Let’s hear a 340 story

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In1972 i had just put a new short block in my '71 'Cuda and was anxious to show my buddy how well it worked.On the edge of the village i launched in first gear and never lifted the pedal through all 4.Looking behind me all i could see was smoke so i hit the brakes and shut the engine off.Without realizing it i naturally turned the key to where you remove it...which back then locked the steering wheel. We were just approaching a sharp bend in the highway and with the steering wheel locked we went straight off the road, slowly slid about 10 feet down the bank at a walking speed and got caught on a 5 inch tree. Another 10 feet down we would have been in the river 20 feet deep and it was winter at -20 degrees.
Talk about bad luck and then good luck! The smoke was actually steam from anti freeze hitting my exhaust because a frost plug popped!
 
When my uncle came back from Vietnam my grandfather bought him a Plymouth Cuda with the 340/6 pack. My uncle who has since passed away from cancer said he had the fastest car around. Maybe it was true and maybe it wasn’t but we’ll take his word for it.
 
My first 340, bought in 1981. Drove it to work every day. Got a best of 12.50, and my buddy won Maple Grove High School Challenge. Then I started working on it more

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In about 74 or 75 my cousin bought a 70 340 Cuda. The story was that one of the guys that worked at Racing Head Services in Memphis owned and built the car. That thing would fly, it would spin about 4' off the line and it was like the whole car raised up. My cousin was raised and lived in a part of the county that was looked down on by residents of other parts of the county. In the part of the county that people that had money lived in there were a pair of brothers that had a nice 70 RR with a 440 6 pack that ran hard. The Cuda got a good reputation for beating cars that it shouldn't and word got around. One night the brothers brought a car load of their friends and came to run the Cuda. They wanted to run for $500, my cousin like most of us was lucky to have gas money most of the time. After a lot of mouthing they agreed to run best two out of three for $20. There was no need for three races, the Cuda got out on the RR and they couldn't run it down in the first two races. They accused him of cheating, though they couldn't come up with how he was doing it, then they wanted to fight. My cousin never did get his money and guys from that part of the county never came looking for another race either.
 
I bought a 72 Challenger Rally 340 Auto around 1978 for $300.Severely rusted out trunk but the rest of the car was solid. Drove it to work for a few years 50 some miles round trip. I beat the crap out of that 340. Did the best burn outs after work. The gang from work would hang out after hours (lots of beer) and try to out do each other. I was king at 102 ft.
Sold it to a fellow worker ($800)and he sawed a pine tree off 6' above ground level and barrel rolled it for it's last ride. He was ok. The car not so much. It didn't make it.
 
My best 340 story, happened about 2 years ago.
A good friend of mine who owns a transmission shop in town, also does mechanical work.
An older guy was fed up with the 340 manners in his duster, and just wanted a nice stock running car.
My buddy did what he wanted and put a Jasper rebuild 360 in.

I got a running 340 for the core charge of the Jasper 360.
I started looking it over, it was a 72 cast crank, nothing seemed special from the outside, but it did have an aluminum intake.
Pulled a plug, stuck a bore scope in it, score, it has domed pistons in it.
Pulled a valve cover, adjustable rocker arms, with a solid cam.
That is as far as I looked at it, saran wrapped it, and put it in my outbuilding.
I think I am going to use it in my 46 Dodge truck, if i ever get around to building it.
 
Sherriff had us tow a van into the yard. Story goes a man died in it. Nobody wanted to touch the thing. Obviously he was living (dyeing ??) in it. It sat and sat in limbo. It had all of his personal possessions in it. It had some cool stuff in it. I bought it for the tow bill. $230 if I remember correctly. Nobody but me knew it had a 1972 340/904 in it. Drove it home. Hindsight I should have done something with the van, 1978 model I believe. I cut the cowl out of it to harvest the engine. I regret that. Could of had a cool van. Engine is 20 over and in storage right now. Ready to head to the machine shop. Ima gonna stroke it if it sonic checks out for boring.
 
