340 Chrysler Super Bee Marine

I've serviced a 340 in a Century 340 MkII.
Marinizarion was sketchy by today's standards, but that is curable. I have no idea what the super-bee is indicative of in regards to marine engines.

It will likely have higher compression and require premium gas. But should go like stink if it is what it is.

Unless you are after nostalgia, equivelent performance can be attained with modern aftermarket and mopar parts.

barr ; if you did the swap, what would this animal be called????????????

Maybe a Super B/C/C   ???????????


..........Boat dr

Me, me, me, next.
barr,
I saw that same Super Bee engine on ebay and even spoke to the people. It was only a 250HP engine and I believe was like a 72-73 model based off the serial, plus it was a standard rotation, where I was looking naturally for the RR. Everything I could find out was that it was just a hot factory paint job and decals for this marine package, but still very cool. Nothing internal from what I gathered.

The 340 is/was one of my favorite engines of all time, and like others said, it WAS stout. On the marine side however, it was a complete garden variety detune with the use of standard 318 heads, no J's or X's for those in the Mopar fan club, dished pistons, same cam as 318, and thus only the 250HP. But if you have a 318 in need of a rebuild, good news IS, all you need is a 340 block (2 on ebay), as the crank, rods, etc., are the same as your 318 so the swap is easy. You'd be buying new pistons of course anyway. Same applies if swapping from a 273. The stroke/crank on all of these is the same at 3.31", with just incrementally larger bores. That's what we're doing with Marshall Morgan's 70 Mustang right now. A 360 Chrysler however, does not apply as a number of items, starting with oil pan, are different.

Coincidentally on Marshall's we're using the same early 70's 318 head casting, which is a smaller chamber than the 340 heads. But we purchased them from a Mopar speed shop near Charlotte and they'd already been ported and had the large 2.02/1.60 valves installed, so basically are up to par with the J or X heads. The Clevite marine cam carries the exact spec as the hot auto engine but is RR. I'll keep you posted. We're hoping for 300-325HP with the exhaust manifolds being the bottleneck.            

Alan, sorry but you don't qualify as an "old" guy. I recently saw a "mature" gentleman down in the FLA Keys wearing a T-shirt that said, "I'm not 60, I'm 18 with 42 years of experience".

Jimbarr,
Good news, and bad news, and good news again. This address shows the part number for it:

http://engineparts.com/motorhead/techstuff/2003marine/Camshafts_Lifters_TimingComponents.pdf
The part number is the 229-1900 which is listed as LH, which is actually RR by marine standards. They're looking at it from the front of the engine.

That's sorta good news. Bad news is that I just called my local NAPA guy and he no longer shows the 229-1900 as being available from NAPA or Clevite, but he quoted me a price of $162.79. However I did say there was more good news as I personally have a handfull of these still in the boxes, that I bought some time back for our own use. While I will part with one of these for a 340 project, I'd like to see if we can find you one from another source first. I'm looking now and will post back.

While I haven't run a Cuda hull at 50+ yet, we've been doing it with the smaller Mustang for years now. 300HP I'd guess would push a Cuda 50-55.       

Regarding Mopar engines. As many of you have read....I traded my CC for a 1989 Sierra Supreme Open Bow due to needing more room for the family. This boat came equiped with a 360 SP designation engine. The SP was special puropose. The factory HP rating is 300HP. This engine will push our tank of a hull at 48 mph (per the speedo, not GPS) with no modifications other than a trim tab. If I were watching for a Mopar drop in....I would be looking for one of these from the late 80's.

Now aren't we all glad that ReidP and all his knowledge have returned to our site? Even if I didn't really understand all that it sure did sound good.

Aside to Reid: We still on for the 26th? I have to work but I am tryin' for a half-day of so we can get the '80 wet for you and hit a nice lakeside dinner place, same place we took Hollywood to.

john