The year was 1976 and I was 16 years old. Looking for my first car. I wanted to build a nice old two door hot rod as a daily driver. I lived in Kannapolis NC and every where you looked was mag wheeled, jacked up and loud cars. It was great. My Dad convinced me to buy a newer car and so I agreed. We had to have a car less than 4 years because of the loan co. would only go back that far. I test drove a few and they were too powerful according to my Dad. So another rule was a very small V-8. That is when I saw a 1972 Hemi Orange Duster. It had a blacked out hood. Long black stripes running dawn the side. Rallye wheels and Road Hugger white letter tires. High back bucket seats and a 3 speed floor shifter. Under the hood was a 318 2 bbl. My Dad agreed and I put my hard earned down payment on the car. My Mom had to drive it home. I did not know how to drive a manual. But I spent all weekend learning on our drive way on the hilly part in anticipation of driving it to work at KFC. to show the guys. I have a few pics of the car today. The car did not stay stock long. I secretly started to improve the performance. First was headers and dual exhaust. Then came the 340 rebuilt heads and Edelbrock 4 bbl. intake. Carter 750 rejetted carb and a cam dynamics cam. Accel super coil and 9 mm yellow spark plug wires. Also I had the points distributor recurved. I hit the streets and had one of the quickest cars in school. I suprised many of stock big block cars and took their money. The car was quick and lethal. I drove that car until a girl ran a stop sign in Lake Norman and totaled it out. I believe it was 1980. Today I have only the antenna from this car. It rides on my 70 Challenger and I still respect that 72 Duster for all the street racing it did. And held its own against what was considered faster cars.
That is an awesome story! Very reminiscent of me in high school, with my yellow ‘71 318 Duster Twister. Dual exhaust, hooker headers, Holley 4 barrel and 3.55 rear gear swap. Good times. Thanks for sharing.
@@Duster_Garage Thankyou for the great video. That White Duster you have is a nice looking car. And runs really strong. We grew up in those times and know what a good strong running car was. Today’s easy hp does not allow them to comprehend what 13 second times were. That was a strong running big block. 12s we’re just insane for a street car. I sure miss my Duster. So many memories in that first car. A lot of first in that car. But I still own my white 70 Challenger I got in 79 and my 70 GTX that I got in 81. And my only new bought vehicle a 2009 Challenger R/T 6 speed manual done in inferno red. It has more mileage than my Challenger and GTX combined. 206,000 miles. Original clutch still in there. Car looks brand new. I keep thinking one day I will get another 72 Duster. But my days are running out 😛
You hit the nail on the head! These newer cars with fuel injection and turbos are so much easier to make a lot of power. Now it seems like if you aren’t running at least 10s, you aren’t considered fast. But I digress. I hope that ‘72 Duster you are dreaming of comes along.
My Dad and Mom owned a few Mopars from a Cuda , Charger , Dart and my favorite the Gold Duster. That Duster was a quick car with headers and those cherry bomb mufflers and staggered white letter tires. He even won a burnout contests. I was told by one of his buddies that they had never seen anyone shift as fast a he did. He is the reason I own and love muscles today. Miss you Dad. Aka "Duster Dan" Redd ✔
Nice! In about 1988, I saw a ‘70 340 Duster stalled at an intersection. When I came back by there after work, it was parked in a parking lot nearby. I left a note on the windshield, he called, I asked what was wrong with it, he said he shut it off because of low oil pressure 🤷♂️ and that somebody offered him $600 for the car. I said how about $650, he said yeah, we towed it home, I pulled a valve cover, saw the rocker shaft oil holes staring back at me, flipped ‘em, problem solved lol.
Judging by the tail lights, that is a '73 car. I had a 73 too - here's a story. I saw an ad for a 73 Duster 340. I went and test drove it. I didn't have enough money for two cars, and decided to keep the Barracuda I had. All I remember from that drive was when the thermoquad secondaries hit, the thrush glass packs would rap so beautifully (something I cannot forget). I crawled under it to see what the mufflers were, as they were so impressive. Then a year later, I went out to say hi and see about the car. The engine was out, due to burned valves reportedly. There were parts laying around everywhere. The owner had lost interest. I bought it for like $400 with buckets of parts, rebuilt the engine, and put it back together. This was a pretty rare car. Bright bright green, black 340 stripe and interior. High back bucket seats, 4-speed, 3.21 gears (this was an 8-1/4") sure-grip. It had a factory sunroof and rear fold down seat. I learned about thermoquads. It took some doing, but when the TQ was right, man that thing had some scoot, despite the last 340's low compression, small valves, etc. This was not a race, but I was filling it up one day, across the pump from a 69 Chevelle SS 396. He was the one to break the ice by saying nice car, and asking if it was fast. I said it runs pretty good, and asked about his. I don't remember his reply, except that he said he doesn't mess with 340's (something I cannot forget). I have no clue if the 340 would have won, but it was a chalk mark just the same. Lastly, I sold it for $1200 to rebuild the Barracuda engine. Those were the days I guess.
I'm also a duster owner over 35 years and I like the way the car looks but it is a 73 with a earlier front end on it the other give away is the side lights 72 end up side lights were mounted outside the fenders 70 and 71 they were built into the fenders but I like the way the car looks he did a nice job
@@Duster_Garage I like the way it looks it should have came from the factory that way anyway I will not give my duster up for anything it basically has a built 318 with 340 cam heads this that the other thing love the car also got a 69 get tools out GTO anyway enough of that your car came out nice remember what Mopar stands for Move Over People Are Racing
In 1969, my brother-in-law bought a brand new 1969 Dodge Dart GTS 340 automatic. It was gold with white interior and white vinyl roof. We would cruise to the sound of "Creedance Clearwater Revival" playing on his 8-track player. This car beat almost everything on the road. The only time he got beat was on the perimeter highway when he raced a 428 Ranchero. The Ranchero got the jump off the line by less than a car length, but the front bumper on the Dart was beside the rear bumper of the Ranchero. The Ranchero never pulled away at that point. My brother-in-law said the difference was the extra wide rear tires on the Ranchero which gave him better traction off the line. My brother-in-law's Dart GTS was dead stock with narrow factory tires. A beautiful car! Those were the days!
Back in 81 aged 18, I had a 70 225 Duster with 3 speed manual, and a 67 383 Coronet that had been rear ended, so I swapped the motor into the Duster keeping the manual trans. Hot Rod magazine had published a parts list for the B/RB swap, I also took the 3:23 Sure grip out of the Coronet and moved the spring mounts forward and inch. Fitted a pair of 8x15 steels off an Aspen with 8" slicks. I was working weekends in a tyre shop so bent up some tubing and welded my own fender well headers with a stick welder. Seem to remember it ran mid to low 12's using junk yard parts.
My best street racing story of my 71 Duster 340 was with a nitrous 5.0 Mustang in the early 90's. Back then I owned a speed shop and the Mustang guy was a customer. 340 was bored 30 over, and was balanced and blueprinted, with stock forged crank and rods, and TRW 10.5:1 forged pistons. Had a 292 509 purple shaft cam, the Mopar Performance M1 single plane intake with a Barry Grant modified Holley 750 that flowed 910 CFM. Ported and polished T/A heads with Manley SS valves, hooker Super Comp headers, Crane Hi-6 box. 3500 stall turbo Action converter, with a reverse manual valve body, and 4.30 gears and super stock springs. Best run the car ever had was a 12.6 at 116mph. The Mustang guy had what was basically a stock 5.0 mustang, that had been beat to death, with a couple of bolts on parts and a nitrous kit. He used to come into the shop and bother the hell out of me and the poor little Duster. He would always say that in his town, those old Dusters were used to keep chickens in them. They were so worthless that people would just strip the cars and basically use the body as chicken coops. He was always wanting to race me. I guess that in the small town he lived he was hot stuff with the NOS Mustang. One day I finally agreed. So, we set on a time in the middle of the week at night to do a race. It was probably a Wednesday night, but I can't really remember. Tons of people showed up to see the race and lined up the 2 lane highway on both sides. Some of the guys blocked the street so that we could race, and we both did the ubiquitous burnouts and staged one besides the other. I got my foot on the brake, torqued the engine slightly against the converter, (car was on street tires), and when the guy that was in front of us dropped his hands, I slowly eased into the pedal trying to keep as much traction as possible. I immediately jumped in front of him, and started pulling on him in first gear, hit second gear and I was pulling away fast, then hit 3rd and I was gone, never saw him again till after I had passed the 1/4 mile mark and hit the brakes. Needless to say he never called little Duster a chicken coop again, LOL
I got you. I showed my taillights to 5.0 Mustangs and big block muscle cars back in the day. I too had my technique down of getting out of the hole without spinning.
Sounds like every 5.0 I ran. Wasted a late 90s/early 2000s cobra at lacr, Some big mouthed punk kid walks over tells me how he smokes old pos like mine, goes "12.40s on the dial in". Asked him his mph he was quiet (full of shit). Took a vid of the run it wasnt even a race all you could hear was his exaust . Doof ran a 14 something to my low 13 Bone stock 150ki mi 90 ZR-1. Not a peep out of him rest of the night
My first car back in 1976 when I was 16 yrs old was a 1970 340 Dodge Dart Swinger. The car only had 42,000 miles on it, so the drive train was fine. It had the 727 Torqueflite and the 8 3/4 rear end and 3.23 ratio with SureGrip. I never took it to a timed track, but we had a carefully measured out 1/4 mile where I lived outside Houston in Pasadena. It would consistently do 96 mph in the 1/4 mile. The first owner must have lived at the beach because the deck lid was already rusted through on either side of the deck lid lock. Also, of course, above the rear wheel wells. This was the middle of the OPEC fuel embargo, so I got this rusted gas guzzler for $350 plus TT&L. Went to the place where everyone on the south side of Houston went to race. There was a twit there with the fully restored 1969 Camaro Z/28. Red with white stripes that his Daddy had paid to have restored. He had all of his buddies there oohing and aaahing at his car. I was parked close to him, and he felt the need to make fun of my car. Tiny wee wee on this guy! Finally, I just got tired of his mouth and challenged him. I knew he had more hp, plus 4-speed and certainly better rear gears for his high-winding beast. I was just hoping he'd miss a shift. So we take off even, but at the top of the first gear, he pulled a car length on me. Kinda expected this. But whenever he shifted, he didn't speed shift. He granny shifted. Let off the gas, shift the gear, then floor it again. So every gear all the way down the 1/4 mile, he'd pull ahead in each gear, then I'd pass him as he shifted, then he'd pass me again, etc. Well, he shifted just before the end of the 1/4 mile, and I passed him just before the end. So we get back to the parking lot and he ran up to me and slashed across my chest. It was dark, so I thought he'd just lightly shoved me. His buddies dragged him off. I went back to my car and looked down. Luckily it was cold that night, and I had a denim jacket on, but you could see the slice across it. Could have been bad if it was warm and I had a T-shirt on. I guess it just stripped his mental gears that a rusty old Mopar so stock it still had the factory hubcaps on it just beat him. I would have been happy to show him how to speed shift, if he hadn't been such a twit.. :)
Dang, that 340 is dialed in!!! It really pulled hard all the way to redline. Back in 1984 at the ripe old age of 16, I got 2nd place at the KY102 annual "High School Drags" at KCIR raceway in Kansas City(actually Knob Town). I was in my cherry 1969 GTO with only 65k original miles. Standard 400/350hp, th400, 3.55 rear gears. I ran a 14.68 in the final against a '70 Duster with a 340/automatic. We both had a single modification, headers. He ran a 14.58. We both actually broke out but he broke out by less so he got the bigger trophy. I actually had a 71 Demon 340/4 speed setting in my dad's shop at the time. I had purchased it before the GTO but I had borrowed some money from my dad and he was holding it as collateral. I was busy buying speed parts for my GTO at the old Super Shops and my dad got tired of waiting and sold the Demon. I wish I had paid him back. I still have the GTO, I'm pretty sure I would still have the Demon as well!!!
Dude! That is awesome you still have your car from high school. I still have my yellow ‘71 Duster I drove in high school. Too cool, thanks for sharing!
for being nearly bone stock id say hes got it to the 99.99999% percent. That is a pretty nice duster, what I love about it its almost like it came from the dealer.
You may have been lucky he sold the Demon 340. I bought a new one in 1972 and it was a big letdown. When I got home I looked under the hood to make sure it was a V8. No power at all compaired to my Swinger 340 I bought in 1969. Not sure when the smog stuff started uo on cars but one thing they did to that engine was to cut the compression from about 10 to 1 ta 8 to 1.
Those are respectable times. 340 A-bodies used to be everywhere, now they are a rarity. You are fortunate to have a clean example like that. Those upshifts seem nice and tight.
My brother had a 1970 Challenger T/A with a 340 Six Pack back in 1974. I still remember the torque I felt from the passenger seat. I was an experience that never left me.
Back in 87 I built a 340 for my friends 72 duster 4 speed. Bored 30 over direct connecation 292 cam , 850 holley double pumper 1970 340 heads edelbrock dual plane manifold and solid motor mounts. Rear gears 3:91 with traction bars , consistent 12.2 to 12.5 quarter mile run at newengland Dragway epping n.h.
Best smallblock ever. 340 is a breathing monster. My friend had a 71 demon with a 340 six pack and 4 speed years ago. Very very rare combo. He put a bigger cam headers and accel coil. It would eat big blocks for lunch
@rondpert5167 the pre 1973 340s were not underrated back in the day almost all were 10.5 to 1 compression hp machines the were only made about 6 years tops and were made to compete against the big blocks of the time. Hot rod magazine back in the 1980s named it the 2 best small block ever made only behind one version of the chevy 350 that only came in one year of the cameros or corvettes and were a special order. The the 1972 demons the 340 was know to hit low 14s bone stock on polyester tires where was moving.
@@kellybarthel8060 1970 LT-1 was probably the one youre thinking of. 350 11-1 nice soli flat tappet, high rise dual plane etc. Crutch were the chitty heads chevy used back then .
