Let’s hear a 340 story

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Summer of 75, headed north on Dyer street El Paso, Tx. A 70 Mach 1 is playing with me stoplight to stoplight. As the 4th light goes green, I lightem up. A beautiful launch. I'm putting it to the Mach 1. I'm a half a block on him when I back off and roll up to the next light. I'm sitting at the light with a big O grin on my face when he rolls up. He has a big O grin on his face to. He hooks his thumb over his left shoulder at the cop car behind me with it's lights on.
The cops words to me were "You didn't think I could catch you?". My reply was "l never saw you or I would never have done that."
Only got one ticket "Exhibition of acceleration." It was their catch-all when they couldn't get you for drag racing.
The fun we had. Lol
I was driving my 72 340, 4sp, 6 pac Duster with 3.91s at the time. I got a lot of tickets with that car. Enjoyed everyone of them. Lol
 
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This was about a decade ago when I was cruising home on I 81 from the Vally Mall cruse in, when a dude I recently met , "Dooly, RIP", pulls up beside me in his 47 fat fendered Chevy with a 350 in it challenges me for a go.
He stomps it and is hunched up on the wheel, I just squeeze in the throttle in fourth and walk the dog on him, look in the rearview and he`s about a 1/4 mile back lol.
I pull off on the Martinsburg exit and stop and get gas. He pulls in later get out ,walks over to me and says ,Man when you down shifted you left me like I was sitting still.

I said dude I just pressed on the gas, LOL, That ol Chevy must have been a slug.:lol:
 
pittsburghracer said:
Honestly in this day and age is so much easier to make anything run good. Just the knowledge floating around on the internet and the parts availability is so much nicer.
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Agreed, but I kind of feel some of the romances gone some of the mystique just like plopping everything on a dyno so many people end up running the same stuff it just isn't as mysterious. Was it the six pack or the cross ram or the spread board or could that guy just drive the s*** out of anything. I for one really miss those days!
 
340 story. I was moving and I had a 340 block with a windowed cylinder in 2001. It broke a piston and gouged a ditch in the wall and broke through. I put it up on Craigs for $50 and they guy came over an looked at it and offered me $20 for it. I was just glad to not have to haul it to my next pad as I didnt have a picker. fast forward 15 years and I see a complete back ended 68 Dart at pick-a-part ( a GTS!) and I look at the side of the block and it says 340! I'm on my lunch hour on a monday and the place closes at 5PM same time I get off. There is no chance I can snatch this so I had to pass on it. Entire motors were $150 back then out the door. I actually posted I knew where one was in So. Cal and a guy contacted me and drove out there. I think he scored it.
 
Not my own story but when I was still living in New York I had my Duster parked at a local cruise in and a guy walked over and said, "340 Duster, those things are quick, I had a 427 I put in a Chevelle and there was a 340 Duster in town and it was the only car I couldn't beat!".
 
pittsburghracer said:
Honestly in this day and age is so much easier to make anything run good. Just the knowledge floating around on the internet and the parts availability is so much nicer.
Click to expand...
You've pretty much have perfected the potential of the small block, your #'s prove it.
Don't sell yourself short, it's guy's like you that have done the leg work and share their knowledge. my hat's off to you :thankyou:

and parts is parts.
 
fishmens67 said:
You've pretty much have perfected the potential of the small block, your #'s prove it.
Don't sell yourself short, it's guy's like you that have done the leg work and share their knowledge. my hat's off to you :thankyou:

and parts is parts.
Click to expand...



I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time. While working at the gas station almost every single night a 1967 bright yellow mustang would come by the station. I very nice but plain looking 1968 camero would always be with him. This mustang just rumbled with what I later found were 4.30 gears. I finally got a chance to talk to them at my local McDonalds and as I drove by I go called out. I wise assly said ya I want to race the mustang. Are you sure? Yep I’m sure. So off to the expressway we went. When we would race someone would pull directly behind us and beep their horn three times. On the third beep we took off and I beat him by around three car lengths. As I slowed down my car started steaming so I pulled off the side of the road. His first words were damn then he introduced himself. We talked then took a peek to see what happened to my car. It was a small leak in my bypass hose so he grabbed some duct tape out of his trunk and taped it up. We drove to their hangout (Amoco Gas Station) and we have been friends ever since. Both four speed cars my 340 beat his 390. Great times. We kept getting faster and faster over the years but even after he moved on to a 428 engine I was undefeated against him. The plain Jane camero was a 327 four speed and we went back and forth wins till I started running 11’s. His camero still sits in a garage but hasn’t raced in probably 30 years.
 
A couple of years ago I purchased what was advertised as a "complete" '71 340 in the Sacramento, California area. I considered it a core, but it turned out to be a real hodgepodge of parts to boot.

