340 upgrade for performance

[Bartman]

I am new to mopars.  So I am probably asking a question most of you guys have known for years.  I have a stock 1971 340, j heads big valves.  It's a 4 speed, 355 gears with power disk breaks.  What would be some things to change on the engine to make it faster.  It is very streetable now and I drive it a lot so I don't want to mess that up.  Stock intake with a 600 holly carb.  Love to hear some ideas. 

[Roadman]

              Welcome aboard @Bartman        The engine gurus will weigh in shortly.   

[Bartman]

Thanks.  I am excited to hear what people have to say.

[Katfish]

Some bolt on mods you could do:
Aluminum intake like an Edlebrock Performer
Larger carb, maybe a Demon
Headers / exhaust , TTI makes a great system

[hato]

  to the sight you will love the info avalible here a few questions
1: are you running the oem cam specs or custom
2: have you considered the mr six pack cam a lot of ppl rave about them
3: have you put the current setup on a chassis dyno or relying on the butt dyno like everyone 

[Bartman]

The cam is mopar performance cam that i was told Was equivalent to stock.  How would it run if I went with an eldebrock air gap intake and a 750 cfm carb.  Would that be a bad idea with the stock cam.  I have read that an ld340 would be a good intake but it's cheaper to buy a new air gap intake.  I can change the cam and lifters if that's what it would require to make a difference over what I have now.  I just don't have an experience it mopars.  I don't know what are the good combinations.

[Bartman]

I am going to buy a tti exhaust system for the car.  So I will have that covered.

[ec_co]

also consider EFI over a carb setup. better driveability, better engine life, easier starts, plenty of flow and about the same power curves. companies like FiTech http://fitechefi.com/ or Edelbrock, FastEFI

[Roadman]

also consider EFI over a carb setup. better driveability, better engine life, easier starts, plenty of flow and about the same power curves. companies like FiTech http://fitechefi.com/ or Edelbrock, FastEFI

                                     EFI rocks !   

[MoparLeo]

The 340 is an engine that loves high RPM's It is not a bottom end torque motor. So do all of the standard hop ups that you would do on any other brand of engine. One thing that a lot of guys forget is to upgrade the valve springs with any cam change that you do. How many miles on this engine ? it is a 40 + year old motor, so it might need more than a quick tune.  Find someone with a leak down tester or rent one to find the true condition of your motor.

[Bartman]

I hadn't really thought about efi.   I believe it's better but I am not sure if I could
Figure out how to hook it up and get the bugs worked out. 

[Bartman]

The engine was rebuild about 5 years ago. I broke the motor in and the engine might
Have 500 miles on it. 

[ec_co]

I hadn't really thought about efi.   I believe it's better but I am not sure if I could
Figure out how to hook it up and get the bugs worked out.

check out that FiTech link, it is a plug and play system unlike most of the other EFI setups out there. very hobby friendly. better yet, check some youtube reviews and installs to see how easy it is.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=fitech+efi+review

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=fitech+efi+install

[HP_Cuda]

Well then there is bottle fed or blown

[RUNCHARGER]

If you carb it 750 is a nice size for a 340. Headers are a great mod. The stock intake manifold is a good one and you'll gain more by changing the camshaft instead. I didn't see what compression ratio it might be?