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Mopar Slant Sixes

2

Comments

  • carnut4carnut4 Member Posts: 574
    You really did get a cut higher buying GMC over Chevy in the old days. I remember the sound of those old Jimmy sixes with split manifolds and lots of cam an fuel! But I thought that GMC V6 they brought out in 1960 was also a great truck [torque] engine. A friend had one-the bores were big enough to plant tomatoes in!
  • furyiii68furyiii68 Member Posts: 2
    Mr. Shiftright, I have a 1976 Plymouth Valiant. It has provided me with years of reliable service. However, it is time to take it off the road. I hate to just have the car crushed. It still has many good parts. (The slant six and 904 tranny will still last another 50,000 miles I bet). The glass, lights, interior, other parts are still in good shape. Is there any junk yard within a 50 mile radius of New York that would take this car and keep it on the lot? This car would be good to someone needing parts. Please let me know. Thank you.
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    Hmm...hey, i have an idea that might be fun for you! Why don't you auction it on E-Bay at no reserve (but of course specify where you live and that the person buying is totally responsible for picking the car up). A wrecker won't give you diddley for it, and on e-bay you'd probably end up selling it to someone who could really use it or the parts for it.
  • carnut4carnut4 Member Posts: 574
    You could donate the car to a high school auto shop, and receive a tax deduction for it. I donated my old 72 Dodge Van to the local highschool here-they were delighted to have it. Some kid fixed it up and now it's used for some farm-utility fetcher.
  • zweisteinzweistein Member Posts: 2
    What will happen if I keep on driving my dart without a radiator cap? With the 7lbs cap on, the clogged radiator springs a leak in 70 degree weather. With no cap, merrily I roll along with the gauge showing about 160 degrees.
  • isellhondasisellhondas Member Posts: 20,342
    Get your radiator fixed!
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    Well, there are a number of disadvantages...the engine will run too cold and gum up inside, and without pressure your car would overheat faster on a warm day (pressure raises the boiling point of water--this is why modern cars can comfortably run at 230 degrees or more). But if you're not overheating and you don't mind jello for oil inside your engine, you may just continue to get away with it, no problem.
  • isellhondasisellhondas Member Posts: 20,342
    As tough as a slant six is, probably nothing will happen!

    Can you imagine doing that with a modern engine?
  • lokkilokki Member Posts: 1,200
    We owned a couple of Valiants in our family... one went 146,000 with nothing but oil, points, and plugs before my sister hit a tree... great engines. But my story:

    Long ago and far away, I had a friend who had a 68 Dart with a slant 6 which was about 8 or 9 years old at that point. The first time I rode with him, I politely pointed out that the oil light was on. He, just as politely, told me that the oil light was broken - he'd put a quart of oil in and the light had staye on. I rode around with him off and on for a period of 6 months or so.. with the oil light always blazing. Men being what we are, I said nothing .... and: nothing ever happened. Finally the day came where my car was in the shop and I borrowed "Chuck's" car for the day. As a thank-you, I filled the gas tank before returning the car. On an whim, I opened the hood and pulled the dipstick. It was dry!! I put 4 and a half quarts of oil in the car... and the oil light went out! Decided that it was none of my business, so when I took the car back to "Chuck" i just said thanks and mentioned that the oil light had gone out. "Guess the bulb finally burned out" he said. He drove the car for at least two more years with never a hiccup.. I moved away then but I imagine it's still running.

    What great engines!
  • carnut4carnut4 Member Posts: 574
    had 147,000 miles, had been bashed in the front corner [Ikept the $650 insurance money and just wired in a new headlight] and I had driven it 19 years after an initial cost of $1100, I figured it didn't owe me anything, and was worth $150 at the most. Sooo, a friend and I decided we'd see just how much abuse it would take. We took it out and continuously wound the piss out of it, holding it in the first 2 [Torqueflite] gears to see if we could break something. Couldn't make it happen-not even any blue smoke. So I just took it home, placed an ad for $195, sold it in a week. 13 years of reliable, comfortable driving for $1100, minus the $650 crash money, minus the $195 sale price=$255. Not bad!
    A few brake jobs, a carburetor, a valve job-that's all. And they think Hondas are so great?
  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 25,655
    In college, I bought a 1969 Dodge Dart GT with the 225. I bought it w/ about 49K miles on it in 1989, and drove it until 1992, when I got run off the road and hit a traffic light pole and totaled it. It was a sturdy, reliable car. Only cost something like $95 to put it thru inspection, and the only thing major that ever went out on it were the wheel cylinders.

