70 dodge dart vs. 70 nova
 

Very cool and funny dealer promo film...

Enjoy..

Rich

https://youtu.be/W_K8lb2RpQQ

I had a 69 Swinger 340, liked the looks of that year, but was not a fan of the 70 Swinger. I also had both a 69 and 70 Nova and liked them both. One thing the film has right is that a bone stock 340 Swinger would blow the doors off a bone stock SS350 Nova.

For some reason - the 340 A-Bodies really worked - even against some big block cars.

Agree those 68-69 340 Swinger 4 speeds were some real quick muscle cars. 340 had 2.02 heads, cast iron high rise intake, forged crank, rods, high lift cam, windage tray. These engines were fast and could put the Big Block 383 Darts on the trailer. Again back in the day i could of had a chance to buy one from my former neighbor. Kick myself on that one too. Didnt care for the 70 Dart style.

The 4 speed 68 340 GTS is faster than the 4 speed 69 340 Swinger/GTS due to a one year only hotter cam. Some say the cam was good for an additional 20 HP.

I prefer the 70 Dusters looks over the Dart or the Nova. A 340 is the cherry on top.

Yep those 340/4spd Darts were Quik on the Street !!! I had a buddy in high school who had a 69 with some gears & a little traction , there wasn't much that could keep up with it from red light to red light. Full 1/4 mile it was probably a different story . But around town that car embarrassed a lot of big block stuff

340's ran killer . I built this in the 80's 71 340 4 Speed W2 heads, Big sold lifter cam. spark plug washers to shim the rocker arm stands. 512 gears. It ran 10.50s very fast for a small block back then.
https://www.yenko.net/forum/attachme...1&d=1602258300

I had a 69 340 dart swinger ran great beat a lot of cars with it

Agree guys, great stories on these 340 Darts. I would love to won one and who knows, been a Chevy guy all my life but if i had the chance to buy a 68 Dart 340 4 speed i would get it. Light weight car with a 340 cube engine, fast car.

At the Pure Stock Drags, it takes a 360 horse Yenko Nova to beat the 340 Demons and Dusters.

https://www.psmcdr.com/all-time-lists

And this is from a dyed in the wool Chevy guy, but I gotta give credit when it's due.

1969 Swinger 340 curb weight: 3274 pounds.

That includes a full tank of gas and all fluids. The shipping weight which includes none of those is 3097 pounds

https://www.automobile-catalog.com/m..._340/1969.html

Love those Shark-tooth grill Dusters, as well as Demons. Yours looked great Ken.

Though he/it did have a Hard time hanging with my 65 L79 SS Chevelle 4spd/4.10's Depending on my launch, I would usually get him by a car length, but very similar running cars... Fun Times!!!

The lowest rear Chrysler offered with the 340 was the 3.91. THAT was a killer combo. I liked the fact that Chrysler included a 4 speed with their 1968 and 1969 muscle cars.

https://i.postimg.cc/dV5zsMGn/1969-Dart-Swinger340.jpg

Also included were the chrome exhaust tips. Nice that it had 10.5" drum brakes all around unlike the Chevys which had only 9.5"

Delete the rear stripe and that's EXACTLY what mine looked like when I bought it in December of 70. It was ordered without the rear stripe. I traded those 4 hubcaps to a friend of mine for a 63 Chrysler Newport that I used for a winter beater.

Thats what my dart looked like except mine did not have a vinyl top

I gave the only decent picture I had of my Dart to a friend who was the local Motorsports reporter for our local paper. He used it when he started doing a column about the local Cruising scene 'back in the day'.....I never got the picture back, but I have a scan of what appeared in the paper. He may have taken a bit of artistic license when describing my car :tongue: My friends' 69 Super Bee is in the background.

The one I looked at in the showroom of the local Dodge dealer in Liberty, NY was identical to the photo I posted. Had three options: AM radio, vinyl top and wheel covers. It was going to be my first car which I would take to college with me. I chickened out due to having car payments with no immediate job. So I took most of my $1000 cash down payment money and bought a 1964 327/300HP Impala SS convertible with powerglide, PS and PB. Had some bucks left over to take to college as a nest egg. That was after I bought a reverb and 8 track player.

1968 340's
• engines painted red w/black accessories 1968 Dodge Dart 340 cubic inch motor specs.

• 275 hp at 5,000 rpm & 340 lb-ft torque at 3,200

• 4.040" bore and 3.310" stroke

• forged crank w/shot peened rods

• 10.5:1 compression ratio

• ‘206’ hydraulic cam - 268 in. dur. - 276 ex. dur. 44 overlap (in 1968, only the

4 speed cars got a more aggressive cam, automatic versions got a cam

that become the standard in these hi-performance engines)

• a dual timing chain and a windage tray

• big X heads - 2.02 inch intake valves and 1.60 inch exhaust valves (894’s)

• free flowing dual plane 4 bbl intake

• Carter 650cfm AVS Carburetor w/1.44" primaries and

1.69" secondaries

Those were the factory specs. The real HP on a 340 was close to 300. NHRA factored them at 295 for F,G Stock (68 and 69). The 71 was even higher due to the big Thermoquad carb: 320 HP D,E,F,G Stock

18 degree heads also.