@@gordocarbo no I was talking about the dodge 340. Hot rod named 2nd best small block ever made behind yes one version of Chevy 350 that came very few corvettes and a few comaros I think only one year produced. But the article was from early 80s or late 70s so it's been a bit since I read it.
My dad just passed away last month at 83 years old and his current project at the time was his white Duster just like yours. He built a lot of Mopars over the years but this was his baby. Seeing your car makes me think of him. He instilled the love of cars and particularly Mopars in my brother and I and we have our own project cars now, plus his Duster which will always be in the family.
My first new car was a 1970 Duster 318 3 speed Bought it at Marmie Motors in Great Bend KS. in 1970. I took the 4 speed out of my old 65 barracuda and put it in my duster, I loved that car, but sold it when I got home from Vietnam when I got married, wish I would have kept it, but who knew back then what they would mean today. I also had a 1974 Duster with a 440 in it, look up my video of doing a burn out. Liked your video.
Back in the mid 70's I had a '68 barracuda S convertible with the 340 and 4spd. As a high schooler!! Those were the days, eh? All stock, including engine with the original 4 spd cam...bought from the first owner whose new wife didn't want to drive a stick. Even as a dopey teenager, back when you could buy big block cars for nothing, I knew it was special. It was a lot of fun...no organized racing, just a little street racing and a lot of cruising. Your duster looks great...glad you're having fun with it
I had a on 340 duster, it was beat up bad when I got it , 3 busted windows, drivers side rear tire had came off and ended up running down the gas tank ! It was a dark burnt orange, with flat black stripes , it had a big Carter 4 barrel, my dad tuned it up, he was a Chrysler master mechanic ! It had a different ring and pinion, but I never knew what it was ? Black interior, bench seat, auto on colum. I don't remember what the rear tire size was, aftermarket chrome slots real wide low profile , i never lost a drag race with that duster ! And I'd race some cars that you'd think would eat it , one i remember for instance, was a 68 or 69 dodge coronet R/T a 440 six pack , i waved bye bye before the turned green, he got mad , started spinning the tires , i kept waving, i just left him, the r/t was beautiful, but that Duster didn't care. When I was out in the stix , I'd get it up to 137 mph , so i really , like your duster , I'm 66 , the Duster was sold when I went in the army, early 70s , i sure miss it , don't let yours go , it's in such good shape my Friend, i enjoyed watching your film, made me tear up, thanks young Man !!
I took me and my 3yo daughter to the Monroe swap meet in my stock 74 Duster 360/auto, which I had bought & rebuilt after my BIL wrecked it celebrating his birthday. I never got around to putting the 360 emblems back on it. Anyway, I came back from the swap meet wheeling a 3.91 chunk and a pair of 2.02 heads in a wagon. I unloaded the stuff into the trunk in the pkg lot, then I strapped my daughter into her car seat, then I went to get in my car to leave. It was then I became aware that there was another Duster parked next to me and the occupants had put a piece of paper on my w/shield. All that was printed on it was, "BEFORE". It was then, I realized the other Duster was occupied and it had a sheet of paper on it saying, "AFTER". The other Duster was jacked up & sporting big wheels & tires. It looked to be modded a lot, and the occupants were yukking it up pretty heartily. I guess my Duster did look pretty innocuous, w/ C-body rallies and white wall tires. I was feeling kinda devilish, so I said let's run for pinks. The driver said, "no, he didn't want to take my car." I said, "how 'bout a 100 bucks, then?" "Nah", he said. "OK, fifty?" "Nah." Finally, I said, "OK, I'll run you for free." He agreed. There's a 2-lane frontage road that runs parallel to SR2 and lies between the pkg lot and the highway. We stopped at the east end, his friends got out to lighten his car. One flagged the start. We left and I had him by a length before I even shifted to second, and the gap just got bigger real fast from there. He gave up when the gap grew to 4 to 5 car lengths. I think he learned a lesson or two there. Don't judge a book by its cover, and just bolting aftermarket stuff on does not make it fast.
I saw it go down in the day. A 66 Chevelle with 396 4 speed ruled the streets in the town I lived in. Until a brand new 1970 340 Duster with a torque flite waxed that Chevelle. That Chevelle was legendary and got to see the drag race out on the truck route. By about one car length. Approx 1/4 mile
I've owned 3 Dusters. Two 72s and a 73. The first 72 I had was my senior year high school car. It was just a 318 car. I straight piped the exhaust and threw a 4:10 rear in the back of as part of my senior project. That thing was a rocket light to light. I spanked so many 5.0 mustangs and Camaros in that car. It didn't have anything after just over an 1/8th mile but it sure hurt a lot of feelings. Such light cars made them quick in drag racing. Wish I still had one 😑
I knew a kid growing up in the early 80s that had a 71 Challenger with the 340 in it. He coupled it to a 5.13 gear ratio for an ultimate light-to-light downtown machine. He chopped down plenty of big block 454 Chevelles' with it. NASTY, NASTY, NASTY MOPAR!!!
My Love for Chrysler Products started early. When I was 12 years old. I worked at Downey Dodge ( Firestone and the 605 fwy in California ) Where my Father was General Manager. They put me to work using a Big roll of Steel Wool and Elbow Grease to take the Mild rust spots off the Bumpers. I used to wander the Lot on my Lunch and hang out with All the Mechanics and body and Fender Guys and Learned Everything I could until I turned 17 when they Offered me a Paying Job. I owned a 1970 340 Duster and a 1972 340 Demon. Both 727 Auto's with 3.23 / 8 3/4 rear ends. the 70 went a best of 13.75 at 98 mph I think. And the 72 went 13.90 at 96 mph. Man Do I Miss Them! Nice to see You Bring that Sweet Duster to the Track! Thanks for the Awesome Video and the Memories!
Not bad for a 50 year old car. Add some slicks and modern 6 speed manual or 8 speed Auto trans it would probably a low 13 to mid 13 car easy. The vintage 3 and 4 speed transmission back then were not efficient in harnessing the full power of any muscle car, but that was the given technology then.
13's in a stock duster is nothing to sneeze at. Absolutely love Dusters. Had a 73 back in HS and raced it around. Have been looking around for another one thinking I could pick one up fairly cheap but I've learned that these old Dusters, even a 318 car are priced what I would consider sky high. Too bad. I'd absolutely love another one.
I got a '71 340 Duster that is all original that my dad special ordered new. With the thermoquad that was in dire need of rebuilding and took off from idle it went 10.2 in the 1/8. After I get the thermoquad rebuilt or maybe with the eldabroken that I put on it so it can be driven may try it again. It sat asleep for 24 years in the corner of the garage before i woke it up in 2014.
@@Duster_Garage I just replaced the dual points about a month. I know the carb was the cause of the slow time. The eldabroken woke it up so the original carb needs much needed love. I don't think I will run it hard till I go through the motor. It has never been touched yet. Only has 62K on it and mainly sees car shows and nice day cruises.
I bought my 1970 340 Dart Swinger back in 1983, still have it. The first rebuild was stock 340 iron heads, iron exhaust manifolds, iron intake with a Thermoquad from a 1971, 833 four speed manual transmission, factory traction lock w/3.55 gears and muffler shop bent dual exhaust(crappy). It ran 14.00 to 14.20s very close to your times. The point is I am glad I held on to that car! Your Duster is quite a nice ride!
Back in 88, I ran my 86 5.0 LX in stock small block. V-8 less than 350CI. In the finals it was a 340 Duster and I. He won in the lights. We both ran low 14's. Later on the street a few of us had some more fun. He put on his slicks and I turned on my nitrous. He left really hard and got a car or so on me. Once I hit the bottle it was over. I only had my 100HP Jets in because I was on street tires. 340's are not given much credit. They do run pretty hard.
Back in 1976 I had a 340 1970 4 speed Duster. It was a young man's dream, fast right from the factory, awesome weight transfer until I drank too much at the local bar and kissed a big tree. I pulled the motor, trans, rear and leaf springs out of the wreck & put them in a former 6 cylinder '67 or 68 cuda with the big rear window. Fun times but I had it easy because my dad owned a small auto body shop with a heated bay with floor lift and all the tools I could dream of. I joined the Navy but during that time my Dad got sick and my moron brother took over and sold the shop. I just didnt want to work on cars in my driveway. BUT, now I'm back with a 2019 Mustang GT 6 speed manual. Planning on going to the track this summer. Thank you for sharing this, I think a lot of people have fond memories of cars in the 70s and 80s.
That’s a cool story, too bad about the Duster though…I think you’re going to be impressed with the performance of your Mustang. With good rear tires, those 5.0 coyotes can rip.
My 70s best was 13.75 @ 101 in pure-stock. And I lost the class AGAIN to a 442 that I never beat as every time I got faster so did he. ( he owned a speed shop ) I had 3.91s automatic - it started at 14.7 @ 97 and I used the ‘68 stick-shift cam and the identical looking 440 carburetor. The rockers were shimmed and the trans shifted faster. The distributor was curved and carb slightly jetted as it ran a bit lean. The manifold holes need a little opening-up. Air-cleaner top flipped. It always launched insanely well. Anything on street tires had to catch me. Some things that didn’t work at all were Thrush mufflers - just more noise. I smoothed-out the exhaust manifolds but they ended-up cracking. I think 4.10s would have helped it. Possibly some head work milled for a bit more compression. Overall - for G pure stock 13.75 was very fast.
@@Duster_Garage I have watched alot of Uncle Tony's stuff. I never liked Mopars or Fords as a teen, but now own a Mercury and think Mopars are cool. Heck, they dont even need headers to go in the 13s 😆
I was a mechanic for about four years from about 1978 to 82. Around 1982, I had a 1969 Dodge Dart with a 340 and a 4-speed come into the shop. The complaint was the car would not shift. I took it for a ride. The car was stuck in second gear and the shifter was stuck. The clutch pedal went down with less pressure than normal but it would move the pressure plate enough to get the clutch plate off the flywheel. It was able to move from a stop no problem starting from second gear. In those 4 years of working on cars, that was the fastest acceleration I had experienced(just using second gear). It was quite a bit faster than my 68 Camaro with a 327-275hp. I wish I could have had the full experience and had all the gears working. On diagnosing the problem, the clutch lever where it attaches to the frame rail at the pivot ball was rotted and the lever was just floating at that end.
@@ultimatejay Good question. I forgot to mention that part of story. The repair would have involved welding on the unibody support rail where the linkage attaches. Our shop did not have welding expertise. We had to decline the repair. We never saw that car again in the shop.
Cool beans man,my 1st mopar was a 71 duster/ w a 383-727-8/34 w a column shifter and bench seat built by a old guy 4 his daughter ,that car ran 12’s-1206,1213’s all night long.if I would’ve known what I was doing back then mayby better,I’ll stay tuned-thank you.
In the mid 70’s I bought a ‘69 Cuda Formula S, high school kid wrinkled the front end up and his Dad made him sell it - $600. 340/904 fastback. Awesome car. Pulled out the radiator support and changed the clip. Kid had put an Edlebrock LD 340 high rise on it, Accel dual point and coil, wires etc. headers and traction bars, 3.23 Suregrip. Ran pretty decent. Got looking and realized the Edlebrock was a straight bore with the ThermoQuad stuck on it! Secondaries only opened about an “1/8. Put an adapter on it found a 4.56 compete chunk for the rear and added a manual shift valve body and high stall convertor. WOW!! That little LA was a handful. Not much on mileage with those gears but never saw any taillight with it! Was easy to swap the gear back and forth being a front loader. Typical crappy Mopar electrical system but that was easy to fix and live with. Those small block Mopars where true supercars, light, fast easy to work on and good looking. Love your rides, nice to see you preserving these great cars!! Thanks.
I bought a 1071 340 wedge in 1971. It was a special issue duster flat black hood with angled 340 wedge decal on the hood and a spoiler on the trunk. Black with white stripes and fender mounted turn signals.rrd and black plaid seats I still have the window sticker. I still dream of that car.
@Dartgame 340 agreed the 727 is indestructible, but a properly built 904 can handle plenty. My other Duster runs 11.70s with a 904 and my buddy’s Duster goes mid-10s with a 904.
In June of 1971,I tuned my friends new 340 71 Duster with the Trans Go shift kit, custom Advance on the distributor, and high test, ran a best of 13.90,99 mph with E60 x 14 polyglass tires. Other than that the entire car was Pure Stock shocked the hell out of a lot of people
I bought a 1970 Duster 340 in late 1969. It was a love hate relationship. The drive train was great, but the rest of the car was trash. Mopar should be ashamed of itself for their lack of quality control. But it sure was quick. One day driving south on CA-99 between Fresno and Tulare at about 6:00 AM I decided to see how fast it would go. It pulled steadily from about 70 up to an indicated 150+. It had the stock 3.23 gears in the rear end. I took it to the track a couple of times and with stock everything, tires, rear end, exhaust it ran 14.40 even though I had to baby it out of the hole. Most memorable street race was against a Hemi Cuda. I pulled him pretty good out of the hole but by about an eighth of a mile he had caught up with me. That car was really fast, never been beat that bad while driving any of my cars. Whew!!! In 1977 I moved to Idaho and discovered the car was not a good choice for winter time driving with icy roads. So, I traded it for a Toyota pick up which lasted me for another 300,000 miles.
My parent's bought me a 72 challenger for my 16th Bday in 1984. Dad owned a shop. They swapped the dog 318 for a bored 30 over 340 with a 750 Edlebrock. Cam. Painted it guards red (Porsche color) with new 5spoke Crager mags. It was beautiful. And faster than anyone else on I5 in Seattle!:)
Back in the day we had a very nice 65 Dodge dart GT with a 273 and 904. After several miles the 273 had a hart attack and was put to rest in a hand dug grave nest to my mother-n-laws house. I hunted for a motor and found a 70 T/A 340 6-pack and 727 for $400.00. I recamed it and added fenderwell hooker headers along with a Transgo shift kit. The next summer the stock rear was on it's way out so I found a 83/4 with 3:91 gears Leafe springs and all in a junk yard for $150.00. The 6-pack was troublesome street everyday, so I replaced it with a LD-340 intake and a Holly 750, huge improvement. The outside of the car was stock with 13" front and 15" rear steel wheels and small dog dish hubcaps. The car was a hardtop in a darker teel green, with the front lowered about 1.5" and the larger wheels in the rear it looked nice and was very clean and in very nice shape overall. It was fast for what it was, and it had me to pick it's street fights. After three or four years it had quite a reputation and took down a bunch of big block cars along with Z/28s, 302 Boss Mustangs, Nova's and several others. Love your 340 and wish you well.
