Ratrod, slantrod, Frankensteinmobile, or whatever you call it, I like it! Kudos to ya for all the work, I'm sure it wasn't easy.
Keep us informed!

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"Ja, Ich fahre ein altes auto."
'78 Volare 225
'67 Charger 318

Nice work. However, I would have gone with an A-500. Less fabrication.

Rick,
It's a complicated topic, and possibly one that should be moved to the Transmission forum.

The guts of it are that the stock 5/8 Toyota MC (master cylinder) with the stock SC (slave) should have been able to move the clutch, but it didn't. The Toyota transmission that these pieces were designed for was basically the same as the Dodge stuff in size and function.

The concentric SC did work with the 5/8 MC. I know this because I swung the engine next to the drivers door and plumbed it and tested it and it worked. But when I put the engine in it simply would NOT work. Might have been a bleeding issue, might have been a fitting drawing air, dunno. I went through 3 MCs trying to figure it out, but gave up and went with the Wilwood 1 1/8" MC. That did it, but only with very meticulous bleeding.

I think what I have somehow is a bad pressure plate. I asked around, and some guys I know say that if a pressure plate cracks, sometimes it will work but take a LOT of force to disengage. The only thing I have to go by is how it feels trying to move it by hand. With the engine and trans on the cherry picker, and a tube about 2 feet long attached to the end of the clutch fork, I could get the clutch to work by hand. But it was quite difficult. Also, the engine/trans makes some kind of mechanical noise which is inconsistant but affected by the clutch pedal and gear selection. Could be something in the valvetrain, could be almost anything, but I suspect it's coming from the bellhousing.

But I would say to you that if you wanted to convert your slant to hydraulic, spend $130 on the Wilwood MC and pedal combination. They sell it where you can bolt it to the firewall or bolt it to the floor pan. Then, either use this 93 Jeep concentric bearing ($80) or find something slightly bigger (they are all made by Dorman, but Dorman doesn't post dimensions on the web that I can find). If you don't want to go concentric, then most of the Chevy systems are pull type, which means you'd have to mount it rearward somehow, and most of the Ford systems are push-type but would require a bracket of some kind to make them work.

Chrysler DID make a hydraulic system FOR the slant in 1987 (might be 85-87) but it requires a bracket to hold the SC that I couldn't find. It might also involve a different clutch fork. Score that setup at a boneyard and you are done.

Keisler sells a complete system for something north of $600. There is little info on their web site about what's involved. RAM Automotive sells just the hydraulic SC for $150, but it doesn't even come close to fitting without major surgery. Ask me how I know!

If you want to attempt it, PM me and I'll send you some pics of what's involved.

Kip

_________________
1965 Valiant wagon Turbo slant (work in progress)
2000 Chevy 155" cargo van - The Abductor
1970 Newport convertible
1996 Buick Roadmaster Wagon
1966 CruiseAire motor home
1990 Toyota 1 ton box truck TURBO slant (scraped)

Rick,
Good advice about the A500. But the 833 came with the engine I used, both for FREE so that's why I used it. I required an overdrive, and I simply wanted a manual, so that's what I used.

If I had a budget, I'd have gone with a T5 or some kind of 6 speed. If I had a big budget I'd have gone with a torqueflite and a Gear Vendors outboard overdrive.

Alas, the wife budgeted me $500 for the whole swap, and I overshot that by a few hundred, mostly due to the clutch issues.

Kip

_________________
1965 Valiant wagon Turbo slant (work in progress)
2000 Chevy 155" cargo van - The Abductor
1970 Newport convertible
1996 Buick Roadmaster Wagon
1966 CruiseAire motor home
1990 Toyota 1 ton box truck TURBO slant (scraped)

what was done here is the essence of hot rodding,, folks tend to get distracted by shiny paint and chrome,, making something better by working with what is at hand is where true innovation is found.

