Ram Air IV camshaft, round port heads, and decent factory exhaust manifolds showed their value in these races. Driver was also very good on those skinny tires.
That Bird was flyin from half track on. Amazing how the little 340 was getting out on him every time though. I love both the cars. Thanks for the vids.
That was all cubic inches coming on at the end, 1/8 mile, 340 all the way. Tough to stay ahead when you're 60 cubic inches smaller. I use to work with a old timer drag racer, he always said, the bigger it is, the faster you'll go.
First, as always, thanks for the great content. I can’t help but wonder if the Dart would do better with numerically lower rear gears, like 4.11s. Regardless, great race, and Happy New Year!
I had a RAM III Judge in high school so I love Pontiacs but I've been consistently impressed with these 340s on here. I had no idea a stock 340 could run into the 13s!? I'll paraphrase what someone else already said; the pontiac won but the dodge won my respect.
I'M A CHEVY GUY AND REALLY LIKE THOSE 400 FIRE CHICKENS BUT I'VE SEEN THESE DAMN 340'S SHAME A ZL1 CAMARO ... BOTH CARS ARE GREAT LOOKING AND HAD SOME IMPRESSIVE TIMES MUST SAY THOUGH THE FIREBIRD SUPRISED THE HELL OUT OF ME DIDN'T KNOW THEY WERE THAT FAST
Hey now watch it. I'm a Mopar fan but would never cry over being outran by an extra 60 cubes. Ha. But I like Pontiacs a lot too so it's all good to me anyway
NOPE....WE are proud of the smaller 340 ci vs a 400ci...The 4.56's hurt the car mid track..it was set up for the 1/8th mile and street light to street light racing! I've seen these cars back then run quicker and not far from stock either vs bigger engine GM/Ford cars..But I love seeing all types of older cars racing,reminds me of the 80's&90's.. My brother in law was a Pontiac guy and I always blew his doors off with my Mopars! 455 GTO vs 440 Charger RT! I won,every time! Yes 455's are quick but not 440 quick..We both started with dead stock cars never rebuilt and added mods from there.. My dad in his mid 80's bought a new 440 6bl Cuda(still has it) we raced my uncles GM,Fords all engines 455,454 ls-6,427,428,400,396,327 and Ford 390,427,428,429,460..It was fun times! Dad ran high 11's 2 weeks after he bought his Cuda,carb work,headers and slicks,engine was stock!
Pure Pontiac Power !! IIRC these were underrated because the throttle linkage did not allow 100% throttle -mere 30 sec to uninstall. Awesome "Mid Range" and top end still pulling, that firebird is breathing.
Had a 69 Dart gts some years ago here in the uk. Was a quick car and you were unlikely to see another. But ide be happy to own eather one of these cars now 😁
If the Firebird qualified/ dialed in at 13.06 and then ran under his time....in the 12s disqualified?!! That's how it works at every track I've ever raced at.
My buddy back in the mid 70’s had a stock 1969 Mustang Mach 1, 428 CJ, 4 speed. He only lost two races against other stock muscle cars. Two of the losses were against 400 Firebirds.
@@edwhitson9873 Interesting they are similar in being a Fisher F-Body car. everything else does NOT fit with exception of the diff and CTL arms. Pontiacs are clearly Built better yet from a first glance every bit the same general shape!
When this guy grows up I hope he will tell someone just exactly is IN the cars....I mean both of them. RAM AIR 2 don't mean a whole lot to most. As far as bringing a knife to a gun fight...we used to race a 71 demon 340 stock with 391 gears that would eat that Pontiac.
From what I read somewhere, I think it was an article by Dan Jensen, the Ram Air 4's he built would consistently put out 435-445 horsepower fully prepped for Pure Stock. I suspect the RA 2 was close in that neighborhood. ( recently read in another article, that the RA2 made 430-440hp setup for pure stock.)
"Back in the day", my '68 F'bird was also untouchable on the street by 340 Darts. I ran a 400 w/ RA III cam, Cloyes dbl roller timing chain, comp. valve job w/RA IV valves & springs, RA exh. manifolds & Camaro off-road chambered exh, RA IV oil pump & SD baffled pan, Q-jet w/ custom jets & rods, custom-curved distributer w/L-88 wires, and w.r. Muncie w/ 3.55 12-bolt l.s. diff. Engine wore '67 HO "open" air clnr. Car wore '69 Z/28 Rally wheels w'67 Rally I center caps, BFG TA F-60-15 radials, H.D. springs w/'69 TA sway bar, '69 TA hood, v.r. pwr steering, & manual '69 disc brakes & Velvetouch metallic rear drums. L-78 396s, 6-pk 440s no problem. 4-1/4 427s had to be careful, esp. Chevelles; my car went 3450 lbs. w/me in driver's seat. Scary fast acceleration, stick to corners like glue, stop on dime--repeatedly. Deluxe interior w/full gouges, Hurst comp-plus shifter, factory AM-FM radio. Verdoro green w/black interior. Regardless of what books said, car WAS streetable; could put car in 4th at idle (750 rpm), and w/o using accel. pedal, car would motor away from a stop. Loved that car. Had to be careful w/340s, though. Light weight, and esp. w/Torqueflites, very quick cars initially...
Was hoping the bird woulda won, my pops had a 69 bird when he was younger that had a 69 judge engine in it. He got it from an older guy say somewhere around 1989-1992 the car was then stolen :(
Was noticing the redline setting on the tachs of each car: Pontiac at 6200 rpm and Mopar at about 6400. This is actually really surprising for engines hobbled with factory cast iron exhaust manifolds and air cleaner! My big block chevys back in the day quit pulling at around 5500 with factory attire!
