Poly vs Hemi Mopar engines!!!

These days I'm right there with ya, in all actuality - although I do have my days sometimes.

Gary, do you think a pre-'62 -to- post-'62 318 Poly conversion kit would sell? I was just thinking that nobody officially offered anything like that in kit form. I'd send all sorts of folks your way.

~Jason

 

Care to share that link? I'm no B/RB expert, but this is the first I've heard of anything like that...and WHY.....?

 

I posted this 8/2/06:

That link hasn't worked since 8/2006. Here's an archived version:
http://web.archive.org/web/20060810112840/www.nrcperformance.com/index.html

Dig their awesome offset distributors!

Also, on second look, I may have remembered wrong.

~Jason

 

...wondering where ya been hiding with these 'poly' subjects of late...

Conversion for the trans? Crank?
If you put a late crank in an early block then you still need to adapt (or modify) the block for the alignment dowels.....you will then need an adapter/spacer for the crank to match whatever you used for the block to get the converter and starter together. It would be possible to modify the block but the machine shop costs would be more than a late block.

If the guys with pre-62 blocks need a late TF then buy the Hemi adapter. If they are thinking about a big crank then I would recommend a late block.

.

 

Not entirely true.

Consider the 1955-1958 Chrysler 301/331/354 engines that were used in the Saratoga/Windsor cars:

Yes, their intake manifolds are interchangeable with the Chrysler hemis.

NO, the exhaust manifolds are different. The port shapes as well as bolt pattern are very different. Look up the exhaust manifold gasket applications.

 

Yeah, a late block is always prefered, but I am indeed talking about a set of adapters (user supplies their own crank and late transmission) to make the swapover for the early blocks happen, all in kit form.

They might not sell a ton at first, but folks that love the motor, but don't want to source a late one would be into it. At the very least, it might drive business, as whoever carried this kit would likely be the only guy doing so. As such, that guy's info would pop up all over on the subject.

Just an idea. Seriously - there are folks out there that would drop money on a bunch of adapters.

~Jason

 

Jason...I guess that I am just a bit thick today.....early block + early crank = EarlyHemi trans adapter package. Or, am I still missing the Q?

.

 

Another thing would be in the intakes, wish Offenhauser made a better one. I understand the stock one flows much better. (4bbl.)

Michael

 

...if you have about a 100G's to play with I can hook you up with some folks and you can be the intake king...

 

Basically, I was making the observation/lamenting the fact that no one ever ads the line "'57 - '62 318 (NOT '62 - '66)" to the description of the early Hemi/Poly adapters.

~Jason

 

Roadside breakdowns are usually an operator maintenance problem with the older engines as they were so simple to maintain. They didn't have glitchy little sensors and computers to get PMS and leave you sitting.

I have a '63 318 Poly I'm STILL running unrebuilt in a '66 Dodge Power Wagon. It has a '63 because It had a '70 318 LA in it when I got it in '93 (the previous owner had run the original 318 A engine without oil) that had crank endplay out the wazoo. I pulled out the 318 LA and put in a freebie 318-3 A out of a '63 PW that was a rust bucket. I use if for highway driving/hauling, off-roading and tractor work around the desert shack. It has never left me sitting. What's that tell you about your Dad's breakdown problems?

Where is that ch**y now? My '63/'66 dodge is still plugging along at age 48

 

OP in 2004, thread resurrected in 2010, and now again at the end of 2013.

 

With the 'new' interest in the Poly from Chrysler Power Magazine the 'lowly' 318 is likely to be the topic of many conversations for awhile.
Gary Pavlovich, on his own dime, has proved that they are something other than throw-away engines.

.

 

Well - some of us are bitten real bad by these engines. I bought a poly 318 in Lewisville Texas, shipped it to a good friend in Kansas for safe keeping then organised a cross country haul to LA for shipment to here in NZ. And that was just to get the intake manifold!!! However the engine - which was on its way to the s**** yard - is too good to junk out and now will live again - this time down under. Haven't got a body for it however ............
I always thought I would go to this extent to ship a hemi but a poly??>? Yep I am mad.
So it joins a 56 Desoto 330 hemi, a 57 Dodge 325 Poly and a 63 426 Wedge in the garage so I don't think it will be lonely

 

Nice collection, even if they were here!

 

This last paragraph is partly misleading..... Ma Mopar DID bring back the "Poly-Vibe" YES, with the 4.7L V-8. What it actually replaced was the Chrysler 318 Magnum, which replaced the Chrysler LA 318, and that replaced the A-Poly 318 in '66...... What is correct is that the 4.7L V-8 was better powered then its Magnum 318 "5.2L", and got better gas mileage, and thats when the 318 Magnum was replaced....

Then the NEW Gen 3 Hemi 5.7L came out and the 4.7L lost whatever following it might have had.....

 

There's a Poly running in the Engine Master Vintage engine cl*** with a GM LS intake which was not very hard to adapt. Made great power and placed 2nd or 3rd. I too think they look neat....

 

I am happy with the poly 331 in my 55 Chrysler Windsor.Bruce.

 

You guys don't want to mess with those junk old poly's. And torque monsters I would say is selling them a little short.