66 318 which parts offered will fit?

[Polymolly]

I have a 66 Coronet wagon. It is a survivor with less than 100 miles on it. So without too many changes I want to boost it up a little in performance and fun.
I've been offered a four barrel intake and carburetor from Rocket Restoration, who knows that will fit my poly, and now someone who may not know too much, has offered me his 80 something 302 heads that he had reworked (but then let set and start to rust again). When, with someones help, I figure this all out and rebuild the carb (I think, I'll try that.) I'll find some Flow Master mufflers and pipes. What do I need to know? Will the 302 heads fit the poly? And then the intake that would have fit the poly as it was? And is Flow Master the way to go? And shocks? maybe to get its tired butt up a little?
I'm so broke, but so excited! Polymolly

[rumblefish360]

The Poly is an "A" engine. 277, 301, 318, 325 I think it is.

The "LA" engine has displacements of 273, 318 , 340, 360.

All big parts must be for the poly save the crank. Heads intake etc..... must be poly stuff.

The 302 heads are not poly heads. If Rocket Resto has Poly parts, then your good. Ask him first.
Mufflers are a personal choice due to the sound they make or not. I think flowmasters suck myself. Sound and performance. But you put on what you like and that be that.
I like a stiffer than stock shock. KYB is a decent shock for a decent price. There not designed to lift the car up. For that, you need new springs ethier from MoPar or a aftermarket place like espo.com.

[JVMopar]

Only heads and intake for a 318 A engine will fit. Be careful when ordering parts as many will list the 318 LA as an A engine but they are completely different.

[Polymolly]

OK, stick with Poly parts, only. Rocket Resto will have the right intake. Mike is the best. But the other parts offered, is where I had my doubts. So thanks on that.
I was asking for opinions on mufflers. I like a deep throaty sound with plenty of exhausting room? I sure can't sink a lot of money into the wagon, yet, and it still may be gently converted over to drag racing, but for now I just want to get to work and back and dream a little.
Is there any other suggestions in the way of exhaust, or shocks? I wish I could afford bigger headers for it, but I'm thinking anything other than stock might require cutting into the inner fenders. And maybe the real money should be spent storing the Poly and dropping something else in it... for fun.
Thanks for your responses! Polymolly

[nhdriver]

Storing the poly wouldn't be a bad plan. Swapping in an LA small block would be easy as the driveline from the trans back will bolt right up. A warmed over 360 would really wake up the performance,and headers manifolds etc are plentifull & easy to find.

[Polymolly]

Thanks! I was thinking about the 360, too. My brother has a 360 in his Valiant he races and it does very well year after year. So as I look around for a good sound 360, what would be the fair price range? I wonder if salvage yards hold on to anything like that? I like the idea of having a motor I could slowly start to build up with common after market resources. Any more ideas? I'm writing this all down. I try to get a picture on here of my wagon. It takes about 15-20 minutes to get it warmed up enough to stay running when I put it in gear. (Thus the change over to a fresh intake.) Polymolly hmm, I'll have to change my name?

[Dick]

Pollys can be fun.

[Tarrbabe]

But more expensive. If you plan on playing with the car some, you should consider using a 360 and put the Poly in a corner for future use or restoration.

Just thinking out loud.

[Dick]

Originally Posted by Tarrbabe

But more expensive. If you plan on playing with the car some, you should consider using a 360 and put the Poly in a corner for future use or restoration.

Just thinking out loud.

Oh yes, I agree 100%. I just like throwing up the dual quad Polly whenever I can.

[Ray Bell]

Don't forget to change the torque converter if you put a 360 in there...

But for my money, by all means use the Poly. It's a good engine, it might cost a few bucks for some performance items, but you can get them.

Or make your own:

[passing you]

Ray and dick, those are both really cool pictures you have there.

While the poly is heavy it can make a lot of power with it's head design and very strong bottom end.

If you look hard enough there are enough parts to build a stout poly.

[Walkercolt]

I'm a fan of 390-410 LA or Magnum strokers. I love that big torque. A 277 or 318 can be made into a 390 stroker, a 340 or 360 will go up to 410. Or go dog-nuts and a 340/360 will go up to 426cid with a girdle. Strokers aren't cheap to build, but they're great engines, and perform well on pump gas. On your rear springs, most leafs can be "re-arched" by a spring shop for very little cash. New springs are available from many places, and you can order HD springs for a wagon. For a wagon, I'd think about air-shocks if you ever plan on towing or carrying a load.

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by passing you
.....While the poly is heavy it can make a lot of power with it's head design and very strong bottom end.

If you look hard enough there are enough parts to build a stout poly.

And more are on the way...

I was wondering why you could confidently brag about your passing abilities... now I think I know!

[passing you]

Originally Posted by Ray Bell

And more are on the way...

I was wondering why you could confidently brag about your passing abilities... now I think I know!

HA HA lol.

[pcrmike]

I think cranks will interchange though. My dad built a 8K RPM poly in teh 60's and dragged it for several years with four 2 bbl webers on a handfabbed manifold. :-) PCRMike

[Ray Bell]

Got pics of that, Mike? Or even the manifold?

[pcrmike]

I do sir. they are on my shop computer, but we are iced in pretty good, so I didn;t go to work today , and possibly not tomorrow either, at least not b4 noon. I will try to remember to send them to the site tomorrow. Pretty trick. They are all real old photos, but you should be able to see some detail. :-) PCRMike

[pishta]

Originally Posted by Ray Bell

Don't forget to change the torque converter if you put a 360 in there...

