Decade Dart - father son '70 Dart 340 4 speed project
The fresh 340 was brought back to life on a test stand, if only for a short time. Water vapor in the exhaust led to a partial tear down, and the discovery that some overly aggressive bowl porting had resulted in a crack between the exhaust port and water jacket. This is the exact point where strict originality of our build plan started to divergeĀ . Weighing all our options, we decided not to try to locate replacement X-head(s), but instead purchased a pair of Edelbrock aluminum heads. And since the top end was torn down and the heads upgraded, why not upgrade the rest of the top end too? Painting all those shiny new aluminum pieces hemi orange still keeps it kind-of original, right?? In its new dress the 340 was tested out on the dyno, where it produced a respectable 371 hp at 5800 rpm and 395 ft-lb at 4300 rpm.
These unplanned upgrades also halted our search for an original pair of hi-po exhaust manifolds, and opened the door for us to add a set of TTI headers to the build. With the rebuilt factory 4-speed behind it, the power plant was carefully dropped into the engine bay.
The fresh 340 was brought back to life on a test stand, if only for a short time. Water vapor in the exhaust led to a partial tear down, and the discovery that some overly aggressive bowl porting had resulted in a crack between the exhaust port and water jacket. This is the exact point where strict originality of our build plan started to divergeĀ . Weighing all our options, we decided not to try to locate replacement X-head(s), but instead purchased a pair of Edelbrock aluminum heads. And since the top end was torn down and the heads upgraded, why not upgrade the rest of the top end too? Painting all those shiny new aluminum pieces hemi orange still keeps it kind-of original, right?? In its new dress the 340 was tested out on the dyno, where it produced a respectable 371 hp at 5800 rpm and 395 ft-lb at 4300 rpm.
These unplanned upgrades also halted our search for an original pair of hi-po exhaust manifolds, and opened the door for us to add a set of TTI headers to the build. With the rebuilt factory 4-speed behind it, the power plant was carefully dropped into the engine bay.