302s on 72 340

66fs said
The only reason those 302 heads in the article worked so well, is that they were professionally ported. Stock they are way down on flow compared to 360 heads. 308's are good, but have them magnefluxed before putting any money in them, I have given up on finding a good set. A 72 340 runs very nice, even stock. Sounds funny to put small port heads on anything, let alone a big port engine. I always did the opposite, MOPAR, Ford, or Chevy...

Yeah, close to stock in a 340 or 360 set up to run on pump is quite an adequate driver engine.

rigger3006 said
this 72 340 doesnt run very nice, its been parked since 92, anything past about 4000 rpm it just starts breaking up,, imo the heads are shot, cam was looking a little suspect also, it had been reringed in 85, still has crosshatches in bores. plus i dont mind experimenting, especially against the given norm, otherwise you'll never know for sure

It's much less against the norm than you think. Many who rebuild 340s put smaller cams in them, worse intakes, smaller carbs, and that all combined with higher compression pistons makes a dog that's unpleasant to drive too. Swapping to unworked inferior stock parts will not be increasing performance.

If you're going to try to go very high in compression, it better have the power to be worth the fuel. Being restricted to pump premium in a 200hp motor won't be exciting and having to run E85 or mix fuel in a motor that's not even making 300hp won't be a great payoff.