Question about the price of 340s

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jimharvard said:
when a person gets "old", lots of memories about stuff that they experienced "in their youth" begin to get distorted. "fun" times get blown out of proportion to how much "fun" was really experienced at the time and "bad" stuff "back then" turns into "near life crises." my memory tells me that ALL "food" tasted MUCH better in the 60's and 70's and, of course, my memory of the long-haired, 16 year old girls at my high school wearing mini-skirts (and "micro-minis) offer a great deal of entertainment while staring off into space sitting in my comfortable TV viewing chair. but i HAVE TO SAY THIS: i DO remember how my 1968 340 4 speed fastback Barracuda Formula S with a 3:91 rear gear ran .... it WAS fast!! if i was pulling away from a red light in first gear and just planted my right foot into the loop pile black carpet trying to kick the gas pedal through the fire wall - the force that would throw me and a passenger back into those expensive vinyl covered bucket seats was overpowering. i used to do the $5.00 bill taped to the dash trick - you old guys know this drill. you tape a bill to the dash and then tell the passenger "when i launch this car, if you can reach up and grab that bill, you can have it." no one was ever able to grab that bill in my "340" Barracuda. there were lots of cars that would "accelerate quickly" back then. but then there were a few others that when you launched from a standing start and began grabbing gears, the experience was right on the edge of being frightening. that's the way a lightly modified 340 mopar was. if you had a 340 mopar and put a better manifold with a big holley carb along with a good set of headers and then topped if off with a 3:91 rear gear, you ended up with a street car that would scare almost anyone sitting in the passenger seat any time you wanted to.

i know old guys all have their favorite car. and i know our memories get a little less accurate the older we get. but i "remember" my 68 Barracuda - it scared my guy friends and it made my "girl friends" "giggle" and get "romantic."
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that post brought back a lot of memories.....1968 - 69 was a very special time!
 
RustyRatRod said:
I'll give you this as an example. The 1970 LT1 Camaro was rated (conservatively) at 360 HP.

Those cars weighed around 3300 pounds give or take. Couple that with an M22 close ratio Muncie 4 speed and optional 4:10 gears and there was probably not a 340 car on the planet that could take one, all else being equal. Stock for stock.

11:1 compression. 346 degree advertised duration, .458 lift solid lifter camshaft. Bow Tie heads.

Only way a 340 car of any kind will come around that is driver error on the Camaro's part or parts breakage. Otherwise, it ain't happenin.

Sorry to break it to you, but that's the truth.
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Not the one I drove. Not at all impressed. Chevrolet guys were crying like mice eating onions. Chrysler 340's and Ford 351 Cleaveland 4 barrel motors would easily clean their clocks if any way set up close. Weight, gears, transmission. Not counting Chevrolet was good for about a year of heavy "use". After that they were way down on power if still running. NHRA factored power was about the same for the LT-1 and a 340.
 
66fs said:
Not the one I drove. Not at all impressed. Chevrolet guys were crying like mice eating onions. Chrysler 340's and Ford 351 Cleaveland 4 barrel motors would easily clean their clocks if any way set up close. Weight, gears, transmission. Not counting Chevrolet was good for about a year of heavy "use". After that they were way down on power if still running. NHRA factored power was about the same for the LT-1 and a 340.
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Then you didn't drive the right one.
 
I am a bit younger, meaning I wasn't driving age when my 70 Swinger 340 was new. We ended up with these cars in the mid-late 80's when they were beat to chit. We had to fix/rebuild them. What I remember was, (and this is in high school when I was a broke *** kid) there was a guy with a really cool 66 Chevelle small block , pretty quick, dad financed and built it for him. There was a guy with a slow /dog 71 Chevelle, it had a 350, and wasn't worked at all, the car just looked good, the guy was an ugly troll, always had chics in the car cause it was a Chevelle. The really fast cars were ran by the gear heads, a 66 Falcon, a 73 340 Duster, a 71 Charger with a big block. The chevys at least in High school weren't all that. I will say that the 5.0 Mustangs back then were pretty cool, but didn't get much respect from us punks, probably cause they were new. Now, I like my 86 Fox body convertible, its a hoot as a daily driver. But I digress, I guess my point is, I haven't seen any impressive Chevys not in my neck of the woods anyway, I do like certain ones though, Big block examples for instance. I do remember every 69 Camaro I saw with 302 badges on the hood had 350's in there as replacements...
 
In my opinion the problem with the Chevrolet 350s and 302 305 or 307 is Most were pretty mundane and complete dogs in stock form. I regularly smoked Chevells and Comaros with small blocks at the street races in early 90s with my 318 68 Satellite . Yes there were some special order options for 302 and 350s that made a lot of power but at the local street races we never saw them. Now line up ANY 340 and you knew it was going to run hard. Maybe not the fastest thing but always was strong. How many of us have waxed some brand x car with an A body 340 only to get asked if it was a big block after the fact.
That is where the 340 reputation comes from.
 
