Posted By: jp66charger
305 DE stroker? - 03/03/11 01:03 AM
Just doing a little reading and was curious, was this a 273 crank in a 318 or in a 340? Any one ever run one of these combo's? Sounds like a fun street combo, 10,000 rpm and a 4 speed.
Posted By: S/ST 3040
Re: 305 DE stroker? - 03/03/11 01:11 AM
I believe it was a 2.96" stroke (Moldex?)
273, 318 and 340 all share the same stroke. (3.31")
Posted By: topside
Re: 305 DE stroker? - 03/03/11 03:14 AM
For the TransAm 305" rule, the Mopars ran a 340 block with destroked crank. They didn't run 'em to 10,000 RPM, though. Sorry I don't recall the crank manufacturer. There were some CanAm 305s built too, for the Shadow team; I remember them being painted black (as were the cars), and they may have come from Keith Black like the T/A motors did. They ran fuel injection as opposed to the carbureted T/A setup.
Posted By: jp66charger
Re: 305 DE stroker? - 03/03/11 03:48 AM
I'll have to do some research on this. Found an old SA book on building mopars, and they referenced this engine for drag racing!? Thought it was kind of odd in todays day and age of big strokers. I don't know if an 833 could even be shifted effectiveley above 9000 rpm. Just thought it was a cool concept, Dad was telling me about some small block chevys turning in excess of 10 in indy cars (he thought).
Posted By: Cab_Burge
Re: 305 DE stroker? - 03/03/11 04:06 AM
John Dianna(SP?) modified production 1971 duster, which later became a 1973 and 1974 Duster G/G car ran the Moldex (I think that was the brand) 2.96 inch destroked cranks from the road race program.
He told me he would let the clutch out around 8600 RPM and shift at 8800 RPM, this was back in 1975 and pre 1975. New technology would probally raise that to or higher than 9000 RPM with the same block and heads, NASCAR motors have been over 11500 RPM
Posted By: toddd
Re: 305 DE stroker? - 03/03/11 04:20 AM
This sounds cool..hopefully more info will keep coming in.
Posted By: jp66charger
Re: 305 DE stroker? - 03/03/11 03:12 PM
Autoxcuda, cool reply w/great pics. You'd definitely be the only one on the block with that setup! No, the book does reference the indy/STP 318, but on page 12 it says "Some drag racers have successfully operated destroker 305-inch small blocks at engine speeds near 10,000 rpm." This is referenced due to the oiling system upgrades required for high rpm and long term revs like circle track. Just curious about it, doubt I'd build one unless I stumbled on the correct crank for cheap. A 305 with w-2's and a 4 speed in my dart would be like riding a 2 stroke dirt bike on the street! A calm summer evening burnout would be priceless for miles around.
Posted By: polyspheric
Re: 305 DE stroker? - 03/03/11 04:46 PM
Not quite.
The extra RPM at the same inertial stress level is slightly less than 6%: 8,000 RPM becomes 8,460.
Posted By: mafo
Re: 305 DE stroker? - 03/03/11 04:53 PM
Nice looking heads...does anyone have any more info on those Weslakes?
Posted By: 23T Hemmee
Re: 305 DE stroker? - 03/03/11 05:33 PM
Moldex definitely made most of the cranks for the 305, couldn't remember the stroke but 2.96" sounds about right. NASCAR started the Grand American (Baby Grand) series in the late 60's using the shorter wheelbase 106-111" Camaro's, Mustangs, Cuda's,Darts,etc. The cube limit was 305" probably catering to Ford and GM since they already had 302" engines, but it forced Mopar to downsize the 340 by destroking. I know KB was building engines initially with the early 340 heads which weren't too competitive, but the W-2 heads changed that. Quite possibly, a lot of the short block components were compatible with the Westlake/Trans Am combinations. The series was fairly short-lived though, just never seemed to quite catch on, some of the 305's wound up in some of the last Daytona's and Superbirds as NASCAR kept trying to slow the wing cars down with cube limits and carb restrictors, can't remember who was driving the Mario Rossi built Daytona but it was as fast as the big blocks, seems like it had to run 8000+ though, which was unheard of back in early 70's, don't think it lasted the full race. The Hemi's by contrast were usually not much more than 6400-6600 on the superspeedways, at least not in race trim.
Posted By: 23T Hemmee
Re: 305 DE stroker? - 03/03/11 08:44 PM
Well, I got a little of it right, I went into the army in April '69 and was overseas most of '71 so memories unfortunatley get diluted along the way, and a lot of what I remember was stuff I just read about. For some reason I didn't think the car finished Daytona but apparently it did. I remember now that the best heads available in 69-70 were the 340 T/A heads, which, I think only had a slight offset intake rocker that allowed the pushrod hump to be removed. The only Mopar Baby Grand I can even remember off-hand is a 66-67 Dart of Big John Sears, was red with #4, although for some reason I can picture Pete Hamilton in a dark blue Cuda,too. Probably just the Alzheimers kicking in....they say your memory is the second thing to go......I forget what the first is........
Posted By: 23T Hemmee
Re: 305 DE stroker? - 03/04/11 05:46 PM
Well, as Dan Quayle said it so well "A mind is a terrible thing to lose"......it wasn't Pete Hamilton, it was Swede Savage I was thinking of.....and it was Trans-Am and not Baby Grand series....
http://www.historictransam.com/Drivers/EdSkanes.htm