    I missed it so much when it got snubbed that I found a 1968 Dart 270 and bought it a few days later. This one had a 318 in it, though, and about 252K miles (only about 10K on the rebuilt 318 though) and wasn't nearly as reliable. The engine/tranny were bulletproof, but I had front end, exhaust, brake, an electrical problems. Still for a car that was 24 years old when I bought it, that wasn't bad. I held onto the GT for a few years, using it as a parts car.

    When the county finally made me get rid of it, in late 1994, it was still driveable (kind of) although by this time it had a cinder block for a front seat, was missing an upper ball joint, and had a gas can and garden hose attached to the fuel line. At one point, it had sat for about a year and a half, but when I put a battery in it, poured a little gas in the carb, and hooked up the garden hose to the fuel line, it fired up on the 2nd or 3rd try and ran like a champ. I used to drive it around in the yard.

    It sat in the local junkyard for about a year, and was finally crushed. In some ways, though, it has been immortalized. Someone took an aerial view of the junkyard that they hung on their office wall. And if you look really close, you can see my GT between an old green Coronet and some other rusting hulk.

    Damn I miss that car. Sometimes I wish I had just gotten it fixed, even though it was totaled. The side impact with the passenger door also took out the rocker panel, buckled the floor pan a bit, and disfigured the quarter panel right behind the door. Also bent the car just enough to throw the hood and trunk out of alignment, and break the seam where the rocker panel and quarter panel meet on the driver's side. May have been more than the car was worth, but I would have saved in the long run, since I blew money anyway on that '68 Dart and other cars.

    Oh well...too late now, I guess!
    -Andre
  • isellhondasisellhondas Member Posts: 20,342
    If your story had involved anything except a slant six it would have been too much to believe.

    Talk about abuse!! Still, it wouldn't die!
  • mjc440mjc440 Member Posts: 76
    I had a '74 Dodge Dart Swinger with a slant six. It was given to me because the owner beleived it was on its last legs - his three teenagers each used and abused it.

    I drove it for another three years without putting a single penny into the engine (or any other mechanical component).

    The car was then sold for $1,200 to another young kid.
  • VolareVolare Member Posts: 15
    Hey i have a 73 dart swinger with the 318. This car replaced a 78 plymouth volare wagon that had the slant 6. I'm 16 and this dart is my first car. I bought the car for $650 but i've already put $700. I've had it for about a year now. I really like this car. It's got header's so it really rumbles with the 8 clyinder. I figure by the time i am 40 the car will be nice and old but i'll have keep it in good shape.
  • occupant1occupant1 Member Posts: 412
    A couple summers ago at an abandoned car auction I saw a beautiful 1978 Chrysler LeBaron coupe, copper and black, with a slant six and a Torqueflite, and it had a big hole in the block right in front by the water pump, I assume it threw a rod, and it still ran on the other five cylinders and oil splashed out of the hole. Someone actually paid $350 for it. I'll bet they had another Slant Six in a rusty car to transplant.
  • rea98drea98d Member Posts: 982
    Naw, the just patched the hole with a beer can and a tube of JB Weld, and drove it for another 60K
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    I bet it broke the timing gears and they crashed through the case. I have personally never seen a slant six with a thrown rod. They are tough crude simple engines.
  • dhoffdhoff Member Posts: 282
    What great stuff! They need some kind of slogan like, "The high tech answer to duct tape" or, "When duct tape just won't cut it, you need J.B. Weld!"
  • jabildajabilda Member Posts: 47
    One of the many great stories for the venerable Slant 6...

    My parents bought a used '65 Plymouth Fury with a slant six. What a car!! I can still remember the metal dash, the am radio and steering wheel plastic (don't forget the horn ring) that would crack due to heat / cold. All of the children learned on that car (automatic). Even today, I have not met an engine more quiet with the hood open! Except for some light valve tap, could never hear the engine from inside. Chrysler should consider this for the PT cruiser - with some redesign and rear wheel drive (oh, no, not that!!!!). Now that their DaimlerChrysler, and more recently, more German led, this is even more of a pipe dream.

