Stock 1972 340 intake and Thermoquad HP limits..?

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Woodie

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Any guess what the factory cast iron intake and TQ would be capable of supporting power wise? Lets assume a true 10.5:1 .030 340... Big valve "J" heads and a SFT camshaft... There is a 69 valiant here waiting for a 340 swap from a 72 swinger, the owner plans on making some upgrades but wants to keep the factory iron.
 
friend has a 71 demon that runs well in to the 10's with a cast iron intake and thermoquad on it..


TD_KenKopecky_ESA-DodgeDemo.jpg
 
i wonder if anyone has tried extrude honing on one of these intakes? i read on an article years ago on a bbc and it made quite a difference in hp
 
A friend has one done for his stocker. Picked up 3 tenths. Till he got pinched during a tear down.
 
Those are good flowing manifolds, similar to an LD340 but heavier. I had a buddy that ran well into the 11's with a 340 back in the day. The thermoquad will not be a restriction.
 
Extrude hone is not that great. Even if you are required to run the stock casting it’s worth 5-10 hp. Cost is pretty high. There’s so much other low hanging fruit in most combinations.
 
Yes this a good intake, but any good dual plane intake power would be limited by RPM, that being said I would think that 450+ hp would be possible, and as for the TQ it has the cfm to get you there. For the engine OP was asking about it would be more like 350 hp.
 
Been saying for years & years, the factory iron intake is actually not a bad part, very capable. While it is true your giving up power to a nice new shiny modern intake, it can’t be beat for on the cheap and undercover stealth.

More people loose more time and power in there chassis than the difference in intakes. If you had money for a nice pro porting of the intake that would be crazy awesome.
 
Been saying for years & years, the factory iron intake is actually not a bad part, very capable. While it is true your giving up power to a nice new shiny modern intake, it can’t be beat for on the cheap and undercover stealth.

More people loose more time and power in there chassis than the difference in intakes. If you had money for a nice pro porting of the intake that would be crazy awesome.
I agree. Just business with 45 year old factory iron.
 
factory 4 bbl manifold and you cannot do better than a tq (well sometimes on a race only deal) unless you have a lot of money in the X or J heads
if you want to stay stock looking and have not spent money on the J's (guides, hard seats, porting) then start with the Enginequest or 88-92 208 model heads=Magnum heads can also be used with stock manifold with some work and they also flow better- (lots of vendors for the EQ iron heads under several names and various results of work
get your rockers figured out b4 doing camshaft iron or roller rockers- with any duration or lift you are looking at shimming your stands so be prepared to take the time to do it right if roller rockers think 1.6 (or more)
use AMC solid lifters and oil through the pushrods, use 3/8 pushrods (pushrod flex is a problem with long pushrod motors)
once you get the heads figured out (and head flows, and exhaust) fill this out for SFT Street Performance | Jones Cams
get your owner to be real clear on what rpm range he will be happy with, power brakes, gears, etc
 
Yes OP...please do fill out the form for Jones cams and if you don't mind, please post the results. I'd bet everything I have that you'll get an .842 lobe.

At least that's what I always get. Maybe you can get something better.
 
Yes OP...please do fill out the form for Jones cams and if you don't mind, please post the results. I'd bet everything I have that you'll get an .842 lobe.

At least that's what I always get. Maybe you can get something better.

Dr Think... Why a .842 lobe???
 
you are so right
not much market for MOPAR compared to Chevy
but worse they specify the same timing as for a chevy (long rod vs short rod makes a difference)
 
Dr Think... Why a .842 lobe???


You'd have to ask Mike Jones to find that out.

IIRC he told me (at that time which was 2-3 years ago) that it wasn't needed for what I wanted.

I disagree.

But I'd suspect if he didn't spec a .904 lob for me, I'd be hard pressed to believe he would spec one for most anyone else.

And Jones wasn't the only one. No one would grind a .904 lobe for me but Jim at Racer Brown.
 
Bill Jenks at Potvin/ Moon did our ones for the Propane buses
Crower did the one for the 383 Superbird I put a RB crank in- I still have the spare piston and will see if I can figure out how to post it up
It had basically Magnum seat duration but lots more lift and lobes for stock rockers
I've had several .904 profiles from Crower
Chet Herbert had some non catalog grinds
Jack Engle actually would recommend .904 grinds- not radical- easy on the valve train
did you notice how much more intensity the Comp XE 256 has over any of the other 256 Mopar grinds-
Rick Jones ground me his 440 cam in the early 80's (when Jones Cams was in CA)
Never dealt with Jim but did run Racer Brown in the Max Wedge
Also Isky (except for top fuel) only had ONE .904 lifter design- I don't think it's in the catalog anymore but it was amazingly consistent
The Racer Brown and the Isky both worked but were quite different personality wise
Racer was way ahead of the game as far as geometry was concerned- First to make a good cam for the OHC Datsun and ran it at Bonneville
later Ford 4 cylinder had the same challenge- not easy to solve on a hand calculator
Lunati .904 grinds are easiest to find- or Hughes
were' talking hyd here
solids are easier- Ultradyne, Jones several others have a series of .904 solids
 
I have several friends with an iron intake and TQ running 10s
Poked and stroked to its maximum!
That’s a F.A.S.T. Class or ......
If is amazing what can he done with stock parts but I also have to wonder how much faster can it be with the after market parts. Or what a dyno difference would indicate.
 
Any guess what the factory cast iron intake and TQ would be capable of supporting power wise? Lets assume a true 10.5:1 .030 340... Big valve "J" heads and a SFT camshaft... There is a 69 valiant here waiting for a 340 swap from a 72 swinger, the owner plans on making some upgrades but wants to keep the factory iron.

The intake has the ability to make more power than most builders will get with it. That being said, the aftermarket best will outdo it by double digits and be lighter. The guys running fast with them are per rules - not because better choices don't exist.
 
case in point, the D/SA record was set at 9.90 @ 130 MPH, with a 1970 340 duster, hhmmmm small AVS carb.
 
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