Someone needs to start re-casting 340 blocks

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Killer6 said:
Lucky You, You don't live in the 5-county Philly area, with the dyno/sniffing....
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Back before I bought my house in 1984 I live in Allegheny county which is the same county as pittsburgh. I refused to have mine done for the 5-7 years it’s was required. Back then it wasn’t tied into your state inspection so I rolled the dice and won.
 
pittsburghracer said:
Back before I bought my house in 1984 I live in Allegheny county which is the same county as pittsburgh. I refused to have mine done for the 5-7 years it’s was required. Back then it wasn’t tied into your state inspection so I rolled the dice and won.
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Yeah, I knew a few who did that, I got My IM license '85....always did My own. Funny one, before I put the PurpleShaft 284°/.484" in the '66 383, it sniffed clean for an '83 318 Diplomat.....passed with flying colors w/a 3310 750 on it, lololol...
 
Dan the man said:
Here in Missouri they used to have a hose that went into the tailpipe while the engine was running, this measured all of the emissions going out of the exhaust. It was given the nick name tailpipe sniffer
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yes, here in the uk cars have to have a tailpipe emissions test every year as part of the 'mot' (roadworthyness/safety) test. the level of acceptable emissions gets lower as the vehicles get newer so pretty standard stuff i guess.
neil.
 
We use to have the tailpipe test but because of our winters causing cars to rot, most drive fairly new cars so garage's weren't making enough money off of it, so it's gone for now.
 
Swinger 340 said:
I'm no expert on this topic, but why could you not sleave a 318 block with 340 sleaves?
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I suppose you could unless you run into water boring for the sleeves. Some teen blocks are pretty thick. Sconic check to make sure.
 
junkyardhero said:
you hit on something very important here: breaking even isn't the same as making money!

as an exercise say, 3K price point on a 340 block you'd have to sell 100 to break even at your initial 300K investment. and what's the ROI time wise? 18mo? two years? there's better, faster money to be made with that coin. (granted 2nd run with amortized costs and built in process, but still... you clear what? 1500 on a block? so now you have to sell another 100 to bank 50%)

then, you have as @AndyF noted, if you're gonna do it why not go ahead and make it better? well, then you're in the boat of needing proprietary or specialty bits. which, that's cool if you also produce those and are seeing some dough there but a huge bummer for the guy looking to buy a repop 340 block and transfer all his stuff over and not have to drop 1500 at the machine shop and 2K for a cam & lifters.

it's a great idea, but it's 100% about volume and there's just not enough there.

if the angle already existed, MP would've covered it, made it and then backed us into the corner, knife out and demanded our wallets.

which, granted, many would've gladly opened up and let them go elbow deep in the calf skin. but that's the 1% of the 1% of dudes that are all: "i'd totally buy a 340 block if they made 'em".

and that brings us to the age old truism of: cash talks and bullshit walks.
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Are not the molds still around from the original 340 blocks? My understanding, all the 340 blocks were from the same casting molds. 68'- 73'. Where are they? Finding them would cut the cost down from starting from scratch. Maybe offer the "TA" (4 bolt main) instead of the light weight 340.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Same reason Chrysler wouldn't let us use the Pentastar when we founded The Middle Georgis Mopar Club about 30 years ago. We sent a letter to their legal department asking permission just to cover our butts. They said no. We did it anyway. lol
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The club I help start in 87' had the same issue with Mother Mopar. We finally did get permission to use the Pentastar in our club Logo. We also new some big shots then. Times sure have changed.
 
Swinger 340 said:
Are not the molds still around from the original 340 blocks? My understanding, all the 340 blocks were from the same casting molds. 68'- 73'. Where are they? Finding them would cut the cost down from starting from scratch. Maybe offer the "TA" (4 bolt main) instead of the light weight 340.
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I googled this to be sure, no factory 340 blocks came with 4 bolt mains. The block did have thicker webbing if you wanted to go to 4 bolt mains. The aftermarket blocks are a 4 bolt main bearing block.
 
fishmens67 said:
Not even close to the grunt of a big block, not even the lowly 383. lol
The worst thing Mopar ever did is to put a low compression 360 in a 5000# truck
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I believe it was all about the "long" stroke for a work truck. The slant 6's did well, with its long stroke. I had a 67' Dodge HD w/ the slant 6 and grainy gear and it was a work horse.
 
