Let’s hear a 340 story

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I knew a guy who had a 340 six pack setup. it seemed like it was a bragging right thing at the time,it was in a duster and I dont recall it being really that fast.

I suppose the tuning was a big thing it always is.
 
I had a 71 dart with a 318 back in 1982. I put an ad in a local free paper looking for a 340. This was during the time that gas had gone from .50 cents to a dollar and people were freaking out. Big block anything were going cheap. My Dad even traded our 68 Charger RT for a freaking valiant with a 6 cylinder!!!! So I get a response from a guy named "Spike" who tells me come and get it air cleaner to driveshaft just pulled from a Demon Price $50 !!! I borrow $50 and Pap's truck and go to see it. As described all there he even gave me the radiator. I remember the Demon was bright Orange with a red plaid interior that looked like a kilt God Awful ugly combo. In the engine bay sat a 6 cylinder.

I never installed the 340 in the Dart and ended up buying a 69 Charger RT a few weeks later that was a 440 4 speed car. I traded he 340 to my buddy for a set of N50-15 tires for the back of the Charger. I had $50 in it and at the time didn't care. That same guy bought my Dart and put the 340 in it. Holy Crap did that thing run!!! He got drunk one night at a party I was at and he was in no shape to drive. I threw his drunken *** in the back seat and beat the hell out of that car the whole way to his house. Burn out after bun out that car asked for more. I kick my own *** to this day for not putting that thing together myself.
 
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So, growing up my younger brother and I were very close. I bought my 74 Cuda in 78. He got a 72 Demon around that time. Mine, 360. His, 340. We raced several time at Keystone. He was 13.20's. I was mid 14's. To test stuff we had an unofficial dragstrip in Bridgeville. It was on new Route 50 right near PID Dragway. It started around where the Farmers Market is and went east. The starting light was the revolving airport beacon from the airport above PID. Blue, White, Blue = GO.

I /We also had a 71 Roadrunner 340. It changed hands a couple times between us but technically it was mine since he was underage. It had headers and glass packs. Then pipes bent at a 45 that came out right ahead of the rear tires. When you would lift off the gas and downshift, it would shoot a 4 foot flame out of both sides. Pretty awesome.
 
@pittsburghracer
I'm sure you remember Miller Brothers Cuda.
My brothers greatest accomplishment was beating him.
Back in the 80's when 22 was a two lane and a passing zone that alternated east and west. He cranked it up going up the hill from Delmont. We passed Frank Miller and many more about 100 mph.
I remember all the leaves that were accumulated in the cowl blew into the passenger compartment and our mouths.
 
In the late 90s I bought a 65 Valiant with a 340. ...I paid $2000 for it in Brooklyn NY.
It had super stock springs, frame connectors, 4.30s, sportsman pros, hooker Fenderwell, low gear 904, and basically a stock 340. I would drive it 1.5 hrs to the track. It ran 12.20s when I bought it and I got it to go low 12.0s before the ring gear lost a tooth. Then I stripped it and junked it.

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Dfr360cuda said:
@pittsburghracer
I'm sure you remember Miller Brothers Cuda.
My brothers greatest accomplishment was beating him.
Back in the 80's when 22 was a two lane and a passing zone that alternated east and west. He cranked it up going up the hill from Delmont. We passed Frank Miller and many more about 100 mph.
I remember all the leaves that were accumulated in the cowl blew into the passenger compartment and our mouths.
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Sorry my friend. That is not beating someone. That is a roll race. A drag race is when you ask me or I ask you to race and we race. From a dead stop. In a race like you described there is no start and there is no finish line.
 
pittsburghracer said:
Sorry my friend. That is not beating someone. That is a roll race. A drag race is when you ask me or I ask you to race and we race. From a dead stop. In a race like you described there is no start and there is no finish line.
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It wasn't a race. It was a couple kids acting like idiots.
 
I haven’t seen Frank in a couple of years right before he was supposed to have his knees done. I always looked to see where he qualified in 9.90 super gas racing but haven’t seen his name in years. He live very close to Lernerville dirt track and has a tire shop in Saxonburg. Pretty sure his daughter runs it now.
 
In the early 1980s I had a 67 charger that I put a 340 in, chrome SST’s with 70’s front and 50’s in back, eventually sold it. Then I had a black 72 340 cuda with gold velour interior, with Keystones, that I wrecked street racing a BMW on a curvy wet road. After that I had a 72 340 challenger that did awesome donuts, smoked out police headquarters, got chased by 10 cop cars and got a Dwi. Not sure what happened to that one, the mid 80s were kind of a blur.
 
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I told this one in a post awhile ago but I stopped in a local transmission shop around 7 miles from my house to bs and the owner asked if I needed another Mopar. Of course I had to ask what he had. It’s that green duster outside, go check it out, it has a blowed up motor. I see the duals and open the hood of a 1973 (340) duster with disks brakes, floor shift automatic, and a lay down rear seat. Ok how much. Pretty sure he said 450.00 or it might have been 400.00 as this was back in the early 1980’s. I told him I’ll be back in 45 minutes with a trailer and cash. Paid him and he helped me load it and 15 minutes after I got it unloaded at home it was fixed. A pushrod went up through a rocker on the driver side and I just happened to have spare parts. it wasn’t very fast but it was a fun car. To many projects to make it any faster so it was just a fun toy.
 
