Restoring a 340 need advice

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Losi

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Hey all, I am in the process of trying to restore my mothers 67 Barracuda that had some unfortunate events. All i know is it possibly had a head gasket issue on a fairly low mile rebuild. It was than attempted to be fixed by a somewhat known local guy and grandpa, first start it swapped fluids immediately. Car than sat for 6-7 years outside and now the paint and alot has gone to crap. I decided to take the car to my house and get it running again. I have pulled the engine, removed the heads dissasembled and pressure tested for leaks,cracks. They look to be good. With talking to my mom about what she would like out of the car i want to upgrade the whole valve train to a roller and a more lopy sounding Cam. I do not really have a high horsepower goal. I am looking for a well behaved street driveable car that sounds great and can let some eagles out from time to time.
The car has a 340
block-2780930-340-2
Heads -3418915A - looks to be the 2.02/1.6 valves
Intake manifold Edelbrock ld340
exhaust manifolds stock cast
Carb Carter AFB looks to be identical to edelbrock 1406/#9906
not sure on existing cam as i have not pulled out. valve springs and what not will be replaced.
I am looking for tips or a cam kit with springs that will be a good fit to upgrade to Roller with adjustable rockers. Pistons have reliefs for valves. Any advice would be appreciated
 
Losi said:
Hey all, I am in the process of trying to restore my mothers 67 Barracuda that had some unfortunate events. All i know is it possibly had a head gasket issue on a fairly low mile rebuild. It was than attempted to be fixed by a somewhat known local guy and grandpa, first start it swapped fluids immediately. Car than sat for 6-7 years outside and now the paint and alot has gone to crap. I decided to take the car to my house and get it running again. I have pulled the engine, removed the heads dissasembled and pressure tested for leaks,cracks. They look to be good. With talking to my mom about what she would like out of the car i want to upgrade the whole valve train to a roller and a more lopy sounding Cam. I do not really have a high horsepower goal. I am looking for a well behaved street driveable car that sounds great and can let some eagles out from time to time.
The car has a 340
block-2780930-340-2
Heads -3418915A - looks to be the 2.02/1.6 valves
Intake manifold Edelbrock ld340
exhaust manifolds stock cast
Carb Carter AFB looks to be identical to edelbrock 1406/#9906
not sure on existing cam as i have not pulled out. valve springs and what not will be replaced.
I am looking for tips or a cam kit with springs that will be a good fit to upgrade to Roller with adjustable rockers. Pistons have reliefs for valves. Any advice would be appreciated
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I would pitch that carb in favor of a new AVS2 with electric choke for trouble free running. Should be about right of the box.

Something along the lines of a Comp XE252 should be a bit more aggressive than the stock cam without being too wild. Maybe a XE268 or some version from Lunati.
Everyone will want to know the gear ratio, tire size and trans/converter details to make more specific recommendation.
 
Just curious as to why a roller cam in a pretty much stock build? Hydraulic flat tappet and factory rocker arms could get you to your goal and much more budget friendly. A good cam is a Lunatti 703 JMO 65'
 
Plymouth 65 said:
Just curious as to why a roller cam in a pretty much stock build? Hydraulic flat tappet and factory rocker arms could get you to your goal and much more budget friendly. A good cam is a Lunatti 703 JMO 65'
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Agree ^^^^
Roller cam is overkill and needless expense. Roller tipped rockers might be a good idea but the old 273 style iron rockers are affordable and have no flies on them. Mancini has a couple of good ones to choose from and the PRW 1.5/1.6 stainless steel ones are worth the effort in my opinion. Got to watch for clearance issues if you go big on the springs and the heads may need machining to spring pockets and valve seal seats.
 
we are wanting a very reliable smooth running engine that we will not wish down the road we had done. price is not to big of a factor. i have a full machine shop to work with so that cost is negated
 
First off... Noticed you joined today .Welcome to FABO!!

Lots of great info and good people on here!

My input.. Get the valve seats hardened for unleaded fuel while the heads are off. Cheap insurance and not costly to do. Keep the LD-340 intake, one of the best Mopar intakes ever made. I agree with the above posts, Keep the factory valvetrain. Cam choice will depend on converter /rear end gears/tire size as was stated previously. Headers will work wonders!

Keep us posted on your progress!!
 
Also looking into getting rid of the cast manifolds. With how tight the tolerances are on the driver side with power steering and column what not. Anyone have good luck with a certain style or brand?
 
AAndrews said:
First off... Noticed you joined today .Welcome to FABO!!

Lots of great info and good people on here!

My input.. Get the valve seats hardened for unleaded fuel while the heads are off. Cheap insurance and not costly to do. Keep the LD-340 intake, one of the best Mopar intakes ever made. I agree with the above posts, Keep the factory valvetrain. Cam choice will depend on converter /rear end gears/tire size as was stated previously. Headers will work wonders!