Both exhaust manifolds were the same, a pair of non-high performance fitted for the passengers side. The oil pan must have been for a truck, rear sump. The cylinder heads were open chamber with 1.88 intake valves. The pistons were cast aftermarket .040 over with four valve notches. The forged crank has no drilled ends, must be either 273 or 318. The Carter AVS belongs to a non-high performance 440. Intake was 1968 340 factory cast iron four barrel. Air cleaner a vintage 340 '68-'69 black wrinkle finish non-silenced version. Valve covers look to be generic LA style. Single point Mopar distributor. Accel yellow 8mm plug wires and Bosch spark plugs. Camshaft appeared to be a rusty old 508 hydraulic. Bearings were dated 1985 or so. Mopar windage tray. Double roller timing chain and valve springs with dampers. Aluminum timing chain cover had a hole clear through it directly behind where the water pump impeller would sit. It appears that one cylinder bore may have been sleeved. Standard 340 connecting rods (full-floating).

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pittsburghracer said:
Honestly in this day and age is so much easier to make anything run good. Just the knowledge floating around on the internet and the parts availability is so much nicer.
Click to expand...
This is truth, there was nothing for small block mopar back in the day that was easy or cheap. What impressed me so much about the 340 is how fast it was for stock trim. My buddy bought a stock 73 cuda and was running in the 13s with street tires with a good tune. I love the story's but to be fair how many of those guys in the other cars even knew how to drive or had optimized combos. 340s were terrors on the street for the unsuspecting victim but I'm with fishmens67 on the fact that the seriously fast guys had cubes and unfortunately the fastest guys where I was at had big block chevy engines. There was a boss mustang that did 9s and there was one night where an a bomb hemi came down, but that's a story for another time.:D
 
K.O. SWINGER said:
Agreed, but I kind of feel some of the romances gone some of the mystique just like plopping everything on a dyno so many people end up running the same stuff it just isn't as mysterious. Was it the six pack or the cross ram or the spread board or could that guy just drive the s*** out of anything. I for one really miss those days!
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And this is what I miss the most, the mystique of it all was amazing. And being on the street if you knew how to drive you could take out some fast guys.
 
That 9 sec mustang may have been here in the LC valley during Hot August Night's.
There was a stang that would yank the frontend at a walk. lol
 
You guys and your big block thinking are totally wrong. At least for me back in the mid 1970’s to early to mid 1980’s. Tires were crap and I mean crap. We raced on almost virgin concrete and if you took a test his it was hard to go back to check your tire patch. We traveled 40 miles each way to a shop that would order us Formula one Super Stock tires. That’s two 80 mile trips because the first trip was to pay and order them. Having a direct Connection book super stock springs were ordered shortly after I researched them and they were instant success. Lots of playing around. I pulled my 4 speed three times one night by myself on the floor only to get rained out the next day
 
Just Ron said:
Back in the day, after a night of beer and BS, we decided to see who had the fast car. One friend had a 1969 369 Chevelle, the other one (the rich guy) had 1969 440 Charger. I had my Mister Norm's GSS340 1971 Demon 6pack. I went out to race the 396 and the rich 440 said he would race the loser. I beat the 396. Nobody wanted to race me after that.
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Sweet!
 
1969383S said:
My younger brother by three years, bought a 1970 340 Fish from questionable dealer in Jacksonville,FL around 1986. The car was pretty bare inside with a great body but the Motor was stout! He would never listen to me and run higher octane gas!

First issue was a pushrod through a rocker! No biggie and the lifter survived! fixed it in our apartment parking lot.

About a month later he came home and said more issues! Checked it out and big issues! They never listen to good advice!

Tore it down in the same parking lot and two pistons had the ring lands busted out. They came out in three pieces! The windage tray damn near fell out in my hands when the pan was removed! Only one bolt held it in! Amazing there was no cylinder Bore scaring!

Ordered two replacement 10.5 standard bore TRW pistons as to the originals. Honed the all the cylinders with a brush style hone re-ringed and re-assembled! Added a 484 purple cam, All in the parking lot. That little 340 was an awesome engine!!!!!!!!!

I had to de-tune him from there for two reasons! His stupidity and there was no way his 340 was going to beat my A-body with 383/727/3500 stall 4.56 geared car!

We later put 5.23 gears in that 70 fish and it was a killer!!!

He ended up selling it to my next older brother in Nashville, Tn. He tried to sell the car a year later and was scammed by the buyer as his accomplish took it for a test drive and hauled *** away with it while my older older brother was getting the title!

