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Also, anyone on here know a lot about 318's?
If so, in 1972 onward they de-tuned them to have less horse power due to strict emission laws
Sort of, but not as much as many people misbelieve. The horsepower rating system changed for 1972, so even those engines that were unchanged from previous years had lower (and more accurate) published horsepower numbers. See
here for more detail.
It looks like yours is a California car. Check the underhood vehicle emission control information label (on the driver's side inner fender) to see if it was built to California emission regulations — better yet, show us a good, clear, sharp, close-up photo of the fender tag (also on the driver's side inner fender, a metal plate stamped with letters and numbers) so we can tell you in detail how, where, and when the car was built.
If it is a California-emissions car, the biggest improvement you can make is to eliminate the floor jet exhaust gas recirculation system. This consists of a pair of plugs with a hole in the middle of each, threaded into the floor of the intake manifold. There is no EGR valve or other control system; the holes are
always open to admit exhaust into the intake tract. It does awful things to performance, driveability, and economy. Disabling it is very easy: replace the floor jets with solid plugs. I'd try and find brass ones, tho steel or aluminum would also be okeh. Just remove the carburetor, unscrew the floor jets, screw in the plugs, and replace the carburetor. You will need to reset the engine idle speed and mixture.
Beyond that, improvements are pretty easy…a carefully-recurved distributor, preferably in conjunction with a good electronic ignition upgrade such as the
HEI setup, which is potentially easier on your V8 than on slant-6s (depending on choice of coil and module) because of the availability of
this clever bracket. NGK #ZFR5N (stock number 3459) spark plugs gapped to 0.045". Use the blue Standard-BlueStreak CH-409X distributor cap, and the tan NAPA-Echlin MO-3000 rotor (don't substitute on the plugs, cap, or rotor). Good quality spark plug wires (I like
Magnecor). As things need replacing (e.g., exhaust system) you can consider upgrades.
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