340 Engine, stock build

[pouria]

I am facing an injured 340 block with a hair crack under the deck above the lifter tunnels that will be repaired soon. I am thinking of performing an stock rebuild on this block with stock parts from affordable sources. By searching in the net, I could find out that Enginetech company is offering good prices for master engine rebuilt kits, for instance, 650$ for the Mopar 340 kit. Does anybody here have any experience with them? Do you recommend using Enginetech kits for a stock rebuilt? Any alternatives?

Meanwhile, I also found out that a company names ATK VEGE is offering remanufactured engines at a very low price. I could see a 360 engine there at 1400$! What does "remanufactured" exactly mean? Do they use any sort of new parts in their remanufactured engines? Does anybody know this company or ever bought any engine from them? Any alternatives for remanufactured engines?

Kindly let me know which way seems wiser for me to take, get stock rebuild kit and do the cracked 340 with the kit or get a reman 360 and put it under the hood?

Thanks - Pouria

[1ol74charger4me]

Don't want you to forget about us here but check out forabodiesonly.com and you will find a plethora of info on small blocks. Lots of budget builds and a good group to chat with and deal with. All kinds of parts come up on there and most of the a body crowd are really reasonable to buy from.

First tip I would give is you need to come up with a goal for your engine and guidelines you want to stay in. Like what you want to do with the engine. Daily driver or ? What horsepower would you like to have ? Gas mileage? How much work you can do yourself? How much does the car weigh, gear ratio, trans type all play a part. There are things to consider and decide also like to rebuild or replace the heads with the price for each being close to the same. Strokers can be built for about the same price as stock rebuilds anymore so thats a consideration also. Read everything you can find and when somebody describes what you would want your motor to do, copy his plan.
Back to your questions. Remanufactured means the engine got expendable parts like rings, bearings and everything that was usable within the specs listed for that engine was reused. Every company has there own guidelines as to when parts are reused or replaced. Price usually is a indicator of quality. No experience with ATK but generally these motors are good for daily drivers but not performance engines.There seems to be a large number of shops using Jasper engines and having good luck but again you are using somebody elses old engine that was worn or abused to the point that it had to be rebuilt and you have no idea of what that motor has gone through before you got it. If you want cheap hp , bigger is always better and a 360 is a stroker 340 with a smaller bore. But i would not trade in your block as a core. Actually they wouldn't take it.
Is that 340 the correct one for your car? If not I would not pay what it would take to correctly fix that crack. Ask whether the repair is going to be pinned or welded and get a price up front so you can back out. There are alot of 340 blocks out there. Also if yours is a cast crank motor( big weight on balancer) I would pick up a steel one and build it with that for about the same price. Good thing about cheap stroker cranks is there are a lot of unused stockers around.
Enginetech parts would be good for a at home rering job but machine shops usually have preferred parts and frown on you buying from other places. At a minimum you will want Sealed Power pistons, Clevite bearings, Hastings rings and Felpro gaskets. All old standbys and very forgiving in budget builds. There a quite a few performance cams that can be had for the price of a stocker. BTW Rock Auto has amazing deals sometimes and if you put dodgecharger in the blank for discounts it will give an extra 3% off.
First step is to get a notebook and write down your goals and guidelines and then take inventory of what you have and go from there. Personally I would pass on the reman engine and buy a used one I could hear run or rebuild a mean little tire rippin 340. Thats my 2 cents.

[pouria]

Thank you very much for all the info. Actually, as a 73 Dodge Charger owner, I never thought of joining forabodiesonly but I am a member of forbbodiesonly:) I will try that board soon and will gather as much information as possible.
At first I have to let you know this fact that I don't live in USA, I live in Iran and this narrows down my options by 90%! The repair on my block will be pinned by 70$. This is the original number matching of my car and that's why I still love it but I do believe that the block wont be suitable for any sort of performance build after the fix. What I am looking for at the moment is a daily driver with near stock performance and the car is a Rallye 73 Charger with 4 speed A833 and 8 3/4 rear end! Some reman engine suppliers are offering 7 years or 100K miles warranty on their engines! Shouldn't I trust this service although I can never use the warranty from Iran? I would like to get my car on feet again soon and that's why I thought of reman engines. The bad thing is that I couldn't find any source to sell reman 340 and that's why I chose to consider a 360 as an alternative.

