318 poly crank in LA engine

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Tooljunkie

Tooljunkie

King of cobble/master of the broken bolt
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So i should have started this discussion here. Long story. Bear with me.
Friend has 59 dodge regent,with an 82 318 la engine a previous owner installed. I repowered it,removing the engine and manual transmission,replacing it with a big block and automatic.

Jump forward a year, im cleaning up engine to install in my barracuda.planned to mate it to the ‘65 auto all nice and neat like.
So while discussing a flex plate issue in the coffee thread it came to my attention it has 8 bolt holes in crank flange.
Being 7/16” unthreaded holes
Its aparrently a poly crank and no register for torque.

I’m a little discouraged at the thought of the plan Falling apart, will need to find a crank at the very least to get back on track.
There were offers of a flex plate that may work,and my parts guy has a line on something.
But that doesent solve my register issue with the torque convertor.
Setting crank up in my lathe shouldnt be a problem,and boring it for the stub on convertor should be easy. But if im pulling crank, i would be inclined to install a better suited one to meet my needs.
I really cannot believe this would get so complicated.

It was mentioned it may not work unless i have the correct transmission,a cast iron one.
So thats another thing to deal with.
Starting this thread in hope that others may offer helpful suggestions and for those that my have a similar issue. Or may for some reason want to install a poly crank. And the problems they need to overcome.

Thanks in advance.
 
Tooljunke
Your best bet is to locate a good use crank,
273 or 318 both will work in your application, if going to match it to 65 model 904 look for a early crank with the smaller register. Your convertor should measure 1.550,. 1967 up measure 1.180
Good luck ; Lon
 
lkopaska said:
Tooljunke
Your best bet is to locate a good use crank,
273 or 318 both will work in your application, if going to match it to 65 model 904 look for a early crank with the smaller register. Your convertor should measure 1.550,. 1967 up measure 1.180
Good luck ; Lon
Click to expand...
I'm
lkopaska said:
Tooljunke
Your best bet is to locate a good use crank,
273 or 318 both will work in your application, if going to match it to 65 model 904 look for a early crank with the smaller register. Your convertor should measure 1.550,. 1967 up measure 1.810
Good luck ; Lon
Click to expand...
 
62-66 poly crank is the one to use, earlier poly cranks are like the one you have, flat and no register for even a maunal trans pilot.
 
For $204.99 you can get one for the 82 318 from O'Reilly freshly ground, with bearings ready to install. Sorta a no brainer.
 
RustyRatRod said:
For $204.99 you can get one for the 82 318 from O'Reilly freshly ground, with bearings ready to install. Sorta a no brainer.
Click to expand...
In a heartbeat,and about 400 shipping. So its out of my price range when you switch it to canadian pesos and add duty.
Probably 800 by the time its all said and done.
 
adaptor.jpg
To open up more options, check this out.
Pat Blaise Transmissions (206/365-1966 or tflitepatty@comcast.net
 
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Tooljunkie said:
In a heartbeat,and about 400 shipping. So its out of my price range when you switch it to canadian pesos and add duty.
Probably 800 by the time its all said and done.
Click to expand...

If you are serious about wanting one, I can see what the best is I can do on it and possibly help with shipping. How close are you to the border? If someone in Minnesota or N Dakota was willing to take shipment, that would help you.
 
I have a couple buddys with 318’s kicking around. My parts supplier is connected with a good machine shop.i may see if the machine shop will take the poly crank as a core exchange. Might be the easiest. Will be exploring options tomorrow.
 
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