Legend of the 340

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hypermite

hypermite

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A few days ago i was gassing up my yellow Duster, and an older guy aproached me (I'm guessing he was around 60 or so) anyway he asks me "You got a 340 in there?"
I smile & say "No, it's a 318"
He smiles, & nods.
I don't know if he was a Chevy,Ford,Mopar, or even AMC guy, but I was hit with the fact that the 340 Mopar still retains a legendary status. I had a good friend who was the service manager of the local Chrysler/Plymouth dealership from 1967-1976, & he used to tell me how they would complete the dealer prep on the new cars & then "road test" them sometimes against other MOPARS! He said that a 340 Duster would run doorhandle to doorhandle with a 383 RoadRunner & a 440 GTX, & with the right options could even pull away! There is also a guy who goes to my church who was a schoolteacher back in the 70s, he had a brand new Dart GTS, 340 auto, he said he called it the Mach 1 killer, I guess ther were two in town that he smoked on more than one occasion. When I lived in Ca. I bought a really rough 69 Swinger with 90k miles (340 4-speed) that had a 3.23 Non sure grip axle, single exhaust with 318 manifolds , & it still ran 14.8 @ 94 at sears point raceway. What a great engine, too bad Chrysler didn't make more. The legend lives on.
 
well, if they made more 340's it wouldnt have as much of a legendary status as it does now, im glad 340's werent as common as 318's, because then it would be another LA engine.
 
probably because he was a teenager went the 340 was introduce in 1968....you 42 yrs ago.....he would have been 18....LOL

you young punks....LOL
 
THE 340 IS A GIANT KILLER! It deserves to be called legendary. My dads cousin bought a new 1969 Swinger 340, 4-speed, & 3:91 SureGrip.
He had driven a '69 440 Cuda, no traction at all & didn't like the way it drove.
He couldn't afford the 440 or HEMI B-bodies & the 340 swinger would clean the 383 B-bodies clocks.
The Swinger 340 was affordable to a family guy that class races on the weekends.
He ran it in a pure stock class (no slicks) at Lions Drag Strip, with a best ET of 13.80.
The best story that he told me about was when he raced a guy with a new 302 Z/28 with all the dealer add ons. He beat this guy in a street race 5 times in a row. The guy told him the chevy dealer assurd him there wasn't another smallblock car that could touch him. The car he looked at before buying the Z/28 was a 340 Swinger.
Dads cousin moved back to Oklahoma in 1970 & is probably what influneced me to drive MOPARS.
There was many a night that my brother & I rode in the back seat while he was street racing & winning. This guy could drive a 4-speed like Ronnie Sox! No lifting off the throttle when he was shifting.
The street race that stands out for me, was when this '69 Vette & '69 Mach 1 was racing & the Vette opened up the lead, we drove thru them & outrun both of them.
Now the properly tuned HEMI would clean this cars clock & we got outrun in a top end challenge by a 440- SIXPACK Challenger.
Those were some fun days.
Yes the 340 is one of the greatest engines in stock form ever.
In my opinion, chevy or ford never built anything close.
 
Growing up my Dad always said it would have been nice to put a 340 in the Dart. Well two years ago we did it, and I love the little spitfire. He used to tell me how he had two friends one with a 340 Swinger and the other with a 383 GTS. They would race up and down the road next to my dad's shop. Dad said the 340 beat that 383 all the time to the point the guy in the 383 would come into the shop, drain half the oil to lessen the splash back and the 340 still smacked him down. Man I wish I was not only a 7 year old kid in the 70's!
 
.............YES 340s r great............ive had my share of fun with them...............back then they would spank a big block without even blinking.............kim..................
 
Well I'm not your dad but I was there in 1968 thru 1971. Purchased a new 68 383 Roadrunner 4-speed. Smoked the tires like crazy and raced just about everyone that was willing to race. I thought the car was fast. Turned low 14:00's on the polyglass tires. Got caught drag racing by State patrol, (was drag racing a chick in a 69 Roadrunner!!) lost license, went to jail, was forced to sell car. Purchased a 1969 Ford Torino. 302 auto. Real dog, but kept me out of trouble. Then came 1970, Sold the Torino and purchased a Duster 340. Plum crazy purple w/black Vinyl top, 391 gears, 4- speed, rear wing and Cragar SS. Installed a set of Hooker headers, recurved the distributor, jetted the carb, and milled the heads .015. I thought the Roadrunner I had was fast. This thing ate it alive! Turned 13.30's with L-60 Mickey Thompson tires. In 71, sold the Duster and bought a Cuda 340 4-speed. Banana Yellow with billboard and wing. That car was the slowest and biggest piece of Mopar junk I had ever purchased. Nothing ever ran as good as that 340 Duster!
 
I love 340's especially 69,70,71's. The 72-73 cars had lower compression and that really knocked the power down in stock form.
 
