My 340 Score of a lifetime!

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Man same thing happened to me last fall, I was on CL at work and I found a complete pair of 340 J heads for $50 so I messaged and said I'll take them so.i asked if he happened to have the rest and he ended up having the 71 340 block, crank (he called a camshaft) and main caps. I gave him the $75 he was asking for it all and i ventured home happy as can be.
 
Jim Lusk said:
Great score. Make sure to get the heads magnifluxed. X heads like to crack from the intake valve seat to the spark plug hole, especially when abused.
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True true true!
Starts at the plug. You sometimes see that boss ground down for that very reason..to grind the crack out.
 
fratzog lover said:
That's what they sold for in 1980.
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Not quite. A guy told me that he wanted $300 for one. When I went back to get it he told me he said $600. He passed away in 1981 (at the age of 32 from stomach cancer) and a friend's dad inherited the 340, which eventually went to my friend. Fast forward to last year and I finally got that 340, but for the $1,500 I got for my '73 340 (standard bore).

Now, for the rest of the story. I know for a FACT this engine has not been run since 1970 or EARLIER. Word has it the engine made it home with the original buyer of the GTS only to have him check the oil the next day and it was "dirty". Somewhere between the "story" and the known fact is the truth, but it's a no ridge, standard bore 1968 340 with X heads.
 
Wow. Two questions....

How many times did you pull over on the way home and check the casting to verify it really was a 340?

340 VS 360 Build? Changes that controversy lol
 
Mopar44134 said:
Wow. Two questions....

How many times did you pull over on the way home and check the casting to verify it really was a 340?

340 VS 360 Build? Changes that controversy lol
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I double checked when we pulled over to get something to eat but still could not believe that I scored that for that price! I originally wanted to build a 360 for each of my two cars,
Mopar44134 said:
Wow. Two questions....

How many times did you pull over on the way home and check the casting to verify it really was a 340?

340 VS 360 Build? Changes that controversy lol
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I made sure I wasn't dreaming when I stopped for lunch and Just couldn't believe it.

I just have to go with a 340, I always wanted one because of its reputation so my plans have completely changed. The 340 will replace the slant six in my 75 dart, behind it will be a nice 727 and and 8 3/4 rear I finally found last year.
 
C2ndLTpigeon said:
So yesterday I was browsing the FB marketplace and looking at cars and engines. I came across a post listed as Dodge 340 Motor. It only had one picture so I asked the seller if he could post a pic of the Casting numbers. He told me he would in the morning. Well this morning he replied and it was a 340! I told him I would be on my way and fueled up the truck and drove to San Diego, 2 1/2 hours from me. Once I got their I met the seller. He was and older man and told me that his son wanted to build it back in the day for a 68 dart he had but went to collage and no longer had the car and it was taking up space in his shed. We loaded it up and I handed him $100. Yes that's correct $100. He had it listed for that and I even asked him if the price was correct on the listing, he said yes and the stands included.
It is a 1971 cast year with a set of X heads on it, which I did not know until I saw it in person. I disassembled it and Pistons look to be .030 over and might only need .010 more.

Talk about a deal! I always wanted a 340 but was crushed by the prices they go for. I know the 360 is bigger and I have 2 of them I was going to build for my 73 Valiant and my 75 Dart Sport. Now the Dart sport is going to get a 340!

Here are some pics of the motor. The Air gap intake makes up for the whole thing!

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Nice find, but have the heads checked up, looks like a head gasket may of been blown out.
 
See that? you 318 guys just aren't trying hard enough..$100 for a 340 may as well be free IMO. Good score!
 
You’re gonna ruin that 340 by putting an automatic behind it? Lame.

lol… just kidding :)

…kinda? Lol
 
Nice score, my last 71 340 was gave to me, my cousin and I helped a friend identify alot of mopar parts when his dad passed away.
There was a pallet of 340 engines sitting there, along with a truck bed full of 833's.
He gave me a 71 340 with X heads and an aluminum intake that was bolted to it.
He than gave my cousin a 340 that had T/A heads on it.
I bought a couple of 833's off him and a complete rusty 70 cuda 340 4-speed with title.

The amount of mopar parts his dad collected was crazy, there was one room in the house that had nothing but NOS Mopar parts in boxes. We are talking 71 Cuda fenders, 1/4 panels and at least 10 each of every electrical switch for E-bodys.
 
Im aware of the heads. Block and heads are at Indio motor machine. Head gaskets looked bearly used so someone recently did something to it. Crank will get checked as well.

As far as the automatic, I would love to have a 4 speed behind it and thought of the brewers kit that includes everything but not wanting to spend around 5K for the setup even though it's worth that.
 
I still would put a 4” crank in it. Larger bore un-shrouds the valves

That’s what I did with the 340 block I got for $200. The 340 stock stroke motor it replaced is under the work bench.
 
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This is really a cool happening. I've always wanted to do a "what if" motor with a 340. Blueprint a stone stock 71 motor with Thermoquad, but put the 68 four speed cam in it.
 
RustyRatRod said:
This is really a cool happening. I've always wanted to do a "what if" motor with a 340. Blueprint a stone stock 71 motor with Thermoquad, but put the 68 four speed cam in it.
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RustyRatRod, that is what I did in my 69' 340 Swinger(4-speed), my 70' I kept the auto cam for my 72' van (automatic 727). Only problem I have been having is, I need a better accelerator pump for the "Stock" AVS, so I can truly use what I have. It has a leather plunger that I have tried to rejuvenate by soaking in Marvel Mystery Oil, but it only last for a short time. Any Ideas? I'm trying to stay away from the rubber ones.
 
Trying to keep it reasonable, and I would still like to run on pump gas.
RustyRatRod said:
This is really a cool happening. I've always wanted to do a "what if" motor with a 340. Blueprint a stone stock 71 motor with Thermoquad, but put the 68 four speed cam in it.
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I'm looking to build it to run good on pump gas, Brian at IMM will put together a build that he has used in the past for 340s. I also traded him the air gap intake for a nice Mopar M1 Intake. I would like to use the 6139 340 thermoquad on it. But we'll see what happens.
 
Swinger 340 said:
RustyRatRod, that is what I did in my 69' 340 Swinger(4-speed), my 70' I kept the auto cam for my 72' van (automatic 727). Only problem I have been having is, I need a better accelerator pump for the "Stock" AVS, so I can truly use what I have. It has a leather plunger that I have tried to rejuvenate by soaking in Marvel Mystery Oil, but it only last for a short time. Any Ideas? I'm trying to stay away from the rubber ones.
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You might try coating it in vasoline and working it in every so often.
 
C2ndLTpigeon said:
Trying to keep it reasonable, and I would still like to run on pump gas.

I'm looking to build it to run good on pump gas, Brian at IMM will put together a build that he has used in the past for 340s. I also traded him the air gap intake for a nice Mopar M1 Intake. I would like to use the 6139 340 thermoquad on it. But we'll see what happens.
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I think he's good people. He'll make something nice.
 
Great Score, especially with X heads!! My block was cast 01-19-1971 :)
 
So I thought I'd post a little update on the 340 that I scored a while back for $100. The crank is still standard which was great. The cylinders only needed about .010 so it was originally .030 and is now .040. Lowered the compression to low nines. Problem right now is sourcing a cam that I want seems like a lot of the cam companies are having issues with cores, so they keep getting delayed. Cylinder head should be done next week. Having Brian at Indio motor machine do some light Port work and assembly on them. But the X heads turned out to be great candidates no damage and no cracks. Hoping that the bill yields about 340 to 360 horsepower. Should be nice increase replacing the 318. Just got done doing some ring gapping yesterday.

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