Dfr360cuda said:
Oh yeah
I forgot to mention... His Cuda was on a trailer being towed up a hill. Miller Brothers, Bob Stape and Tom Hemphills Cudas were my favorites
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I connected with Bob Stape on Facebook but dumped him. Our political views are direct opposite and that’s all he wanted to post about. Click, gone. Lol
 
604B1duster said:
In the early 1980s I had a 67 charger that I put a 340 in, chrome SST’s with 70’s front and 50’s in back, eventually sold it. Then I had black 72 340 cuda with gold velour interior, with Keystones, that I wrecked street racing a BMW on a curvy wet road. After that I had a 72 340 challenger that did awesome donuts, smoked out police headquarters, got chased by 10 cop cars and got a Dwi. Not sure what happened to that one, the mid 80s were kind of a blur.
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Reminds me of when I tore up the lawn with doughnuts at a police substation in 1990...
 
I built this for my kid brother. It was a $500 318 car and we put a 340 in it and restored it, got it featured in mopar muscle(I think). It was first built as a stock 340 car, and later with a tunnel ram.
- having trouble with pics

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pittsburghracer said:
I told this one in a post awhile ago but I stopped in a local transmission shop around 7 miles from my house to bs and the owner asked if I needed another Mopar. Of course I had to ask what he had. It’s that green duster outside, go check it out, it has a blowed up motor. I see the duals and open the hood of a 1973 (340) duster with disks brakes, floor shift automatic, and a lay down rear seat. Ok how much. Pretty sure he said 450.00 or it might have been 400.00 as this was back in the early 1980’s. I told him I’ll be back in 45 minutes with a trailer and cash. Paid him and he helped me load it and 15 minutes after I got it unloaded at home it was fixed. A pushrod went up through a rocker on the driver side and I just happened to have spare parts. it wasn’t very fast but it was a fun car. To many projects to make it any faster so it was just a fun toy.
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I did virtually the same thing with a 360 duster. It had a 4 speed. It was white. Changed the rocker and rattle canned a Mopar looking black stripe on it. Sold it for 900 I think. That must have been about 84 or 5
 
This has a 340/421, got it off Craigslist.
Runs 10.0s. Haven’t got out much the last couple of years. May be listing it soon.

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Back in 69, I was in college, and I bought a brand new 69 Barracuda fastback, 340, Formula S, 4 speed, 3.23 sure Grip. No other options at all. I really wanted a GTX or a Road Runner, but the salesman convinced me to take the 340 Cuda for a spin. I was shocked, It was wickedly fast; quicker than both the GTX and RR. So I wound up buying it. I did some street racing and rarely lost. All I did was put on a set of hooker headers. It was so quick, I held the track record in my class at an 1/8 mile strip in a nearby town. I always just assumed it was one of those 1 in a 1,000 engines that just fell together so perfectly that it was way better than the average 340. I bought the car in January 69, so it could have been a 68 engine with the Racer Brown cam. I used to beat big block Chevys, 440 Mopars, and, most interestingly, other 340 cars. Why did I sell that car?????
About 32 years ago, I bought a 69 Barracuda FB and restored it to look just like my old Cuda.
 
Bodyperson said:
Please elaborate about the racer brown cam
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In 1968, the 4 speed 340s got a different cam than the automatic ones. It was made by a company called Racer Brown, and it had a bit more lift and duration (and, hence, better performance) than the automatic cam did. In 69, both 4 speeds and automatics got the same cam, and it was the 68 automatic one.
 
Back in 'the day' my brother had a 340 Barracudy...it looked like a granny car, hubcaps, bench seat etc total sleeper but he built up the motor and drilled holes everywhere and did all kinds of stuff to lighten it (yeah I know).. We both made some good beer money in those days racing out at the 'spot' on Friday & Saturday nights. It surprised people because it was very quick but just didn't look the part.
I windowed the block racing (beating) a Camaro one night and to this day he's never let me live that one down. He still has that block and when I'm hanging out with him if we walk by it in his garage he'll say "there's your block" and I'll say:icon_fU:
 
Another 1975 Dyer st in El Paso Tx, story.
The local street racers would get together at Dennys on weekends after the races.
There was another 340 Duster in the gang. It alway beat me by .10-.50. The main differance in his car and mine were he ran 4.56 gears and a taller and wider slicks. His motor had the 2.02 heads and a .523 cam both cars were 4 speeds. I don't know if his heads were ported or not. Mine weren't.
We both were in the Army at Ft Bliss at the same time, then I got out a few months ahead of him an went to work at the speed shop. Back to the race.
A kid(like 16 or 17 year old) pulls in to the Dennys parking lot in a 72 or 73 Nova. An it was hitting on all 8 hard. After awhile we get around to talking street race at the lights in front of Dennys where it was 3 lanes each way.
So I'm in the sidewalk lane, the Nova is in the middle lane and the other Duster is in the fast lane. We time the red light so we are all sitting, waiting for the green light.

The green hits and me an the other Duster are gone. I'm thinking Where is that Nova?
I turn my head slightly to the left and there is the Novas front wheel just outside my drivers window. He is wheeling down the street while the 2 Dusters run off an leave him.

We get back to the parking lot and get to talking. Every other words out of his mouth is "I can't believe I got beat by a Duster. Not 1 but 2 differant ones".
His uncle had built him this 454 Nova with a Ford top loader 4 sp and a 4.88 12 bolt.
It was a torque monster.

We just laughed.
 
Lots of oldtimers in this post. That’s kinda cool to hear these old stories and know why we got hooked on Mopars. Even guys that attended and never raced at any of our races still have old Mopars in their garages.
 
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