Let’s hear a 340 story

[Jadaharabi]

Crane fireball 300

.
I was running a Crane Fireball cam with about 320° duration with 12.5 Manley forged pistons and a manual linkage 6 pac thru Hooker headers in my 72 Duster.
The only bb chevys that beat me were designated race cars. Never beat on the street by a bb chevy, whether in a camero or chevelle or nova.

 

[Ironracer]

.
I was running a Crane Fireball cam with about 320° duration with 12.5 Manley forged pistons and a manual linkage 6 pac thru Hooker headers in my 72 Duster.
The only bb chevys that beat me were disintegrated race cars. Never beat on the street by a bb chevy, whether in a camero or chevelle or nova.

That put a big smile on my face ! Thank You for sharing!

 

[Just Ron]

We weren't drunk! In a little town in northern Wisconsin, that was the only place to gather talk smart. We weren't stupid.

 

[K.O. SWINGER]

.
I was running a Crane Fireball cam with about 320° duration with 12.5 Manley forged pistons and a manual linkage 6 pac thru Hooker headers in my 72 Duster.
The only bb chevys that beat me were designated race cars. Never beat on the street by a bb chevy, whether in a camero or chevelle or nova.

I still run a big duration camshaft and six pack setup with 391 rear end 4 speed and a good set of aluminum heads. The old girl still makes people's eyes go huge when I hammer it, yes times change but it's still a pretty respectable and fun package.

 

[pittsburghracer]

I still run a big duration camshaft and six pack setup with 391 rear end 4 speed and a good set of aluminum heads. The old girl still makes people's eyes go huge when I hammer it, yes times change but it's still a pretty respectable and fun package.

View attachment 1715760063

Way off topic but Mopars are a screwy animal. They seem to love big carbs and lots of duration. I still have two of my old big block cams that I used to run 9.80’s with stock 440 junk parts back in the late 1980’s. 286 (332 duration). I’m way behind the curve running a 750 and now an 850 carb on my small blocks but I will be stepping up to a custom built 1000 cfm this year. But if you think you can just take a big carb out of the box and go fast with it you are better off sticking with a smaller carb.

 

[K.O. SWINGER]

Way off topic but Mopars are a screwy animal. They seem to love big carbs and lots of duration. I still have two of my old big block cams that I used to run 9.80’s with stock 440 junk parts back in the late 1980’s. 286 (332 duration). I’m way behind the curve running a 750 and now an 850 carb on my small blocks but I will be stepping up to a custom built 1000 cfm this year. But if you think you can just take a big carb out of the box and go fast with it you are better off sticking with a smaller carb.

Yes! You have probably forgotten more than I'll ever know but what goes in has to come out quickly but it seems if you can make that happen it's a recipe for fast.

 

[ir3333]

..How many guys on this sight lived through the sixties when muscle cars were everywhere and street
racing was almost acceptable.
Hard to believe but I remember "Start" and "Finish" painted permanently on many straight stretches of quiet secondary highways and they were quite active late Saturday nights.

 

[ocdart]

Way off topic but Mopars are a screwy animal. They seem to love big carbs and lots of duration. I still have two of my old big block cams that I used to run 9.80’s with stock 440 junk parts back in the late 1980’s. 286 (332 duration). I’m way behind the curve running a 750 and now an 850 carb on my small blocks but I will be stepping up to a custom built 1000 cfm this year. But if you think you can just take a big carb out of the box and go fast with it you are better off sticking with a smaller carb.

Back in the early/mid '70s I ended up running an 850 DP on my built 340 on the street. A 750DP couldn't keep it from "shootin' ducks", it just ran out of fuel close to 6-grand.

 

[pittsburghracer]

Back in the early/mid '70s I ended up running an 850 DP on my built 340 on the street. A 750DP couldn't keep it from "shootin' ducks", it just ran out of fuel close to 6 grand.

Do some research on the old Thermoquads. If I remember right most of them if not all were 850 cfm.

 

[ir3333]

Common music back in the day was the "jingle of a 340 heat riser"

 

[fishmens67]

Do some research on the old Thermoquads. If I remember right most of them if not all were 850 cfm.

two versions one with 1 3/8 primary and the 850 with 1.5 primary
I believe there was a 1000cfm competition version

 

[pittsburghracer]

two versions one with 1 3/8 primary and the 850 with 1.5 primary
I believe there was a 1000cfm competition version

As much as I love my Holley carbs the sound of a Thermoquad kicking in was awesome.

