I've been driving my 71 Duster for about four months now. 225 six all stock and everything. Me and my dad are going to drop a 340 in after highschool, but I was thinking about looking at a little extra in the meantime. How would I go about doing this? Blower? Turbo? What have you done with your A body?
17 and in need for power!!
- Thread starter paquet10
- Start date
-
67Dart273
Well-Known Member
I would not. Just drive it and put the money "you were going to spend" on the six towards your V8 project.
"Not knowing" where the car is in terms of engine condition, sometimes a tune-up can do wonders
"Not knowing" where the car is in terms of engine condition, sometimes a tune-up can do wonders
Brandon Weaver
Well-Known Member
^Very good advice
If you're dead set, though, on playing with it, I would suggest neither? If you are going to go to a v8 swap eventually, no sense pouring money and time in to making it boosted if you're just going to pull it (don't get me wrong, boost is great if you are wanting to make more than, say 250 horse with a slant, but WAY more complicated than N/A)
The better condition your slant is (even compression, no blowby or oil burning) the easier/cheaper this will be
Some good builds to look at are found here...
http://www.slantsix.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=23314
note: as usual, to keep it cheaper will be to build it less. A cam with duration around [email protected] is about the most you want to go with a stock converter
Please, though, whatever you do, don't slap a set of headers and a 4 barrel on it and then complain that its awful. Its not hard to wake a slant up, you just have to match your parts and do it right. Don't buy directly from Clifford (only thing decent is their short intake) don't buy Comp Cams (get your cam and lifters reground, Oregon Cam Grinders is good people, plus endless cam specs https://app.box.com/s/a00t8svaib0jqevitapq) and distributor recurves along with carb tuning will are neccesary
You'll have fun!
If you're dead set, though, on playing with it, I would suggest neither? If you are going to go to a v8 swap eventually, no sense pouring money and time in to making it boosted if you're just going to pull it (don't get me wrong, boost is great if you are wanting to make more than, say 250 horse with a slant, but WAY more complicated than N/A)
The better condition your slant is (even compression, no blowby or oil burning) the easier/cheaper this will be
Some good builds to look at are found here...
http://www.slantsix.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=23314
note: as usual, to keep it cheaper will be to build it less. A cam with duration around [email protected] is about the most you want to go with a stock converter
Please, though, whatever you do, don't slap a set of headers and a 4 barrel on it and then complain that its awful. Its not hard to wake a slant up, you just have to match your parts and do it right. Don't buy directly from Clifford (only thing decent is their short intake) don't buy Comp Cams (get your cam and lifters reground, Oregon Cam Grinders is good people, plus endless cam specs https://app.box.com/s/a00t8svaib0jqevitapq) and distributor recurves along with carb tuning will are neccesary
You'll have fun!
BillGrissom
Well-Known Member
If you went w/ a turbo & inter-cooler, you would no longer desire a V-8. However, that is a roll-your-own solution. You would likely be out of high school, even college, before you finished that, with your car down the whole time, plus a wife & kids by then, no time to touch the car, ... driving a cheap minivan in the interim, i.e. life. Choose your battles carefully.
dragondan64
Banned
Yeah think about what you really want to achieve and DONT be impulsive and start adding things to the 6 and start accumulating the parts for the 340/360 you want to drop in the car. There are a lot of things you will need in order for that to come together correctly and give you the desired achievement. Look into the parts needed to do the swap, it can get expensive really quickly. So make your list and calculate the costs. What type experience mechanically do you and your father have in order to do some or all of the needed work to your car? By the way that's a sharp looking car! Keep us posted and if you need parts let us know, someone here should have what you need. Another note for you to save a bit of cash is to try and find a 360 engine they are more available at good prices.
Here is a good read to help you along....
http://www.engine-swaps.com/
Here is a good read to help you along....
http://www.engine-swaps.com/
inkjunkie
Well-Known Member
Yep, once you experience a forced induction / you will never crave the power of a forced induction v-8....not.......I will take a 900 hp force fed v8 over a 300 hp force fed / ANY day of the week....and twice on Sundays....
1968FormulaS340
Well-Known Member
You will just poke your eye out, kid.
I got my dart when I was 19, this is the first summer I have driven It, and I am 20 now...It takes alot of work to get everything working right, and doing anything to the / will take it our of commission for a while, and I don't think you want that.
With mine all I did was take old 318 out and put in a 360. To get your mind set on what the car will be just start planning out the 340, I remember with mine I was looking for parts to build it and slowly started collecting them.
With mine all I did was take old 318 out and put in a 360. To get your mind set on what the car will be just start planning out the 340, I remember with mine I was looking for parts to build it and slowly started collecting them.
Charrlie_S
Well-Known Member
I am a big slant six fan. Removed a 360 from my Barracuda and installed a 170 slant six. BUT:
Make up you mind, NOW, about what you want. Don't put money into the slant, if you are going V-8. Just make sure the slant is running good, and save the money for the V-8 stuff. Nothing you buy for the slant will be usable on the V-8.