That is really cool! Your Dart sounds like she was a real ripper! The power to weight ratio on that combo is very nice. Thanks for sharing buddy. Take care.
Your machine was so stable runnin down the track. the camera did not budge on that last run, nor did that car. I just love Dusters. One of my brothers had a gorgeous orange on white 1970 340 727HD Trans w/391 Dana rear end. He went through a few of them and Dart Swingers before that one. I rode shotgun and loved every minute. Light to light, he beat so many double pumper big blocks. Amazing memories. I would love to build me a 1970 Duster. He's a decade older than I, so he sold it when I was 18 because he knew how bad I wanted it, watching his extraordinary balls driving it, that he thought I would kill myself. I strongly disagreed and lost. He must have felt bad so he gave me his motorcycle which did not kill me but broke my neck. I would have preferred that sweet 1970 Duster, The Sweet Street killer.
Touching the 13's with essentially a stock 340 Duster ain't too shabby. Your launch loading and roll out of the dig is really nice. Thought you were going to red light but you never did. That is a gorgeous car. I had a 70 Challenger with a 340 4 speed. Man that car ripped. Also a 72 RR with a 340 and a 727. Not as fast as the Chally but it was still pretty fast. Love the sound of a 340 and really easy motor to work on. Good to see people keeping these cars alive.
My dad just passed his first car to me witch isba 70 340 duster and its a dream come true. Ive only asked for this car atleast 10 times a year since i was 10 and im 34 now so i feel honored he is trusting me with his baby
My dad summer wages was car from his father.. There was a 69 mustang with a big block 4 speed for sale in town... His dad took it for a spin come back and said "to fast" on the way back home they drove by a panther pink 340 duster with a for sale sign in the window.. Without even looking it over his dad told him.. Yep that will be a good first car for you and bought it no hesitation.. My dad said that 340 duster with few tasteful modifications would out run in quarter mile.. the locally known "king of the streets" mustang any day of the week.. When he went off to Germany after enlistment his brother found the tires and put them on and wrecked it.. It sported the 150 mph gauge and factory tachometer and factory header manifolds.. He never seen other dusters with the same options his had.. It was a custom ordered duster some guy got for his wife.. He said the panther pink really stood out.. He never seen other dusters that color
As a Newby Wannabe' working at Booth-Arons Engines (1984-89) I had a 73 Dart Sport (duster) 360 four speed built by Mancini (from what I was told) super stock springs, 4.56 gears, ported head and a Mopar Hemi Grind cam and lifters. A customer at Booth-Arons raced me on Woodward Ave. with a 66-67 Nova 396 auto and beat him when I clicked fourth gear! Loved that car ! Love yours too. (Admittedly I would Not have left the one you have stock though, My Sin) 😉
71 340 Swinger special B5 blue w/black vinyl top, rim blow wheel, two fender tag car. (My profile pic). 72 340 Duster A4 Gunmetal grey w/black vinyl top, black int buckets, console. Gone but not forgotten, I still have a collection of speeding tickets from those days.
71- 340 Duster, 30 over balanced 340, 727 w shift kit , 8/34 posi w 410s, 650 double pumper , 480 lift cam, crappy tires on a hot summer day. 1/4 mile best 14.3 @ 102 for me with traction problems. The good old days!
Those times are more in line with what I remember from back in the late 60’s early 70’s. I had a bone stock ‘71 340 Duster with auto trans. It had a 3:23 gear and it had stock E70x14 polyglas tires on it. No slicks no headers. I was able to get a 14.07 sec @ 100 m.p.h. 1/4 mile time. This was in the Toronto area in 1971.
Okay, it wasn't a GM...but it still flooded my mind with great memories! 😁 The on-board vids did it for me. Kudos on your tuning prowess! In the day I had my share of success with a 68 Chevelle 396 4-spd. Never had problems with the 383s. Steered clear of the 440s and Hemi-rhoids. But the 340s where always unpredictable! And the 340 guys I knew had far less issues than their big brothers! Probably could be said about most small blocks of each manufacturer. Thanks for a great vid!
i am an A-body collector in Pittsburgh. i have 7 68-69 Barracuda's. one of them is a recreation of the car i had and street raced in high school 1970-72. it was a 68 fastback Formula S with a 4 sp and 3:91 gears. it had Hooker fender-well headers, a Hurst Comp plus shifter with reverse lock-out, an Edlebrock aluminum high rise and a 750 Holley dp with mechanical secondaries. it had a Schafer racing clutch and a Lakewood blow-proof bellhousing. also had a "cool-can" on the fuel line under the hood. "old school" racers will know what that is. that car was a consistent low 13's street car. at the strip with 8" M&H slicks and open headers, the car would run 12.29's all day long. i was never beat on the street by any Ford, Chevy, or GTO. i have several extra engines and i'm building a "mild" 340 stroker for the car this winter. it will be all stock looking and painted the factory "red" which was correct for 340's in 1968. the other cudas are a 383 4sp and one of the rare 440 M-Code 69 Cuda's which i have put a 4 sp in. i love 340 cars and they were VERY hard to beat on the street because they would wind fast and in a 3400 lb A-body car, it was a perfect match. there is a guy from Canada that has a video on You tube of his stock looking 4 sp B-5 blue 71 Duster with a stroker 340 putting out over 500 hp. i've watched his video several times as he takes one of his friends out for a ride and the Duster is almost too crazy to keep in a straight line. it breaks loose in 1st and 2nd and just sounds great. if you can find it, you as a guy that races a Duster should get a kick out of it. take care.
That is an awesome story! My father had a blue ‘68 Formula S 4 speed in high school. He also did a loose recreation of it in the mid ‘90s, except that car had an automatic. Sadly he sold that car about a year ago. I love the ‘68 Barracudas, the grille it self is a work of art. Thank you for sharing! I will have to find this stroker Duster video also.
@@Duster_Garage hey... i'll bet your dad has some great street racing stories. i found the video but it is a Demon not a Duster but i think you will still enjoy it. ua-cam.com/video/3W9wB89poW8/v-deo.html
When I was 16 in 1977, I went to Vegas to visit my brother who recently moved there. He had your car with a slightly above stock cam & hedders. I would drive him to work & have his car all say. Never forgot the performance & sound of this light-weight Dodge!!!
Had. 70 Duster 340 in 1970 in Highschool Racing it ran 13.23 @ 104 with headman headers came with 3.91 gears a 4 sp ran great in S/ES class spanked all the bug blocks 😂ford Torino 383 Superbee and Ford Boss 302 in that class so fun growing up in Indianapolis in that time ..beautiful 340 like the white mine Was Vitamin C orange 🍊
Great no nonsense vid!! My first car in high school was a 67 dart gt slant. I wanted a v8 in a terrible way but couldnt afford it. I went in the army after school and had income, so I bought a 70 Duster 340 4 speed. I was a novice at wrenching at the time and beat that car to death. It was the fastest car I had ever had up to that point and I was sure proud of it. At the time it was only 9 years old and clean. I sure wish I had kept it but you know how that goes. The thermoquad would kick in great in first,but half the time wouldnd come in in second gear.I remember that frustration well. I could tune it now, but then I was clueless. Your vid brought back fond memories for me as a young G.I. with my first hot rod! Thanks!! New subscriber!!
Back in 1985 I raced my 1966 Chev Caprice 2 door. Yep Full sized body. Bigblock power and I spent Way to much money and time on that car and engine. Best time was 13.217 at 103. You video reminded me of the life and times associated with those days. Thanks. Also real nice Duster. At that same time a friend of mine also had a 340 Duster Standard transmission. I do not recall the year of the Duster but I do recall how it screamed.
I remember reading a magazine road test some years back that tested a (new for that time) 1970 Duster with a 340. The best time they could do with the 3:55 rear end and stock E70-14 tires was a 14.5 something in the 1/4 mile. Then they switched out the gears for a 4:10 and used the stock E60 15 (?) tires from a Challenger they were also road testing. They just eeked out a 13.98 if I remember correctly. I thought that was pretty impressive as most everybody else's (GM and Ford) small blocks were running mid to high 14's with the same 4:10's and 60 series tires.
My very first car was a 1971 Duster 340 4 speed. I bought it for 1200 dollars in 1976. My mom wouldn't let me drive it until I could afford insurance on it. So it gave me time to add a set of Casler Headers, 6x9 speakers and an 8 track player. As a very young man I worked at Pup n Taco so it took awhile to come up with enough money to buy it and insure it. But it was a hell of a car! This bad boy would run with just about any engine or car combination from stop light to stop light in my area. Hell of a lot of car for a 16 year old. I loved it and miss it a lot. I love your cars and I'm a new subscriber! Keep up the great content!
One of my favorite cars is a 1971 red Duster 340 with a manual. Thats what I wanted back in high school in '72. I worked but I just couldn't afford one. I still think of owning one.
In 69 my wife's father bought a new Dart 340 4sp 3.55 rear gears. He gave it to my wife in 1976. The car just turned 40,000 miles and it still has an all stock running gear. My wife is 65 years old and still takes it out to the track once a year and runs low 14s with it.
Back in high school a friend bought a brand new 73 Duster 340 4 speed car in late 72 he added a 6 pack, headers, a cam and traction bars. ran mid to high 13s And I now have a 73 haven’t had it to the track yet but it Dino’d 296 to the wheels with 323 posi a 360 with a A727 . I really like your content thank you
Back in the 1980's I used to street race against a few different 340 Dusters. There were both automatics and 4 speed Dusters I would compete against. I had a 1970 Mustang fastback with a mild 351 Cleveland and automatic. The Dusters were a good match for me and it was always a toss up on who could beat who. I've always had a lot of respect for the 340 engines since then.
I owned a 71 Dustwer 340 in the mid 80's. I used to street race my Duster, added headers and Direct Connection electronic ignition and loved to eat up 396's on the street.
Great car. At first I thought that was a 71. My dad had a 71 340 that he bought new. Traded it when they had my sister and I. Later in life when I was around 15 or 16, he bought one from a neighbor that had been parked under a shade tree for a few years. It is a 70 340, 727 with the blue interior. Has the ralley dash. It's been parked in the barn for 10+ years. My dad recently handed my son, on his 21st bday, the title. My son and I are about to start cleaning it up and gettin it goin again. My dad and I used to go to the local drag strip. I had bought a 73 340, which I later sold for family prioritys also. His car would run a 9.10 in the eighth at 76mph. Looking forward to cleaning the old car up. I'm still looking out for my dads original 71 that he had. Hope one day to get that car back.
My name is bill. I bought a 1970 Plymouth duster new off the show room floor in oct 1969.This car was unreal! Why ?I'm not sure but several people told me that the factory guys built it to be a sleeper. As you know the late 60's and early 70's were muscle car years. I had friends who had 396 Chevelle, 400 judge, roadrunner,GTX, HP 383 darts. And on and on. No one could touch my little 340 duster! Street raced lots the best race which I did lose was against a 440 charger rt 6pack. I went in the Marines in 1970 and my stupid sister and mom traded my duster for a new car. When I came home I was set back,my brother and I are still p.oed about that. The dealer where the car was traded called me and wanted to know what I had done to the 340 as they could not get it to run by factory specs. I had a set of keys and went to the dealer on a Sunday and fryer to start my car. No go. All it did was crank and backfire. The dealership finally sold the car ,not running. I don't know what ever happened to my car? It was the real deal! Some of my friends had money and their parents bought them cars so as they could street race and beat the 340 little duster. They were mad because they never could! I'm still very proud of my 1970 Plymouth duster 340 , automatic, 4 barrel. Yellow and White with bucket seats and floor shift. My story!!!! The original sleeper!!! William Wayne Taulbee , Kettering Ohio.
Very nice. I’ve been hearing a lot of similar story’s to yours. These cars were tough to beat back in the day. Whether some people want to admit it or not.
back in the mid eighties my buddy had a 1974 duster that he took out the original 340 and he added a lightly + modified 340 4 bbl in it and he used to pop the clutch at 7 grand and shift into second on a blink of an eye and finnished the 1/4 mile in fourth gear and it ran mid 10,s ...one day i was with him heading to the track and he opened her up on the highway and we burried the speedometer , as a late teen that was super cool for me then his brother took me for a ride in his 71 hemi cuda which at the time was considered a regular car , but i still enjoyed the highway run in the duster
Picked up a '70 Duster when I returned home from the service ... sold it to a need sister after a few hears ... That was 45 years ago and I still miss that car. Hemi-Orange and QUICK!
Hot Rodding or Hot rod featured Econo racer drag test in 1978. They tested a 340 4 sp Duster along with big 3 competitors. The Duster ran in the 13s. We had a 70 318 car with a Cuda 70 340. a school mate offered him a 4 speed from a scrap yard he worked for Iff he did a hole shot out in front of the school. He did it without a question.
Back in the late 70's, a couple of guys we called Salt and Pepper bought a $150 '67 Valient with a 340. They bought it out to the street races and preceded to clean up on Friday and Saturday nights. That hunk of junk ran good. They took on a '75 Mustang Cobra that had a 351 Cleveland transplant and smoked it. The following week, the Cobra came out on slicks and the smoke it again.
Had a 1971 340 duster that I bought off a college friend of mine in 1982, it had a Mr. gasket vertigate shifter competition bell housing and ladder bars and was set up for the track the original engine got blown up and they put a 1972 340 in it. My buddy had the car took me for a ride and he told me it was for sale and I wanted it with the headers and cherry bomb mufflers it sounded awesome. When I got home my parents thought I was crazy to bring this loud black with white interior monster that I started up every morning and had to warm it up in order to get it to work. Over the years my two younger brothers borrowed the car and in a later period of time they told me how many races they went on it had manual steering and manual brakes and we definitely experience brake fade more than once. Driving that car was a blast still have the four-speed and the engine. Don’t know what the engine is worth the rest of the car went to the junkyard. It truly was a blast to drive and with the lower compression 340 it could run on unleaded regular all day long. Enjoyed watching your white duster run and the sound of that engine again brought back some good memories. Also have the shifter as well.
