Hey Dave! Welcome aboard.
The 340 engine can be pricey just to obtain. For inexpensive sakes, I suggest a 360. However, if your set on a 340, by all means get it. Same advise on the 727 to 4spd swap, but again, by all means if you want it, get it. Your car your way!
The 340 is a bolt in. The trans will reuse the cross member and mount. But the drive shaft will need to be shortened if I remember correctly. The floor needs a mod for the shifter. The correct metal can be purchased to install. The tranny is "A" body specific. It is short in length. B and E bodies use the longer manual trans.
On the rear end, I'm betting the 318 came with a 8-1/4 which is plenty strong for most applications though the 340 mostly always came with the 8-3/4 banjo rear (like a Ford 9 inch) which is very strong but again, pricey to swap.
As far as engine build goes, the small block section will be a great help and in the racers section there is a set of stickies where the members here have listed what it takes to run the car at certain 1/4 mile speeds. They list most everything in there car that it will need. And if it isn't there, just ask. 99.9% of us just love to give up the info in order just to help out a fellow looking to do the same/similar thing.
The old MoPar Performance catalogs used to list what it would take with use of there own parts of course to do this very thing. It was a wonderful thing they used to do.
Need to run 13's? Here is the list! What? Oh! You said 11's? My bad, here's the list of what you need! Your buddy needs help to run the 9.90 bracket? No problem, here's the list of parts to use!
Being that there's ore than one way to skin a cat, we started our own little page.
Also, there are a few engine builders here that are not a joke that can help advise you. I know NC has no shortage of engine builders. Just know our guys are MoPar only builders though I'm sure the if you need a Chevy or Ford done, they would do it. It's there biz. So money talks. ;)
This is a great time for us MoPar guys because the aftermarket has really come around for us. While not everything is in a catolog, it sure is chock filled by compare to yesteryear. Shop around as normal for best prices, LOL! It's still pricey.
Rob