If he'd modified that Dart to take cold air in from the plenum under the windshield he probably woulda taken the Pony. I did that to my 68 Cuda Formula S 340 and knocked 1.35 seconda off my 1/4 mile time. Amazing how much HP you lose when your carb is sucking hot underhood air. ... Thanks to Smokey Yunick for the tip and seeing Junior Johnsons Chevy.
Goodday C & Z, You know I am a Mopar or no Car type of guy, My 1970 VG 770 Hardtop Hemi 6 cylinder Valiant has an identical body to the Dodge Dart, basically shipped out to Australia back in the day with an Australian front do over. Love to show you pictures of my hardtop. Love the Poncho too, no substitute for cubes. The Dodge got the jump but the Poncho had the legs as they say in the classics. It has been a fantastic year watching all your video's, you have done the muscle car world a great service, & you should be commended for your work. Take care of yourself, have a safe & joyful New Year for 2021, & I look forward to seeing more of your video's. Your number 1 Fan in Australia Louis Kats from Melbourne Australia ☺ 👍 ❤
The Dodge 340 is a good engine and it left the line very well it's just the Pontiac 400 engines is bigger and known for great acceleration above 60mph where by 3/4 track the Pontiac caught and passed the little 340 but it gave the bigger 400 Pontiac a good close race
I have a VHS tape I bought in 1994 that features classic muscle car commercials from 1962 to 1975. Both these commercials were on it. The Pontiac spot sounds like they had Fifth Dimension perform the soundtrack. : )
I knew the bird had that one, the numbers don't lie unless the driver was a 500 pounder. The bestest part of your videos are those AWSOME special effects. Happy New Year sphincter
This is GO GREAT to see! Thanks, its Big! Those 340 Chrysler's, they were good, those piggy poorly tuned big block 426 cars and others were a joke, but, truth be told, a Ram Air II car really should be in the 11's along with its Brethen group.
My friend had a Firebird just like that, same year same color but he put a dual quad tunnel ram on it. He would mash the gas on that and you wouldn't here much but you look behind you and smoke from the posi rear end left really long burnouts. It was pretty fast car. The tunnel rsm,dirt under the stock hood and made it a total sleeper. I used to have a 72 Swinger Dart also in blue. Only 225 slant 6 motor at least it has posi.
The Dart pulled better for the first half, but the Firebird had what it took for the second half. I think that the combination of low gearing in rear end and maybe the Torquflight having a bit lower first gear is what have the Dodge the initial advantage. It still looked like some good racing.👍
We were spinning and steel wheels are F70’s. We switched to Rally II’s which are G70’s (wider and taller) to increase contact and take out gearing. It worked. Track was the worst we’ve seen there.
The Dart certainly seemed to have an advantage at the start. It looked like he did a burnout before every run, and the Firebird didn't, so I'm guessing the Dart's advantage was in the tires.
take the 430 gears out way to low. 391 gears tune that 340 then run again see what happens there fast stock ram air nothing to mess with in my day hell thay were all fast with a super tune
Those 340,s really ran good, gotta give the nod to Mopar, this time. Well looks like i was wrong, That's what cubic inches does, comes on hard at the end.
Never seen a Pure Stock Firebird run in the 12's. Or weigh so little. Wonder why the Dart couldn't match his qualification times. It seemed set up to run 1/8 mile drag strip.
Another BB vs SB race. Only this SB thinks it's a BB with SB high revving rpm's. I know those Ram Air's are fast, but so are those na 340's. I'll take the 4.30 geared Dart GTS on this one. Should be a good close race, can't wait..
Pontiac 400 isn't a big block. Pontiac never made a big block. From the 265 all the way to the 455 it's the same block with different bore and stroke to get different cubic inches. And the block is way smaller than a big block Mopar, big block ford, or big block chevy.
@@number3665 Did not know that. Thanks 3665. So they had small bore/stroke and big bore/stroke engines all with the same block. Interesting to say the least.
The Dart would be a killer if this was a stoplight to stoplight race! But the Firebird muscle starts to take over in high gear in the full quarter mile. Both great cars, and great racing!
the dart gets him off the line but sometimes there's just no substitute for more cubic inches, especially at the top end. oh well, cool cars and thanks again!!!!
I used to race a 69 Dart 340 four speed running in stock class. The best I could do was 12.95 104.58. I did surprise many competitors. Based on the horsepower to weight ratio and aerodynamics the Firebird should win. It’ll be close though.
I could do without the Cheeseball humor but the Dart 🎯 is worth a lot more today than the firebird. I have a similar 1969 Dart GTS but mine has the 440 and it’s a hurst 4 speed with a 4.10 Dana 60 rear. It’s best run was 11 seconds 119 mph. I’ve been offered $75,000 for it.
Dodge driver was quite good. Knew how to cut the lights and get off to the lead. The red light showed how hard he tried! Tough to out run a Ram Air 2 on the top end. Poncho just reeled him in. In actual NHRA events the Dart would be way lower than this FB in class racin.
I never heard of the ram air 2 but I know of the ram air 4 I love your channel watch it all the time keep up the great work and let me know what the ram air two is
@@snakeyhedger I thought the IV cam had a bit more Duration to try and make up the difference lost on the Rocker ratio change. I say that because some guys thought by putting the higher ratio rockers on it would give them more. In this instance, too much duration.
