340 power shocker

[72hemi]

This weekend I was at Sears Point Raceway in Sonoma for the Division 7 brackets and I was talking to the owner of a couple a-bodies about his engines because both cars were running 340's with x heads and looked basically stock, but these cars were in the 10's. The gentleman informed me that the class he is running in he has a lot of very strict guidelines to follow ie. stock compression ratio, stock rod/piston weight, stock lift on the cam, stock 600 carburetor, stock intake (unported) and unported heads. He told me that he had to do a lot of R&D and find where to spend his money to make power. He said he would get custom ground cams with more duration, and use lighter pistons but heavier rods to keep the rotating mass close to the crankshaft and still be within the stock rod/piston weight, he was also talking about running nailhead valves to increase the fuel/aor flow into the combustion chamber.

I was totally blown away and the engine was dynoed at over 450 hp! It just goes to show you that 340's are awesome engines.

[426HEMI]

That is a fact that I have know for  a very long time.   

[Chryco Psycho]

no question , the Mopar engines make a lot of power

[vinb]

You were at the Division 7 point race?

You were probably talking to Steve Wann (F/SA Blue 73 Dart Sport) or Jim Durham (G/SA 72 Duster), those guys are pretty fast with their small blocks.

Division's 1 & 7 have some of the fastest 340/360 cars in Stock Eliminator..

Also the Super Stockers of Steve Wann & Don Little on 9" tires run into the 9's with Cal-Tracs..

Most guys in Super Stock run real big tires with ladder bars or 4 links..

Hope you had a good time at the races...

[72hemi]

I didn't get the information from either of them, but for the life of me I can't remember his name. I did meet Steve Wann and talked to him for a little while. When i get ready to build my 340 I'm going to talk to him about setting up my 6 pack. He told me I'd be stupid to run anything else. According to the friend of mine that introduced me to Steve, Steve is Mr. 6 pack and set up the engines on I think 3 or 4 cars there on Saturday all running 6 pack engines and all were in the 10's. Steve had his white 70 GTX there and an orange fastback barracuda.

[72rtchallenger]

I didn't get the information from either of them, but for the life of me I can't remember his name. I did meet Steve Wann and talked to him for a little while. When i get ready to build my 340 I'm going to talk to him about setting up my 6 pack. He told me I'd be stupid to run anything else. According to the friend of mine that introduced me to Steve, Steve is Mr. 6 pack and set up the engines on I think 3 or 4 cars there on Saturday all running 6 pack engines and all were in the 10's. Steve had his white 70 GTX there and an orange fastback barracuda.

i would like to know more about the six pack setup,,i run that on my 340 with the x-heads in my challenger and its one of the strongest motors that I have had the pleasure of driving,,please let me know what he tells you on setting up a six pack,,tks

[Chryco Psycho]

I saw an article a few years back on a W9 R3 small block in a lightened pro Stock chassis running 7.10 in the 1/4 mile when por cars wer only 6.90 range

[moper]

I had a shop four 4 years next to a multiple NHRA record setting Stock Eliminator guy. He's a Ford guy, but the tricks are the same. You'd have an easier time getting thier medical history from their Dr than accurate specs on thier engines BTW...lol. The oly reason I was talked to was a) I dont run NHRA and b) I ran only Mopars. But, his hydraulic cam, 9.5:1 Stock Eliminator 351 Cleveland made 485hp with the factory intake and Autolite carb. The car, a '71 Mustang, went as fast as 11.15 with a 4sp back in the 90s. Always at least a second under the index. He held records in D,E,F, and M Stock. M stock was with a 2bbl on the same engine.  After moving up to Super Stock trim, the engine made 650+.

[matt63]

I had a neighbor who ran Stock Eliminator with a '70 440 6 barrel Roadrunner.  It ran around 11.4 (this was in 1981).  If I recall correctly, body parts were acid dipped, he ran a cheater cam and the engine had to be rebuilt every year at least because of the rings they were running.  I'd like to know what other "tricks" they run. 

[moper]

I had two HD truck sized bays with an office and two bathrooms.. He had two car bays with another guy. One day I went in to his side and he threw a rag over the parts he was looking at. I asked what was going on... he says "Nothing." and wouldnt let me peak. So when he came over an hour later to use the head I said "it's broke." witha  big grin. So he did his thing, I followed him back over, and he showed me the stuff he was playing with. At the time he was selling his SE car and he was working on his SS engine. He had one of the first sets of iron weld-in port reducers and this was in the mid 90s. Some things.. I know he ran 130psi oil pressure, because the lifters went solid at that point. The pistons were full customs and he always had spares made in case he had a problem and had to replace one at the track. The valves were stock replacements but were hand picked from 3 sets he'd buy, then re-faced for his seat angle and perfect concentricity. The crank was indexed and corrected plus IIRC .008" because NHRA allowed varience up to .010 and he worried about an inspector making a mistake and him getting penalized. The oil pan was a full custom Canton and he drove down there a few times for them to tweak it for him. He was running 5wt oil and down a couple quarts. Everything on that car was scienced out and he is a very meticulous fellow. I was lucky to learn from him.