    Thanks for all of the slant 6 stories - definitely a gem for Chrysler. If only the general consumer would be more educated on what they have under the hood rather than what looks good on the outside, it could still be around. The Jeep people have it right - those 4.0L are almost as tough. I hope they never 'deep 6' them. (start chanting - bring it back! Bring it back!)
  • eeeleeel Member Posts: 57
    the best 6 cyl engine - ever !!!

    we got over 200k on my sister's 65 valiant - still ran great when she traded it in -
    my dad replaced his v8 in his 58 plymouth wagon w/ a slant6 - 225 - drove it another 300k - (he had a tv business) - i think he'd still be driving it but you know how bad those 58's rusted

    he then replaced that with a 66 dodge van - 225 6
    he got from a friend who ran a kitchen service
    it had over 100k on it when he bought it - had over 330k when he got rid of it - you know - we never - ever - had any problems with these motors - well - when it comes to chrysler - we've never had any engine problems with any mopar we've ever owned - and that goes back to the early 50's

    the slant 6 is indestuctible
  • egkellyegkelly Member Posts: 17
    My mom had a Plymouth Duster in the Mid-80's. Very reliable car-the slant 6 engine ran like a champ. The only problem I noted: the ancient carter carburator had a float problem-the car would starve for fuel and sometimes stall, in a hard left hand turn. Too bad Chrysler never made this engine with EFI!
  • bolivarbolivar Member Posts: 2,316
    Are you sure it was a hard left turn?

    My 72 Duster ALWAYS 'dropped dead' in a hard RIGHT turn. Just like the gas was turned off to the carb...
  • speedshiftspeedshift Member Posts: 1,598
    That was your traction control cutting in ;-).
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    You needed to adjust the float level, but now it's too darn late!


    Mr. Shiftright
    Host

  • brucer2brucer2 Member Posts: 157
    My dad had a '65 Plymouth Belvedere with a 225. This is the car I learned to drive on in '71, and within a year had melted a hole in the #6 piston (closest to the firewall). I may have been tough, but you couldn't drive it for hours at 85mph.
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    Sounds like pre-ignition (detonation) problem killed it.


    Mr. Shiftright
    Host

  • egeihsegeihs Member Posts: 3
    I had a '67 Dart with a 225 that was a former utility company car - bought it with 88,000 miles in '72 and ran it to 218,000 when the rust just got too far so I parked it. When the slant six in my 76 Volare died at 114,000, I put new rings in the old Dart motor and dropped it in the Volare. The speedo quit at 246,000, but I ran the Volare until it got broadsided at an estimated 297,000 miles and that old 67 motor was still running top notch. So, 218000 miles in the 67, 183000 in the 76 totals 401000 miles, and the only internal work was the rings and somewhere along the way I remember changing out the oil pump.
  • valsigplymvalsigplym Member Posts: 5
    I was at the supermarket one day when a fell asked about my 63 valiant. The conversation quickly focused on the dependability and simplicity of slant six 170 engine.

    I stated MOPAR should never have stopped using this motor. I was told by this guy that the reason they did quit making it was because MOPAR could not "clean it up" for the tougher EPA standards back in the 1980's

    OK I said... Then why the beck did they stop making push-button transmissions?

    We laughed and chalked it up to "progress"
  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 25,655
    I think pushbutton transmissions were more of a fad than anything else, and just didn't catch on. In some ways, though, they were better than column shifters at the time. For example, on my '57 DeSoto, it's impossible to accidentally shift into first, second, or reverse at too high of a forward speed. Do that with a column-shift Torqueflite, you'll park the car in record time, and do that with a lesser tranny, and you'll be rebuilding it!!

    As for the Slant Six, it was a sturdy, reliable engine, partly because it was originally designed to be an aluminum block. Because of this, it had some serious reinforcements. However, Chrysler decided that the aluminum block was too costly to mass produce reliably, so they just went to an iron block, but kept all the reinforcements. I do believe that there ARE aluminum-block 225's available, though.

    Unfortunately, the slant-six did not take too well to emissions controls in the 70's. Its 145 gross hp translates to 110 net, which, initially, was at least as competent as similar-sized engines at the time. As the emissions controls got added on, though, horsepower began to drop, to as little as 85-90 by 1980. The Slant-6 is also a cool running engine, which made it hard to adapt to emissions controls. It's also a fairly torquey engine, but it not designed to really be revved, like the Buick and Chevy V-6's of the mid 70's, which had a shorter stroke.

    When the bulk of Chrysler cars went to FWD in 1981-82, there was no way in hell the 225 would fit in one of them, so it was relegated to larger cars like the M-bodies, J-bodies, R-bodies, and pickups and vans. The R-body was axed after 1981, the J-bodies after 1983, leaving only the M-bodies.

    With the exception of the Chrysler 5th Avenue, the M-body never sold well in the 80's, except for police and taxi service. In all cases, the 318 was better suited, as the M-bodies by this time weighed 3500 lb and up.

