Legend of the 340

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mikedevore said:
The 360 with a piston upgrade & the same 340 heads is a lot cheaper & easier to obtain than the 340. Street performance will be better, due to the longer stroke of the 360.
I used to be hard core 340 or no motor guy for my racecars. That is until I built a 360.
the resto market has driven the cost of the 340 up. Its hard to justify spending that much on an engine to start your build. The 360 responds just as well to mods as does the 340 & cost alot less.
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That sums it up pretty good.
 
the guy who used to own my 71 demon 340 said it would stomp the snot out of his 440 gtx every time.
 
"Back then" I had owned a 69 383 4 speed RR, and in 71 bought a 70 440 sixpack RR from a friend of mine. I "feared" 340 cars about as much as anything. Fast and light (The RR was always "dirty", lots of tools and junk in the trunk, as I was in the Navy, and had no garage or storage)

Later I actually put a 340 into the car during the start of the FIRST gas crunch. A 71 high compression engine, with headers, other wise stock, and the RR had a 4 speed and 3.54 Spicer rear. That engine would stay right with a stock 383 car, get just over 17 mpg and was a blast. You could race someone, then open the 440 decaled hood and show 'em that "little bitty thing" in there.

The only surviving picture of the 340 powered '70. A house fire fixed the rest of the photos

I wish to hell I still had that car

81sruds.jpg
 
I bought a new 70, 340 duster in May of 70. It was a 4 spd, 3:23 SG rear and disc brakes. It was fast, 396 chevelles, 440 Super Bees and Mach 1's were easy. The trick was to ride the clutch a little, think HI-Stall converter. It was a great car, I drove it daily to work and the mileage was about the same as my later Dart sport/318. The only problem around here was my friends GTO and a 69 Road Runner in primer. The GTO had a 421 and roller cam, hell he carried the front wheels the first 30 ft and the RR was a sleeper Hemi. There was one Chevelle in Ledgewood that wanted 1500 on the hood to run, way out of my class..LOL You had to be careful of BB Chevelles, they could be made to run, but in pure stock a 340 could kick some butt!
 
They were great hi-po motors from the factory the 275 HP rating was a joke to keep insurance companies at bay. It was never produced as anything other then a hi-po motor. If you were to build a 360 or 318 with the same parts and compression they would run just as hard, the 360 just a little faster and the 318 just a little slower and depending on tune, gears, traction, driving skills and total weight of the vehicle.
 
I have the best of both worlds,a 340 with a 360 crank(making a 372c.i)in my 73 Dart Sport 340 4 speed.When people see the little 340 emblems on the fender,I always get a thumbs up.:burnout:
 
The thing I like about stock 340's is they didn't sound like they ran as hard as they did. Especially compared with the chevy stuff at the time. Couple of tweaks and they were REALLY potent.

When W2's came out you could have a hard charging car that sounded almost stock. Sucked lots of people in with them.
 
My 340 ....in a 1972 Demon has a 71 date on the block ?? I know all 3 owners of the car, same motor it came with I am told........anyway I have out ran a 440 several times in a row, a 455, a few times, got spanked by a 70 camaro big block and a crazy built nova. no matter what brand ...... any given day, there might be someone faster.... just according how yours is doing on that day....... but my money is on the 340.
 
I'm sure that when the rest of the 'OLD GUYS" read this blog they'll smile like I did. To have been there and experienced the horsepower wars of the 60's and 70's is one of the most cherished times of my life. All the long summer nights spent on rural roads dragging is burned into my memory like the smell of Sunoco 260. Every fast car of every make would be out after dark looking for a race. The 340's were quick but so were the 327 Duces and the 302 Z28's.

We had so many fast cars in my town that in order to compete you had to be either a good mechanic or rich and we wern't rich. 40 years later we still have our cars and our memories. Dan
 
I remember as a teen going to the track with dad, and his high 13 second 68 442 with a 400 4 speed 4.11 combo getting beat up on by 340 Dart swingers. But I have seen them fall prey to Chevys deadly little 302. Flame me if you want but thats the fiercest little motor i,ve ever come across for its size.
 
daredevil said:
I remember as a teen going to the track with dad, and his high 13 second 68 442 with a 400 4 speed 4.11 combo getting beat up on by 340 Dart swingers. But I have seen them fall prey to Chevys deadly little 302. Flame me if you want but thats the fiercest little motor i,ve ever come across for its size.
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Take a closer look at the L-79 small block chevy. That little 327 was the fastest small block I've ever got my hand on. This thing would take down just about anything minus a Hemi. It's a true giant killer, couple that in a little 66-67 nova which weighted less then a duster, and you got yousepf in a world of trouble mess with that thing!! Ask me how I know.
 