Bought a new '71 Duster when I was a senior in high school. 340, automatic w/3.55 rear gears. In pure stock my best time was a 13.9 which was unheard of for an automatic at the time. We raced at U.S. 30 Dragway which was in York County, PA at the Thomasville airport.
I've got several 340 stories. My fav is around 1981 a guy down the street had a 73 Duster 340 with a 3 speed floor shift and no power steering. He knew me and said I could take it for a drive to see if I liked it and maybe buy it from him. He wanted $1400 and he'd just rebuilt the front end, and there was a set of headers in the trunk. It was a total stripper, black vinyl interior, no radio even. A friend came along. I steered onto the town main drag and hit the gas and the car just launched forward, leaving squeals and rubber lines on the tarmac. We both grinned bigly. The pull in first gear was super strong (3 speed had a lower first than the 4 speed, i later learned). My friend wanted to drive so we traded places. He took it out on a side road up to 110 in what seemed like no time. I took the car back and told the guy there is no way my parents would let me have that car. A local kid I'd told about it a couple days before bought it the next day. No idea where it is today.
I have the '70 that my parents bought new. EF8 green with green interior, 318 auto, A/C, power steering, disc brakes, light group, black vinyl top and disc brakes. Most Dusters were Slant Six three speed "heater and key" specials, but that's not a car my dad would have bought. Needs brakes, and I'm going to have it repainted the correct color after my dad had it painted a Mercury color that I've never liked. I was about half way through the restoration of a numbers matching '70 Road Runner that I've since sold, and was taking my daughter around the neighborhood in her bike trailer when I ran across and EV2 Orange 340 Dart. I thought it had flat tires, turned out it had just sunk up to the rims in the grass. A door knock got nothing. About a month later, I saw an ad for a 70 Dodge Dart and called. The gal I talked to was the original owner, and it was that same 340. Her dad had co-signed for her when she bought it, and it was on the original title. She asked if I wanted to come look at it and I said yes. She asked if I needed directions, I said "Nope, I know where it is." This was in '95 and I paid $2000 for it. It still had the assembly tag on the AVS, which I rebuilt in about 20 minutes. The black interior was more duct tape that vinyl but the car was solid. Actually a better car than the Road Runner because that car needed a trunk floor. Maybe because it was female owned, the Dart was 99% stock. All I could see that had been changed were the tires and plug wires. The deeper I got into the Road Runner, the less fun restoring the Dart seemed like, so I sold it to a guy in Chicago. My first car was a gold '70 Swinger. Tan interior, white top, Slant Six auto. I've had three '70 Road Runners and a '69, but I love A bodies, and yours is pretty sweet.
I had both a 71 340 4spd. Demon and a 70 340 4spd Duster years ago. I did a lot of street racing with those cars. I just loved them, they really were big block killers! Amazing cars horse power to weight ratio was spot on !
My good friend and Machinest where we worked together built a 340 for his 68 notchback Cuda. Everything was stock except for headers and a Comp Cams High Energy cam. It spaced out close to the original, but with its asymmetric lobes we thought it would be easier on the valve train. On street tires and 3.55 gear it runs 14 seconds flat with ease. And it’s a dream to drive on the street. With slicks and lower gears it would have run even quicker, but it was his daily driver. Oh, the engine was a cast crank late model engine. He found a 318-3 forged crank and had it balanced. It took a lot of Mallory metal to get it right, but I believe it was with the money. Built in 1981, the car still runs perfectly! Now, if you have t already done so, get yourself a pair of performance leaf spring and adjustable pinion snubber available thru Mopar Performance and set it up they way the chassis book tells you to. That alone will improve your 60 feet times!
I rarely comment on you-tube videos, but I must say your videos are a pleasure to watch; No nonsense, straight forward honest work and dialogue, thank you. I worked as a class B mechanic at a certified Dodge dealership in the mid 70's and always enjoyed the rare 340 Darts coming into the bays. Once I opened the hood of a Dart and it was extremely light and flexed when I put the hood rod up. I don't remember if it was a 340 or other.....something called a "feather light?" The head mechanic told me the hood was aluminum, could that be true? We're currently building a lowered pro-street Plymouth Arrow for the show circuit, 8 point cage, 69' 340, built 904, 8.75, early 3 link setup, adj. coil-overs etc. Hoping to have it complete within the year. Lots of untold performance history with Chrysler corporation. Please keep posting when you can, it's really good stuff! Thanks again.
Thank you, I really appreciate your positive feed back! Those Plymouth Arrows and Dodge Colts are really cool and hard to find. It sounds like your’s is going to be a really sweet machine!
Just found your channel and subscribed after watching this video. Back in the 1980s I owned a 1972 340 Duster with a 3 speed manual transmission and 3.23 gears in the rear end... Only had it for a couple of years and have had many other Mopars of various models since then... Had a couple friends who also had Dusters and Demons with 340 engines.... I would love to find another one someday but building muscle cars has kind of turned into a rich man's game which I can no longer afford at my age.
Thanks! You are right, cars are ridiculously priced now. I’m fortunate I got both of mine over a decade ago, when you could get a ratty one for less than a $1000.
In 1969, I ran a 69' Dart Swinger, 340, 4spd, 3:91 rear in AHRA show room stock division. The best time I ever ran was a 14.40 at 99 mph. This was with a stock AVS carb and a cool can. No mods were allowed. Pumped the Polyglas tires up to 40 lbs! Your ET's are very impressive.
In HS in the mid 90 my best friend built a 340 duster . I don’t remember the 1/8 mile times. But he never lost a street race. 5.0 mustangs Camaros wouldn’t have a chance. She had 456 gears , fiberglass bumpers and hood. Battery in the back ,That car would launch so hard. I had a 71 olds at the same time that was cruiser with a two barrel and bench seat. Many many good times.
My Duster story starts in 1988. I had just turned 16 and told dad "I need a car!"....to which he replied "You need a job!" 😂. So I went out and got said job to make some money to buy a car. I wasn't really a car guy yet, just wanted something cool and that I could afford. (1980's Duster prices right?) I found a 1974 column auto 318 car, brown over tan interior. It needed a few small things but I recall it was around $900 😮. That was my first car and got me into Mopars and thats all I wanted through my teens and most of my 20's. Other mopars I had from 1988 to 1992 were a slant 6 Demon, a 318 Dart Swinger and a 73 Charger SE (400BB). I joined the military in 1992 and had the Charger shipped to CA from OH. Now forgive me, I had a weak moment and traded that Charger on a 79 Firebird!! It was a decent car but didn't have it long. The unit moved to Ft Lewis in 1993 and one day I was driving around Tacoma. I spot this used car lot with an Orange Duster sitting there. Swung in there and tossed that Firebird to the curb and acquired the 1973 340 4 Speed beauty! What a car! man I was awesome in that thing, and I felt like I was home again. Now the finest memory I have is of my road trip back to OH from WA. I ETS'd out of active duty and loaded that 340 with all my belongings. I pointed it East and took off on a 4 day 2552 mile journey I will NEVER forget....and I did it solo. (sorry so long I am just excited remembering all this.) lol All was well as I went south on I-5 and then East by the Columbia River to my first fuel stop. Just as I was taught, I pulled the dipstick to check the oil while I filled up. I about shit when the stick was DRY! OK I said, don't panic. I can see its not dripping anything and the exhaust was fine. I purchased some oil, fixed it and got underway. As you can imagine I was thinking about this the whole rest of the way to the next fuel stop. Temps good and no light coming on, whew! Some couple hundred miles later I pull off to fuel up, and again I pull the dipstick out expecting all to be well and it was DRY again! OK, I said... I can't be doing this all across the country I need a solution. I went over the engine as best I could at the gas station, as I did have my tools with me. It all looked fine, but what the hell man? I sat on the curb and thought about it. Maybe my car isn;t use to this long period of driving? It really wasn't use to it but still....... I am sitting there and I remember watching my grandpa out in the garage changing his oil when I was a kid. He SWORE by the STP oil treatment in the blue bottle (you remember that honey looking shit?) He was in Heaven telling me what I had to do. I bought a bottle of that with some oil and filled it up. From that startup at the station in Oregon to Ohio it did not use ONE SINGLE DROP of oil! LOL I couldn't believe it. That is just one memory of that Duster in my trip across the country, but its burned into memory till I die. I eventually (stupidly) sold that Duster later on and never did buy another old Mopar. Fast fwd to today and I am looking at guess what? a 1973 Orange (real) 340 Duster! Its almost exactly like the 340 I had in 94 but this ones an auto. Now I just have to pull the trigger and buy it.....................................maybe a cross country trip is in order?😊 Your Duster is awesome man and SUBBED!
Thank you Thomas. That is a great story! You had one hell of a run with mopars, I think it’s time for another. And for the STP, they sponsored Richard Petty, so you know it had to be good. I hope you get that Duster.
My best friend in the mid 70s had a hemi orange 71 Demon 340. We put headers, an Edelbrock intake, with a Holley 600 single feed and that 340 became a monster! I got to drive it a lot and got to beat up everything I raced! Small blocks and big block Chevies, GTOs, a W31 Olds, and a slew of Ford products were beaten by the Demon. Those were the most fun days of my life! I'll never forget!!
Great video, Back in the mid 1970s I raced a Dodge Dart 340 with my Roadrunner with a 383. Blew him out of the hole but he dammed near got me at top end. Those 340s can really wind.
The year was 1976 and I was 16 years old. Looking for my first car. I wanted to build a nice old two door hot rod as a daily driver. I lived in Kannapolis NC and every where you looked was mag wheeled, jacked up and loud cars. It was great. My Dad convinced me to buy a newer car and so I agreed. We had to have a car less than 4 years because of the loan co. would only go back that far. I test drove a few and they were too powerful according to my Dad. So another rule was a very small V-8. That is when I saw a 1972 Hemi Orange Duster. It had a blacked out hood. Long black stripes running dawn the side. Rallye wheels and Road Hugger white letter tires. High back bucket seats and a 3 speed floor shifter. Under the hood was a 318 2 bbl. My Dad agreed and I put my hard earned down payment on the car. My Mom had to drive it home. I did not know how to drive a manual. But I spent all weekend learning on our drive way on the hilly part in anticipation of driving it to work at KFC. to show the guys. I have a few pics of the car today. The car did not stay stock long. I secretly started to improve the performance. First was headers and dual exhaust. Then came the 340 rebuilt heads and Edelbrock 4 bbl. intake. Carter 750 rejetted carb and a cam dynamics cam. Accel super coil and 9 mm yellow spark plug wires. Also I had the points distributor recurved. I hit the streets and had one of the quickest cars in school. I suprised many of stock big block cars and took their money. The car was quick and lethal. I drove that car until a girl ran a stop sign in Lake Norman and totaled it out. I believe it was 1980. Today I have only the antenna from this car. It rides on my 70 Challenger and I still respect that 72 Duster for all the street racing it did. And held its own against what was considered faster cars.
That is an awesome story! Very reminiscent of me in high school, with my yellow ‘71 318 Duster Twister. Dual exhaust, hooker headers, Holley 4 barrel and 3.55 rear gear swap. Good times. Thanks for sharing.
@@Duster_Garage Thankyou for the great video. That White Duster you have is a nice looking car. And runs really strong. We grew up in those times and know what a good strong running car was. Today’s easy hp does not allow them to comprehend what 13 second times were. That was a strong running big block. 12s we’re just insane for a street car. I sure miss my Duster. So many memories in that first car. A lot of first in that car. But I still own my white 70 Challenger I got in 79 and my 70 GTX that I got in 81. And my only new bought vehicle a 2009 Challenger R/T 6 speed manual done in inferno red. It has more mileage than my Challenger and GTX combined. 206,000 miles. Original clutch still in there. Car looks brand new. I keep thinking one day I will get another 72 Duster. But my days are running out 😛
You hit the nail on the head! These newer cars with fuel injection and turbos are so much easier to make a lot of power. Now it seems like if you aren’t running at least 10s, you aren’t considered fast. But I digress. I hope that ‘72 Duster you are dreaming of comes along.
My Dad and Mom owned a few Mopars from a Cuda , Charger , Dart and my favorite the Gold Duster. That Duster was a quick car with headers and those cherry bomb mufflers and staggered white letter tires. He even won a burnout contests. I was told by one of his buddies that they had never seen anyone shift as fast a he did. He is the reason I own and love muscles today. Miss you Dad. Aka "Duster Dan" Redd ✔
Nice! In about 1988, I saw a ‘70 340 Duster stalled at an intersection. When I came back by there after work, it was parked in a parking lot nearby. I left a note on the windshield, he called, I asked what was wrong with it, he said he shut it off because of low oil pressure 🤷♂️ and that somebody offered him $600 for the car. I said how about $650, he said yeah, we towed it home, I pulled a valve cover, saw the rocker shaft oil holes staring back at me, flipped ‘em, problem solved lol.
That’s awesome! Well done, easy fix. Always gotta have them oiling holes pointed down. 😂
Been down that track a few hundred times the 340 sounds great. Quite respectable
@@nepoleonbonaparte6517 thank you
@@sophiegrisom the holes are visible if the stock stamped steel rockers are used because they are open on top. If the shafts are upside down.
