I’ll never forget being at some Mopar drag event when a 383 powered yellow Road Runner drove past me. The ground literally shook, and I could feel my organs resonate with the exhaust pulses. As a teen I was forever changed by that. Haha!
Dan I’m going to try and get ahold of one of my racing buddies from thirty years ago and see what he has for a sbm. He ran is Dart on the mild side for quite a few years before he built a new 340 for it. There’s a decent chance that he would have a few speed parts for the small block. He used different carbs and intakes and ran the hemi grind cam for years. His wife ran an early valiant with a small block so there’s a good chance he will some parts. I’ll need to do some digging to find his number but I should be able to find it. Him and his wife are the only small block racers I’ve ever known. lol
A couple of 'exhaust' stories, but first a bit of background info. From about 1977 through about 2,000, I sold a lot of used Mopar parts. I bought the high performance cars, resold them, or parted them out & junked the carc*** before I bought the ground out in the country. there I had 13 cars and trucks on hand. That property was about 3/4 mile off the local blacktop road. One of my regular customers had the idea that a proper exhaust system was to cut the ends off 4" diameter drive shafts, and weld the tubes to what exhaust ever came off the motor to about the trans bell. No mufflers, just the 4" driveshaft tubes. Those dual driveshaft tubes brought a whole new definition to what loud meant, I knew when he was on his way to my place 2 miles before he got there! The guy did that the entire time I knew him, probably 20 years or more, he never got a ticket! The short version of the other story, I built a 70 Road Runner with a radical small block Mopar, big cam, headers, Thrush header mufflers, nothing behind them. The officer that pulled me over was actually pretty nice, considering the cir***stances. The officer told me my mufflers were illegal. Those header mufflers were only about 2 hours old, I'd bought them and installed them earlier that day. I asked the officer how the new mufflers I had just bought could be illegal, and showed him the receipt. He actually got down on his hands and knees to look at the mufflers that still had shiny pipes and paint on them. His suggestion was that I add pipes back to extend the exhaust back the rear end, then he let me go. I added the pipes behind the header mufflers, it did reduce the noise level a lot, but it still was not quite.
Gene Gotta love loud pipes. I was going to work on the car today but woke up to 4 inches plus snow and a nasty head and chest cold. Don’t think grinding, welding, painting would help my cold clear up. Dan
I’ve been lucky over the years to not get head and chest colds but I’ve had a flue that literally tried to kill me. Take care of yourself and then hit it hard.
I'm pretty sure that was intended as a joke, but just in case... I can guarantee you that welding, grinding, and painting will NOT help clear up your cold or your chest congestion! It is the fastest way possible to see how bad you can make both, and its pretty efficient at making things worst pretty fast. In a closed garage, you will fully understand in a matter of hours, if it even takes that long. My experience tells me that welding, grinding, or painting doesn't help with a headache much either...
Bad flu going around this year. Covid too. Judy and I caught both again recently. I'm old and Judy's antique. It was a bit rough. Dan, you take care of yourself. If you're wheezing like you have pneumonia, you probably do. And if it's kicking your ***, maybe it's best not to wait too long to get checked out and get some good medicine.
Thanks guys I feel a little better but still not good, if I’m not a lot better by tomorrow I’ll go see the doc. Dan
Take care of yourself Dan.The wife and I got our Covid and flu shot in the Fall.Fix yourself first bud...the Dart can wait.
Hey Dan I called my old buddy and he managed to get rid of the parts I thought he might have. I have lost track of the years, he said that it’s been over fifteen years since he rebuild his 340. It seems like it was just yesterday that heard about the new engine. lol
Time does have a way of slipping past you. I was just sitting here thinking about the last high performance motor I built. It was a 340 as well, I built it before I opened my welding shop. I opened my welding shop in 1994. Building a motor in a welding shop environment isn't a real good plan, I didn't have enough space in the building to create a "clean space." There usually way too much metal and grinding particles hanging around, to make building a motor a good plan. I could clean up an area for minor day or two motor/ trans operation. Beyond that, the day to day welding operation created a bad environment for an open motor or transmission, even if it was covered. A lot of vehicles were built or repaired since 1994, pretty much all of them had complete motors and transmissions installed. 1994 was a long time ago!
Went to the Doc she tells me I have Influenza A takes about 7 to 10 days I’m on day 4 so 3 to 6 days - dang. Feel like I was run over by @Tow Truck Tom s rig. It’s been so nice out also. Maybe tomorrow. Dan
Hope you feel better soon but it's a hang-er on-er. Give yourself time. I know exactly what you're saying about feeling like you've been run over by a truck. I could barely f'n move for a few days. Don't do nothin'. Rest. Plenty of water, Motrin and aspirin.
Good on you Dan, to see a Doc. Way too often us "guys" pretend we're not that sick and just soldier through. That formula has come back to bite me in the *** several times.
The Jalopy Journal
