Hello all,
first of this is a great site ~~thanks for being here , i have been a mopar man for a long time , gear head way back and then to trucks & vans , i have a 1987 Dodge B150 van slant 6/225 , i have had this van for a long time , it was my work van when i worked for the phone company and i got lucky enough to buy it when it wet to auction ~~ long story short the body is solid and in great shape the engine is tired ~~i let it sit for a couple of years and now want to bring her back to life ~~my dilemma is should i rebuild her or go with a crate motor ( slant 6 of course ) ~~i am leaning towards the rebuild i am in no hurry can take my time and do it right ~~ what do you think ??

I would say rebuild that way you know what has actually been done to it and you can customize it to your taste

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Nothing beats a slant six
1987 D150

Crate motors in general have had a shaky track record to begin with, let alone a slanted crate motor. I'd do it myself and know exactly what's in there...

vm

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vm

There's nothing such as a slant-6 crate engine. "Crate engine" means a brand-new engine. I assume you're asking about the "remanufactured" engines you can buy through parts stores. Can't recommend them; "remanufactured" parts tend to be of poor quality regardless of what kind of warranty is offered.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

go for the gusto and rebuild it

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What's that fuzzy blue thing being hurled this way?
::stick::
BOOSH!!!

Welcome from another slant vanner I agree with what has been suggested,rebuild what you have.I believe 87 was the last of US available slants so it has a few things that might be addressed when rebuilding depending on where you live and smog laws.It would be a good time to trash the 'Leanburn' computer/dist/feed back carb etc. Supersix it,bit-o head work and other things will wake it up some and even increase MPG.
Check out the articles,use the search function and ask questions,the best slant minds in the world are on this forum(and a couple bad ones like me)

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83 B-150 slant 6,4 speed. 79 B-300 360 pathfinder 4x4. 74 W-300 318 4x4 git-r-done 80 B-100 sl6,4speed

Your best bet is to buy a slant six of the same year as your van, from craigslist or ebay or whatnot, they got for 100 dollars to free, and rebuilt that from the ground up, thats what i plan to do eventually.

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71 dodge dart custom

1988 Honda Civic ((Because racecar))

2005 VW Jetta

1963 AMC Rambler American 440

I can say with confidence "DON"T BUY A REMAN MOTOR!!"
My boss did, and hated it. One push rod was longer than the other 11, the lifters ticked no matter what, and he eventually sold the Jeep rather than keep pouring money into it. Another friend put one in his sister's Cavalier, and it imploded a few miles later. He pulled the head, and one cylinder was bored over more than the other three! No wonder the thing idled like a paint shaker!

I regard reman engines like I do reman carburetors: crap.

Get another slant, rebuild it at your leisure while yours is still running, and when the sad day comes when it dies, swap it all in a weekend and drive to work Monday.

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If it was easy, everybody would be doing it.

There is no reason at all to confine yourself to an engine of the same year as your van. Any '68 or newer slant-6 will suit.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

have to disagree with the majority wisdom on this point sages- ran my best car a 77 aspen with od up to 260k. sl6 was worn out, burning oil. in acouple weekends i swapped in a rebuilt sl6 long block from pep boys. ran great, smooth and got good mileage. didnt have to do any further work on it, except adjust the valves once. ran it 93-03 and put on 100k more miles. had to junk car in 05. couldnt get severely rusted body and frame welded up anymore. reman cost only 893 with the swap in 93. engine was still running superbly when i turned inthe car. should have kept the engine. engine was rebuilt for pep boys by a big outfit called recon in philadelphia. from the general drift of what i have heard about remans on the forum, my experience must be close to unique. engine had a 1 year 12k warranty but i never had to use it. either i was just lucky or the recon firm in philly does a good job. later found out that i could have shipped them my old engine and had them rebuild that one for the same price. remember the specs on the engine which was bored .60 over which i think would make the 225 a 242. am i right? would like to hear dans and DIs take on my experience .

Yup, you were just lucky. Pep Boys sells trash. You happened to get an engine that worked out OK.

I don't know about you, but I don't feel like gambling a whackload of time, effort, and trouble on the chance that I might get a non-crap "remanufactured" engine. An engine swap is a big, once-in-awhile job that costs a lot of money, it's not going to the supermarket for a box of macaroni and cheese. For the amount of money/time/effort it takes, I insist on picking and talk to the person(s) doing the work, and make decisions about parts selection.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Yeah but wouldnt it fail smog due to lack of emissions?

Plus they change stuff over the years right?

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71 dodge dart custom

1988 Honda Civic ((Because racecar))

2005 VW Jetta

1963 AMC Rambler American 440

rebuild yourself....i got 68 motor from w250 in my 82 d150...had rebuilt it for hotrod but truck motor quit so it went into truck with an 85 head so i coulod pass smog...till has solid lifter train on hydo head with 4bbl offy...runs well and I know what i got.

keep on roddin'

Nope. All (almost) slant six emissions stuff is bolt-on. THe only exception are the air injection passages in the late 70s-on cylinder heads. Everything else is all external.

As far as changing stuff, not much changed on the slant. The only things to watch out for are the crankshaft pilot hole size changing in 68, the peanut plug heads starting in 75, the cylinder head revision in 67+ heads, the 76 switch to cast crankshafts, and the 81 switch to hydraulic valvetrain.

All the emission controls are external bolt-ons. Whatever the builder/owner decides to install will be present. Whatever he decides to omit will be absent.
I cannot tell from this remark what it is you have in mind that they changed so as to make non-1987 engines incompatible. That's just not the case.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.