Has anybody out there tried this? I`m wondering about the balancing issues with the converter aswell as the flexplate. Will a flexplate from an LA motor bolt up to the poly crank? Any feedback is appreciated.
As long as the converter is from a 318/340 your good, 360 is a no go. What year 318 Poly? 8 bolt cranks you use a 392 Hemi adaptor( it uses the 8 bolt 426 hemi flexplate), '62 & up 6 bolt will bolt up w/o an adaptor.
First big question- what year poly? A flexplate from an LA will bolt up to a 62 or later poly but not a pre-62 poly cos they've got 8 crank flange bolts instead of the later one with 6 bolts. I would have loved to fit one on the back of my poly but the cost of the box plus all the other parts required-none of which are readily available in Australia-put me off.
B&M, TCI and others have flexplates for mixing and matching converters, ext vs int balance. Not as bad as it used to be. Mopar also has a weight kit for rebalancing. .
Opps, forgot to mention that it`s a `66. So it looks like I could use an LA flex plate and a 518 from a 318 to get the correctly balanced converter right? And while I have the attention of the poly motor fans, does anyone now of a good source for a rear sump pan? Thanks fellas!
For all intents and purposes, you can use any transmission that bolts to an LA. Likewise, the LA oil pans can be used as well as pretty much anything off of an LA save for valvetrain and heads. There may be one or two differences, but that's the gist of it without laying on too many details. It's the pre '62 318 Polys you have to worry about - the back end of 'em is setup so it's like an early Hemi (any transmission that will bolt to a 331 Hemi will bolt to those, otherwise you need the same adapter the Hemi guys use to bolt a modern transmission up). Dig? Also, join this: http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/318poly/ It's worth it. ~Jason
To get a rear sump pan for my 318 poly I used one from a 360 out of a van then cut and shut the rear main area from a 318 into it. The reason for all that was the pan was available from a guy who'd bought in two van 360's from the States and we never got Dodge vans here so the chance of finding a 318 van pan was near impossible. As George says get all those bits cos you'll need them.