And then there were 2...

Well, since I want to drive it ASAP, and I have another, I have decided to put an LA series motor in it. Luckily I located a 360, probably a roller cam motor, it's an '88 or 9. There's another van out there that has a 26" radiator.

I also found a power power steering column to manual steering box adapter. :dance:

Whist I'm in the yard im going to pick up some Magnum exhaust manifolds, but I'll have to run out to my favorite yard to snag some pulleys and brackets.

Just need to locate an a904.
 
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Toldja $500 was obscene. As a bonus, it's likely your junkyard score has 308 heads, which are far better than buddy's malaise-era 587 castings. :dance:
 
I wasn't paying the $500, I didn't even respond to the first email, or the 3 subsequent emails. I'm debating on yanking the 727 behind a 318 in another out there in the yard, I was leaning toward a still yet to be located 904, but now I'm thinking the bird in hand...

Factory 340/360 spread bore intake better than an Eddy Performer?

$54 for the 727 too.
 
If you haven't got an intake, just use the stocker. If it's a '74-up manifold remove the EGR standpipe from the plenum floor and replace it with a socket-head pipe plug, and make an EGR blockoff plate. If you've already got a Performer lying around though, go ahead and use it. No point in paying for something you've already got--a workable 4-barrel intake. I wouldn't suggest paying money for the small gains the stocker provides. The Performer does have its advantages, namely bottom-end grunt and weight.

Careful on the year of transmission you choose; just about everything after '78 in a passenger car is a lockup. The converters aren't known for their strength, and you can't install a non-lockup converter in a lockup trans. Yes, there are ways around everything, but it's much easier just to not have to screw with it.

The A904 can be built fairly strong, but to equal an A727 it costs a lot of money. Of course, if you can get a gearset and drums from an A999 (look for Diplomat squad cars), it gives you a 2.77 low gear instead of the standard 2.45; big fun at the stoplight Grand Prix without needing deep axle gears. With the A999 gearset, a 3.91 leaves the line harder than a 4.30 behind an A727. :dance:
 
The 727 is out of a similar year van. These nut cases want $150+ for unknown year cores.

I was looking for cheap cars with V8's to rob and all I can find are 400's... I know, my problems right? The cars are cheaper than that other 360 though. Most of the other, non B motor, cars are either without powertrains or /6's.

I am presently without intake, so I was looking for advice on cheap, that's why I mentioned stock spreadbore over Performer. 360 has 2brl intake right now.
 
71ChargerRT said:
These nut cases want $150+ for unknown year cores.
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Wow, that IS crazy. I realized how little that stuff is worth when I tried to sell a bunch of big block 727's, a couple of early 518's, and a smallblock 904 for $50 each plus shipping, buyer's pick. NOT ONE RESPONSE TO MY AD. To the crusher it all went, along with various 400's and 440's in different states of completeness, a '72 new yorker with a running non-knocking steel crank 440 (couldn't get $700 for that one), a running 5 cylinder deutz diesel, and a running 5 cylinder mercedes diesel with auto trans and a spare manual trans for it. None of that stuff is worth shit, apparently. So yeah, homeboy wanting $150 is either crazy or living on a different planet than I am.
 
Yeah I remember when all that went down and lamented how I had neither the funds nor a place to put it at the time. If you have any more I could adjust my trip home from Carlisle next year and pick it up.
 
By the time you get done shipping a 225lb engine block across the country, it's more expensive than finding one locally. Sure, the block was $50 but it would cost $400+ to ship it. You also seemed to be in a hurry to be rid of that stuff which, having been at your place I can understand; you don't have a lot of storage room for stuff you don't need. That stuff might have sold, but trying to move stuff like blocks and transmissions means sitting on them and dealing with local tire-kickers for months on end. Junkyards can do that but we haven't got the room. I feel your pain, since I've twice tried to give away that 360 I pulled from the '72 pickup, and I couldn't even get either guy to swing by and look at it. One of the two idiots recently told Stretch he was "just going to bore out" his 318 to a 340, since "that's all the factory did." Good luck with that. At .130" over, you could poke a hole in the cylinder with your finger. :D I've also done what you did, crushing a lot of very rare stuff that I couldn't sell for prices I thought were way too low... but I was dealing with the "never have any money" FMJ crowd with that stuff. There sure was a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth when I announced all that stuff went to the crusher, though.

