The mighty Mopar 383

[greg vess]

My 74 CUDA' 360 was the same color as the engine bay in the first pic with a classic CUDA' white stripe down the side. Mine was loaded with clear cost. It was beautiful. I saw the color and the good times in that car came back for a minute.

What Made Mopar's 383 Engine Different From The 340 And 440? https://www.jalopnik.com/1924113/mopar-383-engine-guide-340-440-differences/

 

[basstracker89]

Had a friend that had a GTX, 383 with 440 heads.......

 

[Russ-T]

My brother and I had a 74 'cuda in Higschool. We were up north and the car was covered in an awful bondo job. Still, it had a freshly rebuilt 383 and we never lost a race in it. It was a terrifyingly powerful motor in a car that sits on the ground and shakes like it was trying to come apart. Great memories in that car. One of my favorites was having a busted solenoid and having to jump it with a screwdriver to start the car. One time I had left the slapstick in Drive and the car fired up and started rolling down the street as I was chasing trying to open the door and jump in.

 

[basstracker89]

My brother and I had a 74 'cuda in Higschool. We were up north and the car was covered in an awful bondo job. Still, it had a freshly rebuilt 383 and we never lost a race in it. It was a terrifyingly powerful motor in a car that sits on the ground and shakes like it was trying to come apart. Great memories in that car. One of my favorites was having a busted solenoid and having to jump it with a screwdriver to start the car. One time I had left the slapstick in Drive and the car fired up and started rolling down the street as I was chasing trying to open the door and jump in.

Good times right there!! When the seat safety switch went bad on my lawn mower, I bypassed all those electrical safety devises. I was having some trouble with it yesterday while I was trying to finish before it rained. Never, ever had running trouble with that lawn mower. Anyways, I jumped on it after doing a few projects to get back to it. Forgot I'd left it in gear as I turned the starter over. It took off!! 🤣Fortunately I was sitting on it.......🤣 I got a good laugh out of that......I also did the same thing with my tractor, bypass the electrical safety switches when it when bad. Just like old school stuff....

 

[EugenFJR]

I had a 1973 Road Runner, with a 440, and I'm amazed that I didn't wrap that car around a tree. No High School student should have a car with that much horse power.

 

[basstracker89]

I had a 1973 Road Runner, with a 440, and I'm amazed that I didn't wrap that car around a tree. No High School student should have a car with that much horse power.

I knew a guy that had a burnt orange Charger. Late sixties, I think. Before General Lee was a thing. With the 440. It'd shake the ground under you're feet a 1/4 mile away.......

 

[greg vess]

The 383 was a odd ball motor and I mean that in a good way. It always ran much better than one would think. If you were sleeping at the line in a 440 you would get beat bad. Only because it reved faster and got into it power band almost instantly like a small block but with big block HP. They would also run high speed cruising for a long distance. I had a 68 Dodge charger with a 72 400 ci engine ( a slight modded 383 engine ) but from the factory. That damn thing would run 120 mph, get there in a instant and had all sorts of power left. I also had a friend that I worked with in Maryland that had a built 383 and that car would scare the living crap out of you with brute power and top end. None of the new cars of the 80's would come close. Even the Buick Grand National got just put to shame once in a race when I was in the car. He got us off the line for just an instance. Then that 383 opened up and began to howl. It was all over but the crying! Truly one of the greats like the Hemi and 340 six pack. Engines that defied physics's if tinkered with.

 

[greg vess]

I remember trying to build a Chevy 350. We had to source double hump heads, a Huge cam he got from a racer nick maned " Wheely popping " Ronnie McBride, a tunnel ram and a huge double pumper carb. Took all sorts of money to get that engine to run. Not the case with Mopar engines. A good intake system, a set of headers and hooked up if ignition system would really wake a Mopar engine up. I believe they did that for a reason. They had the ghost in their engines!

 

[lostchild]

The 383 was a odd ball motor and I mean that in a good way. It always ran much better than one would think. If you were sleeping at the line in a 440 you would get beat bad. Only because it reved faster and got into it power band almost instantly like a small block but with big block HP. They would also run high speed cruising for a long distance. I had a 68 Dodge charger with a 72 400 ci engine ( a slight modded 383 engine ) but from the factory. That damn thing would run 120 mph, get there in a instant and had all sorts of power left. I also had a friend that I worked with in Maryland that had a built 383 and that car would scare the living crap out of you with brute power and top end. None of the new cars of the 80's would come close. Even the Buick Grand National got just put to shame once in a race when I was in the car. He got us off the line for just an instance. Then that 383 opened up and began to howl. It was all over but the crying! Truly one of the greats like the Hemi and 340 six pack. Engines that defied physics's if tinkered with.

120?
Show room stock, most of the 383 4 bbl auto trans Chrysler products I rode in from '62-'68 would top 140....
The gearing on the 4-speeds seemed to limit their top end.

 

[greg vess]

120?
Show room stock, most of the 383 4 bbl auto trans Chrysler products I rode in from '62-'68 would top 140....
The gearing on the 4-speeds seemed to limit their top end.

Oh yeah! I only ran mine at 120 for about 100 miles. I was just purring like a kitten and rode like a bigger car did back then, smooth and silky! 😁 There is no production car that will do that without it being a high cost, high performance specialized car. Back then it was just a entry level car with some options. It used to be that you could just throw a nice option package in a car and still be able to afford it. Now you have to buy a top of the line specialized performance car from that particular manufacturer. Completely different situation back then but much better as far as I'm concerned.