361 vrs poly

[Don Dulmage <big-d@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I am helping  G Wager with a Poly on his 65 fury (It may be a 66 I cant tell the difference. )Anyway He is turning the wrenches I am mostly advising and guiding. He took a 318 block bored it 060 using flat top 318 pistons for a truck . He took a 360 crank and had it machined to 318/340 size mains. He used the 360 flywheel balance and 360 harmonic balancer as we were able to match the 360 bob wieght exactly with a bit of work. We flycut the psitons  for the poly head which is much much easier then you might think. We converted the engine to hydraulic  lifters and had a 68 340 stick grind put on the original core. We had manton make a set of pushords as the stockers are weak anyway and they charged i think 97 bucks for a set of bulletproof ones.  With a bit of guidance he ported the heads and  did the valve job. A set of 340 valve springs were used. We planed 040 off the heads. He as a two 4 bbl I think he got from G "Poly" hisself. I found a pair of old 273 hypo carbs in my basement and rebuilt them for him to use. I am making up the progresive linkage. We found a brand new set of Ford 390 truck headers in the wreckers that were in a vehicle they wrecked  unused behind the front seat. In about a day we had them fitting  the poly by buying a set of flanges on ebay and reworking the pipes slighty. Then he had to make the one pipe clear the starter . Sounds hard but really it isnt. We just tacked everything together and then he took them to another friend for final welding on his industrial Mig welder. It was a "three on the tree" standard when he bought it. he converted it to "three by the knee" with a hurst 1/2 ton conversion. Other than a heat and bend the shift handle about an inch it fit like a glove and looks like the factory four speed handle and knob of a stocker of that era. 
I suspect he will have well in excess of 300 hp and hope for at least 350hp. New motor mounts came coutesy of a B200 Doge big block van listing for $11 each new.  Exact fit! 
I found another friend who owns a coating business and we are trying an unusal coating to get that black wrinkle finish on the stock valve covers like the street hemis  but of a more durable and heat proof variety. 
I think this car will get far more "Stare" than most at a cruise night and whats more it will be fun to drive but give decent mileage . To me it looks like the way to go. I doubt he has spent much more that $1200 in total. I know pistons were $12 each . Sure a lot of us have pitched in and helped  for nothng but it is an interesting project and he is our friend. 
Some cars cry for a big wedge, like the 2 dr posts  etc but some like this c body look just right with a done poly. The 2 4bbls will get their attention for sure  and the chevy guys wouldn,t know a poly from an onion anyway.  I dreamt last night that i could draw cartoons and drew one of a parrot with a beak the shape of two 318 poly valve covers eating crackers shaped like little bowties from a box with a chevy symbol on it. Underneath i would have written " Poly Wants A CRACKER!"
Anyway. They are a very interesting engine and deserve far more repsect than we give them.
Don D
 
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