 

[K.O. SWINGER]

Correct the big block version ran at least 850 CFM, that was my combination when I upgraded punch the 340 out to a 345 ,m1 single plane worked over 850 thermoquad 509 purple cam and worked over x heads combined with a 430 gear. Nasty! Actually I think that setup is still in my garage photos on this site.

 

[pittsburghracer]

Adding to the story earlier about my buddy in the yellow mustang and blue Camero and several other friends our reputation for racing kinda grew and spread over a 25-30 mile radius. The cops never busted us because we raced out of town on an unfinished expressway and never raced for money. No ducking around, just racing. During our biggest night 54 different cars raced. And several of us raced 2-3 times. We had several people pull off to watch with several saying they didn’t know guys still did this. What a blast that night was. One of my friends I met and beat that night now runs a pro mod. He was telling my son stories one night about how many times he tried to beat me and never did. Lol

 

[pittsburghracer]

Here’s a picture of the car he has now before he bought it.

 

[Unconventional]

High school buddy Moto had a '66 Dart GT 273 Commando column shift 904. Moto worked at Chevron station across town. A high school acquaintance of ours was out riding his dual sport bike one evening and at Moto's station he decides he's going to ride a wheelie across the parking lot. Moto was leaned up against the door frame of the lube bay and the other knothead decided that was his wheelie route of choice, into the lube bay . Before Moto could get out of the way the foot peg get's him in the leg as the wheelie monkey passes breaks leg in 3 places, cast from toes to hip for what seemed like a year. I think there was an insurance settlement involved, shortly after Moto is shopping 340s at the junk yards . Cast and all we got that 340 in the '66. Ran fabulous it did. Passenger's seat in the Dart was off limits, that was where he placed the casted leg so he could drive with his left foot . Shortly after came the DC Purple Shaft, following that was the thermobog off a wrecked CHP cruiser. That's when the Camaros in town came to the conclusion to just avoid Moto like the plague . There was the 8 3/4 diff we found in the junk yard "LOCKED" in junk yard marker across the housing. He still in his cast, I get out the measuring tape and do my thing "This is A Body width" . I spin the yoke no noises both brake drums turn same direction, count revs of both "This something close to 4-1" into the Piglet it goes (66 VW Squareback) "$35" says the old guy at the front gate "But it says LOCKED on the housing!" says Moto. "Alright $25". We didn't look back on our way out the driveway . Hooker headers built a free set of fenderwell headers for it for the use of it for a week as a pattern car, including exhaust to the back of the car. Moto was just one of those car story kinda guys . The T/A he acquired for next to no $$, after we put the 727 in it so he could drive it with that cast, was at the time the single fastest SB powered car I had ever ridden in or drove.

 

[Unconventional]

Adding to the story earlier about my buddy in the yellow mustang and blue Camero and several other friends our reputation for racing kinda grew and spread over a 25-30 mile radius. The cops never busted us because we raced out of town on an unfinished expressway and never raced for money. No ducking around, just racing. During our biggest night 54 different cars raced. And several of us raced 2-3 times. We had several people pull off to watch with several saying they didn’t know guys still did this. What a blast that night was. One of my friends I met and beat that night now runs a pro mod. He was telling my son stories one night about how many times he tried to beat me and never did. Lol

There were a couple of CB radios with cigarette lighter capabilities in our bunch. They were sent to designated points to watch for black and white traffic

 

[pittsburghracer]

There were a couple of CB radios with cigarette lighter capabilities in our bunch. They were sent to designated points to watch for black and white traffic

I was raised in a small town so we knew several of the cops by name. Like I said they were happy about us racing out of town and not red light to red light. A couple of them sat down with us at McDonald’s and one of them asked “do you know what time we change shift” and I said yes sir 11pm. Then he was kind enough to further explain. At 10:30 we pick up the oncoming shift, then they take us home. No police at our station have their personal vehicles in the lot. So in other words for 1 hour every night we are tied up. I got the point. Before he left he said if someone called and reported us they had to respond but we won’t kill ourselves getting there. Total respect for each other.

 

[missing linc]

Obviously you had respect for them, which in turn earned you their respect. Nothing better.

 

[Ironracer]

Obviously you had respect for them, which in turn earned you their respect. Nothing better.

Yessir! Respect is given, to a point , then earned from there!

