Exhaust and Heads on 355 HP 300 B

["Roger Schaaf" <obiwan10@xxxx>]

Can anyone provide information on the 300 B with the optional 355 HP engines.

I am interested in details on the following.

How was the high compression achieved. I believe it was via a head change but how was this accomplished? Was it a milled regular head or were there other changes? I believe that it was a different part number. A quote in the Robert Ackerson Chrysler 300 book gives a part number of 1730369-1 for this head and stated that it was NOT interchangeable with the 8.5 compression head on the 1955 C300 head. Why would this be?

Were the optional exhaust manifolds the same part number as the Dodge truck manifolds?

Was the balance of this optional exhaust system(head pipes thru tailpipes) ever offered as a replacement part(s) number by Chrysler parts? If parts numbers were offered, were all components unique or just the 3 inch head pipes?

I know that an optional steel wheel was offered for racing. Was there any other differences in the 340 hp verses 355. What was the price charged for Chrysler for this optional motor.

What brings this all to mind is this past summer I entered a show where next to me was a beautiful black 57 Chevy base model coupe with a 283hp 283 C.I. fuel injected motor. This fellow had a rather large sigh describing the car and it noted that this motor was the first time that an American auto had achieved 1 hp per C.I..

As we were admiring each others autos I happened to mention that Chrysler had a accomplished this in 1956(of course my model) with their 354 C.I. with 355 hp.

He said he was aware of this but noted that this was an optional high performance engine generally not available to all. I did not mention that I thought that the 283 283 was probably not a standard Chevy offering.

So just trying to get a little history here. I also have a pair of Dodge truck manifolds that may find a new home on my car if I can get more details on the exhaust system.

Thank you for any info on this topic

Roger Schaaf
300 B Calif.


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