@@sophiegrisom No, the oil holes were visible because the rocker shafts were installed ‘oil holes up’
Judging by the tail lights, that is a '73 car. I had a 73 too - here's a story. I saw an ad for a 73 Duster 340. I went and test drove it. I didn't have enough money for two cars, and decided to keep the Barracuda I had. All I remember from that drive was when the thermoquad secondaries hit, the thrush glass packs would rap so beautifully (something I cannot forget). I crawled under it to see what the mufflers were, as they were so impressive. Then a year later, I went out to say hi and see about the car. The engine was out, due to burned valves reportedly. There were parts laying around everywhere. The owner had lost interest. I bought it for like $400 with buckets of parts, rebuilt the engine, and put it back together. This was a pretty rare car. Bright bright green, black 340 stripe and interior. High back bucket seats, 4-speed, 3.21 gears (this was an 8-1/4") sure-grip. It had a factory sunroof and rear fold down seat. I learned about thermoquads. It took some doing, but when the TQ was right, man that thing had some scoot, despite the last 340's low compression, small valves, etc. This was not a race, but I was filling it up one day, across the pump from a 69 Chevelle SS 396. He was the one to break the ice by saying nice car, and asking if it was fast. I said it runs pretty good, and asked about his. I don't remember his reply, except that he said he doesn't mess with 340's (something I cannot forget). I have no clue if the 340 would have won, but it was a chalk mark just the same. Lastly, I sold it for $1200 to rebuild the Barracuda engine. Those were the days I guess.
I’m reading your story and I am literally getting goosebumps! You made my day. Too awesome, “I don’t mess with 340’s” thank you!
I love reading stories like that. I wish I was born earlier and in America.
I'm also a duster owner over 35 years and I like the way the car looks but it is a 73 with a earlier front end on it the other give away is the side lights 72 end up side lights were mounted outside the fenders 70 and 71 they were built into the fenders but I like the way the car looks he did a nice job
@@richiespeed3565 Thank you. It is a ‘73. The car needed a hood, grille and bumper when I got it. So I put on 72 front end parts.
@@Duster_Garage I like the way it looks it should have came from the factory that way anyway I will not give my duster up for anything it basically has a built 318 with 340 cam heads this that the other thing love the car also got a 69 get tools out GTO anyway enough of that your car came out nice remember what Mopar stands for Move Over People Are Racing
In 1969, my brother-in-law bought a brand new 1969 Dodge Dart GTS 340 automatic. It was gold with white interior and white vinyl roof. We would cruise to the sound of "Creedance Clearwater Revival" playing on his 8-track player.
This car beat almost everything on the road.
The only time he got beat was on the perimeter highway when he raced a 428 Ranchero.
The Ranchero got the jump off the line by less than a car length, but the front bumper on the Dart was beside the rear bumper of the Ranchero. The Ranchero never pulled away at that point.
My brother-in-law said the difference was the extra wide rear tires on the Ranchero which gave him better traction off the line.
My brother-in-law's Dart GTS was dead stock with narrow factory tires. A beautiful car! Those were the days!
They were runners back in the day. and a little CCR sounds pretty good right about now.
Beat by a Ford, that HAD to hurt!!!
@@jerrycraig6522 Not at all. Tires were the difference.
Back in 81 aged 18, I had a 70 225 Duster with 3 speed manual, and a 67 383 Coronet that had been rear ended, so I swapped the motor into the Duster keeping the manual trans. Hot Rod magazine had published a parts list for the B/RB swap, I also took the 3:23 Sure grip out of the Coronet and moved the spring mounts forward and inch. Fitted a pair of 8x15 steels off an Aspen with 8" slicks. I was working weekends in a tyre shop so bent up some tubing and welded my own fender well headers with a stick welder. Seem to remember it ran mid to low 12's using junk yard parts.
That is very respectable times, especially considering you put the thing together with used parts.
My best street racing story of my 71 Duster 340 was with a nitrous 5.0 Mustang in the early 90's. Back then I owned a speed shop and the Mustang guy was a customer. 340 was bored 30 over, and was balanced and blueprinted, with stock forged crank and rods, and TRW 10.5:1 forged pistons. Had a 292 509 purple shaft cam, the Mopar Performance M1 single plane intake with a Barry Grant modified Holley 750 that flowed 910 CFM. Ported and polished T/A heads with Manley SS valves, hooker Super Comp headers, Crane Hi-6 box. 3500 stall turbo Action converter, with a reverse manual valve body, and 4.30 gears and super stock springs. Best run the car ever had was a 12.6 at 116mph.
The Mustang guy had what was basically a stock 5.0 mustang, that had been beat to death, with a couple of bolts on parts and a nitrous kit. He used to come into the shop and bother the hell out of me and the poor little Duster. He would always say that in his town, those old Dusters were used to keep chickens in them. They were so worthless that people would just strip the cars and basically use the body as chicken coops. He was always wanting to race me. I guess that in the small town he lived he was hot stuff with the NOS Mustang. One day I finally agreed.
So, we set on a time in the middle of the week at night to do a race. It was probably a Wednesday night, but I can't really remember. Tons of people showed up to see the race and lined up the 2 lane highway on both sides. Some of the guys blocked the street so that we could race, and we both did the ubiquitous burnouts and staged one besides the other. I got my foot on the brake, torqued the engine slightly against the converter, (car was on street tires), and when the guy that was in front of us dropped his hands, I slowly eased into the pedal trying to keep as much traction as possible. I immediately jumped in front of him, and started pulling on him in first gear, hit second gear and I was pulling away fast, then hit 3rd and I was gone, never saw him again till after I had passed the 1/4 mile mark and hit the brakes.
Needless to say he never called little Duster a chicken coop again, LOL
Quite possibly the best street racing story I ever heard. Thank you very much for sharing it with me.
@@Duster_Garage Thanks! I have a lot more stories of running Muscle Car era Mopars in the late 80's to mid-90's on the street.
I got you. I showed my taillights to 5.0 Mustangs and big block muscle cars back in the day. I too had my technique down of getting out of the hole without spinning.
cool stroy with history, thanks for sharing! Love these cars
Sounds like every 5.0 I ran. Wasted a late 90s/early 2000s cobra at lacr, Some big mouthed punk kid walks over tells me how he smokes old pos like mine, goes "12.40s on the dial in". Asked him his mph he was quiet (full of shit).
Took a vid of the run it wasnt even a race all you could hear was his exaust . Doof ran a 14 something to my low 13
Bone stock 150ki mi 90 ZR-1. Not a peep out of him rest of the night
My first car back in 1976 when I was 16 yrs old was a 1970 340 Dodge Dart Swinger. The car only had 42,000 miles on it, so the drive train was fine. It had the 727 Torqueflite and the 8 3/4 rear end and 3.23 ratio with SureGrip. I never took it to a timed track, but we had a carefully measured out 1/4 mile where I lived outside Houston in Pasadena. It would consistently do 96 mph in the 1/4 mile. The first owner must have lived at the beach because the deck lid was already rusted through on either side of the deck lid lock. Also, of course, above the rear wheel wells. This was the middle of the OPEC fuel embargo, so I got this rusted gas guzzler for $350 plus TT&L. Went to the place where everyone on the south side of Houston went to race. There was a twit there with the fully restored 1969 Camaro Z/28. Red with white stripes that his Daddy had paid to have restored. He had all of his buddies there oohing and aaahing at his car. I was parked close to him, and he felt the need to make fun of my car. Tiny wee wee on this guy! Finally, I just got tired of his mouth and challenged him. I knew he had more hp, plus 4-speed and certainly better rear gears for his high-winding beast. I was just hoping he'd miss a shift. So we take off even, but at the top of the first gear, he pulled a car length on me. Kinda expected this. But whenever he shifted, he didn't speed shift. He granny shifted. Let off the gas, shift the gear, then floor it again. So every gear all the way down the 1/4 mile, he'd pull ahead in each gear, then I'd pass him as he shifted, then he'd pass me again, etc. Well, he shifted just before the end of the 1/4 mile, and I passed him just before the end. So we get back to the parking lot and he ran up to me and slashed across my chest. It was dark, so I thought he'd just lightly shoved me. His buddies dragged him off. I went back to my car and looked down. Luckily it was cold that night, and I had a denim jacket on, but you could see the slice across it. Could have been bad if it was warm and I had a T-shirt on. I guess it just stripped his mental gears that a rusty old Mopar so stock it still had the factory hubcaps on it just beat him. I would have been happy to show him how to speed shift, if he hadn't been such a twit.. :)
First of all you had my wife and I rolling with laughter! Secondly that story is awesome, thanks for sharing.
Dang, that 340 is dialed in!!! It really pulled hard all the way to redline. Back in 1984 at the ripe old age of 16, I got 2nd place at the KY102 annual "High School Drags" at KCIR raceway in Kansas City(actually Knob Town). I was in my cherry 1969 GTO with only 65k original miles. Standard 400/350hp, th400, 3.55 rear gears. I ran a 14.68 in the final against a '70 Duster with a 340/automatic. We both had a single modification, headers. He ran a 14.58. We both actually broke out but he broke out by less so he got the bigger trophy. I actually had a 71 Demon 340/4 speed setting in my dad's shop at the time. I had purchased it before the GTO but I had borrowed some money from my dad and he was holding it as collateral. I was busy buying speed parts for my GTO at the old Super Shops and my dad got tired of waiting and sold the Demon. I wish I had paid him back. I still have the GTO, I'm pretty sure I would still have the Demon as well!!!
Dude! That is awesome you still have your car from high school. I still have my yellow ‘71 Duster I drove in high school. Too cool, thanks for sharing!
for being nearly bone stock id say hes got it to the 99.99999% percent. That is a pretty nice duster, what I love about it its almost like it came from the dealer.
You may have been lucky he sold the Demon 340. I bought a new one in 1972 and it was a big letdown. When I got home I looked under the hood to make sure it was a V8. No power at all compaired to my Swinger 340 I bought in 1969. Not sure when the smog stuff started uo on cars but one thing they did to that engine was to cut the compression from about 10 to 1 ta 8 to 1.
Those are respectable times. 340 A-bodies used to be everywhere, now they are a rarity. You are fortunate to have a clean example like that. Those upshifts seem nice and tight.
Thank you very much
My brother had a 1970 Challenger T/A with a 340 Six Pack back in 1974. I still remember the torque I felt from the passenger seat. I was an experience that never left me.
That’s awesome! I love the T/As and AARs.
Back in 87 I built a 340 for my friends 72 duster 4 speed. Bored 30 over direct connecation 292 cam , 850 holley double pumper 1970 340 heads edelbrock dual plane manifold and solid motor mounts. Rear gears 3:91 with traction bars , consistent 12.2 to 12.5 quarter mile run at newengland Dragway epping n.h.
That’s awesome, very respectable times from a mild 340.
Wow, that's a real clean classic. Love the white.
Thank you very much
Nice video. Very honest with time slips and no bullshit. 13s with a mild setup impresses me.
Hell yeah man, thank you!
Best smallblock ever. 340 is a breathing monster. My friend had a 71 demon with a 340 six pack and 4 speed years ago. Very very rare combo. He put a bigger cam headers and accel coil. It would eat big blocks for lunch
Nice. Sounds like a ripper.
Yep. Very rare combo. Zero factory made; but must have been a terror. 340s were underrated.
@rondpert5167 the pre 1973 340s were not underrated back in the day almost all were 10.5 to 1 compression hp machines the were only made about 6 years tops and were made to compete against the big blocks of the time. Hot rod magazine back in the 1980s named it the 2 best small block ever made only behind one version of the chevy 350 that only came in one year of the cameros or corvettes and were a special order. The the 1972 demons the 340 was know to hit low 14s bone stock on polyester tires where was moving.
@@kellybarthel8060 1970 LT-1 was probably the one youre thinking of.
350 11-1 nice soli flat tappet, high rise dual plane etc. Crutch were the chitty heads chevy used back then .
@@gordocarbo no I was talking about the dodge 340. Hot rod named 2nd best small block ever made behind yes one version of Chevy 350 that came very few corvettes and a few comaros I think only one year produced. But the article was from early 80s or late 70s so it's been a bit since I read it.
My dad just passed away last month at 83 years old and his current project at the time was his white Duster just like yours. He built a lot of Mopars over the years but this was his baby. Seeing your car makes me think of him. He instilled the love of cars and particularly Mopars in my brother and I and we have our own project cars now, plus his Duster which will always be in the family.
I am so sorry to hear about your dad. It’s great that you will be able to keep the car he loved in the family.
My first new car was a 1970 Duster 318 3 speed Bought it at Marmie Motors in Great Bend KS. in 1970. I took the 4 speed out of my old 65 barracuda and put it in my duster, I loved that car, but sold it when I got home from Vietnam when I got married, wish I would have kept it, but who knew back then what they would mean today. I also had a 1974 Duster with a 440 in it, look up my video of doing a burn out. Liked your video.
Thanks man, I will check it out.
Back in the mid 70's I had a '68 barracuda S convertible with the 340 and 4spd. As a high schooler!! Those were the days, eh? All stock, including engine with the original 4 spd cam...bought from the first owner whose new wife didn't want to drive a stick. Even as a dopey teenager, back when you could buy big block cars for nothing, I knew it was special. It was a lot of fun...no organized racing, just a little street racing and a lot of cruising.
Your duster looks great...glad you're having fun with it
Thanks! I do love driving it
I had a on 340 duster, it was beat up bad when I got it , 3 busted windows, drivers side rear tire had came off and ended up running down the gas tank ! It was a dark burnt orange, with flat black stripes , it had a big Carter 4 barrel, my dad tuned it up, he was a Chrysler master mechanic ! It had a different ring and pinion, but I never knew what it was ? Black interior, bench seat, auto on colum. I don't remember what the rear tire size was, aftermarket chrome slots real wide low profile , i never lost a drag race with that duster ! And I'd race some cars that you'd think would eat it , one i remember for instance, was a 68 or 69 dodge coronet R/T a 440 six pack , i waved bye bye before the turned green, he got mad , started spinning the tires , i kept waving, i just left him, the r/t was beautiful, but that Duster didn't care. When I was out in the stix , I'd get it up to 137 mph , so i really , like your duster , I'm 66 , the Duster was sold when I went in the army, early 70s , i sure miss it , don't let yours go , it's in such good shape my Friend, i enjoyed watching your film, made me tear up, thanks young Man !!
That’s a great story! Thank you for sharing. I will hold on to these cars as long as I can.