Regardless, I see a ton of stuff that seems permanently for sale on Craigslist. In a lot of those cases the ads are pathetic and in the others they're simply asking way too much money. I found some of the stuff I bought at the swap meet on Craigslist after I got home, including the wheels and the T/A heads. Both stunning ads, I'm sure you'll agree. Yet when I talked to him, the guy was truly puzzled and frustrated that he'd not gotten any calls on any of his stuff. Six of those seven cylinder heads are now owned by either Stretch or myself, and total we paid less than what he was asking for a single pair. They're all original 2.02" heads, and the non-T/A heads I got are actually X castings. But there's no information in the ad, just a single photo of rusty bare castings stating "J heads" and a price. In the listing for the wheels, there's no information that they're genuine Center Lines or that the bolt pattern is rare as hen's teeth. He didn't even mention the matching front runners. :doh:

On the other side of the coin, I've been screaming "TAKE MY MONEY" to someone with some parts I need for over a week now, and I can't get him to send me a PayPal invoice. :doh:

I've sold a number of things on Craigslist, but it's a slow process. The more information and keywords you put in your description, the better... but it still takes forever.
 
Shipping engine blocks across the country is expensive. Fortunately, not everyone is across the country. Some folks aren't even across state lines. However, EVERYBODY is both completely broke and incapable of operating a telephone or keyboard when you have such things for sale. It's ok, much of that stuff has come back to us. Cars and soda cans gotta be made out of something...
 
I wouldn't pay $100 for an LD340 other than to flip it. It's sole value is in nostalgia, because at one time they were cast with Chrysler part number on them. Since it was never a factory-installed item it's restoration-correct for nothing, but that number somehow makes it magical. As far as performance, better designs have been available for decades including the Performer RPM and Victor series, Weiand Stealth and X-Celerator, and Holley Strip Dominator. The LD340 isn't a bad intake, it's actually quite a good one. It's just not worth what some people will pay. It's one of those "voodoo magic" parts like '71-'73 360 blocks and Six Pack connecting rods: People believe they're better for this reason or that, but they're simply an enormous waste of money. At non-Mopar-specific swap meets, a better used intake can often be bought for $75 or less with a little haggling. Hell, the Performer RPM Air Gap is the best dual-plane ever made, and used examples can be had for less than half of what some idiot will pay for an LD340.
 
I found one locally, well kinda locally for $150, and wondered if they were everything that people thought they were.

I'm not dead set on anything, hell, if I could find a used dual bolt pattern RPM knock-off I'd grab that. Something will come up, like that dual plane Offy I bought for my 440 for under $100. Found a Performer for $75, but it's almost 5 hours away, still in Texas, just in the wrong direction of any way I usually travel.
 
Those are the wheels I bought at the swap meet, 69.5. That's the guy's craigslist ad that he still hasn't removed. Like I said, he didn't mention that they were A-body, that they were real forged Center Lines, or even that he had the matching front-runners to match... and he couldn't understand why no one was calling on them. :doh:
 
71ChargerRT said:
I found one locally, well kinda locally for $150, and wondered if they were everything that people thought they were.
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If it's within reasonable driving distance, bring $100 in cash. If you get it, you can use it for awhile and sell it later for more than you paid. If you don't, you took a nice drive. Why anyone would pay more than $150 for an outdated, used dual-plane intake is beyond me, especially when better options are available. Obviously, if you're restoring a '69 340 and need the correct factory intake, it's a different situation--but the LD340 is not a restoration piece.
 
I got mine for cheap, I'll either use it or dump it on EBay for $50 less than the cheapest one on there.. I'll still come out at least $400 up. I saw it as an investment.. like Jass said, they're not a bad manifold, and people are willing to pay stupid money for vintage speed parts. Don't care why. Got a second LD4B for the same reason. Also because the engine I've owned the most of in my life has always been a bone stock 318. They just find me.
 
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