I honestly don't care much on streetability. I have 4.56 gears with a 27 inch tire. My current 340 doesn't make power until around 3k. I'm not looking to run 10's , just was curious If a hot low 12 second street car was possible. After hearing the adversity , I'm most likely going to just build another 340 ( I have a virgin bore block)
Smart guy. Although I would like to see someone build a legit 350+ horse 273, It can be done so easily with a larger engine.
Oh , it just might happen , I am talking to my builder this weekend , he will be honest with me. ANYONE can build a 450 hp 340 , but not too often you see a 350 hp 273 ripping gears. That's my thought anyway.
YES!! I love it. I always was and STILL am the guy who slows the travel group going to car shows , or can't go on the highway because of the steep gears. Always had the fuel cell instead of factory tank , Always had the 4 speed , No heat , yup , every 100 lbs. is roughly a 10th of a second. I guess I still have the same mentality lol.
NEVER too much , as long as it has blinkers , lights and it drives , its perfect , although , I can do without the tubbed rear.
To go that fast you must have traction.
YUP , every 100lbs is roughly a 10th off the clock.
Chevy Vega was what I was looking into , when I couldn't afford my Dart at the time.
I can remember in real time when people first started doing this. Those little cars were like minifastbacks. Great canvas for a wheel tub. My Chevy friends always used the Vega and my Ford guys were using Mavericks or Comets
A lot people have displacement bias (for good reason) I wouldn't be surprised if some try to talk you out of building a 340 for a 360
and especially 408/416. Shouldn't be a problem to build a 273 if you have the desire, basically gonna take similar parts to do the job, except valve size, your gonna have to keep it around 1.78-1.92 which means your gonna have to work with one of the factory heads, and building decent cr is a bit of problem with smaller engines but besides that 350 hp should be relatively easy with 360/5.9 heads and 400 hp be a bit more work, some porting probably gonna be needed. Other than that should be pretty straight forward.
My cousin had the same problem with his 340, the Chev guy's cheat so much they thought my cousin had to be doing some crazy cheating, they tore him down all the time, and since they didn't know dodge they questioned every factory machine mark, and when they finally accepted he wasn't cheating they kept adding weight to him. People don't like others that don't follow the herd
For sure the Pinto was another one...extremely popular. My girlfriend from Beaverville Illinois (Yes it's really a town) had one with a manual trans floor shift. We used to beat the **** out of that little turd. I was at EIU at the time and she was working on her Cosmetology Board exam. I remember driving it to Chicago so she could take her final. I took her to Renaldi's for "Gangster Lobster" and drinks after she passed the final then we hopped in the little blue Pinto and headed back to Beaverville. We barely had enough change for fuel to get home back then.
Pocket change is all you needed. I think they got close to 30 mpg. You could buy one for $2000.
It was really good on fuel which is what we needed at the time. I commuted back and forth or she would keep the car and come see me when there was a on campus football game. My buddy Dwayne Donalson had a Comet 302 he inherited from his grandfather. Red with a black vinyl top. That little car would really scoot. I think there was something sporty about the hood but that was 50 years ago! I would love to have one but I'm permanently downsizing! It would be hard to resist if it was a driveway or 2 away. You only live once Mike. What the hell go get that little gem.