So I guess that if I wanted to put a stroked small block in my Barracuda, I'd be better off selling my good running 340 and building a 360 based motor as opposed to having the 340 built. I don't care about originality, and it sounds like the 340 is worth enough to offset some of the stroker cost.
 
harrisonm said:
So I guess that if I wanted to put a stroked small block in my Barracuda, I'd be better off selling my good running 340 and building a 360 based motor as opposed to having the 340 built. I don't care about originality, and it sounds like the 340 is worth enough to offset some of the stroker cost.
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Never give up bore size. Use the 340. You can always put the stock crank back in it and never know the difference.
 
harrisonm said:
So I guess that if I wanted to put a stroked small block in my Barracuda, I'd be better off selling my good running 340 and building a 360 based motor as opposed to having the 340 built. I don't care about originality, and it sounds like the 340 is worth enough to offset some of the stroker cost.
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My 68 Barracuda has a stroked 1968 340 block in it. Now a 416. Changing one back to a 340 isn't that big a deal, unless you trash the block.
 
An older coworker brought a 70-1/2 brand new Z28 over the summer of 1970 and yes it was very fast. I didn't even own my first car at the time but it was fun going out for lunch in the Z or the bosses son's 69 427 vette. One day on the lunch run with the Z we were stopped at a light and an orange cuda pulled up next to us .It had a wierd strobe stripe that I had no idea what it was at the time . That race was on and the Z could not stay with that cuda which we both figured had a big block . Much to both of our surprise we found out later it was a small block car . So don't think a 340 couldn't run with a LT1 . 68 -4-speed cars would put a hurt on them too.
 
I love the 340. I has my car at my son work on the lift and one of the sale man came in said I heard you come in a said the a big block and I said no its a small block. and his mouth dropped. its got a nice little rumble to it. Its a 418 stroker motor.
 
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JBurch said:
Getting back on track........any one notice the seized 340 in the "For Sale" section..........$1700.00 OBO
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This fits perfectly into the origin of the thread.......the cost of a 340...WHY an asking price of $1700.00 for a seized engine???.........WHY???????? Since we are all liking to wax nostalgic about the good old days, "in the day" this would be hauled off for scrap, not a second thought about it, OR.....MAYBE some one MIGHT show interest and MAYBE take it home for free, they wouldn't pay a dime for it.

Selling it's fine........lets be realistic about the price, it's a huge gamble, the block very well might be junk, price should reflect condition, yet since it's a 340 it's gotta be worth a million dollars, even if it's junk.
 
harrisonm said:
So I guess that if I wanted to put a stroked small block in my Barracuda, I'd be better off selling my good running 340 and building a 360 based motor as opposed to having the 340 built. I don't care about originality, and it sounds like the 340 is worth enough to offset some of the stroker cost.
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I did the exact same thing a couple of years ago. My Dart is a mutt and the 340 in it wasn't original so I had no reason to keep it. Sold it to a guy who just had to have a 340 cause "they were the best engine Chrysler ever made" and I used his money to pay for part of my stroker kit. If you have a good running 340, I'd sell it while it is still in the car and people can see that it runs well. I shot a video of my engine running, including showing the dip stick and the breather cap while running. I sold it to the first guy who came out and looked at it.
 
The last 340 I acquired was gave to me.
Yes free, don't have anything to put it in yet, but free is about a cheap as it gets.
 
I got my red headed stepchild low compression 73 340 attached to a 904 for $400 many years ago and I saw a 69 340 for sale on Facebook today for $3000.
 
itate said:
I got my red headed stepchild low compression 73 340 attached to a 904 for $400 many years ago and I saw a 69 340 for sale on Facebook today for $3000.
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As comparable as a 440 from a Motor Home or a 440 HP Six Pack Engine. :D
 
itate said:
I got my red headed stepchild low compression 73 340 attached to a 904 for $400 many years ago and I saw a 69 340 for sale on Facebook today for $3000.
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Im not sure, but I was thinking. If I was around back in the day, couldn't I take one of them late 340's and slap a top end from another on and have an 'early 340' basically?
 
BrianT said:
I did the exact same thing a couple of years ago. My Dart is a mutt and the 340 in it wasn't original so I had no reason to keep it. Sold it to a guy who just had to have a 340 cause "they were the best engine Chrysler ever made" and I used his money to pay for part of my stroker kit. If you have a good running 340, I'd sell it while it is still in the car and people can see that it runs well. I shot a video of my engine running, including showing the dip stick and the breather cap while running. I sold it to the first guy who came out and looked at it.
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I thought the / 6 was the best engine Chrysler ever made...
 
Dartswinger70 said:
Im not sure, but I was thinking. If I was around back in the day, couldn't I take one of them late 340's and slap a top end from another on and have an 'early 340' basically?
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No, the whole rotaining Assy is different. Cast crank in the late 340's and low comp Pistrons V Forged Crank and high comp pistons in the early 340's. Im sure there is other differences too. :)
 
Just update your 73 340 to the 68-71 specs....the engine does not know what materials the crank is made of...it just spins...
 
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