 

[Ironracer]

High school buddy Moto had a '66 Dart GT 273 Commando column shift 904. Moto worked at Chevron station across town. A high school acquaintance of ours was out riding his dual sport bike one evening and at Moto's station he decides he's going to ride a wheelie across the parking lot. Moto was leaned up against the door frame of the lube bay and the other knothead decided that was his wheelie route of choice, into the lube bay . Before Moto could get out of the way the foot peg get's him in the leg as the wheelie monkey passes breaks leg in 3 places, cast from toes to hip for what seemed like a year. I think there was an insurance settlement involved, shortly after Moto is shopping 340s at the junk yards . Cast and all we got that 340 in the '66. Ran fabulous it did. Passenger's seat in the Dart was off limits, that was where he placed the casted leg so he could drive with his left foot . Shortly after came the DC Purple Shaft, following that was the thermobog off a wrecked CHP cruiser. That's when the Camaros in town came to the conclusion to just avoid Moto like the plague . There was the 8 3/4 diff we found in the junk yard "LOCKED" in junk yard marker across the housing. He still in his cast, I get out the measuring tape and do my thing "This is A Body width" . I spin the yoke no noises both brake drums turn same direction, count revs of both "This something close to 4-1" into the Piglet it goes (66 VW Squareback) "$35" says the old guy at the front gate "But it says LOCKED on the housing!" says Moto. "Alright $25". We didn't look back on our way out the driveway . Hooker headers built a free set of fenderwell headers for it for the use of it for a week as a pattern car, including exhaust to the back of the car. Moto was just one of those car story kinda guys . The T/A he acquired for next to no $$, after we put the 727 in it so he could drive it with that cast, was at the time the single fastest SB powered car I had ever ridden in or drove.

That's an Extremely Awesome story!
Thanks!

 

[69conv]

Thanks for starting this thread Pittsburg! Lotta great memories. I think where the 340 rocked was it was a factory built motor with a lot of things done right. I learned the hard way the wrong parts combo would slow the car down but I didn't have the bucks to experiment.

 

[demonjim]

A 340 built right is wicked fast. A former cousin by marriage had a '71 Duster 340 4 speed. In stock condition, I saw this car beat many cars with big engines. He eventually put a bigger hydraulic cam and new lifters in it. Curve kit in the distributor and a set of Hooker headers and a six pack intake and carbs, and what I thought was wicked fast stock became a beast. He never put it on the drag strip, but was a terror locally. One of the breather stud bolts vibrated loose and fell into one of the cylinders and destroyed the beast. I have always wanted to build my '72 340 Demon the same way, but six packs are priced out of sight by the lucky ones who have them since Holley and Mopar didn't renew their contract to build them.

 

[hcarr]

My first 70 duster 340 ran consistent 14.2 when it was new and had 3.91 rearend. I started with all the easy stuff like Heddman hustler headers, slicks and 4.56 rear still smoked tires bad coming off the line until I put traction bars on it. It was then running 12.5s and still very streetable I ran it mostly at Keystone and and sometimes (not often) at PID. I blew a piston at Quaker City in Salem ,OH and pulled the motor and took it to Broughers speed shop and had it bored .060 over and a lot of head work, tarantula intake 850 holly, solid lifters, Lakewood scatter shield, Zoom clutch and 5.13 gears. It then was running 11.2's at Keystone but after a couple of passes it would blow head gaskets With the Trw 12 and a half pistons and head work it had over 13 to one compression . It was not streetable would shut off if the idle was set below 2200 rpms. At the track I launched at 5500 Rpms and shifted at 8000 and came through the traps pretty close to that.End of the story I sold the running gear and put a 318 automatic in it from a wrecked 67 Dodge coronet RT put the 340 exhaust manifolds and 3.55 gears in run great that way but by then I was married and had a 2 year old baby that needed glasses and such so I sold it in I believe 1976 or 7 to a guy I worked with in the auto center at JCPenney's in Monroeville,PA for 200 dollars and a paint job he did on a 70 Cutlass that my wife had. Great memories from back then!

 

[pittsburghracer]

A 340 built right is wicked fast. A former cousin by marriage had a '71 Duster 340 4 speed. In stock condition, I saw this car beat many cars with big engines. He eventually put a bigger hydraulic cam and new lifters in it. Curve kit in the distributor and a set of Hooker headers and a six pack intake and carbs, and what I thought was wicked fast stock became a beast. He never put it on the drag strip, but was a terror locally. One of the breather stud bolts vibrated loose and fell into one of the cylinders and destroyed the beast. I have always wanted to build my '72 340 Demon the same way, but six packs are priced out of sight by the lucky ones who have them since Holley and Mopar didn't renew their contract to build them.

the six pacs were nice eye candy to the guys that like them but performance wise a good Holley single carb could out perform them.