A friend just picked up a 340 x block motor complete with 0 hours on it. The original owner passed away and his 78 yr old father sold it to my friend for $850. It has a high rise dual plane manifold, mech fuel pump, billet distributor with gm hei style cap and coil, aluminum valve covers, chrome deep sump oil pan and new bellhousing and clutch assy. He has a nearly new Holly carb, vac secondary 650 cfm'ish. (Will verify model and cfm in a couple days) I'm reccomending putting it on an engine stand, taking the heads and oil pan off to clean the dust and sand out and to verify condition of cylinders as well as to be able to document internal parts as it's sat for several years outside with a piece of sheet metal and a brick on the intake.

My question to you all is what would you do with this? We're in NM so there are quite a few rust free vehicles to be found around here on the cheap. My friend isn't particularly a fan of Mopars, I have Mopar tattooed on my arm. He would likely drive the finished car around for awhile then look to sell it, perhaps up north in Minesota. I'm thinking a 72 - 74 Duster perhaps but I'm not sure what trans to look for. I would like to see him get a good profit for his efforts, almost stealing the motor being a great start, or should he just try and flip the motor as is?

Y'all are the experts now, what do you suggest? Thanks in advance for you time and considerations/suggestions.

Welcome aboard. Yes I would definitely tear it down to verify conditions (you wouldn't want to sell it & have a comeback bite you in the a$$) or get it running in something & have an immediate mishap. the first decision after that would be whether to sell it as is seperate or get it in a car & finish it out. A duster would be a good candidate (or any A body) & a 904 trans or one of its varients (998/999). I am looking for a pristine early (63-66) A body anything from a roller to a daily driver. Good subframes/floors/glass/sheetmetal/clear title/chrome, everything except drivetrain as I will be swapping. If you run across a candidate send me a PM.

Sitting outside in NM I would think it's pretty dry inside, but as Robert says, take it apart & check everything.
When I say take it apart, pay attention to fastener torques, details, machined surfaces & etc as you go.
This will indicate the skill level of its builder.
No better time to see what's inside & what parts were used.

At the top of the page here you'll see a Search box: type in "WIW 340" and a page will open. Bottom half of the page should have previous Moparts threads relating to that topic.
Top half of the page is ads & clickbait.

If you're into Mopars and your buddy isn't, you could of course make him an offer and then find an A-body of whatever vintage you like and there ya go.

Most not if all of the blocks were sold as blocks only.
The one I have comes from Ben Snowbar flew on Delta to me.
Had to be bored, honed, Decked etc. even the oil dipstick drilled.
Put a Stock Stroke Steel 340 Crank and H-Beams with ARP Bolts with Old Style Tried a true TRW Forged Pistons.
The one you have could be anything.

I'll tear it down when I finish his 64 Valient /6. Just finishing rebuilding the starter as the grease turned to tar and it would barely turn over. Checking the centrifugal weights in the distributor for movement setting points and checking timing before firing it up. Chances are the seals will have to be replaced and who knows what condition the trans is in. It's a nearly complete car. Minus side mirrors, dom light cover and steering wheel dust cover.

He wants to go with a manual trans I'll list the parts here from the motor and clutch assy when i break it down. My ex informs me that there is still a 68 and a 74 Duster about 20 miles from here. The original owner also passed away and his wife or son would likely be happy to sell them. So they are potential candidates.