Is it rare Poly 318?

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72ScampTramp

72ScampTramp

Scamp Tramp
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I cam across a ad today that said Poly 318. Ive never heard of it. Asking price is 150. Its said to be complete. Said its a 1965 motor. Anyone know anything about these?
 
great engines, better design than the la's (imo) REALLY heavy; more than a fully dressed 440 and BIG.
My powerwagon runs on 5.5 cylinders and still pulls really heavy loads.....
 
The "Poly" "A" small block engine came is 3 sizes, 277, 301 and 318. They were built with very strong parts. They also use some "LA" parts. Valve springs, yiming chain, crank etc....

Some performance parts are out there for this engine. Used intakes in 4bbl. and dual 4bbl. can be found in steel factory offerings and aluminum from Offenhauser and Weiand.

New cams can be purchased from Racer Brown. He'll also do a custom cam if you want.
They can be hooked up to modern OD tranny's though some cranks are not ready for it as older versions have different diamentions for the older tranny's. It'll ethier take a crank swap or machine work to get it done.

Mopar muscle had a write up by Gary Polvich who stroked one to 400 cubes and made over 400 HP.
Currently, I knw a few Aussie's working on a new intake manifold fore the engine. A RPM style intake is being developed.
 
rumblefish360 said:
The "Poly" "A" small block engine came is 3 sizes, 277, 301 and 318. They were built with very strong parts. They also use some "LA" parts. Valve springs, yiming chain, crank etc....

Some performance parts are out there for this engine. Used intakes in 4bbl. and dual 4bbl. can be found in steel factory offerings and aluminum from Offenhauser and Weiand.

New cams can be purchased from Racer Brown. He'll also do a custom cam if you want.
They can be hooked up to modern OD tranny's though some cranks are not ready for it as older versions have different diamentions for the older tranny's. It'll ethier take a crank swap or machine work to get it done.

Mopar muscle had a write up by Gary Polvich who stroked one to 400 cubes and made over 400 HP.
Currently, I knw a few Aussie's working on a new intake manifold fore the engine. A RPM style intake is being developed.
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glad you said that rumble. i might hang on to mine a little longer. with gas prices i may pull the 383 out of my 53 truck and dress up poly to go in there
 
The poly 318s had forged cranks that are balanced for the light rods. I'm told it'll drop into the LA block. Anyone tried it? Tough to get a forged crank for $150.
 
Years ago a friend of mine who was a chevy fanatic aquired an old Dodge pickup with a poly 318 . He was instantantly converted the thing had so much torque . I dropped him off to pick it up and when He got it home he couldn't wipe the smile off his face . :toothy10:
 
i have heard that the Poly motors shared the same block architecture with the early Hemi's and that the Hemi heads would bolt onto the poly block. is this true???
-Tim
 
Optik said:
i have heard that the Poly motors shared the same block architecture with the early Hemi's and that the Hemi heads would bolt onto the poly block. is this true???
-Tim
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Some of the first gen Hemis and Poly's had shared components. The 325, as well as a few others came as both a Hemi headed engine and a Poly headed version in the Dodges. The biggest difference between the two was the valve train, with the Hemi head being a two rocker shaft engine and the Poly have just the one. I believe the same year the base D500 engine was the 325 Hemi headed engine. Correct me if I'm wrong on this, but Plymouth had only the Poly V8s available, Dodge and DeSoto had both the Hemi and Poly V8s, Chrysler having only the Hemi headed versions in the 354 and 392 engines. Or was DeSoto only Hemi's, too? I don't believe I've ever read about or seen a 330 Poly. With the Hemi's being phased out for the B engines, the Poly's or "A" engines were used as a "small block." Which is really a terminology carried over from the Chevy crowd, as the "A," "LA," "Magnum," etc, being correct. Even now, the "A" engines carry a terminology from the early Ford OHV V8 crowds with a lot of people referring to them as "Y" blocks.
 
So the answer is, they are not rare. I've owned 3 cars with the Poly 318, you can't kill that engine and they got surprisingly good gas mileage.
 
as far as the polydome 318 all i can say is "gob's of low end torque" and unbreakable.had several in my time the last one being in my 63 dodge panel delivery.that thing would fry both of the rear tires for as long as you could hold on the gas,steer and punch the button for the next gear!!!:cheers:
 
Optik said:
i have heard that the Poly motors shared the same block architecture with the early Hemi's and that the Hemi heads would bolt onto the poly block. is this true???
-Tim
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No, the 277,301 and & 318 will not accept a HEMI head though other engines can. In example the old Firedome engines will take a HEMI head easy. It is much like the "LA" and "Magnum" series engines that need abit of everything from the block up.
 
rumblefish360 said:
No, the 277,301 and & 318 will not accept a HEMI head though other engines can. In example the old Firedome engines will take a HEMI head easy. It is much like the "LA" and "Magnum" series engines that need abit of everything from the block up.
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Thanks, rumble, forget to clear that up since I was going into the '50s.
 
No problem. That's the great thing about this place. No one is exempt or all knowing. Considering the many engine options of the 50's from the Chrysler camp, it reminded me of GM with all there offerings until they put a clamp on things and said "That's it! Corprate engine for everybody!" And they all got a S/B Chevy.

While there was a huge interchangabilty within the Chrysler camp witch was great, you could have so many different engine displacements, they still were creating alot of extra work with there own size engine.
Money out the window. But verity abounded and flavors were a basken robbins like carnaval.
 
High end Dodges and Desotos got the hemis. Desoto Firesweeps (like mine) never got the hemi (They were basically a dodge with desoto fins) Chryslers got 'em and no plymouths.
 
mikeys toy said:
High end Dodges and Desotos got the hemis. Desoto Firesweeps (like mine) never got the hemi (They were basically a dodge with desoto fins) Chryslers got 'em and no plymouths.
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Thanks for the info on the Desotos as I couldn't remember. I love the '50s era Chryslers. As Rob pointed out it was like Baskin Robbins, before the corporate world came down and said "shared engines." Ask a kid these days what a Desoto was and you get a blank stare. Or even better yet, what's a Fargo?
Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but the 277 started life as a Plymouth only Poly that later morphed into the 318, correct?
 
I do beileve so. 277 to a 301 to a 318 for the Poly line up that doesn't share the HEMI parts.
 
by the way the Poly wide 318 will not work in a Early Abody.

Thats why in December 1963 the 273 was an option for the Dart and Valiant.

:read2:
 
from what Ive heard, the heads flow like mad but they are heavy......thicker port wall? lots of room to port?

I was thinking about throwing one in my dart a while ago just as an experiment. they are cheap and plentiful so if I scatter it its no real loss. they are a cool looking motor too, I might just have to try it one of these days:-D
 
mikeys toy said:
High end Dodges and Desotos got the hemis. Desoto Firesweeps (like mine) never got the hemi (They were basically a dodge with desoto fins) Chryslers got 'em and no plymouths.
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I belive the 57 and 58 plymouth's had a firedome hemi option
 
Lots of interesting stuff to learn here at the ol' Fabo site. toolmanmike
 
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