Hello everyone. I have been off and on active on this site, and I would like to introduce myself to everyone and kinda tell the story of how I became a Slant 6 owner, and all of the adventures its brought me. (if this is the wrong place to post this, my apologize)


SO it started in may when I saw MIDI's 1964 dart for sale on craigslist. I called the guy up and it was not Midi, but the car was right in my price range, and after hearing legends of the reliability of the Slant 6 I decided to drive out and buy the car. I got there and after a questionable test drive decided to but the car because it had NOS and a Manual transmission, and that was that.

The next day my girlfriend and I were in my dart, and the distributor gear broke, (I didn't know that at the time mind you) and the car wouldn't start. so after getting towed all around town for no less than a few hundred bucks, we got to a shop. They quoted me 1800 bucks, which was crazy money for what needed to be done, so I drove home and left the car there for a few weeks. we came back and decided to take the car down to my aunt cindie's house in Fresno because I was moving there I needed to have a car while I was there. That's when things got fun.

With my friend Kathy we started tearing into it. we started with the timing chain, which looked all good. So we bought a new distributor and it worked. we got the car fired up but after a few blocks around it was having major fuel problems, so we took the Holley off and rebuilt it, but it wasnt enough so I had to spring for a new one. While all of this was going on we also replaced every electrical component in the engine bay because somehow the battery got grounded wrong and fried our whole system haha. We got a new starter and with everything done it was time to give it a real test. We took it up to the foothills here in Fresno and things were great, it was running super well.

The whole time we were prepping for my trip home to Utah. Its a long, hot drive so I decided to leave at about 2 AM so I could get to Las Vegas before noon. The car started up great but about 30-40 minuets down the highway to 99, I started surging really badly, and I was losing power. I pulled over and opened up the hood and there was smoke pouring out of the valve cover, so I started her up and I had a rod knock, a pretty serious one.
That was last night.

BUT I am not giving up on it. Im flying to Utah later today, (I have some stuff I have to do at home) but ill be back in a few weeks to truck the old girl home. Ive had so much fun working on the car, and Im not going to give up on it yet.

Should I have bought the Car? Probably not. Would I have bout it if I had known? HELL no. But here we are and Im fine with it.


From here I am going to rebuild the car. I think I want to put an automatic trans. Im thinking I just need a long block and I should be able to get on the road again, but I don't know If you can really buy a Long block slant like that, used anyway.

Thank you guys for all the help you have given me. thus far everything you've said has been right, and every "shop" Ive gone to has been totally off.

-Ben

try and hook up with Doc or one of the other guys that participate in the West Coast Slant Six Drag Racing series,,

one of them will likely have a lead on a long block or complete engine to get you going again..

and FWIW,, live with the stick for a while before you change it out,, manual trannys, when geared right are a nice match for a slant.

Hi Ben,

Very sorry to hear about your trials with this car, and good for you for sticking with it! I love 64 Darts. DadTruck has a good idea to check with Dutra and others out West for a shortblock (use your head) or a longblock (with head). If/when you get it home and pull the engine, you might be able to exchange it through a parts store for a rebuilt one, or find a machine shop (preferably with recommendations by folks on this site) to rebuild what you have. Bruce Pine might be someone who would know about spare engines around central CA?

All the best,

Lou

_________________
Home of Slant6-powered fun machines

I'm in with that crowd... as much as some people think it's a pain to clutch there are very good reasons for it to stay:

1) No young kids can steal it, they don't know how to shift it.
2) Battery goes dead, you can push start it... roll it along and pop the clutch...
3) You control the gears, and can anticipate when you need to up or down shift... the automatic will do it's best, but may not shift when it's best....
4) If your rear ratio stinks, you can slip the clutch a bit to get it rolling... the automatic will sag and may stall the engine if it's really bad...
5) You don't have to change the filter and top up with $25 of fluid every so often... in fact if it wasn't changed out, your transmission may still have 40 year old gear oil in it.


I fully agree, if someone local from the board has or knows where you can find a reliable long block that would be a better choice...

I agree with DadsTruck, find you a slanter who can help out with good advice. You can spend a lot and not get much if you get bad advice. The short or long block might be something to look for, but if you DIY you can save cash and learn about the engine at the same time. Crank kit, little overbore, valve job, head mill and it will be a good start. Good luck with the project!

_________________
Hyper_pak

(Just in case more people see this than see the Parts Wanted section, I'm also looking for a long block in the Houston area.)

_________________
Somehow I ended up owning three 1964 slant six A-bodies. I race one of them.
Escape Velocity Racing

In my opinion (which is limited and needs to be taken with a grain of salt), unless you can find a complete junk yard motor that actually runs or you spend some substantial money on a rebuild, it may be worth your time and a little more money on getting the bigger pistons or at least bigger valves/valve train put in. The bottom end seems to be fairly strong, but in your case you would definitely need a complete tear down... why not simply have the machinist bore out the block a little for a bit of extra performance while it's being honed? If that's an issue and costs too much in your area, then I can see why you may want to go the used/rebuilt stock engine route, but still these engines really open-up with some head work from what I hear. I bet with better flow rates that 170 would be a real screamer.

Anybody know if bigger valves can improve the 170 in any meaningful way similar to the 225? Yes, I get that the 225 is a stroked 170 with the same 170 head.

If you have a junk yard near by that has older Mopars in it, this could also be an opportunity to get a basic 225 with your preferred automatic transmission for a great deal, which would allow you to work on it until it's perfect and then allow you to swap it, for the 170/manual, which then can be worked-on separately as a hobby to swap back in at a later point or to sell to recoup some of your costs.

Regardless, the Slant gurus are still your best bet for the initial consultation. They have helped me GREATLY in my build threads!

_________________
1972 Plymouth Duster:
- 225ci
- Offy 4-Barrel Intake
- Weber 38/38 DGES
- Clifford headers
- Split 2.25" dual exhaust
- Pertronix digital ignition conversion
- Black-out custom digital gauges
- Front disc brake conversion
- Viper Blue

Have you discovered the cause for the failure? I was wondering whether the distributor gear failed because of a damaged oil pump drive gear on the camshaft, and that the motor lost oil pressure.