[1ol74charger4me]

It would work to get it going but since that engine is the right one it needs to get back in there sooner or later. The crack you are describing is probably a crack from the block not having antifreeze in it and it froze and broke. Probably not a problem you see in Iran. Correctly repaired that block will do whatever stock will do. 400 horsepower is common these days with a stock block so there is room to heat it up a little. That is almost surely a cast crank motor and with a 4 speed I would definitely do a forged steel crank swap. Build it to 1968 stock specs with cam and pistons and it will be 300 horse. The important part is to get pistons that go higher in the bore than the ones you have now to get the compression back to pre 73 specs. 340s will run good which is why most were blown up.
The thing to remember about warranties is that it is no indicator of a quality rebuild. They hire million dollar lawyers to build clauses into the warranty so that they never have to honor them. Its usually only worth the price of the paper it is written on. We just bought a new car so I know that is true!
There are a couple of places that specialize in Mopars that would probably rebuild your motor and ship it to you. Not sure how expensive but most people who are do good work are used to dealing with global parameters of shipping and stuff. They could also sell you the parts to rebuild it also. MLR Performance and Hughes engines do good small block work. Just a idea but you could do a reman 360 and build yours, then sell the 360. Surely somebody could use it.
Post some pics of your car. Sounds like a nice one.

[pouria]

Thank you for the heart warming message! Actually 300HP is more than enough for me on that handicapped 340. Then I can start my 400 stroker project while enjoying my ride with the car that gives me real energy. The car is not at the good condition for photography now but I'll post some. It is bare now, no motor, no tranny, no seats no glasses! I am making my rotisserie to put it up to start the body work.
Regarding the pistons that come up higher in the bore, wont they cause any clearance issues for me? Unfortunately the previous owner changed the heads with 318 heads! Isn't there any problem?
I will check the MLR and Hughes products and get back here with more questions:)

[1ol74charger4me]

Your 73 340 should have a dished piston. This is part of where they detuned these motors for government guidelines. By going to a flattop or even a raised top piston you make the combustion chamber smaller which ups compression giving you more power. I would go with a Sealed Power flattop piston and should be no problem with clearances and close to factory weight so balance will be close enough if not rebalancing.
What is the number on your heads? The last 3 numbers are usually what they go by. If a true 318 head, you also have a intake mismatch because 340-360 have larger ports. Valve size is smaller but the stock heads for 73 were probably the same. You would have to have a X or J prefix to have a 2.02 intake valve anyway.
300 horse should be easy. Flattop piston, stock 1968 manual trans 340 cam, stock 4 barrel intake, pre 71 exhaust manifolds and dual exhaust. There is a great write up I will locate for you that does a similar engine and then they add headers and different cams for pretty impressive results.
We like before pictures.That makes the after that much sweeter.
Check out the videos for the Whiplash cam on Hughes webpage. Thats about a 300 horse cam with a really nasty idle added. You do have to cut the valve guides down but if you put on a nice Viton seal on your valves it has to be done anyway.
More questions! Just kidding, that's part of the fun.

[pouria]

Thanks for all the info, I really appreciate you. I will share all the casting numbers with you very soon. Then we can talk more accurately.

[pouria]

Well, here you go with the BEFORE photos of the car:




The AFTER photos need time and money

Meanwhile, I took some more photos to be able to ask my questions. The first thing is about the heads:



As seen in the photo, the casting number reads 3769973 that should normally be out of a 75~78 318 motor. But a little bit higher, above the rocker shaft seat it reads 3054 that means it is produced on 7th of Dec 1969! It is a little bit confusing for me, can anybody help me on this?

Now, I show you the intake photos:




The casting number reads 3671918A that seems correct for a 73-340!
Looking into the planes, I could see two nuts. What are these two nuts used for?
At the back of the intake there is one metal plate attached to the intake body. It doesn't seem to be a standard part of the intake and seems to be added later! Can anybody tell me what the hell it is and what it is used for?!

Thanks - Pouria

[1ol74charger4me]

The intake is correct. Those plugs are to heat the bottom of the carb. Tap and plug them . Less hassle. The plate on the bottom of the intake is to further isolate the carb from heat. I would take it off to check for cracks and leave it off. The factory intake will support 300 horse. Use the intake gasket to port match intake and heads by grinding the metal to match the intake gasket hole. No need to go past just to the lip and smooth the ports of the intake as far in as you can. There should be 2 ports on the sides of the intake full of black residue. These I would also fill by making a plate and welding it in or I have seen people melt a old piston and pour it in the hole sealing it. You will have to put something in the hole that won't melt with the hot aluminum. smooth the inside of the intake as far as possible. You are just knocking off sharp protrusions and smoothing the rough cast. Other than a good cleanup and topping with a 750 Performer carb (which could be used later on your stroker motor) the intake will be ready to go. Even though you are where it is warm I would get the electric choke to give a smoother warmup.
The heads I will have to get back to you on. Don't think you have much to work with there. Body shell looks pretty good. Unusual color. Lots have started with less.

[pouria]

Hey, look what I found here at a local shop! New set of 030 pistons for 340 Engine from 1982!





These are from Badger pistons, safeguard engine parts. The shop owner is an old friend of mine and is asking 100$ for them. Do you recommend buying them for a stock rebuild? He seems to have the entire stock parts I need for my 340 and a relatively fair price. I can start my stock build right away.