MOPAR gear heads

skeets

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I went and looked at a 64 Plymouth today. while the price was way out of my egg money stash , it is clean and all numbers match, like I said way to rich for me, but he told me something I had never heard of before. He claims the motor was a 318 big block,, never heard of a 318 big block I always thought they were 340 and up. Anybody ever hear of such a thing?
 

Tughill Tom

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I don't think so. 340 and up were their big blocks as I remember and sometimes I don't remember when I started forgetting.
 

wgator

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Maybe it was a Poly 318 small block. But according the the first sentence in the fourth paragraph in the below link; most commonly known as the "wide-block 318," "big-block 318," or "Poly 318".

 
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RCW

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Skeets - not a MOPAR guy, but impossible for a ‘64 numbers matching car to my knowledge.

A 318 is a 318....great engine as we all know.

If the owner is a younger guy, he may not know the small/big block difference.

Or, depending on the model, we know many came as a 6 or an 8, and just confused by the small versus big engines. Think 2 more cylinders makes it a big block?!?!
 

bearbait

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The 318 and 340 are small blocks, given the choice I'd take the 340 and be very happy.
 

kvc

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It will be a 318 poly block for sure. 273, 318, 340 and 360 are all small block motors. Big blocks are the 383, 400, 426 and 440 for Chrysler. Picks of the bunch are of course the 340 and 426. Both revered motors and command big dollars these days.
 

RCW

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skeets - - for what it's worth, the car museum took in a neat little '66 Valient convertible last year. 6 cyl, auto. We're going to use as a parade car, to replace '61 Chevy convertible, which was also a 6, but standard shift...odd combo for a convertible.
 

SidecarFlip

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skeets

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OK so a 318 polly head is a larger head larger valves dome, or what,, interesting.. No this was an older fellow said it belonged to his Aunt had 61 k on the clock, it is a driver, but I was wondering about the big block thing,, Thanks guys
 

lugbolt

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coulda been a 273 or perhaps, 318 poly as they were both small blocks and both available in 1964 depending on the car (Valiant, Belvedere, Barracuda, etc). Neither was a big block.

318 Poly had heads with valve arrangements "similar" to the hemi's but a lot less complex! The heads themselves were big, and the valve covers were wide, and people sometimes incorrectly referred to them as 318 big blocks.

340 was a small block
360 was a small block
350, 361, 383, 400 were a big block and oddly enough the 400 uses a larger bore than a 440,...then there was also a 413, 426w, 426h--they were all big block but most of them came later than 1964

ain't never had a Mopar, don't really want one but if one fell into my lap, I wouldn't kick it to the curb. I've always stuck with oddball Ford stuff cause that's what I know. Being that I have spent most of my life around the drag strips, I've seen and learned a little about the Mopar's.

My friend (now passed away) ran a '56 Ford drag car since the day he bought it new in 1956. Started out with a 272" Y block, blew it up immediately, then a 312, then back to a 292, never could keep them going. In 1967 He found a 428 CJ and threw that in, won a LOT of races out in California with it, destroyed it, found a 427 and used it for a while til it let go (all bottom end failures). Moved out to Arkansas & settled down in the sticks, bought the car with him and no place to really race it so it sat for a number of years with no engine. Then he found a drag strip, and got the itch. Couldn't find anything but 390 truck engines but found a 440 and TF727, and put that in, and ran it for YEARS, up into the 2000's. Blew several of them up but always was able to fix them. One of them, kicked a rod out of the bottom of the block and obviously knocked a hole in the side of the skirt so rather than use up another block, he took an old cast iron skillet and cut it big enough to cover the hole, and brazed it over it to seal it up. It works for a good number of years until he got too old and sick to really do much work to keep it going, passed away a couple years later. His boy's still got the '56 Forge victoria (Ford with a dodge engine) and has plans on making it great again.

There are people who come into your life and people that go, some of them you just kinda forget about. He's not one of those.
 
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SidecarFlip

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I know a bunch of good Mopar jokes. Problem is, they aren't postable on here.
 

Moabion

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I've got a 65 Fury with that poly 318. It does look a fair bit bigger than my other LA series Mopars (318's and 360's) Still a smallblock though. It's a LOT different than the 383/400/413/440's I've had. Big blocks have the distributor in the front, Small blocks back center,
 

bucktail

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I had thought that the wide block was a big block but it looks like I was wrong. I don't think that it's the same as the small block either. Lots of torque though.
 
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SidecarFlip

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Wide block, big block, sounds like a fat gal to me...