Quote:
Originally Posted by Tyrolblue67
Very cool!
Roadrunners were special.
Sounds like you had a great car.
Its funny...Back in the day, I found some 383's were screamers, others (like mine) were nothing special. I often wondered back then if instead of stopping the assembly line, they would drop 440's in cars at the plant if they ran out of 383's.
My friend had a 69 Charger like mine but it was a R/T 440 automatic. His Charger ran very strong. Another friend had a 70 340 Duster that his dad built the engine. It was the fastest car in school at the time. The last day before summer vacation, he raced the "supposed" fastest car in front of our school. His "built" 340 Duster beat a 440 six pack Challenger R/T in front of everyone. The Challenger did bog a bit off the line but a race is a race.
Great memories!
Tyrolblue67  |
All the RoadRunners base engines came with the 383 Commando engines which included the 440 heads and a hotter cam. Not so with the Chargers. The chargers could be bought with the grocery getter 383 or the optional 383 Magnum same as the Plymouth Commando engine. I looked at a 69 383 Charger before my RR, it was a base 383. Big difference in performance feel. Even though the specs say just 5hp more. The Commando was rated at about 425 lbs tq. The 340 Dusters were good runners because they were a lot lighter than they looked and the 340 was a good engine. The 440 much faster than the 340 in stock form. The 340 was probably built with some goodies added. And like you said the 440 bogged. Also gas was different by the late 70s. The octane was reduced and lead had been taken out by then. In the late 60s and early 70s, 103 or higher octane was still at the pumps.