The machine shop called this Tuesday and said my 318 is done. Whoo Hoo!!!!! I just need to drop off the intake manifold and valve covers, pay for it, and I can pick it up as soon as my dad gets back in town so I can borrow his truck. Total cost intake to oil pan was about $6500 - more than a "stock" type rebuild but less than the 408 stroker engine I'd been thinking about. Some of my friends think I spent too much for "just" a 318, especially a fairly mild one. However, I knew what I was spending on and I'm not unhappy with the total. I could have saved about $200 by running the stock oil pan, but I decided to go with a Milodon pan and pickup for better oil control. I could have saved over $500 by running stock rocker arms, but I wanted the better precision and power (stock rockers don't give full rated lift due to inaccurate ratios) offered by the Comp Cams stainless steel roller rockers. I'm running decent pistons (KB hypereutectic, 10.0:1 CR) and Scat connecting rods. I also splurged on bigger valves with some bowl work for the heads and a nice set of polished aluminum valve covers. If I'd stuck with stock type parts, skipped the balancing job, and taken the time to find a cheaper core, I could have cut this to about $4600, or $4000 if I'd assembled it myself. I know engines can be built cheaper - sometimes much cheaper - and I hope to explore that avenue in the future. For this build though, I wanted all good quality parts, and I think I got them.

Now, I can hardly wait to get it in the car. I'm still negotiating with my wife on how this will be done. The original plan was to take everything down to a local custom shop and have them install the engine and do the transmission conversion at the same time. Now she is saying she'd just rather have me stab it in the car, then pay for the transmission conversion later after we have time to save up some more money. It's also going to need a stronger rear end. She's vaguely aware of his but I don't want her to be "too" aware just yet. I figure if I put it in without doing the transmission conversion, the stock 904 will be the first thing to break but it will help protect the rear end. If I do the transmission conversion, I don't thing the stock diff will last long behind a strong 318/5-speed combo - at least not the way I drive. So still lots more to do, but the engine IS DONE.