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 a 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

 

[rumblefish360]

Remanufactured means all the useable parts of a used engine are refinished and then reused in the rebuilding of the engine. Any part un useable will be replaced or re machined to work. In example, the crank gets cut and larger bearings are used, the pistons are replaced for use in a larger bore. I have a '69 - 340 bare block that is .030 over bored, ready to go otherwise. Interested?

 

[fratzog lover]

Did you see where he is from, Rumble?

 

[Pouria]

My location is not important at all because I need to get what I need from USA anyway! I am not looking for bare blocks now but I need an engine.

 

[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.

 

[rumblefish360]

The block I have was just sonic checked and the machinist told me I could use it as a driver and nothing else, the walls are to thin for my .060 over bore stroker project I was planning. I didn't ask the thickness, but he said if you want to build it to drive a car, fine, not hot rod it or race it.

If anybody wants it to build a driver, PM me.

- - - Updated - - -

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.

Yes!!! For a stock rebuild, no doubt, in a heartbeat flat.
I have used Badger Pistons before. There an excellent stock replacement piston. The first time I used them was in a 318 that propelled my '73 4spd Cuda into the 13's way back when I was still about 20/21. That was somewhere around '87....

FWIW, being a cast piston, they will drop right into my block or any .030, 340.

 

[Pouria]

Thank you very much for your reply. I am heading to buy them now!

 

[Pouria]

I got my Summit cam last Saturday. A friend of mine took it with him from USA:


I also took those Badger pistons and ordered the other necessary parts including the 360 heads. Meanwhile, I couldn't find any Fel-Pro head gaskets here in Iran but could find original NOS Mopar gaskets:




Do you recommend taking these gaskets?

 

[kowalski]

Couldn't ask for better than from Mama Mopar

 

[Pouria]

I got the new parts as listed below:

Main bearing



Rod bearing


Cam bearing



I got two problems and need your help. 1st, my friend offered me to convert my current "floating" rods to the "pressed" one. He says that "pressed" rods have better function at higher RPMs. He has a set of heavy duty 360 rods and is offering 24$ (3$/pc). What is your opinion on this matter? I have my own set of original "floating" rods.
2nd problem is I took the block to the machine shop and he is waiting for the pistons and rings to start the job. The guy in the shop told me the proper piston to bore clearance would be 0.006 inch while I could read in Chilton book that the clearance should be 0.0005 ~ 0.0015 inch:



The difference is too high to let me close my eyes so I would like to ask you send me your valuable information as soon as possible.

 

[2059]

Looks like you hit a gold mine of parts there Pouria!! Completely agree on the Badger pistons. Use them in for the rebuild of my 340 in the '69 Barracuda years ago.. early '80s. keep the updates coming.

 

[Pouria]

Thanks for your comment on pistons. Are they forged pistons? Do you have any idea about the proper clearance for them?

Yessss! My friend surprisingly has all the parts I asked for, all original made in USA NOS parts! and the prices he offers are really reasonable!

 

[Pouria]

I got new parts today:

Piston rings, SEALED POWER. What are those red and yellow marks on the oil rings?








Oil pump with M72 number on the body. Is it the right pump for my 340?




Your comments are most welcome. Also, I am still waiting your feedback about piston to bore clearance.

 

[Pouria]

Doesn't anybody have any comment on my above couple of posts?

 

[Cranky]

The Badger pistons are cast and .006 is a lot. Will it work? Yeah, but if it were mine, I'd shoot for no more than .002"-.003". I'm thinking your machinist is playing it safe just in case he ends up with the bores out of round. Do you have other choices for a machinist? Also, I'm betting those pistons are low compression too. On the full floating pins....I like them much better and don't understand his reasoning on why a pressed fit pin is better for performance. So long as the rods are resized correctly and bushed for the full floating pins, it'll be fine.

 

[Pouria]

Thank you very much. I kept my floating rods and had them rebushed, ready to install now. I do have other choices of machinists but this one is among top 5 in Tehran. The only problem is they dont have access to the documents. I showed him the book and we agreed not to go over 0.0015! Any comments on the rings and oil pump?

 

[Pouria]

The block is now ground and honed to 0.0015" piston to wall clearance. I measured the compress ring gap and ended up with 0.018". Is this ok? Shall take my block away to start other works?