Tech Question
Luke Reese, Lewistown, PA, 1973 Dodge Dart Sport 360
Mr E’berg, I am 16 years old and need your help. I dragrace a 73 Dart Sport and need a little help with beating up all of myfriends with new Mustangs and late 90’s Camaros. The car weighs 3200 lbswithout me in it. It has 26 inch tall tires with 3.91’s in the 8 3/4 rear.The car has a ’77 360, stock, with the exception of a 650 Holley carb,Edelbrock intake and headers. It has a 727 in it. It has run a best of 14.75at 94 mph. Is there anything else I can do to pick up some ET? Or if not,can you steer me in the right direction for an engine rebuild? I have this360 and I also have a good ’69 340.
Thanks for all of your help and please keep up the good work.
Luke
Luk, stay with a 360.
Probably the biggest single impediment to making any real HP are yourcylinder heads. Politely: They are junk. Pick up a pair of late-’80s /early-’90s #308 castings, clean ’em up, and bolt ’em on. Then add a cam — something in the 280-degree, .480″-lift area, (with matching springs) and goget ’em. You should be up 50-60 HP!
You could also cannibalize the ’69 340 heads, but they don’t have hardenedvalve seats and the exhaust side isn’t as good as the 308s. I say: Sell thecomplete 340 to a resto guy who needs it.
Once you break the century mark in trap speed, start concentrating on thelaunch. I don’t know whether you have any sticky tires, limited slip diff,and what stall RPM your converter is. These are all areas that have profoundaffects on ETs, and very little on MPH.
Rick
Comments are closed.