I read somewhere once that it has the distinction of being the only Mopar performance engine of that eraThe 340 is the "HEMI" of the small blocks.....
On a side note .... that '69 Barracuda (on Mecum) had, "The recall wheels"." ...powered by the 340, kind of the unsung hero of Mopar small blocks..."
Really?
Wake up from your gm wet dream-
It's THE hero of Mopar small blocks.
On a side note .... that '69 Barracuda (on Mecum) had, "The recall wheels".
"Plymouth recalled those wheels for safety reasons."
Can anyone give me the short story on that? Just curious.
Kraman...John KramanAgain....WHAT is the title of this thread supposed to mean???
For what it's worth, the story told on the Mecum telecast, was that the consignor had these rare wheels, & set out to find a [historically correct?] car to put them on. Thus, subsequently, the '69 Barracuda on the block at Mecum, wearing the "recall wheels.".@Rick Rockett , interesting question. Late1968, for 69 cars, mopar had a nice looking, kinda halibrand copy wheel made. Then , six days before release, they recalled ALL of them that had gotten out, made dealers replace all that they still had. Of course , this made them the holy grail for 69 mopar owners, and therefore HUGELY expensive. ( years ago, up to $5000 a set, now that they are repopped i dont know what they're worth.) They were recalled because the lugs loosened, but originals are known to crack frquently (early cast aluminum centers, rivited to steel hoop)
What is interesting is that i don't know if they were issued in sizes and bolt patterns for barracudas and darts. I thought they were only for b and c bodys, being 15x6. As far as i know, no a bodys got 15" rims at that time.
So, if I'm right, that barracuda either had a bolt pattern change, repops, or both. I'd like to find out.
" ...powered by the 340, kind of the unsung hero of Mopar small blocks..."
Really?
Wake up from your gm wet dream-
It's THE hero of Mopar small blocks.
The 340 was derived from the 318, which was derived from the 273.I read somewhere once that it has the distinction of being the only Mopar performance engine of that era
(other than the 426 hemi of course) to not have originated as a regular ol' passenger/truck engine first.
In other words, it was designed from the get-go for performance only?
You missed the point.The 340 was derived from the 318, which was derived from the 273.
If ya want to get down to it the 426 Hemi was derived from the 426 wedge which came from the 413. The first experimental 426H used 426W blocks until it was learned the W block as cast wasn't up to the task.
And if you really want to get ****, the RB blocks were tall deck Bs. Then the Hemi heads were derived from the Hemi heads of the 50s. Not interchangeable but similar.
Pretty much everything was designed for car/truck use first. Row it wasn't a clean sheet design strictly for racing/performance.
I remember those wheels well. Everyone joked about the "rubber" wheels and how they wouldn't last.
I actually got to lay hands one one back then. You could grab the slots and flex the openings a bit.
Kraman Ghia. Oops, no.