    I think the slant 6 lasted through 1987 in pickup trucks, when it was replaced by the 3.9 V-6, which was a 318 (5.2) with 2 cylinders sawed off. Economically, this made sense, as the 3.9 and 5.2 had the same bolt pattern for the tranny, whereas the 225 had a different bell housing. So, if nothing else, the 225 was at least cabable of meeting pickup truck emissions standards by 1987, although by then I think it still only put out around 90 hp.

    If Chrysler hadn't made such an exodus from rwd cars in the early 80's, the slant six may have had a longer production run and saw more improvements. But as it stood, it became merely a stopgap engine for vehicles where a V-8 would be much more popular, so it just wasn't worth it to update it for the few buyers it had. GM did the same thing with the Buick 231 in the RWD Cutlass Supreme/Buick Regal of the 80's. By 1987, that engine was putting out 150-165 hp in FWD applications, but the RWD, unless you got a turbo, was still only putting out 110. Most RWD buyers by that time were probably getting V8's in their Regals, Cutlass Supremes, and Grand Prix's.

    -Andre
  • carnut4carnut4 Member Posts: 574
    is still out there serving its purpose, getting people around like my niece. She's in her twenties, just finished college,and needed a car that wouldn't quit on her. The 83 Volvo her Dad gave her overheated and melted down on a trip to Vegas. She's the kind of gal who drives cars hard. Well, she found this 66 Valiant with a slant six and Torqueflite, low miles, elderly owner, for peanuts. You know the story.
    We're all wondering how long the old Valiant will serve her, what with her somewhat rough driving habits...
    I remember how well my 66 Dart served me, through college and beyond. I paid $1100 in 1970 for a 36,000 mile car, drove it 150,000 miles, and sold it 12 years later for $295 cash. Oh yeah, the thing got bashed while parked at the curb one night, and instead of getting it fixed, I just wired in another headlight and kept the $600 insurance money. So, for 11 years and 150,000 miles, it cost me a total of 205 bucks, plus a new carburetor at 100,000 miles and a few maintenance items, like brakes and tires. Not bad for a beater, though one person said I should put a sack over my head before I drove in to the school faculty parking lot. Heck-didn't bother me at all...
  • jlflemmonsjlflemmons Member Posts: 2,242
    In '84 I had a Fiero on order and had a lapse between the sale of my '82 Datsun truck and the arrival of the Fiero. So, I checked the local tote the note lots and found a '67 Dart 2dr, SS225, auto, with 88Kmiles and a Sears and Roebuck under dash A/C. Bought it for a whopping $750. The A/C worked and the car ran pretty good. It had been professionallly repainted the typical Chrysler Green of the era, and my wife named it Monte (for Montezuma's Revenge) There was not one bit of rust under or over on the car as it had lived it's life in central Texas away from the coast and the snow. Me, being the tinkerer that I am, overhauled the carb and did a full tuneup with wires and all. Little sucker ran like a sewing machine. A day or two later I came up to a stop sign and wondered just how much punch the little booger had. Nailed the throttle and !BAM! Both motor mounts and the transmission mount broke. Well, I looked at what was now a FLAT six laying on it's side in the motor bay and thought, what the heck. Started it back up, put it in reverse and power-braked the motor back upright into the cradle. Drove it home (slowly) and bought $15.00 worth of motor mounts and transmission mount. After that, drove it until the Fiero came in and sold it for $850. The kid that bought it totalled it within six months while doing high-speed donuts on a wet parking lot. If I had known that would be the fate of the car, I never would have sold it to him.

    Jim
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    slant Six Trivia......some years ago, a Mercedes Gullwing "kit car" came out, with a tube frame and a Chrysler slant six engine...it was called an American Gullwing....the original Gullwing also had a slant six, but it was considerably more powerful than the Chrysler one.
  • friendinthebizfriendinthebiz Member Posts: 31
    Two Mopar slant-six memories: While my Volvo 242 was down (again!)I had the family "spare car", a '63 tan Dart. Lightly bashed on all sides, mismatched hub covers, mild rust - a real looker.
    Had the good fortune to begin a first date by walking the young lady out of her place of work into the parking lot. As I went around to hold the passenger door she mistakenly thought I was getting in the "Smoky & the Bandit" FireBird (complete w/Screamin' Chicken hood decal)parked alongside. It was an auspicious start of a short lived relationship.
    My other S-6 story is not really automotive. A summer job during college was with Del Monte as a farm laborer. The 170 motor was a favorite for green bean combines, powered with propane and towed by a regular tractor. Always started, rain or shine and nothing could stall 'em out.
  • epr4evrepr4evr Member Posts: 12
    Just finished reading this entire topic from the start; brought back alot of memories. I had 2 slant 6's. first was a 2 yr. old '63 Valiant conv. 225 and push-button auto. Our family always drove Chrysler products, so we thought nothing of the oddity of the push-button (or the "flattened" steering wheel on Dad's car). Actually, it made alot of sense as only the driver had access to the shift mechanism, and face it, "R" or "D" were the only buttons you ever pushed. The "park" lever was also handy. It was a true 3 spd. auto. and just as tough as the engine. (traded at 70k)

