73golddusterkid
Gold Duster Kid
I have a quick question for all the FABO faithful, can i swap a distributer from a mid to late 70's la motor into a 318 poly motor?
Not an LA question, POLY
- Thread starter 73golddusterkid
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'64 Cuda
Well-Known Member
I'm about 99% sure you can.
First thing you gotta do is define what you mean by a poly engine. Take a look here
http://www.allpar.com/mopar/a-engines.html
And here
http://www.allpar.com/mopar/poly.html
Which one are you tailking about?
http://www.allpar.com/mopar/a-engines.html
And here
http://www.allpar.com/mopar/poly.html
Which one are you tailking about?
'64 Cuda
Well-Known Member
He said 318. Wasn't there only one type of 318 poly engine?
Nope...the early ones 54-55 were Poly's (I have a 270cid Poly in my 55 Coronet) It wasn't until 56 that they were designated with the "A" poly such as the wide-block or Poly 318. Poly's such as mine were designated "Single rocker shaft engines" (Red Ram) and the Hemi 270 was designated a "Double rocker shaft motor" (Super Red Ram) To answer the question: Yes, the LA distributor will fit the Poly. I have one from a LA318 in my Poly 270, works just the same, fit is not an issue.
73golddusterkid
Gold Duster Kid
The poly is in a 65 fury
dusterglenn
Well-Known Member
100% yes, it will work. I did the same swap on my 65 Fury 318 poly.
Sorry, I think this is splitting a hair, but, I think your wrong.
It's not that there was only one "Poly" engine, but only a 318 was a poly and not a "LA" engine or early HEMI.
That's what I thought he ment.
Here's a great article that explains the Poly. Mike
http://www.streetrodderweb.com/tech/0805sr_vintage_engines/index.html
http://www.streetrodderweb.com/tech/0805sr_vintage_engines/index.html
Welcome to the wacky world of poly engines!
Looks like the original question is answered, yes the distributors are interchangeable with the LA engine. I was aware of the different variations of the poly engine, therefore my first post in this thread, still learned something new today. Looks like the poly engine can be summed up as follows;
Early hemi based polys which can be further broken down into Chrysler, Dodge and Desoto, all with different bore spacings. Hemi head versions and poly head versions were called double shaft and single shaft respectively. Poly and hemi heads would interchange within brand families, but would not exchange across the division lines, i.e. Chrysler would not fit Dodge which would not fit Desoto which would not fit Chrysler. Plymouth models used Dodge poly's, no hemis.
A engines which were exclusively a poly head, shared across Dodge and Plymouth lines. No hemi heads and I don't think Chrysler used this engine except as an industrial block. The LA engine we know and love was a derivative of this engine using wedge heads. Interestingly enough, the new hemi shares the same bore spacing (4.46) with the A and LA engines. None of the blocks interchange although the A and LA engines shared a 3.31 stroke.
What may be a new twist on all this is the 4.7L V8 currently in production. No common parts to the other engine families, but it uses the canted valve arrangement of the poly engine and looks quite a bit like the old poly head valve cover. More details here
http://www.allpar.com/mopar/47.html
Looks like the original question is answered, yes the distributors are interchangeable with the LA engine. I was aware of the different variations of the poly engine, therefore my first post in this thread, still learned something new today. Looks like the poly engine can be summed up as follows;
Early hemi based polys which can be further broken down into Chrysler, Dodge and Desoto, all with different bore spacings. Hemi head versions and poly head versions were called double shaft and single shaft respectively. Poly and hemi heads would interchange within brand families, but would not exchange across the division lines, i.e. Chrysler would not fit Dodge which would not fit Desoto which would not fit Chrysler. Plymouth models used Dodge poly's, no hemis.
A engines which were exclusively a poly head, shared across Dodge and Plymouth lines. No hemi heads and I don't think Chrysler used this engine except as an industrial block. The LA engine we know and love was a derivative of this engine using wedge heads. Interestingly enough, the new hemi shares the same bore spacing (4.46) with the A and LA engines. None of the blocks interchange although the A and LA engines shared a 3.31 stroke.
What may be a new twist on all this is the 4.7L V8 currently in production. No common parts to the other engine families, but it uses the canted valve arrangement of the poly engine and looks quite a bit like the old poly head valve cover. More details here
http://www.allpar.com/mopar/47.html
73golddusterkid
Gold Duster Kid
Thanks for all the responses! I never knew that there were early and late polys, i just always thought they were called "semi hemis"
805moparkid
Slant and AFX Guy
i believe there is also a 383 poly/wide block motor. my great uncle used to tell me about them when he was a mechanic back in the day
You split it alright, next time take a little less off the top. LOL. I guess what I meant to say was that there are more than one version of the POLY engine, albeit the 318 is the most common after '56. Either way, YES the LA distributor will fit the POLY along with the early hemis(double rocker shaft.)
Babyblue66
Cool dude
Sorry, not so.
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