I took me and my 3yo daughter to the Monroe swap meet in my stock 74 Duster 360/auto, which I had bought & rebuilt after my BIL wrecked it celebrating his birthday. I never got around to putting the 360 emblems back on it. Anyway, I came back from the swap meet wheeling a 3.91 chunk and a pair of 2.02 heads in a wagon. I unloaded the stuff into the trunk in the pkg lot, then I strapped my daughter into her car seat, then I went to get in my car to leave. It was then I became aware that there was another Duster parked next to me and the occupants had put a piece of paper on my w/shield. All that was printed on it was, "BEFORE". It was then, I realized the other Duster was occupied and it had a sheet of paper on it saying, "AFTER". The other Duster was jacked up & sporting big wheels & tires. It looked to be modded a lot, and the occupants were yukking it up pretty heartily. I guess my Duster did look pretty innocuous, w/ C-body rallies and white wall tires. I was feeling kinda devilish, so I said let's run for pinks. The driver said, "no, he didn't want to take my car." I said, "how 'bout a 100 bucks, then?" "Nah", he said. "OK, fifty?" "Nah." Finally, I said, "OK, I'll run you for free." He agreed. There's a 2-lane frontage road that runs parallel to SR2 and lies between the pkg lot and the highway. We stopped at the east end, his friends got out to lighten his car. One flagged the start. We left and I had him by a length before I even shifted to second, and the gap just got bigger real fast from there. He gave up when the gap grew to 4 to 5 car lengths. I think he learned a lesson or two there. Don't judge a book by its cover, and just bolting aftermarket stuff on does not make it fast.
I saw it go down in the day. A 66 Chevelle with 396 4 speed ruled the streets in the town I lived in. Until a brand new 1970 340 Duster with a torque flite waxed that Chevelle. That Chevelle was legendary and got to see the drag race out on the truck route. By about one car length. Approx 1/4 mile
That is an awesome story! Thanks
340 duster had to be built because stock for stock that 396 chevelle was over a second faster in the 1/8th mile and more than that in the 1/4 mile...
I personally smoked two 340's with a stock Z28.
@@stefanovichmichael9686 the Z28 302 was a ripper. Solid lifter cam and 7000 rpm redline. I’m not taking anything away from those Z28s, they ran.
@@Duster_Garage the 340 6 pack cars had better 0-60 times but the 302 was quicker in the qrt
I've owned 3 Dusters. Two 72s and a 73. The first 72 I had was my senior year high school car. It was just a 318 car. I straight piped the exhaust and threw a 4:10 rear in the back of as part of my senior project. That thing was a rocket light to light. I spanked so many 5.0 mustangs and Camaros in that car. It didn't have anything after just over an 1/8th mile but it sure hurt a lot of feelings. Such light cars made them quick in drag racing. Wish I still had one 😑
thats awesome, I drove my yellow 71 duster in high school too. 318 powered
oh im sure you made a whole lot of ppl butt hurt.
I knew a kid growing up in the early 80s that had a 71 Challenger with the 340 in it. He coupled it to a 5.13 gear ratio for an ultimate light-to-light downtown machine. He chopped down plenty of big block 454 Chevelles' with it. NASTY, NASTY, NASTY MOPAR!!!
Thats crazy, it must have hustled off the line.
My Love for Chrysler Products started early. When I was 12 years old. I worked at Downey Dodge ( Firestone and the 605 fwy in California ) Where my Father was General Manager. They put me to work using a Big roll of Steel Wool and Elbow Grease to take the Mild rust spots off the Bumpers. I used to wander the Lot on my Lunch and hang out with All the Mechanics and body and Fender Guys and Learned Everything I could until I turned 17 when they Offered me a Paying Job. I owned a 1970 340 Duster and a 1972 340 Demon. Both 727 Auto's with 3.23 / 8 3/4 rear ends. the 70 went a best of 13.75 at 98 mph I think. And the 72 went 13.90 at 96 mph. Man Do I Miss Them! Nice to see You Bring that Sweet Duster to the Track! Thanks for the Awesome Video and the Memories!
That is awesome! I’m glad you shared your story and you enjoyed the video.
I'm not sure I'd believe everything a man says that mounts his MSD box under the battery tray.😉👍 Great car man. Love everything about it.
😂😂Thanks buddy.
Not bad for a 50 year old car. Add some slicks and modern 6 speed manual or 8 speed Auto trans it would probably a low 13 to mid 13 car easy. The vintage 3 and 4 speed transmission back then were not efficient in harnessing the full power of any muscle car, but that was the given technology then.
13's in a stock duster is nothing to sneeze at. Absolutely love Dusters. Had a 73 back in HS and raced it around. Have been looking around for another one thinking I could pick one up fairly cheap but I've learned that these old Dusters, even a 318 car are priced what I would consider sky high. Too bad. I'd absolutely love another one.
Thanks man. And you’re right, muscle car prices are ridiculous anymore.
I got a '71 340 Duster that is all original that my dad special ordered new. With the thermoquad that was in dire need of rebuilding and took off from idle it went 10.2 in the 1/8. After I get the thermoquad rebuilt or maybe with the eldabroken that I put on it so it can be driven may try it again. It sat asleep for 24 years in the corner of the garage before i woke it up in 2014.
With a full tune up and timing set to 35 degrees total, it should easily be deep in the 9’s in the 1/8.
@@Duster_Garage I just replaced the dual points about a month. I know the carb was the cause of the slow time. The eldabroken woke it up so the original carb needs much needed love. I don't think I will run it hard till I go through the motor. It has never been touched yet. Only has 62K on it and mainly sees car shows and nice day cruises.
I bought my 1970 340 Dart Swinger back in 1983, still have it. The first rebuild was stock 340 iron heads, iron exhaust manifolds, iron intake with a Thermoquad from a 1971, 833 four speed manual transmission, factory traction lock w/3.55 gears and muffler shop bent dual exhaust(crappy). It ran 14.00 to 14.20s very close to your
times.
The point is I am glad I held on to that car! Your Duster is quite a nice ride!
Thank you and they are some respectable 1/4 times. I hear you about the muffler shop exhaust, that’s what I got too.
Back in 88, I ran my 86 5.0 LX in stock small block. V-8 less than 350CI. In the finals it was a 340 Duster and I. He won in the lights. We both ran low 14's. Later on the street a few of us had some more fun. He put on his slicks and I turned on my nitrous. He left really hard and got a car or so on me. Once I hit the bottle it was over. I only had my 100HP Jets in because I was on street tires. 340's are not given much credit. They do run pretty hard.
Back in 1976 I had a 340 1970 4 speed Duster. It was a young man's dream, fast right from the factory, awesome weight transfer until I drank too much at the local bar and kissed a big tree. I pulled the motor, trans, rear and leaf springs out of the wreck & put them in a former 6 cylinder '67 or 68 cuda with the big rear window. Fun times but I had it easy because my dad owned a small auto body shop with a heated bay with floor lift and all the tools I could dream of. I joined the Navy but during that time my Dad got sick and my moron brother took over and sold the shop. I just didnt want to work on cars in my driveway. BUT, now I'm back with a 2019 Mustang GT 6 speed manual. Planning on going to the track this summer. Thank you for sharing this, I think a lot of people have fond memories of cars in the 70s and 80s.
That’s a cool story, too bad about the Duster though…I think you’re going to be impressed with the performance of your Mustang. With good rear tires, those 5.0 coyotes can rip.
My 70s best was 13.75 @ 101 in pure-stock. And I lost the class AGAIN to a 442 that I never beat as every time I got faster so did he. ( he owned a speed shop )
I had 3.91s automatic - it started at 14.7 @ 97 and I used the ‘68 stick-shift cam and the identical looking 440 carburetor. The rockers were shimmed and the trans shifted faster. The distributor was curved and carb slightly jetted as it ran a bit lean. The manifold holes need a little opening-up. Air-cleaner top flipped.
It always launched insanely well. Anything on street tires had to catch me.
Some things that didn’t work at all were Thrush mufflers - just more noise. I smoothed-out the exhaust manifolds but they ended-up cracking. I think 4.10s would have helped it. Possibly some head work milled for a bit more compression. Overall - for G pure stock 13.75 was very fast.
That is a very respectable time for pure stock. Thank you for sharing some tips too.
Beautiful car and it runs great. Surprising how good the times are in cold weather (traction). Thanks for posting this.
thanks man, traction was limited that day
Nice car! I love the way it sounds. Thanks for posting it.
Thank you! I really appreciate you saying so.
@@Duster_Garage I have watched alot of Uncle Tony's stuff. I never liked Mopars or Fords as a teen, but now own a Mercury and think Mopars are cool. Heck, they dont even need headers to go in the 13s 😆
I was a mechanic for about four years from about 1978 to 82. Around 1982, I had a 1969 Dodge Dart with a 340 and a 4-speed come into the shop. The complaint was the car would not shift. I took it for a ride. The car was stuck in second gear and the shifter was stuck. The clutch pedal went down with less pressure than normal but it would move the pressure plate enough to get the clutch plate off the flywheel. It was able to move from a stop no problem starting from second gear. In those 4 years of working on cars, that was the fastest acceleration I had experienced(just using second gear). It was quite a bit faster than my 68 Camaro with a 327-275hp. I wish I could have had the full experience and had all the gears working. On diagnosing the problem, the clutch lever where it attaches to the frame rail at the pivot ball was rotted and the lever was just floating at that end.
and why didnt you drive it after you fixed the shifter?
@@ultimatejay Good question. I forgot to mention that part of story. The repair would have involved welding on the unibody support rail where the linkage attaches. Our shop did not have welding expertise. We had to decline the repair. We never saw that car again in the shop.
Cool beans man,my 1st mopar was a 71 duster/ w a 383-727-8/34 w a column shifter and bench seat built by a old guy 4 his daughter ,that car ran 12’s-1206,1213’s all night long.if I would’ve known what I was doing back then mayby better,I’ll stay tuned-thank you.
Sweet! That’s a really stout running Duster. Do you still have her?
In the mid 70’s I bought a ‘69 Cuda Formula S, high school kid wrinkled the front end up and his Dad made him sell it - $600.
340/904 fastback. Awesome car. Pulled out the radiator support and changed the clip. Kid had put an Edlebrock LD 340 high rise on it, Accel dual point and coil, wires etc. headers and traction bars, 3.23 Suregrip. Ran pretty decent. Got looking and realized the Edlebrock was a straight bore with the ThermoQuad stuck on it! Secondaries only opened about an “1/8. Put an adapter on it found a 4.56 compete chunk for the rear and added a manual shift valve body and high stall convertor. WOW!! That little LA was a handful. Not much on mileage with those gears but never saw any taillight with it! Was easy to swap the gear back and forth being a front loader. Typical crappy Mopar electrical system but that was easy to fix and live with. Those small block Mopars where true supercars, light, fast easy to work on and good looking.
Love your rides, nice to see you preserving these great cars!! Thanks.
Heck yeah. That sounds like it was a real ripper. I love the 67-69 fastbacks. Thanks for watching and sharing your story.
I bought a 1071 340 wedge in 1971. It was a special issue duster flat black hood with angled 340 wedge decal on the hood and a spoiler on the trunk. Black with white stripes and fender mounted turn signals.rrd and black plaid seats
I still have the window sticker. I still dream of that car.
I would too, it sounds amazing
Having the 904 instead of the 727 that is usually behind the 340 helped the time. 727 takes a little bit more power to turn.
You are absolutely correct. Thanks for watching.
@Dartgame 340 agreed the 727 is indestructible, but a properly built 904 can handle plenty. My other Duster runs 11.70s with a 904 and my buddy’s Duster goes mid-10s with a 904.
In June of 1971,I tuned my friends new 340 71 Duster with the Trans Go shift kit, custom Advance on the distributor, and high test, ran a best of 13.90,99 mph with E60 x 14 polyglass tires.
Other than that the entire car was Pure Stock shocked the hell out of a lot of people
That is definitely a respectable time, especially on bias plys.
Jetted the carburetor slowed it down went back to stock...
Amazing engine
I bought a 1970 Duster 340 in late 1969. It was a love hate relationship. The drive train was great, but the rest of the car was trash. Mopar should be ashamed of itself for their lack of quality control. But it sure was quick. One day driving south on CA-99 between Fresno and Tulare at about 6:00 AM I decided to see how fast it would go. It pulled steadily from about 70 up to an indicated 150+. It had the stock 3.23 gears in the rear end. I took it to the track a couple of times and with stock everything, tires, rear end, exhaust it ran 14.40 even though I had to baby it out of the hole. Most memorable street race was against a Hemi Cuda. I pulled him pretty good out of the hole but by about an eighth of a mile he had caught up with me. That car was really fast, never been beat that bad while driving any of my cars. Whew!!! In 1977 I moved to Idaho and discovered the car was not a good choice for winter time driving with icy roads. So, I traded it for a Toyota pick up which lasted me for another 300,000 miles.
That’s really cool, I wish I would have grew up when these cars were new.
My parent's bought me a 72 challenger for my 16th Bday in 1984. Dad owned a shop. They swapped the dog 318 for a bored 30 over 340 with a 750 Edlebrock. Cam. Painted it guards red (Porsche color) with new 5spoke Crager mags. It was beautiful. And faster than anyone else on I5 in Seattle!:)
That’s badass!
Back in the day we had a very nice 65 Dodge dart GT with a 273 and 904. After several miles the 273 had a hart attack and was put to rest in a hand dug grave nest to my mother-n-laws house. I hunted for a motor and found a 70 T/A 340 6-pack and 727 for $400.00. I recamed it and added fenderwell hooker headers along with a Transgo shift kit. The next summer the stock rear was on it's way out so I found a 83/4 with 3:91 gears Leafe springs and all in a junk yard for $150.00. The 6-pack was troublesome street everyday, so I replaced it with a LD-340 intake and a Holly 750, huge improvement. The outside of the car was stock with 13" front and 15" rear steel wheels and small dog dish hubcaps. The car was a hardtop in a darker teel green, with the front lowered about 1.5" and the larger wheels in the rear it looked nice and was very clean and in very nice shape overall. It was fast for what it was, and it had me to pick it's street fights. After three or four years it had quite a reputation and took down a bunch of big block cars along with Z/28s, 302 Boss Mustangs, Nova's and several others. Love your 340 and wish you well.
That is really cool! Your Dart sounds like she was a real ripper! The power to weight ratio on that combo is very nice. Thanks for sharing buddy. Take care.
