I'll second what Wayfarer said about the Poly 318.

They are hands-down the second coolest looking Mopar engine, a Hemi would come first.

I originally wanted a Poly 318 for my Model A Roadster but couldn't find one locally that some Mopar guy wasn't asking smokin' crack prices for. It's a freakin' stock 2 barrel Poly, not a Hemi. Anywho....

There are two problems with the Poly:

1. To get any real power out of them you have to dump cubic assloads of money into them. Sure, lots of parts interchange with the LAs, but no matter how cool they look, those cylinder heads choke the crap out of the engine.

2. Cool valve covers and cool inductions are rare and expensive. The guys that rod these covet stuff like that. I don't think any off the shelf headers exist for them either, but I never checked. I build my own.



As far as your build is concerned, if you're just going to drive it around go for a 318. Less cubes equal better mileage.

318s have the same stroke as a 340 so you can build it to wind out, for those occasion times when you want to abuse it.

Overdrive automatics are available, as are OD stick shifts if your car will be sportin' a "Man pedal".