    Next was an almost new '67 Barracuda notchback w/ 3 spd. on the column, and an aftermarket air-conditioner under the dash. Ultimately, this car was wrecked at about 125k but still ran perfectly .. no oil consumption. 3000 rpm delivered 72 mph and about 20 mpg. There was a vacuum gauge above the steering column called, I think, a "performance indicator" and was marked for gas mileage. It was amazing how you could improve ecomomy by decreasing power slightly while on a level road with no degredation of speed. I guess it's true that niether car was not very sophisticated, but quite stylish.

    Next, a '70 Barracuda Gran Coupe (rare). 318 2bbl w/column auto. It was a dealer demo with maybe 7k. White vinyl top over red body. No exterior stripes or markings --black interior but houndstooth seat inserts, and overhead console, factory air, and 5 rib road wheels with 3 stripe whitewalls. A very sharp car. lasted 8 yrs.and 120k. The body rusted badly and it got new front fenders, but the trunk and body attatch points were no longer one. The last night I owned it, the speedo still hit 115.

    At the low point in Chrysler's history, I ordered a new '79 Lebaron coupe.. high trim-fully loaded. 'Seems to me that the 361 was an option, but preferred the 318. This car was unremarkable, simply because it never broke, (sold at 120k-rust) and it was so good looking. Back then, you could get some colors! Mine had white exterior with aqua leather interior, including carpeting and headliner. Lots of plastic chrome and wood. This all may sound garish by today's standards, but there is something to be said for selecting from a wide range of color chioces and having it turn out. Notice that concept cars always are unusual colors.. especially inside.
  • speedshiftspeedshift Member Posts: 1,598
    Yeah, it's hard to find aqua interiors these days. Coal bin black seems to be a big favorite.

