72 Demon slanty-to-340 Resto

knote72 said
I see what you're saying now about the stroker. But that poses me with a problem now, I was pretty deadset on the 340. Even though the 360 is a larger displacement and would make more torque, and the LA engines were all good engines, I hold no special feelings for it. I hear some others also do have a stigma with it, being released in the years as emissions and efficiency controls took hold and the only good run it had was in trucks to avoid the emissions choke. Gonna take some work to get me over the 340. I'd be more likely to build-up a 318 (rant incoming), I have a soft spot for that little motor, I had it in my first pickup and still have it ready to run anyday. After all these years, it's finally due for a rebuild anyways (plus those Aussies prove a lot of things can be coaxed with a little turbo). Heck, even clapped out it dragged my Demon over the mountains all the way from Boise, that alone deserves a repurpose! That engine alone made my truck way more reliable than most of the Ford garbage that passed through our possession, seemingly jetting by on their way to the junkyard. F150. F250. Taurus. Escort. Thunderbird ("the 4.6L is a great motor", my ***!). The Ranger is the only one able enough to pull its own weight, which is why it isn't on junkyard row (rant over). So if I did opt for other than the 340, I'd go for my ol 318 and spend the money on good top end and internals, and maybe a turbo setup. Oversquare all the way. In the near future though (when I'm not broke), if you do wanna sell your 340 I'll happily buy it.

Let's be honest here, I know absolutely jack about auto electrical. I know electrical basics, and can diagnose basic problems, but that's it. I did at least figure that the whole electrical system on the Demon would need to be redone, if I plan to add a proper stereo, EFI system and electric fans. Existing stuff functions ok, a few gauges like temp and gas level dead, but barely enough to support its own amperage. Again, that 140 was just an overestimation on my part, if my setup can get by on just 100 then awesome. No plans to drop in an amp and subs, that's for sure.

Not gonna lie, the price is a bit iffy for a fabricated piece of metal

If only all these deals didn't hit when I was broke, then again now probably isn't the time to go out and start buying stuff.

Exactly, it's the 360's that have the stigma. They never released a hi-po 360 engine. If the factory had put out a 4 barrel 360 with a 340 cam in it no one would be so high on the 340's now. There's nothing magical about the 340's, they're basically just 318's with 22 more cubes and better heads. I just don't see wasting the dollars to pay for the reputation of a factory 340, when you're not building a factory 340. Because they cost 2-3 times as much as a 360, and 4 or 5 times as much as a 318. A 360 built the same as a 340 will win out every time. As for the 318, if you upgrade the internals enough you might as well go stroker for the costs involved. If you buy the big heads, better connecting rods and pistons all that's left is the crank, and you have to spend a chunk of what the stocker crank costs to turn the original. No replacement for displacement. You could go stroker on the 318 too, comes out around 390. I've always liked the idea of a turbo'd 318, but the problem is the fabrication work. If you're not really familiar with turbo's it's a problem, because there's no "kit". There are some shortcuts and you can do the searches on here, but most end in pain. There's just so much fabrication for the hot and cold pipes, and the routing sucks on an A-body. You'd be way money ahead building the stroker. Again, just my opinion. Guys have totally made the turbo work and work well, but it's a significant amount of work to do it right.

The 100 amp alternator will work. It's marginal for the stock bulkhead connector and amp gauge. I made sure all my connections were good and clean before I added mine, but the bypass is still the way to go.

The lower support brace from US Cartool is spendy, heck, all of their stuff is. But I look at it in terms of time. Like, how long will it take me to make this, and will it look that good? Usually their stuff wins if I consider making what I make at work, which is still a lot less than I'd pay a shop to make the stuff.

I would totally sell my 340. I'd just have to build a 408 first to replace it. :D

moparmat2000 said
I see a lot of posts on the 100 and above amp alternators in these old cars. Can somebody school me on this. Why does one need a 130 amp alternator in one of these cars anyways. I put a 50A in, and enlarged my output wire to 8ga marine grade based on the length of run required, and bypassed the bulkhead. I plan on running everything as LED for effiency, except the headlamps because i hate the hokey looking LED lamps, i plan on a small stereo, and no electric fan. I prob actually could have gotten away with a 35A alt, 10ga wiring, and the bypass.

Are you putting in EFI, a big booming system with a cinder block sized amp, and maybe a killer CB system where you want to talk to people several states away. Look at the power requirements for what that your planning on adding.

It's the electric fans. The Ford Contour set up I run has a start draw of like 40 amps. It pulls less than that once it's running, but it's still like 30 amps. If nothing else is on maybe you can get away with a 60, but if you're blasting the stereo and have the headlights on, well, you're out of juice.

Mechanical fans are nice for their simplicity, but it's pretty awesome to only have the fans running when they need to be running. None of the various clutch options will do as well as the digital controller I run. Plus it's super nice to have the fans run for another minute or so after shut down in the summer. A properly set up mechanical system should work fine for pretty much everyone, but going electrical does have some nice perks. And the alternator is an easy deal anyway.