$454

[Dom]

The 340 six pack revved well from what I heard? These cars were before my time, but my grand father and father had bought a new 69 charger with a 4 barrel 440, heard lots of stories about it. Consequently I always liked Mopars.

 

[Truck Shop]

The 340 six pack revved well from what I heard? These cars were before my time, but my grand father and father had bought a new 69 charger with a 4 barrel 440, heard lots of stories about it. Consequently I always liked Mopars.

In high school a friend bought a 68 Charger 440, it was a repo. He mowed the lawn of the
president of the local bank, that's how he came by it. It was far from factory, would bury
the speedo at 160. The 340 was a high rev engine little known fact, the cranks were forged
and the con rods shot peened from factory. Same stroke as a 318 @ 3.31 with a 4.040 bore
it was a rev monster. But if one looks at all of Chrysler/Dodge/Plymouth engines, every one
is a short stroke large bore. Unlike lets say a typical FE 390 with a 4" stroke @ 4.050 bore,
Grumpy Jenkins proved small cu. in. engines with a light chassis was the way to go. His
331 cu.in. small block chevy--350 4 bolt block with a small journal 327 crank with bearing
spacers and corrected rod length would turn a consistent 8 thousand plus rpm. He was the
winningest athlete one year in terms of money won. He had a idea and it worked, soon
everyone was following his lead.

 

[Dom]

An engine that has good rev range is better for road courses, especially when transmission had 4 ratios.

It was interesting that cars could be had with different gear ratios. Did the 68 charger have a low ratio? My grand father had a 3.55 ratio, would go a little over 130mph or so. It was brown with the round R/T, not the strip.

My father would sum it up:
Mopar had power, traction, but heavy
Ford had power, less traction, light
Chevrolet, had it all just right.

Of course people would do mods to improve,but losing weight is not easy.

 

[Old Doug]

I've got 2 of those beasts 1 is 383 other is possible 440 haven't dug far enough yet to be sure

Didn't most of these engines have what they were cast numbers on the side of the block close to the bottom ? There is a old Dodge motorhome here . One guy wanted the engine and I told him if he took the motor home he could have it but he didn't get it yet and I bet I won't be that lucky. It has a all fiberglass body. I will have to saw its body into chunks and haul to the trash place then scrap the running gears.

 

[56wrench]

I’ve got a set of the older AER crankshaft, eng block and cyl head books which have the casting/forging numbers and it comes in handy. Most of the common numbers are in there. My cousin who was an engine machinist gave them to me when they were replaced with newer ones

 

[Truck Shop]

It was interesting that cars could be had with different gear ratios.

Remember---there was a time when a person could walk into a dealer and order what they
wanted from a sheet of specs and then add on special items.

 

[Truck Shop]

All of the important engine serial codes and body codes can be found online for
everything from a monkey wards lawn mower to a sears roebuck rototiller. I have
a bunch of Michigan Engine Specification books in a box I haven't looked in-in
years.

 

[Truck Shop]

had a 3.55 ratio, would go a little over 130mph or so.

Chrysler built ratios as tall as 2.73, most old Electra 225's were 2.93, not uncommon to find
3.08 as standard. Most all Dodge pickups in 70's 80's with corp rear axle were 3.25. Ford 9
inch in many cases was 3.25 in several high perf cars.

 

[Truck Shop]

And below we have a chevy LS swap going on, a 567 cu.in. stroker motor.
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[Truck Shop]

That's 567 cubes per hole.

 

[Truck Shop]

 

[Old Doug]

That would fit in my daily driver its a 1982 GMC 1/2 4x4 with a 250 and 3 on the tree. I have only seen 2 GM 73-87 4 wheel drives with 3 speeds . I don't thing who ever bought them new test drove them or they would steal be setting on the dealers lot.

 

[reganj]

I had a 1973 Chevrolet K 10 with 350 and 3 on the tree, a buddy of mine hung up the linkage and broke a few teeth in the transmission, replaced with a 4 speed with granny low.
In 4 wheel low first gear I could out walk it idling.
A 1976 Pontiac Grand Prix with Pontiac 350 had a 2.41 rear end ratio

 

[Bumpsteer]

I have a 78 Dodge d100, 318, 3 on the tree....as normal, shift linkage is all slopped out. Felt like a monkey screwing a football when I shifted.

Ed

 

[Old Doug]

I had a 1967 GMC c1500 . It was a 3 on the tree . I put a car 4 speed made a 4 on the tree and operated reverse off of a pto cable. It worked good I think 1st was lower than 1st in the 3speed. I saw a 4 speed for sale that was like a car 4 speed external shifter that had a adapter to bolt to a GM 205 transfer case. I was going to call about it but didn't. I wonder what it was out of ?

 

[Simon C]

Got my drivers licence with a 1975 Chev Van 10 with 6 Cylinder, 3 on the tree, standard steering , standard brakes. Yep , Passed first time.
Had to pull hard on that steering wheel.
Simon C

 

[Shimmy1]

I have alwsys wondered how much the guy that thought up a 3 on the tree hated life to give everyone that little nugget? He obviously had 11 kids to haul around?

 

[petepilot]

When you have 3 on floor and 1 on each side of the tree you have something

 

[Truck Shop]

Not three on the tree or on the floor----
This one below is truly the last of the real Boomer muscle cars. 1973 was the last of the Mohican's
no pun intended. 1973 Pontiac Firebird SD 455, 4 bolt main block--very rare, really rare these days.
Just a bare useable factory block {machinable} runs in the neighborhood of $4,000. The SD was
used to skate by emission rules in 73-severe duty--or so it has been told. It was track tested out of
the box at 103.7 mph with 13.7 elapsed time in a quarter mile with a automatic, that's fast for a
factory job in 1973.
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[Truck Shop]

I had three 66 Fairlane's, one GT 4 speed and two GTA's. The GT and one GTA were 390's.
One GTA I built a 428 based off of 427 med riser specs, except it only had a Holley 850 cfm
three barrel on top of a Ford factory CJ 428 Side Winder intake, the main carb plenum set of
to the right side just slightly, because it made for equal port tunning. #3 cylinder in a FE of
any cubic inch with all factory cast iron intake manifolds had a issue with a lean problem on
#3 cylinder because that runner wasn't tuned to the rest. So Ford built the Side Winder for
the 68 1/2 Cobra Jet Mustang 428 powered. Anywho mine ran real good with a slight stall
and a green stripe ca. Below is one of Fords deadliest cars ever produced--1966 side oiler
427, only a little over 50 were built. And most went to factory backed racers like Holmes &
Moody. Although probably one of the rarest cars ever built was a 1967 Fairlane 500 GT
convertible with a factory installed 427---with a C6 automatic. Only one produced, sold/
bought in Phoenix Az. Was on the cover of Super Ford magazine multiple times. The original
buyer still had it in 2008 the last time I knew, has the window spec sheet with it too. Blue.
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