    I had one of those Gran Coupes too, or actually, it was the Dodge Challenger version--I forget now what it was called. Had a thickly padded vinyl top with a very small rear window. Mine also had the 318 but with a 4 speed with this huge bayonet shifter. Pretty thrashed when I bought it and the 318 was junk, so I bought a 360 out of a Cordoba, rebuilt it and put it in the Challenger. Found out years later you can't do that swap--the engine mounting points are slightly different--but I've always believed that if something doesn't fit you get a bigger hammer.
  • epr4evrepr4evr Member Posts: 12
    Your Challenger trim line was called an SE, and may have also been a R/T as well, depending on the engine. Ah,for the good old days.
  • speedshiftspeedshift Member Posts: 1,598
    Yes, thanks, after I posted I remembered it was a Special Edition. Unfortunately it wasn't an R/T, the standard engine for that line was the 383 Magnum. Mine was a 318 and with 20/20 hindsight I should have kept it, thrown a cheap rebuild on it and used the 273/235 4v AFB carb, intake and valve covers I got from a junkyard. Kind of ironic, the junkyard Dart GT I got those parts from was immaculate while the Challenger I put thousands into should have been in the junkyard. Guess I had a bad case of pony envy.
  • microrepairmicrorepair Member Posts: 508
    I just discovered this forum and have been chuckling for a half hour as I read it.
    I've had 3 of the slant sixes, a 61 Valiant 3-speed, a 69 Dart auto, and a 74 Dart auto. I also had 2 of the 2.2 engines in the Omni. An 80 with stick and an 87 with auto. I wish I had some wild funny stories to tell , but all those cars were so damn boring, they just kept on running and running. Nothing ever more serious than an occasional water pump and brake shoes.. Ran up some decent miles on most, except for the last, the 87 Omni. Bought it in the summer and when time came to put on the winter coats up here in New England, I didn't fit comfortably any more, so sold it after one year.
    The 61 Valiant was the prettiest of the bunch and when I see the PT, I think of that Valiant, a 4-door in black with the red interior and white walls. Only put about 50K on it as we were then breeding kids and needed a wagon. Got a 63 Fury with the 318 and that was solid too.
    Only problem with the Darts was rust. That was when Chrysler was getting sloppy on the bodies, from mid 60's to late 70's.. I worked with a fell whose brother-in-law owned a junk yard in Penn. and they used to visit them every summer. He came back one year around the early 80's and mentioned that there had been a huge pile of engines in the yard. He asked what they were and was told they were perfectly good slant sixes, the bodies were completely shot but the engines were in great shape and now worthless due to an oversupply... They told him it was the only engine that got stockpiled like that due to longevity..
    I sold my 80 Omni with 107K on it and all I ever did to it was replace the steering rack. The guy who bought it worked for the same company and more than 2 years later another fella I knew there asked me if I had ever replaced the clutch. I asked why he was asking. He had just bought it from owner #2 and it now had over 150K on it and was just then in need of a clutch! Still no engine work or any other significant repairs.. And that was a car that was rated not acceptable by Consumer Reports.. !! In its first 100K I used to bring my son back and forth from college with it and loaded his furniture in and on it. We looked like one of the gypsy wagons going down the highway at 65 mph with barely enough room in the little car for ourselves. Huge load and 70 miles one way twice a year for four years. And it ran like a champ. One of the most eager cars I've ever owned. Loved to run fast and I drove it hard. Hated to get rid of it. And it was the same with the 61 Valiant too..
    After all those I ended up with a 90 Acclaim with the Mitsu 3 liter V-6. SUPER ENGINE!!! Unbelievable... Loved to rev and had grunt power too. That sucker saw many miles at well over speed limits on mid-america interstates.. And it loved every minute. Never any problem with that engine but unfortunately the transmission was from that era when there were law suits, etc. for a crummy design. It failed at 72K outside Savannah, GA while on vacation and the dealer there rebuilt it in 12 working hours and we were on our way by 5PM on the second day..! But it took 11 months to get Chrysler to pay for the whole thing. They paid for the parts at the dealership in Savannah. Tranny started acting up again 11 months later so traded it for a LeSabre. Now there was a piece of crap. Everything but the engine and tranny went bad at 45K miles so traded it at 47K for a new 97 Concorde which ran circles around the LeSabre with very little loss of comfort. Still have it and the engine and tranny are rock solid, but have done 2 water pumps (one I just paid for!) and it had to be towed out of my garage once because one of the brackets that positions the rear axle BROKE! Weird..
    I've owned numerous other brands and models but none has as durable a drive train as the slant sixes... Many others were more fun, like two different Fiat Spiders. They had solid engines too, being built for racing use. But otherwise more like the Chrysler products, broken door handles, etc.. Hmmm, did Mopar own them ??
    I'm thinking of buying a Stratus later this year with the V6. Anyone got any inside scoop on whether its any good?
  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 25,655
    The engine option you're thinking of is the 360. The 361 was a big block and discontinued in the late 60's.

    I had a '79 Newport with that same 318 engine. Only put out 135 hp by that time, but somehow it was enough to move all that mass. The 360 was optional with 150 hp. Sounds pretty sad, but they had plenty of torque. The real butt-kicker of the bunch was the 195 hp 360. It was a police car engine, and found its way into Newports, New Yorkers, Cordobas, and Lil Red Express pickups. I think you could get it in the M- and F-bodies, as well.

    I've heard that the coolant passages on the 360 are narrower than the 318, so they're more prone to overheating.

    I think the low point for the Slant Six was 1980-81. By that time, it was down to 85-90 horsepower, yet was the standard engine for cars such as the Mirada, Cordoba, Newport, St. Regis, etc! I'm sure it must've been a dog in a car that big!

    -Andre
  • veritasveritas Member Posts: 17
    I reckon I might as well log in with a few of my memories on this topic. First, my credentials:

    I have owned:

    1961 Valiant V200 hardtop w/225
    1969 Valiant Signet sedan w/225
    1974 Dart Special Edition w/318
    1977 Aspen w/318

    My mother owned:
    1961 Dodge Lancer w/225 (totaled in 1963)
    1963 Valiant Signet hardtop w/225
    1966 Dart sedan w/225

    One brother bought my mother's Valiant later and drove it through the 70s. Another brother received her Dart when she passed away in 1979 and it served as a spare car for several years afterward.

    Another brother owned:
    1964 Valiant wagon w/273 V8
    1969 Valiant 200 sedan w/225
    My 1974 Dart (I sold it to him when I moved to England)

    My 61 was driven by the dealer's wife for three months before I bought it and was in better than new condition. A girl I loaned it to in 1962 ran into someone else on a rainy night and really messed up the front. It was repaired by a Buick dealer as there was no MOPAR garage anywhere around where I was at the time. It didn't seem to affect it in any way until a few months before I traded it on a 1964 Corvair Greenbrier van. It suddenly began to run extrememly rough and no one could find the cause of the problem before I traded.

