Thread: 318 vs. 361

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I just inherited a 1960 Plymouth Fury 4 dr with 52,800 original miles, PS, PB, clock and AM radio. It has been in the family since new and it is in fantastic shape. Being a Chevy man all my life, I know very little about Mopars, which brings me to my question. How do I tell the difference between a 318 and a 361? I know some Mopars had the distributor in front and some in rear. This car has the distributor in the rear and a 2bbl carb. I can't quite make out the numbers on the distributor but I think it translates to a 318, I'm just not sure. I am quickly finding out that decoding a Mopar is not nearly as easy as decoding a Chevy. LOTS of Chevy information out there, very little Mopar info. But this car is in such good shape and has been in the family since new so it is a keeper that I will let my 2 gearhead sons fight over after the old man is gone!
Thanks!

Try

http://www.allpar.com for a basic family description.

Regards, Mark

Distributor in the rear, its a 318 .

There is just about no performance parts for the poly 318 or any other engines in that family. The 361 is part of the big block family of engines which will include 383, 400, 413, 426, and 440 engines. The 426 Hemi engine also uses the lower end of these engines. And the distributors are mounted at the front of the engine.

The early big blocks came with a variety of intake manifolds. These are 2X4, Short Ram, Long Ram (used mostly on 413's), and even an extremely rare EFI system.

The small block 318 came out in 1967. All 318's from 1966 and earlier are the poly 318's.