I have decided to swap a 318 into my Uncles Slant-six powered 82 D-150. Will I have to beef up the front suspension any to handle the weight of the 318, or can I just leave it as is.

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82 D150-225/727
02 Dakota-3.9/5 speed
87 GMC C7000-8.2 Detroit Diesel/5+2

If the '82's suspension is as soft as my '87's is up front, I would swap in some 3/4 ton (D250) springs. The are the same length but have a higher spring rate. You could use 1-ton (D350) springs, but you would also need to use 1-ton LCA's, as the spring pocket is 2" deeper to accomodate the 2" longer spings on the 1-tons.

My front springs are tired, but they have always bottomed out even on relatively small bumps on the '87. My bump stops are shot and I plan to replace the springs with the 3/4-tons to keep the nose out of the pavement (I hope)

-S/6

I did exactly the swap that you are planning about 12 years ago, and after 10+ years of holding up the front end with the slant, with the 318 it took about 6 months before both front springs busted. I dont think that the 318 is that much heavier, but rather that the weight is more right over (and behind) the axle since the smallblock is shorter.I went to a Moog spring catalog and ordered the springs for standard with A/C. It didnt ask what engine it had. If I woulda gone with the HD I KNOW that the front end woulda been way too high. I recently looked up a set of these for a friend, and the application went MANY years.( IIRC it was something like 72-93) and the price wasnt as bad as you might have thought either, and that was for NEW springs, not 1/2 wore out, or worse. Do yourself a favor and buy new ones.