Keep us posted on your progress!!
Click to expand...
Thanks. while disassembling the heads i noticed the seats were already changed for unleaded, also looked as some of the valve guides were sleeved. the valve job was def not done very nicely as the heights are not even at all. we will be making the seats all the same height. i do want a full new exhaust on it. I know its easier to keep the oe valvetrain but i want better haha. I just want it very smooth running without having issues down the road
 
Welcome aboard! Yup, those are 2.02J heads, as evidenced by the "J" casting by the spark plug holes. What do the pistons look like? Do they have two or four eyebrows?
 
Losi said:
Also looking into getting rid of the cast manifolds. With how tight the tolerances are on the driver side with power steering and column what not. Anyone have good luck with a certain style or brand?
Click to expand...

I would not recommend "getting rid of" or "pitching" anything off that engine. If it has real 340 manifolds, save them. They are worth a bit. If it was me, I'd run them. Can you post some pictures? On a mild build, if they are real 340 manifolds, they flow very well. Headers always rust eventually. Manifolds are forever. Plus, you only have TWO choices in that car for a good quality header that has a lot of ground clearance. TTI and Dougs. About 1000 and 650 bucks respectively. 340 manifolds will flow 400 plus HP. Keep that in mind.
 
Losi said:
we are wanting a very reliable smooth running engine that we will not wish down the road we had done. price is not to big of a factor. i have a full machine shop to work with so that cost is negated
Click to expand...

Welcome to the board!

Honestly, a stock rebuild would work great. No need for roller anything just a good rebuild, balance job and enjoy. With an auto and cam come converter, then some gears. What rear does it have now?

For headers Doug's and TTI is all I will recommend for the street. The rest have a tube that hangs below the ties rods and becomes a street plow.

Very cool car, I like the look of a yellow notch.
 
Losi said:
Thanks. while disassembling the heads i noticed the seats were already changed for unleaded, also looked as some of the valve guides were sleeved. the valve job was def not done very nicely as the heights are not even at all. we will be making the seats all the same height. i do want a full new exhaust on it. I know its easier to keep the oe valvetrain but i want better haha. I just want it very smooth running without having issues down the road
Click to expand...

That is extremely important on a Mopar.....any engine really. All the Chevy boys never pay attention to that because they have independent adjustable rockers. ....and you cannot talk any sense into those guys. They think those engines are the best ever made. Getting the valve stems the same height and the rocker shafts in the correct place are two very important things to get right in the valve train. Most of the time, for absolute perfect geometry, the rocker shafts need relocating. Even on a stock build, it can make a noticeable difference. Mike from @B3RE can help you with that, if you decide to go down that route.
 
Here are some pictures. The whole build of this situation is up in air originally my dad was restoring this car than the divorce came so if the parts my dad had for it went into the car or whether he took them or if the guy that finished restoring moved stuff around. The calve springs and what not were aftermarket and he had said he had a lunati set for it. Here are some pictures pulling it apart currently lots of nasty ness from sitting 6yrs with crum in it. Working on getting cam out right now to see what it is

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RustyRatRod said:
Welcome aboard! Yup, those are 2.02J heads, as evidenced by the "J" casting by the spark plug holes. What do the pistons look like? Do they have two or four eyebrows?
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i believe the raised casting on heads is actually a U. from what i am told these heads/engine are from a 70-73 Dart
 
I honestly have no clue currently on the gear ratio in the diff, its a auto trans
 
Losi said:
i believe the raised casting on heads is actually a U. from what i am told these heads/engine are from a 70-73 Dart
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J, U, O, X, ABCDEFG....if it's a letter head they are all basically the same except valve size.
 
That all looks like it should clean up nicely. You should get the rear in the air and figure out what the ratio is either by the tag or spinning it and counting revs. Will make a difference for your cam selection.
 
Losi said:
Here are some pictures. The whole build of this situation is up in air originally my dad was restoring this car than the divorce came so if the parts my dad had for it went into the car or whether he took them or if the guy that finished restoring moved stuff around. The calve springs and what not were aftermarket and he had said he had a lunati set for it. Here are some pictures pulling it apart currently lots of nasty ness from sitting 6yrs with crum in it. Working on getting cam out right now to see what it is

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Those are 318 exhaust manifolds. Nothing HP about them in the least.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Yeah cool. That's the 68-71 early high compression pistons. Rated at 10.2, in reality around 9.5, but still nice. Can you catch a fingernail really hard on the ridge, or is it somewhat small?
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The dish on the piston for valves is almost .200
 
For a cam to lope needs at least 108° lobe separation or 106°. Isky and maybe Howard's cams come to mind. Racer Brown also can help pick the right cam.
 
Losi said:
The dish on the piston for valves is almost .200
Click to expand...

Not dishes. Valve reliefs. not a dished piston. Flat top with two valve reliefs AND it's positive deck height for more compression.
 
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