Question about the price of 340s

JBurch said
I don't quite get this?? Why was it a "scary experience"/ "Russian roulette"??

The first engine I took apart and put back together again.....that ran....was the 389 in my brothers 65 GTO, I was a Junior in High school, in Auto shop. Simple ring and bearing job, first valve job, did a cam upgrade, haven't the slightest recollection of what the cam was I put in, bought it thru the local NAPA store, they gave the school a discount, it came with 7000 rpm hydraulic lifters. Once I got my license so I could legally drive, I tested that specification regularly. It even survived an episode of "watch this.........." where I came close to 8000rpm; it got a funny sound, I looked in the rear view mirror for pieces on the ground.....nothing, I goosed the throttle, the tack still moved, no funny sounds; I kept driving. I was aware of Pontiac's reputation for blowing up, now at this point, I kinda wonder if it was more of an Urban legend like so many things now.

340's cost what they do, because people will pay, pure and simple. For a restoration it almost makes sense, almost. Since it's not likely to be the original engine to the car, it begs the question, WHY?? The original engine met it's demise in some form of street combat "back in the day", or "watch this........" as the owner showed off about how far he could wind his 340.

Capitalism at it's ugly best.

hi mr. jburch,

well... where to start...

first of all, "tachometers" were not common items until the 1964 GTO appeared. they were more common in foreign sports cars than american cars before the mid-1960's. because the 64 GTO became such an instant sales hit, all the car divisions started gearing up "race car" option packages for one or more of their standard vehicle lines. chevrolet entered the "fast car" wars with their "SS" option package available on the 1965 Impala, chevelle and "Chevy II" (later known as Nova). dodge offered the "RT" option on their 67 coronet line; plymouth offered the "GTX" package on their Belvedier line and the "Formula S" option on the Valiant Barracuda. ford offered the "GT" package for the mustang and the "GTA" option on the fairlane. the GTO Pontiac became a separate "race" car in 1967 (not just an option package for the tempest) and the big pontiac bonneville had a performance package which included a tach. however, ALL factory tachometers in the 60's and 70's were WILDLY inaccurate! it was very common to see factory tach needles sweeping and bouncing all around the dial as the motor got to high RPM's. that is primarily the reason why after market SUN Tachs became an immediate required item for any serious street racer.

because the factory tachs were so inaccurate, relying upon them for high RPM shifts was really a risky business. another problem was that the factory tachs would often go to "9000" RPM which was an IMPOSSIBLE number for ALL stock engines at that time. believing that "more is always better" lots of guys would try to shift their 67 396 Chevelle at 7000 based on the factory tach - and then when they would miss second gear, the engine would go "boom!!"

one of the reasons why GM lovers today are able to restore their 60's "big block" GM cars with "factory warranty blocks" is because GM produced A LOT of non-number stamped "warranty" big blocks from about 68 through 71. the company had to do this because kids were "blowing up" their 396 and 427 motors on a pretty regular basis.

GTO 389 motors were commonly referred to as "boat anchors" in the late 60's early 70's because so many of them were at local junk yards with big holes in the sides of the blocks where one or more connecting rods decided to exit on some high RPM race one night.

i grew up in the northern part of west virginia not far from pittsburgh and "muscle" cars were very common in that area. it was a common fact that it was "hard" to "blow up" any of the small block motors in the 60's and early 70's and it was fairly "easy" to blow up "a big block" - ANY big block.

one last thing to remember, the manufacturing standards of cars in the mid-60's and early 70's were COMPLETELY different from what they are today. those were the days of frequent strikes by the United Auto Workers and labor disputes often showed up in the build quality of the cars. there was really no such thing as "fit and finish" requirements for cars then. gaps in body panels were measured by if the door, hood or trunk would just shut. front and rear grills were often not aligned with body lines. it was true that soda cans were left inside doors. GM had a big strike at their at their Lordstown plant in 1972 which lasted over six months. it was not uncommon for unhappy workers to produce sub-par vehicles in an attempt to get back at the company.

another bit of history on old muscle car engines is that they were all produced "on the line" like every other engine. you could actually get a chevy 427 big block installed in your vehicle "from the factory" long before the day of the 67 Corvette or Yenko Camaro arrived - all you had to do was order a new 1966 5 ton C-50 Chevy Dump Truck. there were no "special" engine divisions back then like ford's "Special Vehicle Team" (SVT) or chevrolet's current "hand built" corvette engines. 6 cylinder and V/8 engines produced by all of General Motors Divisions were just "car parts". the guys building these motors didn't care any more about a 396 going into a SS Chevelle or a 389 going into a GTO than they did building a 292 six destined for a half-ton pickup or a 327 going into an impala station wagon.

so yes, big block motors in the late 60's and early 70's DID fail on a much more regular basis than any of the small block motors produced at that same time. it was a matter of "Physics" + "stupid teenagers" + "UAW engine builders that really didn't give a ****."