After 1967, tracking Chrysler V8 engine families is easy: LA (small-block), B (low-deck big block), RB (raised-deck big block) and Hemi. Prior to 1967, though, things get a little more complicated, because now you are bringing in the A-series engine, the Poly engines, the early-B big-blocks, and so on and so forth. The A-engine is what we will focus on today…a direct predecessor to the LA engine family, the A-engine series appeared in 1956 with a bang as a Plymouth-only engine line, with the top-of-the-line 303ci mill showing up in the Plymouth Fury, quickly becoming a monster of a mill in the finned era. The 318-A is the most common form, running for ten years between 1957-67, and appearing in not only Plymouths but in other Chrysler products after 1959, Bristol 409 and 410 sports cars through 1969, and Checker Aerobus airport wagons in the early-to-mid Sixties.
Then you have the oddball, the 313-A. Technically a 312.5 cubic inch mill, the 313 was a Canadian and export mill that sported the common 3.31″ stroke paired up with a 3.88 bore. You would find this engine in Canada and Australian cars, as well as Bristol 407s and 408s. In the Bristols, the engine would make 250 horsepower stock with a four-barrel setup. What do you think this rebuilt and restored 313 is making? Take your guesses! Either way, this mill was returning to a 1963 Dodge 330 station wagon, so it should be a solid cruising mill for years to come!
Poly’s are great engines. They had almost zero after market items,in the day. You can find more bolt on’s for Poly’s today .Than you could when they were being built. And in the states they were no more than 318 CID.