340 engine appraisal

[Jimmydee]

I’m looking for help to appraisal on this 340.
The ad and the details were written by the seller. I kept it to have record what was done. It’s from a 72 challenger.

[scottieb]

340 's a sweet engine, especially in a smaller Mopar like a Dart/Duster.

[evilfishsticks]

My dad had a '71 Challenger in the early 00's that had a 340 that was bored out to 370 with the shaker hood, cam, headers and exhaust... it was such a fun car (except for the terrible brakes).

[Jordan]

Pistons? Heads? Intake? Carb? Where's the rest of it? Also, without receipts and proof any of that was done, I'm always skeptical. Seen too many "built" motors with stock parts and a fresh paint job.

[Moodog]

Offer what you think would be reasonable for the base cost of the block - bearings, cam, rings, etc. are all sunk cost by the seller. In my experience, everyone puts engines together incorrectly and lies about what they put inside of them. Dunning-Kruger blows up thousands of engines every year.

[Jimmydee]

This is all good to know

[Heavy_D]

My Elbow looks cool in your photos lmao

[DocsMachine]

Going with the above, I agree it's a case of "check for yourself". Assume any unverified engine is a "core"- if I bought that, I'd very much go through it and check clearances, reapply assembly oil, etc. Ads for components doesn't mean those components were actually bought and installed.

AND... even if it's from a "name" builder, I'd still check first. I have photos around here somewhere, of a guy's small-block Chevy. Simplest engine in the world to hotrod, right?

Nope, never ran right. I watched the guy drive it into the shop, then pull the intake and heads. It had either standard-bore pistons in a .030 over bore, or .030 over pistons in a .060 over bore. I could literally slip my machinists ruler- known to be .022 thick- in between the piston and cylinder wall, with room to spare.

Worse, the "FRONT" arrows prominently stamped in the dome of each piston? Faced towards the back of the car.

And that was from a local well-known, long-time so-called "race engine" builder.

Same guy built another SBC or another friend: Lasted less than a thousand miles before it grenaded, and never ran right from the start. Turned out every single valve went into coil bind and lightly bent every single pushrod- almost certainly the very first time it was turned over. Never ran right, and wiped out the cam in short order.

And, of course, the builder blamed it on the owner- you didn't break it in right, etc. No, sorry, coil bind doesn't just appear- that's "baked into the cake" type stuff.

As we speak, I'm preparing to go through an already-partially-assembled engine, built by somebody I knew well and trusted. But I'm still going to break it back down and check for myself the bearing clearances, torque values and so on.

Doc.