Make up you mind, NOW, about what you want. Don't put money into the slant, if you are going V-8. Just make sure the slant is running good, and save the money for the V-8 stuff. Nothing you buy for the slant will be usable on the V-8.
ms2420
Well-Known Member
Not knocking the /6... But that car is way too pretty not to have a v8 in it!
RustyPlymouth
Well-Known Member
4bbl intake (can resell for what you get it for if you buy used), 600cfm dp(you can use on the 340), jpipe, small turbo (you can resell and make most if not all of your money back if you buy used and dont blow it up. or do some research and find a set of twins that will work for the 340 and use one for now on the slant.) some intercooler piping, carb hat (will mount to the carb, could use with just a filter attatched for a low profile air cleaner or resell). keep it under 8psi. wont need an intercooler will get you a nice increase in performance and you can get the majority of your money back.
Thank you everybody for the comments. The only thing with saving the money for the 340 is we have enough parts to build 2 or 3 340s. So parts aren't an issue exactly. I was looking into making my car a bit more peppy rather than a slow cruise. I don't plan on racing due to cops everywhere in this city but I would like to hit 0-60 is a little less than 18 seconds haha.
I'd say tune up that slant six. But don't be too elaborate with it.
You may have many part to build an awesome 340, but I would still save up money and time for an actual swap to a V8 if I was you.
You still need to either get a V8 K member or get one of those S6 to an LA V8 adapter mount kits. You'll need to get a transmission that'll fit behind that V8. I would also upgrade to bigger torsion bars. I imagine you have fairly small ones compared to a V8 equipped one. My duster has .87 (318 equipped Duster, I now have a 360 in it) which is still on the small side. You most likely have a .83 or .85 torsion bars. (unless it was changed out before)
You can easily build a 400+ hp 340, it does not take much.
My 360 is pretty dang close to 400 hp mark and I didn't spend that much (helps that I did most of the work)
Save up even more money and you can even build a stroker for even more power if you want to.
You may have many part to build an awesome 340, but I would still save up money and time for an actual swap to a V8 if I was you.
You still need to either get a V8 K member or get one of those S6 to an LA V8 adapter mount kits. You'll need to get a transmission that'll fit behind that V8. I would also upgrade to bigger torsion bars. I imagine you have fairly small ones compared to a V8 equipped one. My duster has .87 (318 equipped Duster, I now have a 360 in it) which is still on the small side. You most likely have a .83 or .85 torsion bars. (unless it was changed out before)
You can easily build a 400+ hp 340, it does not take much.
My 360 is pretty dang close to 400 hp mark and I didn't spend that much (helps that I did most of the work)
Save up even more money and you can even build a stroker for even more power if you want to.
67Dart273
Well-Known Member
I would start by giving the engine a good evaluation and going over. Run a compression and leakdown check. Adjust the valves. If not recent, change plugs, wires, cap, rotor, and points if it still uses them. Check the distributor for sticky advance. Play with the timing a bit.
You might be able to gain a bit "in the meantime."
Example. Let's say the car has an 8 1/4 rear and you are going to keep that. You could drop to a bit lower gear and put a sure grip (or after market limited slip such as trac lock) and IF you are going to stay with a 904 automatic or 4 speed, you can keep the rear end and drive shaft once you get the 340 in there. Switching to a 727 automatic would require a new driveshaft, or at least shorten yours with a new front yoke
Decide what to do about brakes / suspension. Are you going to stay with the small pattern wheels? If so, investigate the aftermarket disc brake conversions. Find some heavier T bars and add a front sway bar. Upgrade the shocks for good handling. Go through and rebuild the front suspension. Get it aligned. You can plan what wheels and tires you will use if you are going to change. Handling is ALWAYS an issue for these cars, and the slant equipped cars were not known for being "equipped."
In other words if you plan carefully you can do a lot of work "on weekends" before you get to the engine swap.
just food for thought ....I started out in mopars pretty young like you and my first A-body was a dart. At the time I thought it was a boring grandma car because it had a slant six/ three by the knee and it had a bench seat and faded paint....*yawn* so I thought and I believed at that time I needed a fast 500 horse car.
As I got older I wanted my old car back the way it was. even with a bench and slant just how it was when I had first got it. I would actually pay top dollar now to have it in the same shape it was in then.
My point is, you have an extremely cool car there and I would bet its the only one of its kind in the parking lot. Is there really anything wrong with it the way it is? Just have fun with it and roll up your "memory odometer" with it. It can really be that simple. Just sayin from experience.
As I got older I wanted my old car back the way it was. even with a bench and slant just how it was when I had first got it. I would actually pay top dollar now to have it in the same shape it was in then.
My point is, you have an extremely cool car there and I would bet its the only one of its kind in the parking lot. Is there really anything wrong with it the way it is? Just have fun with it and roll up your "memory odometer" with it. It can really be that simple. Just sayin from experience.
-
