Hot-Rodding Your poly 318I'm building up the Poly in my '64 Polara and I've found out all sorts of information on this. I'll give you a little back ground on mine and you can use some (or most) of the information. First, let's cover your questions about carbs and intakes. The Weiand Stealth (pn 7503) is a good choice (especially since it's still available) and as Gary H. indicated, you won't have to modify your hood in any way. The best price I found was through Jegs High Performance (800-345-4545) at $206.99, special order, 4 weeks. A good carb for this intake is the Edelbrock 600cfm Performer 4BBL, either with or without electric choke. The manual choke version is jetted more for performance, the electric choke for economy. Another good choice would be the Carter 9000 series AFB in the Chrysler version at 625cfm. This comes with an electric choke already. If you're a Holley fan, the 600cfm electric choke 8045 would work or the universal mount 600cfm dual feed electric choke 8014. For all of these except the AFB, you'll need a Chrysler throttle extension (both Holley and Edelbrock make these). There are some other choices out there, but they will take some searching and will be used parts. I'm using an Edelbrock P600 3 deuce aluminum intake with 3 Holley 94/ECG carbs with a progressive linkage and custom fuel lines. I've also purchased 3 K&N nostalgia air cleaners to top this setup off. The carbs, linkage and fuel lines are being built by Charlie Price at Vintage Speed (three deuce induction must be setup properly). You will want to upgrade your cam when you make the intake/carb swap. I would suggest calling Chris Nielson of Nielson Cams (801)451-7745. He grinds new cams and can help you with your lifters, pushrods, valve springs and retainers, etc.. Since your Poly has a mechanical cam and solid lifters, you have a choice, you can keep it that way or change over to hydraulic. Chris suggested sticking with the mechanical unit in my Poly. He suggested his 264M cam, 222 degrees duration, 440 lift with a 109 or 110 degree lobe separation. He has a similar hydraulic cam, the 264H that he also recommends. If you go hydraulic, you MUST change your pushrods and lifters. His cams run $165.00. I am going to use street hemi (lighter weight, better design) solid lifters ($95.00), chrome moly tubular pushrods ($75.00), higher lift valve springs ($95.00) and his retainers. Chris does have his standard solid lifters for $75.00. I am using the stock valves and am doing a mild port and polish on the heads. Hardened exhaust valve seats are going in as well. You can get reground cams from Daytona, Racer Brown and Schneider (a little less money for these). You can use any small block double roller timing chain and gears too. An ignition upgrade would also be a good choice. You have a couple of options here as well, you can go stock, convert to a dual point or convert over to an electronic ignition. I've chosen to go electronic, so I'll cover that. First, the MP electronic distributor/ignition kit for the small block LA motors will fit right in to your Poly (the cost for this would be about $180.00). Or, you could buy a used small block electronic distributor, recurve it, get the "orange box" control unit and the new MP wiring harness kit for less than $100.00. You'll also need to get a new ballast resistor for electronic ignitions. There are also electronic distributors out there by MSD, Mallory and I believe Accel. These will all require an expensive control box. There is another choice available and that is the route I chose. I went with the Pertronix Ignitor system (around $80.00) and they now have the Ignitor II (around $110.00). It replaces all of the internals of your stock distributor and takes about ½ hour to install, plus there's no control box! You'll also need to upgrade your coil, plugs and wires for any of these upgrades. Lastly, there's the exhaust side. I've heard that Harold at Spitfire does very good work, but can be slow. He does make headers for our application for around $175.00 delivered. I will be ordering a set from him. Otherwise you're looking at more expensive custom built headers. With this motor, the stock exhaust manifolds are VERY inadequate, so headers are a must along with a good dual exhaust system. I'm running a 2 1/4" system through an H pipe and Dynomax Super Turbo mufflers. With these mods, your Poly will really wake up and I think you'll be pleased with the results. If you want additional info on gasket sets, bearings, ARP rod & main bolts, pistons, oil pumps, etc., please feel free to e-mail me. Sorry for the long email, I've rambled enough for one morning. Scott McAlister Good move on the cam and dual point distributor. The Spitfire headers should work very well with your motor. I'm glad that Harold had a set available for immediate shipment. If you have starter clearance problems, you can use the smaller MP lightweight starter or one from an '89 318 Dakota for extra clearance. I would really try to go with the Weiand Stealth intake if you can. The six pack setup isn't too difficult to tune in if it is set up properly from the start. The problem most guys have, is that they just try to bolt three 2BBl carbs on to an intake. This doesn't work out too well, you have problems with too high an idle, poor air/fuel mixture, etc. Charlie specializes in multiple carb setups on flatheads and other older V8s (he even does four and 6-2BBL setups for small block Chevys). You ought visit his website at www.vintagespeed.com . Were using a re-jetted Holley 94 for my primary carb w/idle and choke circuits and two larger Holley ECG carbs for my secondaries. The 94 and ECG are identical carbs on the outside. Total flow will be about 575cfms. He is fabricating a polished stainless steel progressive linkage and polished stainless fuel lines too. When I get the induction system (should be done by the end of this month), it will be a bolt on and go proposition. As for the rear end, we just did an entire rear end swap. We got an 8 3/4 from a '68 Satellite, changed it to a 742 3.23 sure grip and installed it. It's great. 3.23 or 3.55 sure grip gears would be about perfect for your set up depending on your tire/wheel size.
|