But for my money, by all means use the Poly. It's a good engine, it might cost a few bucks for some performance items, but you can get them.

Or make your own:

If you are going to love Oz for 1 thing, its gotta be OEM side draft carbs! Are these sitting in salvage yards? Obviously that is custom, but seems many down under cars have side drafts...?

[pcrmike]

Hot Heads has a number of whale/poly parts. :-) PCRMike

[Ray Bell]

pishta... that setup is from the US...

In fact, those particular carbs would be very rare here. We'd have SUs and Webers and the odd Dell 'Orto, but not those, which came on early Corvettes among other things.

The engine is one of the original Ramcharger efforts. I picked the picture up on the Forward Look forum the other day.

But if there's a Weber setup was used in the sixties, I definitely want to see what it looks like! Any time you can post them I'd appreciate it, Mike...

[DartGT66]

Hot Heads sells parts for the old hemi/poly engines, but not for the A-engine poly. Weiand (Holley) used to have a four barrell aluminum intake for it until recently, but I think it isn't offered anymore. Can be found on ebay every now and then. Chris Neilson cams has cam blanks and performance grinds, and although originally a solis cam, can be converted to hydraulic by just using LA hydraulic lifters and proper length pushrods. A engine can be stroked with cranks and rods for LA engines, and the blocks commonly accept 4.00" bore, so you can make a 400 out of one. The pistons will be custom, but comapred to off the shelf forged racing pistons, the customs aren't that much more. Water pumps, ignition parts, timing chains, oil pump and pan (?) are the same as in LA engines, headers are available at least from TTI, and and used to be available from Spitfire (Harold Johnson), but don't know if it's still around. While the heads are canted valve designs, they aren't that great. Actually, the only set I have seen flown was only in the low 200's, and this was a ported head with oversize valves. LA heads actually flow better than the poly heads. Anyway, the poly will still make a great high torque engine with a little effort, and around 400 hp can be reasonably achieved with a hydraulic flat tappet and pump gas. The nice thing with a poly is, that it's rare, especially as a performance engine, and therefore is "something else". Here is some information about a poly build up http://www.1962to1965mopar.ornocar.com/poly318.html . Gary used to be a member here.

[Ray Bell]

I reckon Benno will see at least 450hp out of his Poly...

It won't be stroked, but most likely bored to 4.00", he'll gas-flow the heads (no fill allowed) and do what's necessary to get the best NA Poly horsepower he can. He can't use fuel injection but there's not many carby setups he can't use... including 4 x twin choke Webers. He'll likely start his dyno work with about five cams to choose from.

His development will lead to a nice new intake manifold becoming readily available as he has to have one for his experimentation.

[pcrmike]

Ray, I emailed you those pics a while back. I am having a hard time finding them, and fear I may have lost them when I rebuilt my computer. Do you still have them? :-) PCRMike

[valiant64]

I believe Offenhauser still offers intakes for the Poly engines. If you look on ebay, every once in awhile the Weiand intake still pops up, sometimes new, but expect to pay more for aftermarket Poly intakes than LA ones. Most of the cam mfrs. have cam blanks that they can grind custom cams for the Poly engine, or you just send in a good condition core cam for a regrind. I think DLI was offering regrinds for these engines as well. KYB is a great shock for the $, I have them on my '67 Coronet and they work well. TTI makes headers for the Poly. I run Flowmaster Delta 50's w/ 2 1/2" dual exhaust. Sounds great without being too loud. I recently picked up a '55 Dodge stepside with a Poly in it, and am thinking about rebuilding it instead of swapping to either an LA engine or BB. Haven't built one yet, could be fun...

[Tarrbabe]

Did anyone note that the post said, Post 66. There are MANY OUTLETS for the Early A engine. I personally think they are a better design for flow than the LA engine. The simi-hemi design is a better flow design than the inline design of he LA engine. But MUCH LESS DESIGH HAS GONE INTO THE A ENGINE. They look cool and the design is better but the research has not been done to supersede the A engine. Bottom line? The LA will put out more power than the A in present form.

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by pcrmike
Ray, I emailed you those pics a while back. I am having a hard time finding them, and fear I may have lost them when I rebuilt my computer. Do you still have them?

I will have, Mike... I would have to find the e.mail (I keep them all), so it would be best if you send me a fresh e.mail using the same e.mail address you would have used then.

raybell@racingphoenix.com


.

[pcrmike]

Email sent. :-)PCRmike

[Paul Precht]

I did some porting and flow testing on a junk head a while back. When porting these heads the best intake is an Olds 1.99". The length is close to the stock valve. The stock exaust valve size is the way to go. Paul.

[Ray Bell]

What about relieving the chamber wall around the exhaust?




.

[pcrmike]

Ray will be posting a couple pics for me in a bit that show the weber setup and also some not great photos of the port work done. It will walk all over an inline valve setup in any factory mopar or at least older style blowtie heads. As a matter of fact, in three of the pics, it is pictured next to the "double hump" chevy heads, and you can see the massive amount of port volume. There were several types, as I have seen some with larger ports than others, but these can be made to flow serious numbers. Thanks again, Ray. ;-)PCRMike