Im having a bit of trouble deciding whether to buy a 1968 340 from a guy who got it running just fine and has kept it inside one of his warehouses for 2 years. He said it was running fine, and he offered me 2 grand for it. He said he got it from a guy who said it was too hot for the streets. If i were to buy it, it would be going in my 1965 dodge coronet 440. I was just going to see what anyone on the forums had to say. Its either this 340, or a 1970 360 from city motor supply. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks

 

Nope. "he said that my buddy said that his brother said that his uncles ex girlfriend said.................."

That is an UNKNOWN engine. It could be in ANY condition, including bored so far ti cannot be bored further. I wouldn't pay 400 bucks for that thing. Do you even know for certain that it IS a 340, what year, and what heads or on it? Without a tear down and inspection you just as well go downtown and flip for the money on street corners.

 

I would go for the 340 BUT I would want to hear it run!! Or at least some kind of guarantee

 

I took a picture of the block number and looked it up, its definitely a 340. I wouldnt buy it unless I could at least take the valve covers off and the oil pan. Which if I remember correctly the guy said I could do that.

 

What does "too hot for the street" mean? What has been done to this engine to make it so...does it boil over after running for a few minutes. To pay that kind of money for a used engine, you need a lot more info.

What has been done to the block? What pistons are in it? What rods, cam, heads, rockers, intake, carb, dizzy, etc., etc., etc.,? You will notice there are a lot of things to look for and know before deciding. This is really just a short list I have given you. $2000 is a lot of money for an unknown engine. Do your homework first and then decide. Good luck and beware.

 

Like the above poster asked, WHAT does to hot for the streets mean? If its a motor thats been built in the last 5 years or so, thats kind of an excuse to unload something thats not right somewhere. (If this guy got it 2 years ago) Its he said, she said at this point.

This is the way it needs to be looked at.

1. What is going to be the end use of your car? DD, cruiser, week-end cruiser, weekender with few track trips, track basher occasional street use, track only?


AFTER that has been addressed honestly, then you may already have your answer. IF you are still wanting to really check out the 340, by all means do so, BUT see if he will floor run it for you FIRST, then after a bit, (cool down period) do what he said you can do to it remove BOTH valve covers and see whats there what components are in place, check the type of dist (points, electronic, stock, aftermarket brand etc) after happy with what you see on top, you SHOULD drain oil flip over and check the bottom end out, looking for windage trays, crank scrapers aftermarket main caps rods etc. An note what all has been "done", or not done. If it seemed to run fine, no knocks ticking etc, and you are happy there is still the question of what makes it to hot for street. Is it to much cam for whatever the application was when built, and not enough money to "finish" the build (ie converter,trans,rear gear etc) or is it all a bunch of bunkum?

You will have then the info needed if you want to purchase THIS engine, with the parts that are installed or the what you know WILL be a stock mopar rebuild, that you may or may not want to get just a bit more power out of, so now you are doing intake/cam/dist etc changes.


Thats my take on this dilemma as I see it.

M2C.