Hi, Thinking about what could be done to 340 heads to liven things up a little. Anyone out there have any experience with this or any ideas? Porting? Bigger valves? Rocker shaft rebuilding? Where to go, who to ask? Any thoughts would be appreciated. This will probably be a winter project, time to start studying now. :Smarty: This board was very helpful with installing HEI on the 340. What a difference! Thanks in advance, Pete
340 Heads Power can be had through simple bowl porting, and some pocket porting. They CAN be made to run good, but the bottom line is they just aren't good heads. Buick never made them with performance in mind, and it shows. 300's and 340's do respond well to cams and headers, so try that area first and see if you get a difference. However, you might not be able to take full advantage of the cam without good flowing heads, so try stabbing in a cam, and see what that does. If it feels considerably stronger, then thats a good sign that headers will help it out even more. Then if headers help, port the heads. Hope that helps, Kevin
Hi, I put a Crane cam in when I rebuilt the motor in '92.. it was the only one I could find then. Never drove it stock - so can't say what a difference just that cam made, but it's a strong runner now with HEI, Performer carb, and decent exhaust... Surely some of you have had heads ported by some of the businesses out there... whose owners are senior members here... admittedly not 340 heads but I'd like to hear any experiences that are out there... probably won't take much for me to send the heads off this fall... :grin: And from what I understand, no headers out there for 340... or maybe 300 headers are out there? Thanks!
You can get headers from Postons. What you cannot get is an aftermarket intake manifold. My intake and heads were ported by Jim Burek (PAE) as a set. I also have a Crane cam and ignition, however I have not installed this engine in my '67 yet. Doing body work on the car now. Car will be done and at the BPG West Coast National at Las Vegas Oct. 4th.
Discussing the heads with Jim at PAE. He says it's been a while.. wonder if it would be worth it to go yank a head locally from a yard and have somebody cut it up and see what there is to work with. But he's sure he can help them out! I never thought about having the intake ported to match either. I will investigate Poston's for headers. I think I bought something from them like 10 years ago. Thanks for the tip there! Vegas.. Oct. 4th.. hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm... :beer
