The Chrysler A engine is a small-block V8 automobile engine from Chrysler Corporation. It was produced from 1956 until 1967, when it was replaced by the wedge-head LA engine. The A engine's combustion chambers are polyspherical, and it is not related to Chrysler's Hemi engines of the same era.
The A engine was first released in 1956, and was used exclusively in Plymouths until 1958. The cylinder bore center distance is 4.46 in (113.3 mm), larger than the earlier Dodge-based poly engines. The A engine formed the conceptual design basis of its successor, the LA engine.
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The 277 was the first A-block engine, produced for 1956 and sharing almost nothing but the basic concepts with other engines built by Chrysler. Bore is 3.750 in (95.3 mm) and stroke is 3.125 in (79.4 mm) for a piston displacement of 276.1 cu in (4,525 cc). It was replaced by the 301 in 1957, except for in low-priced Plaza models where it continued to be used during the 1957 model year.[1]
The Plymouth 301 replaced the 277 in 1957. Its piston displacement is 299.6 cu in (4.9 L), owing to its 3.91 in (99.31 mm) bore. These dimensions are entirely different from the 1955 Chrysler 301.
The 1956 Plymouth 303 displaces 302.3 cu in (5.0 L) and uses the same connecting rods as the 277; the bore is 3.8125 in (96.8 mm) and the stroke is 3.31 in (84.1 mm).
This engine was used in the following vehicles:
A 312.3 cu in (5.1 L) version of the A engine called the 313 was produced from 1957 to 1967 primarily for Canadian and export markets. This engine has a bore of 3.875 in (98.4 mm) and the common 3.31 in (84.1 mm) stroke, and was used in the following vehicles, amongst others:
The 318 is the most common version of the A engine, produced from 1957 through 1967 when it was replaced in all markets by the LA 318. Only Plymouth used this 318 in 1957 and 1958, but it was shared with the other Chrysler divisions from 1959 on. It displaces 318 cu in (5.2 L) and has a 3.91 in (99.3 mm) bore and the 3.31 in (84.1 mm) stroke.
A special 1957-'58 version used two four-barrel carburetors to produce 290 bhp (216.3 kW), making it the highest-output A engine. It was used in the 1957 and 1958 Plymouth Fury, but was also an option on Plymouth models lower in the model range. The Bristol 409 and 410 continued to use this engine until 1969. From 1962 until early 1965, Checker used this engine for their Aerobus limousines.[2]
The Dodge Red Ram 326 was launched in 1959. Its actual piston displacement is 324.5 cu in (5.3 L) but it was marketed as the 326 to avoid confusion with the unrelated Dodge Hemi and polyspherical 325 cu in (5.3 L) engines. The 326 uses the same 3.31 in (84.1 mm) stroke as the 318, but with the largest bore of any A engine at 3.95 in (100.3 mm). It uses hydraulic tappets, unlike the earlier A engines, and was used in the 1959 Dodge Coronet.