Bodyperson said:
Sherriff had us tow a van into the yard. Story goes a man died in it. Nobody wanted to touch the thing. Obviously he was living (dyeing ??) in it. It sat and sat in limbo. It had all of his personal possessions in it. It had some cool stuff in it. I bought it for the tow bill. $230 if I remember correctly. Nobody but me knew it had a 1972 340/904 in it. Drove it home. Hindsight I should have done something with the van, 1978 model I believe. I cut the cowl out of it to harvest the engine. I regret that. Could of had a cool van. Engine is 20 over and in storage right now. Ready to head to the machine shop. Ima gonna stroke it if it sonic checks out for boring.
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Was it grey?
 
ir3333 said:
In1972 i had just put a new short block in my '71 'Cuda and was anxious to show my buddy how well it worked.On the edge of the village i launched in first gear and never lifted the pedal through all 4.Looking behind me all i could see was smoke so i hit the brakes and shut the engine off.Without realizing it i naturally turned the key to where you remove it...which back then locked the steering wheel. We were just approaching a sharp bend in the highway and with the steering wheel locked we went straight off the road, slowly slid about 10 feet down the bank at a walking speed and got caught on a 5 inch tree. Another 10 feet down we would have been in the river 20 feet deep and it was winter at -20 degrees.
Talk about bad luck and then good luck! The smoke was actually steam from anti freeze hitting my exhaust because a frost plug popped!
Click to expand...
Wow!
 
Darter6 said:
I bought a 72 Challenger Rally 340 Auto around 1978 for $300.Severely rusted out trunk but the rest of the car was solid. Drove it to work for a few years 50 some miles round trip. I beat the crap out of that 340. Did the best burn outs after work. The gang from work would hang out after hours (lots of beer) and try to out do each other. I was king at 102 ft.
Sold it to a fellow worker ($800)and he sawed a pine tree off 6' above ground level and barrel rolled it for it's last ride. He was ok. The car not so much. It didn't make it.
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Heavy....
 
When I was in the Air Force in 1978, a sergeant I worked with had a 1970 Duster 340 4 speed that he successfully campaigned with. He said he soundly whipped most comers. One day he raced a guy and while he was ahead and about 1/2 way down the track heard a lot of noise. About that time the car he was racing flew past him for the win. The opponent had a 426 Hemi that was a little doggy off the line! The sergeant sold his Duster and the buyer quickly wrapped it around a pole and totaled it thereafter.
 
Not a racing story, but a tale of a 340 none the less.... in 1987 or 88, I gave a kid $20 for a 340 out of a wrecked 70 Swinger he had picked up for nothing more than wanting the center of the 8.75. The car was roached out, bent up front end, trashed interior. It did run, but had a he'll of a knock of some sort.
Anyway, he needed drug money and I wanted the 340 for my 71 B'cuda ragtop. Motor needed a sleeve in hole #8 because the wrist pin had come out one side of the piston. I took the 727 with it. He only wanted $20. Who was I to say no to that price?
Sleeved it, rebuilt it, dropped it in my ragtop. Sold the car a year later. Dude that bought it knew nothing, but brought his mechanic buddy along to check it out. He confirmed it was a 340 in a 318 car as advertised, and told the dude to buy it.
Fast forward 26 years and I run into the dude as he's admiring my 69 Fury ragtop. He told me of a lime green 71 Bcuda he had bought in 1989 or 90 and it all clicked. He said the only thing he didn't understand is how his buddy had told him it had a 340 in it the day he bought it from me, but 7 years later discovered it to be a 360 when he sold the car.
Told him I remember dropping it off at his buddy's barn for storage til Spring the day he brought me the cash, and how he had a Dart, Challenger and a couple other cars in various states of projectdom and how he had said he wished he had a 340 to build for one of them.
Ran into to him again a few months later and he told me he told his buddy about seeing me, etc... Said his buddy came clean after all those years and admitted to swapping the 340 out in a weekend before he took the car home from his barn.
Some buddy.
 
