At first, the choice of engine for my Barracuda seemed easy. These early A bodies have a narrow engine compartment, making the use of factory exhaust manifolds almost mandatory. I had found a set of headers for a D/Dart that would supposedly fit, but I balked at the price - over $1000 at the time. Since I figured that running the stock exhaust would choke off the engine enough to nullify any power benefits I would otherwise get from running a 360, a 318 seemed like an obvious choice.
A mildly warmed over 318 would give me good economy and reliability while delivering plenty of power for fun driving. I'd previously owned a stock 307 (2 barrel) powered '68 Camaro and it had plenty of zip for an old fart like me. Surely a warmed over 318 in a lighter car would give me enough power...
Then things started to unravel. Found a set of headers for $850 ("less than a grand"). Gee, if I'm going to pop for the headers, why "limit" myself to 318 power levels? Why not a 360, or even better, a 400? Hmmm... don't want the stock crank to be a weak link... And what about the heads? Brand new aluminum heads only cost a little more than having a set of stock heads completely rebuilt, so why not? Of course, porting costs just a little more, so again why not? Suddenly, my $5000 budget to build the engine is blown by at least $2600 $3200 and that's not even counting the price of the headers.
At this point, I'm trying to decide which direction to go. I really would like to run a 360 (stroked to 408) because it would be the first fast car I've ever owned, and I've wanted a really fast car for about as long as I can remember. On the other hand, $7600 is a lot of money for an engine. I could probably build a decent 318 for around $5000 or less. It would probably have enough power to be fun to drive, but not enough to win many street races. It would definitely be quiter and get better gas mileage, and might even last longer. I guess I should start selling all my extra crap on EBay to get some extra cash to build the 360. If I decide to go with the 318 I can use the extra money to start accumulating parts for my Valiant's Slant Six.