In 1968,
the NHRA re-factored the 340's 275 Horsepower rating to 310HP, even
before it hit the pavement at Pomona, for the 1968 Winternationals.

Larry Gilley very competitive in his 68 GTS 340 Dart in stock eliminator.

Does anyone know what the LT-1 as in the 70' Z-28 was factored at by NHRA?

That is is just way-cool Bill. Just love it!!! Cool ride!:smile:

Thanks Wayne -- was it the same in 1970? That is when I was running my Z-28. Thanks again ... Craig

Agree NHRA is way different. Just not the same anymore.

It was before my time as I'm only 54 at this time. Was into Mopars as my first cars and locally Mopars were king. My 1st car was the '68 GTX convert clone. BUT second was a legit '68 GTS 340 4 sp car. Had both when I was 18.

So I talked to a lot of the older guys that ran these cars new on the street and track. The 340 was usually considered the fastest SB around. There were 5 '66L79 Chevy II's and there was usually 1 that had work that would beat a 340 mopar. The rest were usually a couple cars behind. Dusters seem to work better then the Darts from what I heard.

LD340 intake and headers n gears would wake these up some nicely too.

Dont know but it seemed like the Dusters were a heavier car than the Darts.

Not by much. 1970 Duster 340 4 speed Curb Weight: 3307. 1969 Swinger 340 curb weight: 3274 pounds.

Had to dig out my NHRA Stock Car Classification Guide and see how they compared. Both of my sheets are dated 1971.

1970 Dodge Dart Swinger 340 275 horsepower 10.11 pounds/horsepower. 3133 pounds.

* Today, automatics are factored 10.48, stick 11.15.


1970 Plymouth Duster 340 275 horsepower 10.17 pounds/horsepower. 3109 pounds.

* Today, automatics are factored 10.40, stick 11.07 pounds/horsepower.


I believe NHRA uses shipping weights.

That means Darts were rated at 310 hp in 70 and Dusters were rated at 306 hp. Today it's 299 for automatics, 281 for sticks, same for both brands.

Interesting facts how the horsepower numbers are factored these days. NHRA is losing interest among the fans and racers these days.

Sigh....here we go again...

Just L-O-L.

I went to an exclusive college in MA: Babson. It was a rich kid's school. The kids of Captains Of Industry went there. So there were all kinds of brand new muscle cars: Boss 302s, Boss 429s, L78 Chevelles, Z/28s, L71 Corvettes, Charger R/Ts and even Edsel Ford's custom built by Holman and Moody 1970 Boss 351 . . . and one Black/Black with White Stripe Swinger 340. Only 1 option: Posi. Rear. The owner's name was Randy and he was like me: not a rich kid, but he knew an awful lot about cars. Yes the car was modified but only what we could see from the outside: headers hanging down and hood pins but with no pins: small locks. He helped pay his tuition street racing for money. No one in school was ever given a chance to look under the hood and he refused to say what gears were in the rear end. Only one car on campus was able to beat him: 1969 SCJ Mach 1 with 4.30 gears.

His car was stolen three times in less than 6 months. The first two times it was recovered almost immediately so there was no damage. The 3rd time it was gone for over a month. When it was recovered the entire front of the car was missing along with the engine and trans. Everything from the firewall forward was gone. So he took the insurance money, used what he needed to pay off his tuition and with the rest he bought a "beater." When we asked him, now that the car was gone, what was under the hood, his only reply was "it wasn't stock."

He once gave me a ride in it: jumped on 1st gear: I was slammed back so fast I thought I was going to wind up in the back seat. I swear the front end lifted because the horizon disappeared.

love theses type of stories !!!! thanks for sharing

I believe the Darts were a tad lighter, but not enough to really consider. We at the shop have found the Dusters work pretty well for some reason. We have a few customers with SB Dusters, and there pretty impressive. The best is a W7 equipt 411 incher that runs low 8's with DOT tire and thru mufflers, and has been 7.60's on 1 stage @ 2950lbs.

The LA series can be a very stout piece even today.

The Duster/Demon/(later)Dart fastback body style, IMHO, is very underrated. My buddy had a '71 Demon with a T/A 340 Six Pack that he redid but never got running right before he sold it. The day he sold that was a bummer. There was a red Demon with a black Super Stock hood on it (I'm guessing that's what they called that hood with that huge wide scoop) that ran around our area that sounded absolutely nasty, but never got close enough to see what he was running. I imagine a decent 440 in that body style would be a rocket. Too bad you don't see many of that body style these days.

Here's a nice one that with a little work, would be quite fast on the street:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1970-Dodge-...AAAOSwo4pfe9Mi

Drop in a late model Hellcat hemi, 700-800 Hp and leave it the way it looks, with better rear tires of course!

'

Cool story Lee and thanks for sharing that!
I like Mopars too but admit I'd choose a subframe/coil Nova over K-frame/torsion Dart every time.
:beers:

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