Both of my brothers are idiots! That 340 was a pure badass though!
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And generally I'm a pretty Peaceable cat but if someone did some **** like that to me I would hunt that motherfuker down and choke the life out of his ***. Or at least half of it
 
K.O. SWINGER said:
I ran my swinger stock for a couple of years till I threw a rod at about 130+ racing a Mach 1 Cleveland. Who I slapped around pretty good but when I pulled over to let him catch up he was pissed and took off with the girls I jumped in and held it to the floor down a 2 mile straight away to catch up, it was the original motor with over100,000 miles. Here is a list of some of the cars I remember that I beat. ProBuild Oldsmobile 400 442, 302-69z Camaro, 70 383 Challenger 4 speed, 1970 383 roadrunner 4 speed, 72 AMX 402 4-speed, 72 350 El Camino SS built, 289 high pro built 66 mustang 4 speed, 66 GTO tri-power, 68 GTO 400 4 speed, that's just some of the ones I remember so I guess you can see why I loved the 340 it made me a star LOL after we built it well that's a whole another list.
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My Mopar Performance Engine book got in 1990 had all the CFM of cylinder head flows 4 American engines.. the damn Cleveland can flow more air than a Hemi.
 
fishmens67 said:
Pittsburghracers small blocks get it done for sure. I'm not in competition with him.
I'm just the big brother to all the 318 fans, the forgotten engine where the small block Mopar started.
Like I said, no hate for the 340 , but I learned at an early age from my dad and uncle, it's easy to make power with a big block.
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There's no replacement for displacement, but they call the 340 a baby Hemi for a reason! They wrap up quick and hard
 
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lead69 said:
This is truth, there was nothing for small block mopar back in the day that was easy or cheap. What impressed me so much about the 340 is how fast it was for stock trim. My buddy bought a stock 73 cuda and was running in the 13s with street tires with a good tune. I love the story's but to be fair how many of those guys in the other cars even knew how to drive or had optimized combos. 340s were terrors on the street for the unsuspecting victim but I'm with fishmens67 on the fact that the seriously fast guys had cubes and unfortunately the fastest guys where I was at had big block chevy engines. There was a boss mustang that did 9s and there was one night where an a bomb hemi came down, but that's a story for another time.:D
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Love to hear it!
 
Remember how every town had a speepshop in it back in the 70 and 80s. Some times 2 or 3.
Peoria still has one. "Winners Circle"
I got out of the Army Aug. 1st 1975 and went to work at one of the speedshops in El Paso. Later worked at one in Decatur Il and later still at Mo-Par in Phoenix in between school and other jobs.
 
Jadaharabi said:
Remember how every town had a speepshop in it back in the 70 and 80s. Some times 2 or 3.
Peoria still has one. "Winners Circle"
I got out of the Army Aug. 1st 1975 and went to work at one of the speedshops in El Paso. Later worked at one in Decatur Il and later still at Mo-Par in Phoenix in between school and other jobs.
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Thank You for Your Service! We had speed shops all over the Tampa Bay area until about the end of the 90s. That's awesome that you got to work in those places!
 
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Back in the mid 90s i bought this 1966 VC Valiant, it had a 340 engine fitted but wasnt running as it was an early a body and needed work on the oil lines and exhaust given the narrow engine bay. In Australia the biggest engine option in this model was a 273. When i got it running i fitted a solid flat tappet, 273 rockers, 650 holley etc, it was a factory steel crank 2.02 valve engine which wasnt common here in Australia. It kept on destroying std 904 torqueflites so i fitted a 4spd manual and daily drove it for many years. It had venetians fitted in the rear window and 5.5" steel rims with hubcaps, itwas the most fun of any car i ever owned and terrorised many cars on the street, regretted selling it and bought it back a few years ago minus motor and box.
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Ironracer said:
My Mopar Performance Engine book got in 1990 had all the CFM of cylinder head flows 4 American engines.. the damn Cleveland can flow more air than a Hemi.
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Yes possibly but I believe they actually ported too big for the cubic inch and the velocity suffered
Ironracer said:
What bump stick is that?
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Crane fireball 300
 
dibbons said:
A couple of years ago I purchased what was advertised as a "complete" '71 340 in the Sacramento, California area. I considered it a core, but it turned out to be a real hodgepodge of parts to boot.

Both exhaust manifolds were the same, a pair of non-high performance fitted for the passengers side. The oil pan must have been for a truck, rear sump. The cylinder heads were open chamber with 1.88 intake valves. The pistons were cast aftermarket .040 over with four valve notches. The forged crank has no drilled ends, must be either 273 or 318. The Carter AVS belongs to a non-high performance 440. Intake was 1968 340 factory cast iron four barrel. Air cleaner a vintage 340 '68-'69 black wrinkle finish non-silenced version. Valve covers look to be generic LA style. Single point Mopar distributor. Accel yellow 8mm plug wires and Bosch spark plugs. Camshaft appeared to be a rusty old 508 hydraulic. Bearings were dated 1985 or so. Mopar windage tray. Double roller timing chain and valve springs with dampers. Aluminum timing chain cover had a hole clear through it directly behind where the water pump impeller would sit. It appears that one cylinder bore may have been sleeved. Standard 340 connecting rods (full-floating).

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ugh......
 
K.O. SWINGER said:
Yes possibly but I believe they actually ported too big for the cubic inch and the velocity suffered

Crane fireball 300
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Yes sir that the CFM of the intake runners in the heads. I highly doubt they utilized all of the potential. A friend of mine found one with a 4-speed at a junkyard a few years back for $1,500.... he's got money and and he's a Ford guy but his cheap *** is not buy it he's kicking himself in the *** now
 
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