    My 69 was a real jewel as I described in another forum. One of my brothers spotted it years later with an elderly couple in it. He said it looked as good as ever, but I wonder how the old guy handled the non power fast ratio steering and non power disk brakes.

    My 74 Dart Special Edition was a real looker in a very dark red metallic with parchment vinyl roof and parchment velour seats. But it would stall at least once each time you set out to go anywhere - emission controls hurt the 318 just as bad as they did the 225. It served as my brother's family car for a few years after I sold it to him, then it sat and moldered for a few years until his youngest son was old enough to drive. A new battery, a shot of gas in the carb and it fired right up. The tatters of the vinyl top were pulled off and it saw his youngest through high school and a while after. By that time the body was shot, so the engine was pulled and placed in his 64 Valiant wagon to replace the 273 that had given up a few years before (my brother never gets rid of anything!) and soldiered on a few years more until the Valiant body rusted out completely.

    In 1979 I visited my brother. He told me his 69 Valiant was idling a bit rough (it had always been his go to work and personal errands car). I asked him when he had last replaced his plugs. He hadn't. How about points? Nope. I went out and did a look-see. I couldn't find any gap on his points at all! And his plugs looked little better! But he hadn't noticed any change in the car's performance or starting, even in Indiana winters, aside from that slight roughness. New points and plugs and it was like new.

    The less said about my Aspen the better. It looked good sitting still and had an interior like a French bordello, but it was the most unreliable, evil handling and braking car I have ever owned - my 58 Edsel included! I traded off that beast for a 78 Toyota Corolla and didn't go back to Chrysler products until 1992, when I bought a new Dodge Grand Caravan.

    I also remember the HyperPak engines. They were offered only to homologate the Valiants/Lancers for racing and were very hard to come by for the average guy (I know, both my brother and I tried). If memory serves, some special category was formed for them to race in at Daytona in 1960 and they ran away from the opposition.

    One story about the racing MOPAR compacts comes to mind.

    A team of Valiants was entered in the Monte Carlo Rally in 1960 or 61 and some Scandinavian rally drivers were hired to pilot them. One Finn was putting in an incredible performance on the Alpine portion - handily passing faster, more powerful competitors on the narrow, twisting, icy mountain roads.

    But he finally retired with a baffling failure - his differential case had developed a hole in it, dumped all his differential oil and finally frozen up.

    Investigation revealed that the reason for the hole was that the Finn had taken advantage of the limited-slip differential fitted in the car by hanging his outside two wheels completely over the abyss as he passed other cars in places where there was simply no room for two cars to fit side by side. But this stunt had allowed his differential to rub on the edge of the sheer and unprotected dropoffs and finally worn a long groove in it!

    The race car drivers of today are real pussycats in some ways. (grin)
  • epr4evrepr4evr Member Posts: 12
    you're right about the 360..somewhere in a box of junk is the brochure for the '79 LeBaron. My previous car had the 318 and went 125k, but at about 100k I had to have a manual choke installed. The intake manifold heat riser was found to be packed with carbon or something, and wouldn't move.

    About slant 6's. In other forums I've described my '62 MGA as having "a big lawn mower engine... same is true here.... In this part of the country, (northern Ohio) people have summer homes on the Lake Erie Islands. A good "island car" has to be reliable and easy to fix. Many 60's cars fill that need nicely..... nothing fancy, they sit at the ferry dock or airport for their entire lives, with points, condenser and a screwdriver in the glove box.
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    How true....I remember when I first took a slant-six apart....there were like 5 moving parts (well, a few more, but...). I said to myself "What is this? A wood stove?"
  • jim4444jim4444 Member Posts: 124
    Remember the saying......Keep It Simple Stupid. Apparently Dodge did.
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    Hey, it wasn't pretty but it got the job done. This is often the American way and it won a lot of races and a lot of wars, so.....

    It was a rough engine but you know, I don't think I ever saw one with a holed block...I'm sure it happened, but it wasn't very common. Being simple, the engine could withstand amazing abuse. It almost asked for it.
  • jim4444jim4444 Member Posts: 124
    OK. Just seems like you have something against em every time you point out how simple they are.

    I mean wouldnt you say a 350 Chevy is simple by todays standards?
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    Well, hey, what do you want me to say, they're beautiful? They're not, obviously, They are very good lumps of iron. Plenty of prize fighters, tools, machines, animals, etc. are not beautiful but still earn our respect. It's just the facts. A slant six is a very simple, good but homely engine. So's a Chevy.

