Old School 340 Build

67autocross said

Hey when I went in I was hoping for 400hp and would not have been surprised if it only made 375hp. I had another 340 that if you looked at the build on paper you would think that it would be around the same as this one and it made 345hp with a 490 lift hydraulic cam....the biggest things I learned in this build is if you want to make power use a solid lifter cam, gap less rings are the real deal and if you know a guy who is really good at building engines let them do it.
If I have one regret it's that I didn't get a new cam, Mike told me after the Dyno that it would have went 475hp if I would have let him spec a custom cam from his cam grinder.

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Just goes to show yah what you can throw together with some parts laying around. Like Mike mentioned, those gapless rings are worth 20 horse. And I believe it all day looking at your results. Just goes to show the power lies in the details. Guy's will spend A LOT of money looking for 20 horse, when it could be right under their noses, or pistons tops in this case!

A custom cam is always worth it in my book. Cost is minimal compared to the power you gain. I'm going custom solid roller this winter and along with full head porting and a compression raise, I'm hoping to squeeze 500 out of my 340, but would be very happy with 475. If I get 400 at the tire, it'll move my 3000lb scamp no problemo.

If I was you, I'd dump another 2G into that engine. I think with a custom cam, custom converter and that gutted out scamp you'll surprise just about everyone at the track.