and had never done any real work on any Mopar engine. I did not have a manual. And it was the cam sprocket failure that destroyed the engine, not the timing cover/water pump design. But I had replaced a water pump on it before that happened, that's when I first noticed the way it was designed. I had to replace all the bolts that went through both the water pump and timing cover and into the block, the threads were too badly rusted to reuse. I'm pretty sure that was the first time they had been out. I did use sealer on the new ones. The issue I have with that design is that when you remove the water pump, you have removed all the bolts that hold the timing cover in place, and in the process of getting the water pump loose, you are likely to break the seal between the timing cover and block. Now I would go ahead and remove both the water pump and timing cover and put new gaskets and sealer on both. If it had a plastic cam sprocket I would replace that for sure, and if I found any wear in the timing chain, I would replace that too. I now consider replacing timing chains on all '60s/'70s engines ever so often as routine maintenance. I am not a fan of internal chains of any kind, especially those on newer OHC engines that use chains 5 feet long, with all kinds of plastic guides and tensioners. All of that stuff will need replacing at least once, maybe twice, before the rest of the engine wears out.

@@geraldscott4302 Right on. Take Fords OHC 4.0 V6 as a nice example. 2 timing chains, one is on the front of the motor, and the other is on the rear 😑