LA 318 or 360 Magnum and 727 into a 65 Sport Fury?

[1965SportFury]

Please forgive me, im sure somewhere in the vast information on this site, someones already asked and recieved a rea answer to this question. i havent been here long, and am having a heck of a time searching for past threads.. my apologies...

Im curious what is needed to swap a la 318 or 360 magnum into a 1965 sport fury? what 727 trans will work , and simply whats the ins and out, whadda i hafta know?

 

[70bigblockdodge]

What's in it now?
If it is a Poly 318 the trans will work on a La, or Magnum.
La 360 and a Magnum 360 are both external balance engines and are not interchangeable.
If it was my car and it has a Poly, I would keep and eventually Pep it up with some of the new parts they have been making for those.
If it has a big block in it, I would not move to small block but you will need to change the transmission.

 

[mr. fix it]

Poly's are cool engine and some people think it's a Hemi!
It's a semi hemi...

 

[Snotty]

Sounds like you have a car without a motor or trans, yes? I mean, you are asking what would work, not, "Will mine work?"

 

[70bigblockdodge]

Poly's are cool engine and some people think it's a Hemi!
It's a semi hemi...

They have a good combustion chamber has valves that open toward center (unshrouded) , shape causes swirl to suppress detonation and chamber concentrates combustion pressure straight down on the pistons rather than toward the cylinder walls like a wedge.

 

[mr. fix it]

They have a good combustion chamber has valves that open toward center (unshrouded) , shape causes swirl to suppress detonation and chamber concentrates combustion pressure straight down on the pistons rather than toward the cylinder walls like a wedge.

Yah' all that stuff 70bigblockdodge is sayin'..... plus there is a major cool factor!

 

[traintech55]

La 360 and a Magnum 360 are both external balance engines and are not interchangeable.

They are interchangeable. You have to add the weight to the torque converter.

 

[70bigblockdodge]

They are interchangeable. You have to add the weight to the torque converter.

Yeah you are right it's on the tone ring on a Magnum I knew there was something different.

 

[1965SportFury]

I've decided to go with a 383 on this car simply because I have access to one cheap to get it on the road. The car had no motor or trans in it when I bought it, but came with a 318 poly, and a mid 70's 440 out of a motor home. Unfortunately both were bound up right... Decided to hit the 383 since it was cheap and easy. I'll post some pics of the car asap.

 

[Snotty]

Ah-ha! I was right!

 

[RCB]

I've been debating the very same thing. Well, not debate really. I've wanted a 318 poly and intended on making it a stroker, then suddenly a 64 383 (2v) has become available at a very cheap price. I like the cool factor of the poly and the more efficient head design, but the 383 is cheap and has loads of torque already, even more if I throw a dual plane 4bbl on it. I'm torn. A poly also just became available, but is more than the 383. I've got vision for the project, but trying to decide if I'm going to regret not going the affordable route with more torque on tap. The wagon was also a 383 originally (but no fender tag, so it doesn't really matter) but there is some originality factor there too.

 

[fury fan]

Sounds like OP's car is a roller and the case is closed, but here's my .02 as this is an interesting question -- with some above-normal complexities due to being a 65.

Trans is a mild complication as it would be cableshift, and some engines might need external balancing, and attention must be paid to the torque converter, as 66-older are a different spline count, and none came OEM for any external balanced engines. So depending on what engine might be installed, either the weight needs welded on the TC, or welded to the flexplate, or get a B&M special-weighted flexplate.

Whatever engine is selected would require the special driverside motormount to fit the engine. (the 65 C-body is different from 66-up)

Given the option of a Poly or Magnum, I'd choose Magnum. (or an 88-92-ish LA with -302/-308 heads would be a 2nd choice). Newer engines almost always have heads that are superior for combustion, and that gives better hp and mpg (70s engines are an exception of course, but anything from late 80s and newer will burn better). For modern heads, lower emissions, better mpg and more hp all are hand-in-hand.

318s and 5.2 are all internally-balanced and would install 'perfectly' to an original SB trans/converter.
360 and 5.9 Magnum are externally-balanced, and are not balanced the same, either.

Any Magnum is going to require extra work for either EFI, or a carb manifold, and might need some swap-out of the front cover and belt-drive setup. There are a LOT of details/differences involved here, far more than I can remember and/or type. (if you look me up on Dippy.org, I did some write-ups on there years ago).

If you wanted a nice driver with decent power and mpg, I'd go 5.2 Magnum.
For more power, I'd go with 5.9 Magnum. It would be 100lbs lighter than a 383, and I'd bet makes almost as much power.
A 383 would be an easy balance of power vs installation ease - but not growing on trees anymore!

318 Poly - 230hp SAE gross
most 318s - approx. 150hp SAE net
5.2 Magnum - 220-230hp net
5.9 Magnum 230-245hp net
'plain' 383 - 270 - 325 hp gross depending on heads/CR/carb

But a project like this is really based on your time, budget, goals, and ability to scrounge parts.

 

[Fury3III]

Ive got a magnum 360 build mostly complete for anyone interested in undertaking that conversion, its a dakota r/t engine built old school carb. If yall have any questions on the conversion let me know as well. I completed mine, now selling it.