mopar polysphere

[fatkoop]

I have been offered a '55 poly motor (stock, don't know what size) in a Dodge pickup.   I remember hearing about swapping the stock heads for hemi heads.  Which heads, Chrysler, Dodge, or Desoto?  What else is involved?  Anyone know about magazine articles for this conversion?  Thanks for any info!!  Really enjoyed tech week!!

[GPster]

Ages ago, Doc F(?) did an article in Street Rodder about Chrysler "A" block V8 engines. In his article he mentioned that the actual flow characterists of the Poly engine wasn't that much different than the Hemi heads. I guess everyone was stricken by "Bigger is Better" because there were no hop-up parts made for them. So I would guess that it would only be luck if you found your answer in a "Hemi" book but I do remember it mentioned in Doc's article. I'd say that you'd be looking for heads including rockers and maybe pushrods and probably an intake. You could probably make a "Log" type intake manifold butbe careful of the heads you find. The comercial heads have different water passing from one hed to another. Some in the intake and some in the front of the heads and part of the water pump housing. There may be a lot of parts necessary to do this kind of swap. Also I did some searching around by doing a lot of listening a while back. There are probably a lot of heads floating around that have the valve seats gone due somewhat to un-leaded gas. If you want to impress someone (yourself) with the valve covers, go for it. The Poly valve covers are distinctive and not very many people will know what they are. You might take a quick look at a parts store and find out which engines use the same head gaskets. GPster

[sirstude]

Some where in the last few months I have seen that information.

In the last few Street Rodders, Ron Ceridano has been doing an old style Hemi buildup, so look at their website to see if that was where it was.  

Otherwise it was Doc's web site.  www.webrodder.com.  Search the technical articles.  

The H.A.M.B. also might have had that.

Doug