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I went to see a 1970 Dart many many years ago with a 340 six pak
Engine in it. I knew the guy for years and the car was local. Nice car but a wrecked drivers side fender. It has a fresh paint job and I knew the fender could never be repainted and match the car. I asked how the heck did they paint this car. He laughed and said the guy painting the car never put a mask on. He put two coats on and went outside where he had a tire burning. He put a sniffer near it sucking in the smoke and blew it into the fresh paint. It had the black stringers from the tire right in the paint. Then he told me before he started the paint job he cleared everybody out of the shop, leaned against the car, and smoked two joints by himself. Lol. I passed on buying that one.
 
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ragtopfury said:
Ot a racing story, but a tale of a 340 none the less.... in 1987 or 88, I gave a kid $20 for a 340 out of a wrecked 70 Swinger he had picked up for nothing more than wanting the center of the 8.75. The car was roached out, bent up front end, trashed interior. It did run, but had a he'll of a knock of some sort.
Anyway, he needed drug money and I wanted the 340 for my 71 B'cuda ragtop. Motor needed a sleeve in hole #8 because the wrist pin had come out one side of the piston. I took the 727 with it. He only wanted $20. Who was I to say no to that price?
Sleeved it, rebuilt it, dropped it in my ragtop. Sold the car a year later. Dude that bought it knew nothing, but brought his mechanic buddy along to check it out. He confirmed it was a 340 in a 318 car as advertised, and told the dude to buy it.
Fast forward 26 years and I run into the dude as he's admiring my 69 Fury ragtop. He told me of a lime green 71 Bcuda he had bought in 1989 or 90 and it all clicked. He said the only thing he didn't understand is how his buddy had told him it had a 340 in it the day he bought it from me, but 7 years later discovered it to be a 360 when he sold the car.
Told him I remember dropping it off at his buddy's barn for storage til Spring the day he brought me the cash, and how he had a Dart, Challenger and a couple other cars in various states of projectdom and how he had said he wished he had a 340 to build for one of them.
Ran into to him again a few months later and he told me he told his buddy about seeing me, etc... Said his buddy came clean after all those years and admitted to swapping the 340 out in a weekend before he took the car home from his barn.
Some buddy.
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That's theft. His "buddy" ain't right. Definitely not Friend or Brother
 
pittsburghracer said:
I went to see a 1970 Dart many many years ago with a 340 six pan
Engine in it. I knew the guy for years and the car was local. Nice car but a wrecked drivers side fender. It has a fresh paint job a d I knew the fender could never be repainted and match the car. I asked how the heck did they paint this car. He laughed and said the guy painting the car never put a mask on. He put t coats on and went outside where he had a tire burning. He put a sniffer near it sucking in the smoke and blew it into the fresh paint. It had the black stringers from the tire right in the paint. Then he told me before he started the paint job he cleared everybody out of the shop, leaned against the car, and smoked two joints by himself. Lol. I passed on buying that one.
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Unreal Dude! Crazy!
 
pittsburghracer said:
I went to see a 1970 Dart many many years ago with a 340 six pak
Engine in it. I knew the guy for years and the car was local. Nice car but a wrecked drivers side fender. It has a fresh paint job and I knew the fender could never be repainted and match the car. I asked how the heck did they paint this car. He laughed and said the guy painting the car never put a mask on. He put two coats on and went outside where he had a tire burning. He put a sniffer near it sucking in the smoke and blew it into the fresh paint. It had the black stringers from the tire right in the paint. Then he told me before he started the paint job he cleared everybody out of the shop, leaned against the car, and smoked two joints by himself. Lol. I passed on buying that one.
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My Dad did that with a carburizing flame from an O/A torch on an old jeep truck he painted. Looked cool
 
Bodyperson said:
My Dad did that with a carburizing flame from an O/A torch on an old jeep truck he painted. Looked cool
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Ya this was definitely different. Not sure exactly what color I would call the base color. Not really a light blue but not a grey either. I’ve seen Demons painted a color like this but this was a shade or two lighter.
 