Swinger 340 said:
Are not the molds still around from the original 340 blocks? My understanding, all the 340 blocks were from the same casting molds. 68'- 73'. Where are they? Finding them would cut the cost down from starting from scratch. Maybe offer at the "TA" (4 bolt main) instead of the light weight 340.
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I’m curious to how old you are. Most of us older guys know that mother Mopar doesn’t rally care about us. They are kinda stingy about sharing thing like engine casting blocks.
 
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Dan the man said:
I googled this to be sure, no factory 340 blocks came with 4 bolt mains. The block did have thicker webbing if you wanted to go to 4 bolt mains. The aftermarket blocks are a 4 bolt main bearing block.
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My understanding is that the meat was there in the "TA", but needed to be drilled for the extra bolts.
 
Swinger 340 said:
I'm no expert on this topic, but why could you not sleave a 318 block with 340 sleaves?
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Why? 4.04 vs 3.91 ID. That is .13 of an inch. Not worth the expense. 340 power was in the combination of heads, cam, compression, ignition curve, exhaust, and induction. It really is that simple. 340 blocks are a little stronger, but they are both made of good material. No one wants a 318, so just swap the good stuff onto any small block and you have a power house.
 
Swinger 340 said:
I believe it was all about the "long" stroke for a work truck. The slant 6's did well, with its long stroke. I had a 67' Dodge HD w/ the slant 6 and grainy gear and it was a work horse.
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Agree I had a 1977 Ramcharger with a 360 , it was a dog had 2 360's replaced under warranty , after that put in a 4406 pac block with a torker and 850 holley made a huge difference Truck was a blast with the 440 .
 
pittsburghracer said:
I’m curious to how old you are. Most of us older guys no that mother Mopar doesn’t rally care about us. They are kinda stingy about sharing thing like engine casting blocks.
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We are in the same age frame, I'm 68 and still having fun with my 340's. Sonny and Ronny Sox, Don Garlets and Darrell Gwynne were regulars at our annual show in Hollywood, Florida. Galen Govier showed the first few years and put on a Judging class for our judging staff. I was one of 11 to attend. I learned a lot from it and try to pass on the knowledge to others. I consider all of us in this forum a "TEAM PLAYER" in our hobby. Many of my comments start with, "I believe or if I remember correctly", is because I'm am 68 and 40-50 years is a long time ago. My first Mopar was in 72' (a Dodge Sportsman Royal Maxi B-300 Van) and I just 3 years ago, put it to rest. Still have the 70' 340 that I have installed into it and saving it for my next project. Pittsburghracer, I do agree with you, "Mother Mopar or any other large manufactures doesn't care about the past, but only for today, not even the future. The days of buying a part for anything are over. They want to sale you something new. The EV cars are an example. Ten years they will be trash and then you must buy a new one.
 
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Swinger 340 said:
I'm no expert on this topic, but why could you not sleave a 318 block with 340 sleaves?
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I don't know how thick is a sleeve is but you would have to bore a 318 0.130" + whatever the sleeve is make more sense to sleeve a worn out 340 block or Just bore a 360 0.040" and get some crank spacers for 3.31". or just say your 340 stroked to a 367.
 
Swinger 340 said:
True, if you are restoring a car, but as a good sleeper, why not?
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i don't know where you are and what machine shop rates are like, but sleeving a 318 out would rapidly approach and likely eclipse the price of a 340 block. probably be damn near the cost of an R block almost by then
 
Just mill one out of a block of 2024-T3. A 3-0 by 4-0 billet is only $20k. Another $20k in machining, bushing, sleeving and etc. should do it.

JK, of course ;-)

Joining the chorus here... Love the revs, buy a used R3 cup-car motor and find all the crazy parts needed to actually get it right. Better yet, swap in a 5.7 Magnum for cheap. Better in so many ways than the LA, without needing everything I put into my 340.
 
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