Posted by Brian in Oregon on Monday, January 27, 2003 at 3:10AM :
In Reply to: Why 318 and not 360? posted by J-Gilly on Sunday, January 26, 2003 at 11:20PM :
When these first conversions came out there was a lot of concern that the 360 was "pushing the envelope" as far as torque and cooling were concerned. Torque primarily because of the propensity of breakage of long rear axle shafts. Turns out neither is really a problem as far as the 360 is concerned. I also went with the 318 because it is a shorter stroke and shorter strokes take high sustained rpm's better than longer strokes. In my view, a plain 340 is a better engine than the 360 due to the shorter stroke and considering the 5.83 gears. But the 360 is a lot cheaper than a 340. My 318 is punched .060 over, making it a 327. Still shy of a 340, but only 13 cubies away. Kinda half and half. If I had it to do over, I'd look for a cheap 340 but realistically would probably put in a 360.
The only difference in the Helitool kit between a 318 and 360 is a small spacer for one of the motor mount ears. On the owners end you'd need to supply the appropriate flywheel, etc.