A340 said:
Well I'm not your dad but I was there in 1968 thru 1971. Purchased a new 68 383 Roadrunner 4-speed. Smoked the tires like crazy and raced just about everyone that was willing to race. I thought the car was fast. Turned low 14:00's on the polyglass tires. Got caught drag racing by State patrol, (was drag racing a chick in a 69 Roadrunner!!) lost license, went to jail, was forced to sell car. Purchased a 1969 Ford Torino. 302 auto. Real dog, but kept me out of trouble. Then came 1970, Sold the Torino and purchased a Duster 340. Plum crazy purple w/black Vinyl top, 391 gears, 4- speed, rear wing and Cragar SS. Installed a set of Hooker headers, recurved the distributor, jetted the carb, and milled the heads .015. I thought the Roadrunner I had was fast. This thing ate it alive! Turned 13.30's with L-60 Mickey Thompson tires. In 71, sold the Duster and bought a Cuda 340 4-speed. Banana Yellow with billboard and wing. That car was the slowest and biggest piece of Mopar junk I had ever purchased. Nothing ever ran as good as that 340 Duster!
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I've told the story before about 68 Roadrunner 4 spd vs. my 77 Firebird vs. 340 Demon. 340 was the fastest of the bunch and not just by a little.
 
In August of 1970, I bought a new, from the local dealer, 70 Duster 340, 4-speed, 3.55 Suregrip, B-5 blue with B5 blue bench seat interior. That car was a freak. Factory showroom stock it ran 13.90's on the white stripe polyglass E-70 tires. I used to blow away big block Chevelles and Camaros all the time.
One time, about two in the morning on the highway I was running about 90, when a SS396 Chevelle blew past me doing about 120. My friend, that was with me, asked if I was going to let that Chevelle do that. So I stabbed the pedal. When we blew past the SS396, I looked at the Ralley speedo. The needle was bouncing past the 150 mark.
A little over a year after I got the car, I tore it apart and installed a 440, big input 4-speed, Dana 60. After removing the 340 we dis-assembled it and found that it was a AAR 340 with a 4 barrel intake and carb installed.

70duster.jpg
 
not sure if this car was a 340 or not but, i met a guy at the parts store that when i mentioned i owned a dart mentioned a very neat story. he was talking about a local street race spot, anyway he said this dart that looked stock raced this other car i forgot what it was but it was something very generic like a mustang or chevelle or something anyway the generic car had a blower and sidepipes and some crazy cam. the guy said the dart that appeared stock ran against it and had it by a few car lengths every race. it was a pretty cool story im ashamed i cant tell it as good as this guy i met did. but anyway nobody understands the power to weight ratio thing. these darts are light, big power in light cars makes a fast car. for instance ill reference a non mopar but look at some of the lotuses they make nowadays. 30 mpg on the highway and respectable performance.
 
If Everyone Knows How Bad A 340 Is Then Tell Me Why Dosen't Anyone Want To Buy The One I Have For Sale? 1969 Born Date .040 Over Balanced And A Sweet Runner With Less Than 2500 Miles On It. Somebody Educate Me Please. Steve
 
I think alot of the 340's legendary status was the fact that the engine was always a high performance engine. Even in 72 and 73 it still had some good power. Sure GM had the LT1 350 but there were also a bazillion other low perf 350's produced. So when you pulled up to a light beside a 340 car there was no question it was packin' some HP!!!
 
Dustpan said:
In August of 1970, I bought a new, from the local dealer, 70 Duster 340, 4-speed, 3.55 Suregrip, B-5 blue with B5 blue bench seat interior. That car was a freak. Factory showroom stock it ran 13.90's on the white stripe polyglass E-70 tires. I used to blow away big block Chevelles and Camaros all the time.
One time, about two in the morning on the highway I was running about 90, when a SS396 Chevelle blew past me doing about 120. My friend, that was with me, asked if I was going to let that Chevelle do that. So I stabbed the pedal. When we blew past the SS396, I looked at the Ralley speedo. The needle was bouncing past the 150 mark.
A little over a year after I got the car, I tore it apart and installed a 440, big input 4-speed, Dana 60. After removing the 340 we dis-assembled it and found that it was a AAR 340 with a 4 barrel intake and carb installed.

70duster.jpg
Click to expand...
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]must have had that 340 screaming!
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Summer of '76, middle of the night, 68 340 Formula S, stock,65000 miles, Perimeter Hwy ( goes all the way around the city)
I wanted to know just how fast my car was. Got it up to 145 on the speedometer. Damn those motors were strong right out of the box.
 