pittsburghracer said:
Ya this was definitely different. Not sure exactly what color I would call the base color. Not really a light blue but not a grey either. I’ve seen Demons painted a color like this but this was a shade or two lighter.
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Dad just did it on that big body line on those old Jeep trucks. Two toned
 
Ricks70Duster340 said:
When I was in the Air Force in 1978, a sergeant I worked with had a 1970 Duster 340 4 speed that he successfully campaigned with. He said he soundly whipped most comers. One day he raced a guy and while he was ahead and about 1/2 way down the track heard a lot of noise. About that time the car he was racing flew past him for the win. The opponent had a 426 Hemi that was a little doggy off the line!

I've had a lot of 340's and a 69 Hemi roadrunner. Let me tell you when you shifted that Hemi into high gear it was all over.
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A slightly different 340 story. Back in high school when the 68 was out of commission for one reason or another (always had something getting torn up in it) I bought a 72 Olds Cutlass. Nothing special and just had a 350 2 barrel in it but like any other teenager I loved to beat the hell out of it. There was a kid I went to school with that had a 71 340 Demon and we ran across each other one night at the local cruising spot. We went out and lined up and he proceeded to beat the pants off of me by about 6 cars. The next night I blew the 350 up. (It had had a rod knock in it that was camouflaged with a couple of cans of STP for awhile) That week I swapped in a 455 and ran across him again that Friday night. Told him I wanted to run again which he promptly accepted. Beat him that time by about 3 cars. When we went back to the cruise spot he asked what I did. Him not knowing Olds couldn't tell the difference between the 350 and 455 so I told him I just put a holley on it. A few year later I ran across him again and came clean about the 455.
 
I had a Valiant Charger in the early to mid seventies. My brother brought me back a 68 340 from the states with a 4 speed behind it. I put a set of TRW 13/1 pistons in it but had about half the dome shaved down to bring them back to about 11/1 or so. I put a 292/ 510 mopar performance cam in it and a set of modified hyd lifters in it. I was an 18 year old apprentice at the time so spent a week making a set of 4 into one headers for it and ran a 3.91 diff in it. I had a 6 pack set up on it with alloy manifold. Wow did that thing rev, would easily go to 7500 but drag racing would only rev it to about high sixes. With road racing slicks on it it would spin for about 20 feet then it was like you dropped the clutch again and ran a best of 13.5 in the qtr. I borrowed a set of 28 inch slicks of a mate and was going to use his 4.56 diff in it to see what it would run but it rained all week and was unable to get the diff out so I just ran the 3.91. well it ran a 13.1 but the gearing was all wrong. I used to take it down to the local street races and never got beaten . One night I ran a Holden Monaro 350 all worked over and beat him , then ran a 351 GT Falcon all worked over and beat him . there was a 850 Norton Comando with a weber on it that was trying to run the other cars but they would not run him as they thought a bike would be too quick so I ran him and beat him by more than I beat those cars. The bike just left me at the start but about half way down my horsepower kicked in and I flew past him for the win.The mopar made the chev and ford guys take notice that night.
 
These stories could go on forever. That is the giant killer that was 340. The 68 barracuda with the four-speed camshaft made hot rods top 10 all-time slicks and tricks list for fastest tested production cars of the time all big blocks and small blocks. The 340 always punched above its weight class, I have had one for 40 years and have more stories than I can remember...
 
Here's one, the year was about 1980 I had had my 340 swinger for a couple of years down at the local NAPA store sat a 1970 340 duster with a pro stock hood scoop it was owned by the store manager he was a couple years older than me and had been doing the high performance thing for a while. We became friends/acquaintances he always kept his cards pretty close as he was involved in the street racing at the time over the next couple of years the car began to be on the short list of fastest cars in the area in a town of 200,000, and for about a year he was top dog, his setup went something like this 340 TA block ,W2heads , tunnel ram,660 Holleys , solid roller cam 456 gear, 4speed , TRW 12.1 pistons full cage .
 
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