I have some questions about the poly 318.
Does anything from the la engines interchange with the poly? I think the distributor will??

Same timing chain? And also I found a very rough
'55 dodge in a junkyard the other week which was believed to have it's original poly styled engine.
It had the 'super red ram" valve covers on it. Will those work on a poly 318???

I'm not up on all the stuff that will or won't interchange, but a quick search found this
http://www.1962to1965mopar.ornocar.com/poly318_1.html
the guys to ask are at forward look
http://www.flickr.com/groups/24644538@N00/discuss/

Good Luck!

55 dodge poly is a completely different engine family than the 318 poly. Very little interchanges, and the valve covers don't. The scallops are shaped differently, and they are also different lengths, as the bore center distances of the two engines are different.

Now a poly 318 is basically a wedge 318 with poly heads (or, more accurately, vice versa), and, among other things, a wedge 318 distributor and timing chain will drop right into a poly 318 with no modification whatever.

The early 318 poly's had the old-style extended crank flange, but the cranks in 62 and up poly 318's can be used in wedge 318's. Oil pans and timing covers too. In fact, early 273 wedges (at least through 1965)used 318 poly timing covers and alternator brackets - that's why the the alternator brackets have two sets of holes (one for the poly, and the other for the wedge) and an early 273 timing cover has one extra, unused hole on the driver's side.