DUSTERDOWNS said:
If Everyone Knows How Bad A 340 Is Then Tell Me Why Dosen't Anyone Want To Buy The One I Have For Sale? 1969 Born Date .040 Over Balanced And A Sweet Runner With Less Than 2500 Miles On It. Somebody Educate Me Please. Steve
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The 360 with a piston upgrade & the same 340 heads is a lot cheaper & easier to obtain than the 340. Street performance will be better, due to the longer stroke of the 360.
I used to be hard core 340 or no motor guy for my racecars. That is until I built a 360.
the resto market has driven the cost of the 340 up. Its hard to justify spending that much on an engine to start your build. The 360 responds just as well to mods as does the 340 & cost alot less.
 
OK, got a couple for you so bear with me:
* Probably 1970, late night, Whittier Blvd. in SoCal. I'm sitting at a red light when a new '70 Chevelle 396 pulls up next to my '69 340 Swinger. The Chevelle driver looks over, revs his engine, and we both leave as the light turns green. (Note: back then there wasn't any delay between the cross traffic light turning 'red' and your light turning 'green', so you'd watch the cross traffic light and leave when it changed from 'yellow' to 'red')
I beat him and when he pulls up next to me at the next light, he looks over and says, "What have you got in that?"
I just smiled, said "Small block", and drove off leaving him with his jaw in his lap.
* Again, 1970, same '69 340 Swinger, and only the 2nd time I took my car to the drags at OCIR. I was running G/Pure Stock since the only mods I'd done so far were tuning. Still had the factory 3.23 gears and no Sure Grip. Come down to the final against a '68 Road Runner with a 383 and I could tell he had a couple of non-factory items on his engine. He drives by our pit area, stops, looks over and says, "Man, it won't even be close."
So, up to the line, tree counts down to green and I cut a great light and leave just a bit before he does. I can see him right beside me all the way down the strip and don't see the 'win' light for either lane come on as we go through the lights. I pull up to the timing booth after the return road and the guy hands me the timing slip with 'WINNER' stamped on it. I ran a 14.28 and 98+ mph.
I pull back into my pit area with a huge smile on my face just as the Road Runner is driving by. My ex-wife steps out in front of him so he has to stop - she walks up to his window and says, "You're right, it wasn't even close!"

Good times back then and great memories.
 
DUSTERDOWNS said:
If Everyone Knows How Bad A 340 Is Then Tell Me Why Dosen't Anyone Want To Buy The One I Have For Sale? 1969 Born Date .040 Over Balanced And A Sweet Runner With Less Than 2500 Miles On It. Somebody Educate Me Please. Steve
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how much do you want for it
 
70duster.jpg
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I've had all sorts of fun with my 340 cars. They are great engines.

As for this Duster ^^^^^^^ I love that look. That's how we should be restoring cars, day two all the way.
 
trapster said:
The new 5.7 hemi is similar to the old 340
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The 5.7 HEMI is an impressive piece. I have 2 in the family. My wifes Magnum R/T (14.48 @ 96 MPH) & my boys '04 quad cab 1500. We call his truck the "Tundra Killer". He had a guy bugging him at the midnight races, he raced a 2 out of 3 match. He beat him all 3 times. His truck runs in the 15.50 range with 140k on it.
 
I got one for ya! Back in 1983 my brother bought a 71 Duster 340 with 85,000 miles on from a lady who brought it to MI from NC. The car was B-5 blue with white stripes 340 auto with 3.55 gears completely stock. My brother added headers and electronic ignition kit and a 3.91 gear. On any radial tire he could scrounge up the car ran 13.90's at 100mph. It hooked so good on the street it was a terror for faster cars to have to play catch up on consistent two car holeshots every time. We were on a main crusie spot one night and ran into a guy with an all original 69 1/2 Super Bee 440 6 barrel car, his car was rough and smoked alot. we wnt from a low roll and made easy work of the Bee to the tune of 2-3 cars easy. A year later my brother is still driving the Duster and we run into the same guy with a freshly restored Bee (same one). We went from a dig, both with street tires and the cars were dead even...the Bee had to overcome tire spin and could not get by us. My brother still has the car but its apart awaiting resto. I was 11 when he bought it and the car was so influential all I ever dreamed of was owing a Duster 340. I got mine in 1990 and with a fresh 340 .509 cam good intake TQ carb 4 speed and 3.91 gears I got my chance against that legend. I couldnt beat him.
 
Just stumbled across this thread on a google search...
Heres my story from last weekend
I just got a 73 Duster 340 4 speed and my buddy wanted to do a lil highway race he has a Coronet 500 383 4 speed 3.55 with over 8 k into the motor Alum heads, roller rockers the works..
Well as we jetted out he took me but when I got by him in the next pass he couldnt catch me then we hit some back roads and the Duster took off from him from standing no problem.
He ate me up in the midrange but I thought the 340 was very impressive from start and top end and lets not forget this is a 73! The previous only told me he thought it was a factory freak and now I believe him!

I hear guys preach the 360 but I got 3 340 cars and I know why they are legendary. My 73 340 Roadrunner 3.55 gears will smoke the tires right off it if you let it. I cant wait to get my challenger done that has a 68 Hipo 340!!
 
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