    Compared to what, you'd say...well, of course, you have to compare them to something. So I mean simple and homely compared to complex, all-aluminum overhead cam exotics with gorgeous castings, etc. Not necessarily better or worse, just not as interesting to look at.
  • carnut4carnut4 Member Posts: 574
    American inline engines, they WERE better. I mean, the 30 degree slant allowed the six individual runners of the intake manifold, which added a bit of the "ram" effect-certainly better than the intake and exhaust systems on any other inline American sixes of the time. So, in that sense, it sure beats the Chevy and Ford sixes of the time. If only they'd had seven main bearings...
  • speedshiftspeedshift Member Posts: 1,598
    That crank is pretty well supported anyway, even with four bearings. Somewhere in the back of my mind I think the block had more beef because it was also designed to be produced in aluminum, and I think a few aluminum units were made.

    It's been a while since I've seen one, but I think even the slant six's exhaust manifold was more flowing than the Chevy and Ford manifolds. And of course the intake manifold had individual runners, something the Ford didn't have.
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    I think the Slant-6 was just more modern than other American I-6s, although well behind Europe in terms of design. But that's apples and oranges, since most of the advanced European 6s were in more expensive cars than a Dodge Dart. The humbler Euro cars used mostly humbler engines.

    I think the Slant-6 worked especially well for the US, where bigger cars carrying more accessories needed lots of displacement and torque, and where fuel economy or smoothness wasn't such a big deal.

    I had a rather rare 225 Slant-6 and a 4-speed floor shift in a '65 Valiant 2dr hardtop. Looking back, it could have certainly used faster steering and a better shifter, but at the time it was a pretty hot little car for a 6.
  • andre1969andre1969 Member Posts: 25,655
    ...well, Chrysler got 145 hp (110 net) out of a 225 CID engine, at least until emissions controls took their toll. It was down to 105 for '73, then 95 for '75. For '76-79, it was actually back up to 100 for the 1-bbl, 110 for the 2-bbl offered from '77-79. Then it hit 90 for '80, 85 for '81, then back up to 90 for '82-83, its last application in passenger cars. It held on in trucks though 1987, I think, but don't know what the hp was.

    I believe there was a 2-bbl offered in Canada in the gross-hp days that put out 160 hp gross/120 net.

    In contrast, the Chevy 250 went from 145 gross in '71 to 110 in '72. It had 155 in '70, so evidently it had been stronger. For '73-74, it was down to 100, then 105 for '75-76, and 110 for '77-78, and 115 for '79. It was replaced in 1980 by the 229 V-6, also rated at 115 hp.

    Sadly, some GM V-8's, like the Olds 260, and Chevy 262 and 307, got knocked down to the 100-115 hp mark in the mid-70's. Even the 350 was down to 125 hp in '74, in the Monza.

    Ford's inline sixes of the era were laughable. In 1971, they had four! A 170, a 200, a 240, and a 250. I think the 200 and 250 were related (same bore), but I think the 240 was an older base full-size engine, and the 170 was a Maverick-only engine. By '72 they were all still around, with the 240 being the most powerful, at 103 hp. The 250 only had 98 hp in the Maverick, 95 in the Torino! From there, it was all downhill. The 250 topped out at 92 hp for '73, and 91 for '74. It's listed at 72 hp for '75, and I hope that's a misprint!! The Pinto 140 was even rated higher than that, at 83!

    Looks like the 250 was discontinued after 1980, with 90 hp, although the 200 version persisted in the Fairmont/Granada. It had 88 hp, the same as the 140 4-cyl that was the base engine!

    I don't know if this is a reflection of the times more than the ability of the engines, but my '69 Dart GT with its 225 was a better performer and got better fuel mileage than both my 1980 Malibu with a 229 V-6, and my '82 Cutlass Supreme 231. It was smoother, quieter, and, believe it or not, easier to start in cold weather! It was more reliable, too.

    Interestingly, it was a better cruiser than the 318 1968 Dart I have now. The 318 would blow it away in any acceleration test, but if I punched it at, say 60-70 mph, the 318 would downshift and scream, where the slant six would just take off without fanfare. And the gearing is the same: 2.76:1, although the tranny gearing may have been different.

    And for an even sadder reflection of the times, in college, with that 225 Dart GT, I had one of the fastest cars among my group of friends. One of them had a then-new Cavalier Z-24, but I could lay waste to all the Honda Accords, 4-cyl Cavaliers, Pintos, 4-cyl Mustangs, 6-cyl T-birds, Ominrizons, etc. Dang, the late 80's were pathetic!!

    -Andre
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