71 plymouth 340 color

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41husk

41husk

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The 70 340 in my challenger was supposed to be orange. I have seen Dusters with both orange and blue painted 340s. What is the correct color fore a 71 Duster?
 
In 1971, my brand new 340 Dusters engine was orange. The engine in my now owned 74 Challenger is blue. I don't know what year they changed the color, but for sure, the 71 engine was orange.
 
They were also blue in 71 . I do not know if it was a plant or by time.
If I had to guess I would think it was a time thing. Maybe January 1st 1971 they went blue?
 
Did a quick check for you and found that all 1970-1971 340 engines were painted a Redish Orange (aka hemi-orange) part number P4349216. From 1972-1983 all engines except the 2.2 ltr. engine were painted blue.
Hope this helps.
 
This was a running change believed to be sometime in May/June 1971 where the 340 went from orange to blue. My Duster has a build date of July 9th and has the blue colored engine, along with 1972 trunk lid with rib in the center and 1972 bumpers with jack slots, as well as black painted steel wheels instead of the body color painted wheels.
 
davescuda said:
They were also blue in 71 . I do not know if it was a plant or by time.
If I had to guess I would think it was a time thing. Maybe January 1st 1971 they went blue?
Click to expand...

There were blue, and turquoise, 340s in '68/'69 too. There doesn't seem to much rhyme or reason to Mopar's choice of engine color.
 
End of March they went over to blue, not set in stone my car is a April 2nd SPD and it has a orange engine. Here is why... Engine was cast 7/70 was assembled November/11/70 and wasn't installed till my build date of April /2/ 71. Usually the engine gets installed days to a week or two after it's built.
 
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