Your machine was so stable runnin down the track. the camera did not budge on that last run, nor did that car. I just love Dusters. One of my brothers had a gorgeous orange on white 1970 340 727HD Trans w/391 Dana rear end. He went through a few of them and Dart Swingers before that one. I rode shotgun and loved every minute. Light to light, he beat so many double pumper big blocks. Amazing memories. I would love to build me a 1970 Duster. He's a decade older than I, so he sold it when I was 18 because he knew how bad I wanted it, watching his extraordinary balls driving it, that he thought I would kill myself. I strongly disagreed and lost. He must have felt bad so he gave me his motorcycle which did not kill me but broke my neck. I would have preferred that sweet 1970 Duster, The Sweet Street killer.
She sounds like one badass street machine. Too bad you didn’t get her. Sorry to hear about your motorcycle accident.
Good old Mason Dixon. raced there many times. Loved the video keep at it.
Thanks man, I really appreciate it.
I was gonna ask if that was at Mason Dixon, I don't have to now. 🤣 The Rudy sign was my tip off.
Touching the 13's with essentially a stock 340 Duster ain't too shabby. Your launch loading and roll out of the dig is really nice. Thought you were going to red light but you never did. That is a gorgeous car. I had a 70 Challenger with a 340 4 speed. Man that car ripped. Also a 72 RR with a 340 and a 727. Not as fast as the Chally but it was still pretty fast. Love the sound of a 340 and really easy motor to work on. Good to see people keeping these cars alive.
Thanks buddy. 70 challenger 340 4 speed! I bet you wish you had her back.
My dad just passed his first car to me witch isba 70 340 duster and its a dream come true. Ive only asked for this car atleast 10 times a year since i was 10 and im 34 now so i feel honored he is trusting me with his baby
That’s awesome! Take care of her and you may one day pass it on to your son, or daughter.
Your car is my dream car! I hav loved Dusters since I first saw one in 1970. It was white!!!! AWESOME car dude. Keep her clean and safe!
Right on man
My dad summer wages was car from his father.. There was a 69 mustang with a big block 4 speed for sale in town... His dad took it for a spin come back and said "to fast" on the way back home they drove by a panther pink 340 duster with a for sale sign in the window.. Without even looking it over his dad told him.. Yep that will be a good first car for you and bought it no hesitation.. My dad said that 340 duster with few tasteful modifications would out run in quarter mile.. the locally known "king of the streets" mustang any day of the week.. When he went off to Germany after enlistment his brother found the tires and put them on and wrecked it.. It sported the 150 mph gauge and factory tachometer and factory header manifolds.. He never seen other dusters with the same options his had.. It was a custom ordered duster some guy got for his wife.. He said the panther pink really stood out.. He never seen other dusters that color
That’s any awesome story. Too bad for the car though. Unfortunately that happened to a lot of muscle cars.
As a Newby Wannabe' working at Booth-Arons Engines (1984-89) I had a 73 Dart Sport (duster) 360 four speed built by Mancini (from what I was told) super stock springs, 4.56 gears, ported head and a Mopar Hemi Grind cam and lifters. A customer at Booth-Arons raced me on Woodward Ave. with a 66-67 Nova 396 auto and beat him when I clicked fourth gear! Loved that car ! Love yours too. (Admittedly I would Not have left the one you have stock though, My Sin) 😉
That’s awesome! My white car is stock because my wife drives it (she’s a wimp). My yellow Duster is my street/strip car, way funner to drive.
71 340 Swinger special B5 blue w/black vinyl top, rim blow wheel, two fender tag car. (My profile pic). 72 340 Duster A4 Gunmetal grey w/black vinyl top, black int buckets, console. Gone but not forgotten, I still have a collection of speeding tickets from those days.
Nice, it’s hard not to with these cars!
The clean and simple look is great and the fact that its "Stock" , awesome . You really show a craftsmanship I must say.
Thank you! I really appreciate it.
71- 340 Duster, 30 over balanced 340, 727 w shift kit , 8/34 posi w 410s, 650 double pumper , 480 lift cam, crappy tires on a hot summer day. 1/4 mile best 14.3 @ 102 for me with traction problems. The good old days!
Solid time. With good tires, you would have been mid-13s.
Those times are more in line with what I remember from back in the late 60’s early 70’s. I had a bone stock ‘71 340 Duster with auto trans. It had a 3:23 gear and it had stock E70x14 polyglas tires on it. No slicks no headers. I was able to get a 14.07 sec @ 100 m.p.h. 1/4 mile time. This was in the Toronto area in 1971.
That’s a very respectable time, for running on bias ply tires.
Okay, it wasn't a GM...but it still flooded my mind with great memories! 😁 The on-board vids did it for me. Kudos on your tuning prowess! In the day I had my share of success with a 68 Chevelle 396 4-spd. Never had problems with the 383s. Steered clear of the 440s and Hemi-rhoids. But the 340s where always unpredictable! And the 340 guys I knew had far less issues than their big brothers! Probably could be said about most small blocks of each manufacturer. Thanks for a great vid!
Thanks! I’m glad you enjoyed it. And Hemi-rhoids, too funny. 😂
i am an A-body collector in Pittsburgh. i have 7 68-69 Barracuda's. one of them is a recreation of the car i had and street raced in high school 1970-72. it was a 68 fastback Formula S with a 4 sp and 3:91 gears. it had Hooker fender-well headers, a Hurst Comp plus shifter with reverse lock-out, an Edlebrock aluminum high rise and a 750 Holley dp with mechanical secondaries. it had a Schafer racing clutch and a Lakewood blow-proof bellhousing. also had a "cool-can" on the fuel line under the hood. "old school" racers will know what that is. that car was a consistent low 13's street car. at the strip with 8" M&H slicks and open headers, the car would run 12.29's all day long. i was never beat on the street by any Ford, Chevy, or GTO. i have several extra engines and i'm building a "mild" 340 stroker for the car this winter. it will be all stock looking and painted the factory "red" which was correct for 340's in 1968. the other cudas are a 383 4sp and one of the rare 440 M-Code 69 Cuda's which i have put a 4 sp in. i love 340 cars and they were VERY hard to beat on the street because they would wind fast and in a 3400 lb A-body car, it was a perfect match. there is a guy from Canada that has a video on You tube of his stock looking 4 sp B-5 blue 71 Duster with a stroker 340 putting out over 500 hp. i've watched his video several times as he takes one of his friends out for a ride and the Duster is almost too crazy to keep in a straight line. it breaks loose in 1st and 2nd and just sounds great. if you can find it, you as a guy that races a Duster should get a kick out of it. take care.
That is an awesome story! My father had a blue ‘68 Formula S 4 speed in high school. He also did a loose recreation of it in the mid ‘90s, except that car had an automatic. Sadly he sold that car about a year ago. I love the ‘68 Barracudas, the grille it self is a work of art. Thank you for sharing! I will have to find this stroker Duster video also.
@@Duster_Garage hey... i'll bet your dad has some great street racing stories. i found the video but it is a Demon not a Duster but i think you will still enjoy it. ua-cam.com/video/3W9wB89poW8/v-deo.html
@@jimharvard Thank you
When I was 16 in 1977, I went to Vegas to visit my brother who recently moved there. He had your car with a slightly above stock cam & hedders. I would drive him to work & have his car all say.
Never forgot the performance & sound of this light-weight Dodge!!!
Good times brother
Beautiful car bro that's what life is all about right there
Thanks man, you got that right
Had. 70 Duster 340 in 1970 in Highschool Racing it ran 13.23 @ 104 with headman headers came with 3.91 gears a 4 sp ran great in S/ES class spanked all the bug blocks 😂ford Torino 383 Superbee and Ford Boss 302 in that class so fun growing up in Indianapolis in that time ..beautiful 340 like the white mine Was Vitamin C orange 🍊
Sweet! She was a runner. I would like to have mine in the low 13s someday.
I had a 72 orange Duster with black out 340 hood and black stripped. They are really cool cars. You'd like awesome. Love the shark tooth grilles.
Nice. I love the orange and black color combo. And the shark tooth grilles are really menacing looking.
Great no nonsense vid!! My first car in high school was a 67 dart gt slant. I wanted a v8 in a terrible way but couldnt afford it. I went in the army after school and had income, so I bought a 70 Duster 340 4 speed. I was a novice at wrenching at the time and beat that car to death. It was the fastest car I had ever had up to that point and I was sure proud of it. At the time it was only 9 years old and clean. I sure wish I had kept it but you know how that goes. The thermoquad would kick in great in first,but half the time wouldnd come in in second gear.I remember that frustration well. I could tune it now, but then I was clueless. Your vid brought back fond memories for me as a young G.I. with my first hot rod! Thanks!! New subscriber!!
Thank you for sharing! These are the kind of stories I really enjoy hearing. I’m glad you enjoyed the video.
Back in 1985 I raced my 1966 Chev Caprice 2 door. Yep Full sized body. Bigblock power and I spent Way to much money and time on that car and engine. Best time was 13.217 at 103. You video reminded me of the life and times associated with those days. Thanks.
Also real nice Duster. At that same time a friend of mine also had a 340 Duster Standard transmission. I do not recall the year of the Duster but I do recall how it screamed.
That’s awesome, I’m glad you enjoyed it.
I have a green sport Hang Ten love that car. Fun to drive. Watching this I need to buy a battery and get it out & play . Thanks , Chris
Definitely Chris, enjoy the car like it was meant to be.
I have very happy memories of the 340 Swinger. Like watching you at the track, and had a country boy good time doing it.
Awesome, glad you enjoyed it.
I remember reading a magazine road test some years back that tested a (new for that time) 1970 Duster with a 340. The best time they could do with the 3:55 rear end and stock E70-14 tires was a 14.5 something in the 1/4 mile. Then they switched out the gears for a 4:10 and used the stock E60 15 (?) tires from a Challenger they were also road testing. They just eeked out a 13.98 if I remember correctly. I thought that was pretty impressive as most everybody else's (GM and Ford) small blocks were running mid to high 14's with the same 4:10's and 60 series tires.
That sounds right on to me. They are rippers by 70s standards.
My very first car was a 1971 Duster 340 4 speed. I bought it for 1200 dollars in 1976. My mom wouldn't let me drive it until I could afford insurance on it. So it gave me time to add a set of Casler Headers, 6x9 speakers and an 8 track player. As a very young man I worked at Pup n Taco so it took awhile to come up with enough money to buy it and insure it. But it was a hell of a car! This bad boy would run with just about any engine or car combination from stop light to stop light in my area. Hell of a lot of car for a 16 year old. I loved it and miss it a lot. I love your cars and I'm a new subscriber! Keep up the great content!
That’s an awesome story! And thank you, I really appreciate it.
One of my favorite cars is a 1971 red Duster 340 with a manual. Thats what I wanted back in high school in '72. I worked but I just couldn't afford one. I still think of owning one.
It’s not too late. Unfortunately the price for an original 340, 4 speed is a bit higher now.
In 69 my wife's father bought a new Dart 340 4sp 3.55 rear gears. He gave it to my wife in 1976. The car just turned 40,000 miles and it still has an all stock running gear. My wife is 65 years old and still takes it out to the track once a year and runs low 14s with it.
That freaking awesome! She sounds like a really cool gal.
Nice ride. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you
My buddy had one in Highschool and just Couldn’t beat my 57’ Chevy. 375 hp , 327 !! 😁 Good times in the 70’s🤙🏽👍🏽😎
All these cool stories make me wish I grew up in the ‘70s.
Fantastic, looks so clean too!!!
Thanks! I really appreciate you saying so.
Back in high school a friend bought a brand new 73 Duster 340 4 speed car in late 72 he added a 6 pack, headers, a cam and traction bars. ran mid to high 13s
And I now have a 73 haven’t had it to the track yet but it Dino’d 296 to the wheels with 323 posi a 360 with a A727 . I really like your content thank you
Very cool! 296 hp at the wheels should get you down the road nicely. I appreciate your comment.
Back in the 1980's I used to street race against a few different 340 Dusters. There were both automatics and 4 speed Dusters I would compete against. I had a 1970 Mustang fastback with a mild 351 Cleveland and automatic. The Dusters were a good match for me and it was always a toss up on who could beat who. I've always had a lot of respect for the 340 engines since then.
Those Cleveland engines were no slouches. With those big intake ports, they made good power.
I owned a 71 Dustwer 340 in the mid 80's. I used to street race my Duster, added headers and Direct Connection electronic ignition and loved to eat up 396's on the street.
That’s badass!
Great car. At first I thought that was a 71. My dad had a 71 340 that he bought new. Traded it when they had my sister and I. Later in life when I was around 15 or 16, he bought one from a neighbor that had been parked under a shade tree for a few years. It is a 70 340, 727 with the blue interior. Has the ralley dash. It's been parked in the barn for 10+ years. My dad recently handed my son, on his 21st bday, the title. My son and I are about to start cleaning it up and gettin it goin again. My dad and I used to go to the local drag strip. I had bought a 73 340, which I later sold for family prioritys also. His car would run a 9.10 in the eighth at 76mph. Looking forward to cleaning the old car up. I'm still looking out for my dads original 71 that he had. Hope one day to get that car back.
That is awesome! I can imagine your son is really excited. I hope you find your dad’s old Duster someday.
Clean! Very Nice Ride! Thanks for sharing your video.
Thanks buddy I appreciate that.
My name is bill. I bought a 1970 Plymouth duster new off the show room floor in oct 1969.This car was unreal! Why ?I'm not sure but several people told me that the factory guys built it to be a sleeper. As you know the late 60's and early 70's were muscle car years. I had friends who had 396 Chevelle, 400 judge, roadrunner,GTX, HP 383 darts. And on and on. No one could touch my little 340 duster! Street raced lots the best race which I did lose was against a 440 charger rt 6pack. I went in the Marines in 1970 and my stupid sister and mom traded my duster for a new car. When I came home I was set back,my brother and I are still p.oed about that. The dealer where the car was traded called me and wanted to know what I had done to the 340 as they could not get it to run by factory specs. I had a set of keys and went to the dealer on a Sunday and fryer to start my car. No go. All it did was crank and backfire. The dealership finally sold the car ,not running. I don't know what ever happened to my car? It was the real deal! Some of my friends had money and their parents bought them cars so as they could street race and beat the 340 little duster. They were mad because they never could! I'm still very proud of my 1970 Plymouth duster 340 , automatic, 4 barrel. Yellow and White with bucket seats and floor shift. My story!!!! The original sleeper!!! William Wayne Taulbee , Kettering Ohio.
