Building an engine for the ol' man's '65 Belvedere II

[1974DartSwinger]

Hey everyone. My Ol' man decided to give the family's "old car" a makeover. Its a bone-stock MINT 1965 (4 door. . . uggg) belvedere II. It has the original 318 2bbl, 727, 8 3/4 rear (highway gears).

I've been trying to talk him into a hot small block build for a while now and he finally gave in! 4-door = sleeper ;)
-its gotta be a SB so it looks original per the old-man.

I'm an A-body guy and fairly new at that, so B-bods are not my thing.
My question is: How much more work would need to be done to swap a 360 into this 318 car vs just sticking with another 318? We're debating about picking up a 360 for the build or using my extra 318.

My extra motor is a really great running mid-70s 318 with some extra parts (edelbrock duel plane intake, eddy 600 4bbl). Then buy a comp-262 or 268 for it, headers into duel 2 1/2 and home-ported heads buzzed a few thous at the machine shop..

I figured it would be easier to just stick with a hot 318 build; isnt that what all the cool guys are doing now-a-days?. I dont know how the external balanced 360 would throw things off, and I know the oil pan is different on those too.

I'm just looking at getting him into something around 300hp, nothing too fancy so I think a Hot -teen would fill the ticket. Any thoughts?

 

[RedFish]

The original 318 would be poly instead of LA I think. If so niether LA will look stock. Good luck

 

[1974DartSwinger]

It is a LA 318 in the car

 

[Rcuda2]

If it is a poly 318, I think you can get a two four barrel set up for it. That would be close to your goal & get some looks.
A LA 318 should just bolt in with some exhaust changes.
A 360 would also need a ballanced flex plate & center sump pan for the 360.

 

[caferacerx]

its a big car use a big block

 

[805moparkid]

its a big car use a big block

that and AFX it!!

 

[2 Darts]

Sorry, dude, you're in the wrong place. Since the poly 318 was never part of the A-body lore, I don't know much about it. However, if you follow the link, you'll find a few folks who do. How does a 402 CID poly stroker sound to you? Let Dad tromp down on this and he'll lay twin stripes on the street and a single in his jockeys. It would be a hoot.

http://www.1962to1965mopar.ornocar.com/poly318.html