Engine inspection

So... I commented already that the lifters are concave and need to be replaced along with the camshaft.  Not a big deal except that I was planning to go with the 340 stock cam which has a higher lift than the 318.  I'm assuming (a bad thing, I know) for planning purposes that I could make that swap on a stock 318 motor with no issues, specifically regarding valve clearance with the pistons.  I could check that clearance pretty easily with putty on a piston, bolt the heads and everything back on and use a feeler to measure what thickness of putty is 'unpenetrated' by the valves through an engine cycle... which I will do before I order a new camshaft.

Where the wrinkle comes in is with the pistons.

First of all, the cylinder bores are totally smooth which means they should really be honed by a machine shop after I have the block inspected.  If that honing puts them out of tolerance for stock pistons, I'll need to replace the pistons regardless of anything else.  Another reason I may want to replace the pistons is to increase the compression ratio of the motor (stock is 8.5:1... which is kind of low).  So if I 'have to' replace the pistons due to clearance after honing, why not just get the higher-compression pistons anyway?  Well, because those higher-compression pistons poke up higher into the combustion chamber where the valves are moving...  so if I have a camshaft that pushes those valves into the chamber farther (which increases airflow), the risk of hitting the pistons goes up.  Although, the pistons I was looking at have notches cut into them to accomodate the valves, however those are likely cut for stock valve lift.

So... the future is uncertain.

The safest path is to just keep the stock pistons/compression ratio.  Even if I need new pistons, I can keep them at stock and not risk the valve clearance issue with the new camshaft (I assume).  Actually, the safest path is to just use stock replacement parts, but even though my family insisted that the car had 'plenty of power', MOPAR documenatation says that engine made about 185hp which... doesn't seem like 'plenty' to me.  The camshaft change and bumping up the compression ratio would theoretically be cheap/free ways to get more power out of the motor if I'm already replacing the camshaft and pistons and I'd hate to have to go back into the bottom end of the engine at some point in the future in order to make those changes.

So... bottom line is that the cylinders need to be honed to give them the cross-hatch needed for proper ring operation... I'm going to have the block cleaned/hot-tanked and inspected beforehand so I'll know if it's cracked anywhere or if anything is out of tolerance that needs to be addressed.  I'll also have them put in new cam bearings at that time.  It's also possible that the decks might need to be milled to be flat which would increase the compression ratio even with the stock pistons, but I'll still need to check clearance beforehand to see if the stock pistons with the new cam would still clear if some of the decks are milled down, so I need to make that check of the valve/piston clearance check before I tear it all apart and have the block cleaned and inspected.

Meanwhile, I still have to pull the transmission, clean up the cylinder heads (and transmission), etc.  No rest for the wicked.