The Mopar 340 has its origins with the earlier 318 V8 engine within the LA household. This was already a reasonably good engine, however Mopar wished to make a excessive efficiency model of it. To do that, the corporate took the three.906 bore of the 318 and elevated it to 4.04 inches, however the designers didn’t alter the stroke in any respect, permitting for a larger engine displacement. Mopar additionally understood that there could be a heavier burden positioned on the engine as a result of its efficiency capabilities, so it changed the forged iron crankshaft with a metal one.

The consequence was a relatively spectacular engine that might generate as much as 275 horsepower and 340 pound-feet of torque — or at the very least that’s what was marketed, as Hot Rod noticed these numbers enhance to 320 horsepower and 368 pound-feet of torque. These outcomes made the engine fairly a pleasant selection for road racers or anybody wanting a light-weight, highly effective automobile. 

You would discover the 340 V8 in a number of of the muscle and pony vehicles after its introduction in 1968, together with the Dodge Charger and Plymouth Road Runner; and two years later, Mopar would put out a Six Pack model of the 340, which was unique to the Dodge Challenger and Plymouth Barracuda. As was the case with so many excessive efficiency V8 engines of the time, it grew to become considerably hampered by the emissions laws and oil embargo through the Nineteen Seventies, seeing it section out of manufacturing relatively rapidly. However, this has made it fairly the product on the resale market that you’ll definitely be paying a number of thousand {dollars} to get.

[Featured image by Bidgee via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and scaled | CC BY-SA 2.5 AU]