Very nice. I’ve been hearing a lot of similar story’s to yours. These cars were tough to beat back in the day. Whether some people want to admit it or not.
Beautiful car,what a fantastic build. Those are terrific cars.
Thank you very much!
Clean looking car. Goes great.
Thank you very much
back in the mid eighties my buddy had a 1974 duster that he took out the original 340 and he added a lightly + modified 340 4 bbl in it and he used to pop the clutch at 7 grand and shift into second on a blink of an eye and finnished the 1/4 mile in fourth gear and it ran mid 10,s ...one day i was with him heading to the track and he opened her up on the highway and we burried the speedometer , as a late teen that was super cool for me then his brother took me for a ride in his 71 hemi cuda which at the time was considered a regular car , but i still enjoyed the highway run in the duster
Nice, that sounds like a wicked Duster!
@@Duster_Garage indeed it was its still on the road today as a summer cruiser with same engine but its automatic now with full exhaust system
I had two lemon yellow dusters. One with a 340; the other was a 440 with huge racer brown cam and 830 Holley on top. Love the grilles.
That 440 car was probably a wild ride.
Picked up a '70 Duster when I returned home from the service ... sold it to a need sister after a few hears ... That was 45 years ago and I still miss that car. Hemi-Orange and QUICK!
Oh man, it’s not too late to find another one!
Hot Rodding or Hot rod featured Econo racer drag test in 1978. They tested a 340 4 sp Duster along with big 3 competitors. The Duster ran in the 13s.
We had a 70 318 car with a Cuda 70 340. a school mate offered him a 4 speed from a scrap yard he worked for Iff he did a hole shot out in front of the school. He did it without a question.
Nice!
Back in the late 70's, a couple of guys we called Salt and Pepper bought a $150 '67 Valient with a 340. They bought it out to the street races and preceded to clean up on Friday and Saturday nights. That hunk of junk ran good. They took on a '75 Mustang Cobra that had a 351 Cleveland transplant and smoked it. The following week, the Cobra came out on slicks and the smoke it again.
Sweet!
Had a 1971 340 duster that I bought off a college friend of mine in 1982, it had a Mr. gasket vertigate shifter competition bell housing and ladder bars and was set up for the track the original engine got blown up and they put a 1972 340 in it. My buddy had the car took me for a ride and he told me it was for sale and I wanted it with the headers and cherry bomb mufflers it sounded awesome. When I got home my parents thought I was crazy to bring this loud black with white interior monster that I started up every morning and had to warm it up in order to get it to work. Over the years my two younger brothers borrowed the car and in a later period of time they told me how many races they went on it had manual steering and manual brakes and we definitely experience brake fade more than once. Driving that car was a blast still have the four-speed and the engine. Don’t know what the engine is worth the rest of the car went to the junkyard. It truly was a blast to drive and with the lower compression 340 it could run on unleaded regular all day long. Enjoyed watching your white duster run and the sound of that engine again brought back some good memories. Also have the shifter as well.
That’s an awesome memory and I’m glad I could help rekindle it a little.
Bought a new '71 Duster when I was a senior in high school. 340, automatic w/3.55 rear gears. In pure stock my best time was a 13.9 which was unheard of for an automatic at the time. We raced at U.S. 30 Dragway which was in York County, PA at the Thomasville airport.
Very nice! I’m from Hanover. I drive past the airport every morning on my way to work. I wish they still raced there. I’d be there every weekend.
Did you buy it from Baugher motors?
I've got several 340 stories. My fav is around 1981 a guy down the street had a 73 Duster 340 with a 3 speed floor shift and no power steering. He knew me and said I could take it for a drive to see if I liked it and maybe buy it from him. He wanted $1400 and he'd just rebuilt the front end, and there was a set of headers in the trunk. It was a total stripper, black vinyl interior, no radio even. A friend came along. I steered onto the town main drag and hit the gas and the car just launched forward, leaving squeals and rubber lines on the tarmac. We both grinned bigly. The pull in first gear was super strong (3 speed had a lower first than the 4 speed, i later learned). My friend wanted to drive so we traded places. He took it out on a side road up to 110 in what seemed like no time. I took the car back and told the guy there is no way my parents would let me have that car. A local kid I'd told about it a couple days before bought it the next day. No idea where it is today.
that’s a great story, to bad you weren’t able to buy it. thanks for sharing.
My guess was 14.5 before I saw the runs. Good times in the 13's.
Thank you
Very Good. I’m chasing those 3rd numbers today with a Mustang v6. Tuned w/3.55 gears. Weight is tuff on that unit 3500lb convertible.
I really like the white paint on this generation of pony cars (gold or orange as well). So rare
I really like it too. Such a clean look.
I have the '70 that my parents bought new. EF8 green with green interior, 318 auto, A/C, power steering, disc brakes, light group, black vinyl top and disc brakes. Most Dusters were Slant Six three speed "heater and key" specials, but that's not a car my dad would have bought. Needs brakes, and I'm going to have it repainted the correct color after my dad had it painted a Mercury color that I've never liked.
I was about half way through the restoration of a numbers matching '70 Road Runner that I've since sold, and was taking my daughter around the neighborhood in her bike trailer when I ran across and EV2 Orange 340 Dart. I thought it had flat tires, turned out it had just sunk up to the rims in the grass. A door knock got nothing. About a month later, I saw an ad for a 70 Dodge Dart and called. The gal I talked to was the original owner, and it was that same 340. Her dad had co-signed for her when she bought it, and it was on the original title. She asked if I wanted to come look at it and I said yes. She asked if I needed directions, I said "Nope, I know where it is." This was in '95 and I paid $2000 for it. It still had the assembly tag on the AVS, which I rebuilt in about 20 minutes. The black interior was more duct tape that vinyl but the car was solid. Actually a better car than the Road Runner because that car needed a trunk floor. Maybe because it was female owned, the Dart was 99% stock. All I could see that had been changed were the tires and plug wires.
The deeper I got into the Road Runner, the less fun restoring the Dart seemed like, so I sold it to a guy in Chicago. My first car was a gold '70 Swinger. Tan interior, white top, Slant Six auto. I've had three '70 Road Runners and a '69, but I love A bodies, and yours is pretty sweet.
Thanks man, I appreciate it! Sounds like you have had your fair share of mopars!
I had both a 71 340 4spd. Demon and a 70 340 4spd Duster years ago. I did a lot of street racing with those cars. I just loved them, they really were big block killers! Amazing cars horse power to weight ratio was spot on !
Heck ya! It’s not always about having the most horsepower. A light weight car with a little less power will win every time.
No Shit, Thought I recognized the Mason Dixon Drags!
Thanks for sharing man!
No problem!
My good friend and Machinest where we worked together built a 340 for his 68 notchback Cuda. Everything was stock except for headers and a Comp Cams High Energy cam. It spaced out close to the original, but with its asymmetric lobes we thought it would be easier on the valve train. On street tires and 3.55 gear it runs 14 seconds flat with ease. And it’s a dream to drive on the street. With slicks and lower gears it would have run even quicker, but it was his daily driver. Oh, the engine was a cast crank late model engine. He found a 318-3 forged crank and had it balanced. It took a lot of Mallory metal to get it right, but I believe it was with the money. Built in 1981, the car still runs perfectly! Now, if you have t already done so, get yourself a pair of performance leaf spring and adjustable pinion snubber available thru Mopar Performance and set it up they way the chassis book tells you to. That alone will improve your 60 feet times!
I rarely comment on you-tube videos, but I must say your videos are a pleasure to watch; No nonsense, straight forward honest work and dialogue, thank you. I worked as a class B mechanic at a certified Dodge dealership in the mid 70's and always enjoyed the rare 340 Darts coming into the bays. Once I opened the hood of a Dart and it was extremely light and flexed when I put the hood rod up. I don't remember if it was a 340 or other.....something called a "feather light?" The head mechanic told me the hood was aluminum, could that be true? We're currently building a lowered pro-street Plymouth Arrow for the show circuit, 8 point cage, 69' 340, built 904, 8.75, early 3 link setup, adj. coil-overs etc. Hoping to have it complete within the year. Lots of untold performance history with Chrysler corporation. Please keep posting when you can, it's really good stuff! Thanks again.
Thank you, I really appreciate your positive feed back! Those Plymouth Arrows and Dodge Colts are really cool and hard to find. It sounds like your’s is going to be a really sweet machine!
Just found your channel and subscribed after watching this video. Back in the 1980s I owned a 1972 340 Duster with a 3 speed manual transmission and 3.23 gears in the rear end...
Only had it for a couple of years and have had many other Mopars of various models since then...
Had a couple friends who also had Dusters and Demons with 340 engines....
I would love to find another one someday but building muscle cars has kind of turned into a rich man's game which I can no longer afford at my age.
Thanks! You are right, cars are ridiculously priced now. I’m fortunate I got both of mine over a decade ago, when you could get a ratty one for less than a $1000.
In 1969, I ran a 69' Dart Swinger, 340, 4spd, 3:91 rear in AHRA show room stock division. The best time I ever ran was a 14.40 at 99 mph. This was with a stock AVS carb and a cool can. No mods were allowed. Pumped the Polyglas tires up to 40 lbs! Your ET's are very impressive.
Thank you !
You had the power for 13's. Tires, even street ones are a lot better nowadays
did the 3:91 come stock or is that a modification?
@@lw216316 3.23s were standard, but 3.55 and 3.91 were factory options.
In HS in the mid 90 my best friend built a 340 duster .
I don’t remember the 1/8 mile times. But he never lost a street race. 5.0 mustangs Camaros wouldn’t have a chance.
She had 456 gears , fiberglass bumpers and hood. Battery in the back ,That car would launch so hard. I had a 71 olds at the same time that was cruiser with a two barrel and bench seat. Many many good times.
That’s awesome. That was the best part of high school. Cruising with your buddies and working on cars. And street racing!
My Duster story starts in 1988. I had just turned 16 and told dad "I need a car!"....to which he replied "You need a job!" 😂. So I went out and got said job to make some money to buy a car. I wasn't really a car guy yet, just wanted something cool and that I could afford. (1980's Duster prices right?) I found a 1974 column auto 318 car, brown over tan interior. It needed a few small things but I recall it was around $900 😮. That was my first car and got me into Mopars and thats all I wanted through my teens and most of my 20's.
Other mopars I had from 1988 to 1992 were a slant 6 Demon, a 318 Dart Swinger and a 73 Charger SE (400BB). I joined the military in 1992 and had the Charger shipped to CA from OH. Now forgive me, I had a weak moment and traded that Charger on a 79 Firebird!! It was a decent car but didn't have it long. The unit moved to Ft Lewis in 1993 and one day I was driving around Tacoma. I spot this used car lot with an Orange Duster sitting there. Swung in there and tossed that Firebird to the curb and acquired the 1973 340 4 Speed beauty!
What a car! man I was awesome in that thing, and I felt like I was home again. Now the finest memory I have is of my road trip back to OH from WA. I ETS'd out of active duty and loaded that 340 with all my belongings. I pointed it East and took off on a 4 day 2552 mile journey I will NEVER forget....and I did it solo. (sorry so long I am just excited remembering all this.) lol
All was well as I went south on I-5 and then East by the Columbia River to my first fuel stop. Just as I was taught, I pulled the dipstick to check the oil while I filled up. I about shit when the stick was DRY! OK I said, don't panic. I can see its not dripping anything and the exhaust was fine. I purchased some oil, fixed it and got underway. As you can imagine I was thinking about this the whole rest of the way to the next fuel stop. Temps good and no light coming on, whew!
Some couple hundred miles later I pull off to fuel up, and again I pull the dipstick out expecting all to be well and it was DRY again! OK, I said... I can't be doing this all across the country I need a solution. I went over the engine as best I could at the gas station, as I did have my tools with me. It all looked fine, but what the hell man? I sat on the curb and thought about it. Maybe my car isn;t use to this long period of driving? It really wasn't use to it but still.......
I am sitting there and I remember watching my grandpa out in the garage changing his oil when I was a kid. He SWORE by the STP oil treatment in the blue bottle (you remember that honey looking shit?) He was in Heaven telling me what I had to do. I bought a bottle of that with some oil and filled it up. From that startup at the station in Oregon to Ohio it did not use ONE SINGLE DROP of oil! LOL I couldn't believe it. That is just one memory of that Duster in my trip across the country, but its burned into memory till I die.
I eventually (stupidly) sold that Duster later on and never did buy another old Mopar. Fast fwd to today and I am looking at guess what? a 1973 Orange (real) 340 Duster! Its almost exactly like the 340 I had in 94 but this ones an auto. Now I just have to pull the trigger and buy it.....................................maybe a cross country trip is in order?😊
Your Duster is awesome man and SUBBED!
Thank you Thomas. That is a great story! You had one hell of a run with mopars, I think it’s time for another. And for the STP, they sponsored Richard Petty, so you know it had to be good. I hope you get that Duster.
Great times in the 13's. Love those 340's.
thank you
My best friend in the mid 70s had a hemi orange 71 Demon 340.
We put headers, an Edelbrock intake, with a Holley 600 single feed and that 340 became a monster! I got to drive it a lot and got to beat up everything I raced! Small blocks and big block Chevies, GTOs, a W31 Olds, and a slew of Ford products were beaten by the Demon. Those were the most fun days of my life! I'll never forget!!
That’s awesome! With the excellent power to weight ratio of an A-body with a 340, they embarrassed a lot of big blocks.
Great video, Back in the mid 1970s I raced a Dodge Dart 340 with my Roadrunner with a 383. Blew him out of the hole but he dammed near got me at top end. Those 340s can really wind.
They have been known to surprise a big block or two.