73Black340 said:
I just got a 73 Duster 340 4 speed and my buddy wanted to do a lil highway race he has a Coronet 500 383
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the guy (his name's Ernie) who built my Duster-it had a 340/727/4.10 SG back then- would absolutely not pull up beside me with the 383 Chally he had later. He said he knew better.
One time I was trying to get a red big-block 'cuda 'vert to go, he wouldn't...I was telling Ernie about that and he said "He'll remember that Duster- he won't want to race it again."
Thinking back, I can honestly say I never lost a race with that drivetrain...Sure loved the taste of them little Chevy motors I can tell you. The local guy with the beige '69 302 Z-28 sure wouldn't have thought about trying me lol.

...oops that reminds me- I did lose one race- an early '70s Camaro with a fully built 350 with a 150 shot (local engine builder- guy knows his stuff) beat me by half a length up to about 90. He was telling my brother later "I was on the (nitrous) button hard- I wasn't getting away from that Duster."
 
GM motors had a solid cam. No 340's from the factories came with solid cams.

You put a solid cam in and W2 heads, that little 302 is going to have some problems, lol
 
dodge freak said:
GM motors had a solid cam. No 340's from the factories came with solid cams.

You put a solid cam in and W2 heads, that little 302 is going to have some problems, lol
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A solid lifter cam does not automatically equal more HP, it's just that in the early/ mid 60's better hydraulic lifters had not yet been fully developed.

The L-79 he was talking about is NOT mechanical tappets, anyhow, it's the incredibly popular "350 hp 327" and there were probably more of those cams sold than any other single cam for street use, at least for awhile. They were a dynamite cam in their day, and they were cheap.
 
Everyone, and I mean everyone who stops to talk with me, whether at a stoplight, grocery store, gun shop, or wherever always ask me what year it is first. Then they say, does it have a 340? Then they tell me about their mothers brothers neighbors cousins best friends dads cell mates mistresses husbands son who had one just like it. I didn't know there were so many Dart Sports out there.
 
My brother raced a cricle track modified with a 340, a lot of guys that had been around races for years said they had never heard an engine that sounded like the 340. My brother ended up changing to Chevy after rumors that someone was going to claim the 340, and there was no way he was going to give the 340 away for a measly $350.
 
1970Duster said:
Take a closer look at the L-79 small block chevy. That little 327 was the fastest small block I've ever got my hand on. This thing would take down just about anything minus a Hemi. It's a true giant killer, couple that in a little 66-67 nova which weighted less then a duster, and you got yousepf in a world of trouble mess with that thing!! Ask me how I know.
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The L79 was a tremendous engine. There was a guy in our town who had one in a factory Chev II with a 4 speed and it was basically stock except for tuning. He spanked many a muscle car including the 340 Duster and Darts running around our town. I got a worn out one for a 100 bucks and rebuilt it, It hauled *** even in my 62 SS Impala.
 
I had my first 340 in high school and when my Grandmother died and left me a small inheritence I decided to spend it all on the motor and tranny of my Demon. 11.5 to 1 pistons, strip dominator intake, 850 double pumper, and a really potent transgo 3 shift kit in the 727. It launched so hard that I actually broke a driveshaft in half. I remember one time when my Mom's car was in getting fixed she had to borrow mine to do the shopping and when she got back she said you need to take that car in to get looked at, everytime it shifts from first to second gear the tires chirp :)
 

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this is good reading......not putting down the 360's but I wouldn't trade ten of em for my 340
 
This has been a great read. I almost bought a 340 Demon when I was a teenager. I drove it and was hooked it was a fast little car. I had to get permission to buy it once my Dad saw 340 on the side he said No.
 
waggin said:
this is good reading......not putting down the 360's but I wouldn't trade ten of em for my 340
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I would--I ebay them all and build a monster motor, lol


But yeah, if your butt's on the line and your going for broke, I rather trust the 340 engine over the 360. A few HP more isn't going to make much difference but if your doing 7,000 rpm in top gear and the motor throws a rod, your butt is going down big time, where the little 340 might still be a rocking and gets your butt out of there
 
all good stuff.
it was the combination..A body and 340...i had a couple of 340 e bodys and couldn't beat anybody
In '69 at our local strip stock classes came down to 2 340 Darts every week
they waxed stock Mopar and brand X big blocks most of the time.
360's will run hard but only a 340 is a 340!




the trick is to control your hobby and not have your hobby control you...hard to do!
 
I've had both 340 and 360. Both good motors. My 1972 Duster 340 runs every bit a well as my 69 GTS Dart 340. Neither motor has any work done on them pretty much bone stock from Mopar. A buddy of mine has a 74 Duster with the 360 and it runs pretty darn hard.
 
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