Amen

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1954 Ford, Tudor Mainline
1976 Plymouth Valiant, 4 door


www.automotive-ninja.com

Radars

"My slant six '87 d150 4 speed overdrive pickup gets 12-13 mpg and 15 or less on the highway. I know I could tune it a little better with some effort, but the aerodynamics are against me and the weight of the truck doesn't help either. "

The EPA rated your truck in 1987 at 16/20, which is 15/19 by the new standards, though I think the old ratings are more accurate on the highway. It's this rating that makes me think my goal of 20mpg is attainable.

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/findacar.htm

_________________
1965 Valiant wagon Turbo slant (work in progress)
2000 Chevy 155" cargo van - The Abductor
1970 Newport convertible
1996 Buick Roadmaster Wagon
1966 CruiseAire motor home
1990 Toyota 1 ton box truck TURBO slant (scraped)

when my dad passed I ended up with his 83 D-150, slant, a-833, short bed. Dad kept record of every gallon of gas he put in that truck from Sept 14 1983 when he bought it new till around 2002 when he stopped driving.
Over those 19 years of road use there are lots of MPG readings of 16, 17 and 18's a low of 12 and a high of 22.3
My own experience has shown I can touch 20 on the highway, if I stay below 60 MPH. Run at 80, and the milage will drop to the low teens.

Getting the rear end ratio so the chosen cruising speed is in the sweet spot of the slant six will help. No doubt aerodynamics will play a big part in consistently hitting 20 on the highway,,, a ramp or a bubble protrusion on the front of the box above the cab will help. Take some styling clues off the big rigs on the highway, and good luck on your project.

Hey Kip, so whats goin on with the SLAYOTA?? I know by now you've had time to put some miles on it, tune it and get some MPG numbers. Don't leave us hangin on a cool project!!

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To each his own (so what if I wanna build a 450 horse MPFI turbo /6 instead of using a V-8!)

You beat be to the post..........

I was just thinking about this today..

_________________
Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

Well....I've had the usual teething problems that crop up anytime you do something like this. In fact, Saturday morning I'm going to be pulling the engine out again and replacing the clutch. There's some kind of horrible noise coming from the engine, and I've pretty much traced it to the bellhousing. There ain't much in there. Curiously, Napa needed a full 4 days to get a clutch/pressure plate combo in. If it isn't the clutch or flywheel or starter, then we have a bad engine. That's not the end of the world as I have 2 spare slants that could be prepped and installed without too much difficulty. One of them is the turbo slant from the valiant, and I'd really hate to have to pull it. It's got an Edelbrock 4 barrel so it's probably not the best choice for a gas mileage engine, but I'm in the pickle and might put it in. It's piloted for a 3 speed, so I'm guessing the 833 will bolt up to it. Hope so anyway.

Other now solved teething problems included:
Boil over - the Ford Explorer radiator came with an 11lb cap. Who knew?
Heater core - thought it was blown but the hoses were just leaking
Throttle and choke cable: I made a mounting plate for them out of a cash register drawer.
Headlights - my all-thread extensions were wobbling all over the place so I chopped up the Toyota grille and made it work. Now the radiator sticks out, and I'm thinking of covering it with a grille from an 85 Lincoln town car.
Electrical - I have an issue with the electronic speedo that might be related to an issue with the charging system. Also, I haven't had time to hook up the reverse lights or the running lights on the box.
Exhaust - times are tight in Akron, so by finding the right hillbilly I was able to get a complete exhaust made for $140. But it's ugly and it still needs some tweaking.
Flooding - engine wants to flood on a hot restart. I'm guessing float, but I gotta dig into it.
Oil - it's leaking at the rear main seal. This problem might be solved with a new seal, or it might be solved if the engine turns out to be bad.

I'll have an update early next week. The exciting part: I MUST take it on a 2000 mile drive on Thursday. Nothing like a deadline to motivate me. I'll be taking tools with me on my journey, and I'm thinking about taking the cherry picker...you know...just in case.
Kip

_________________
1965 Valiant wagon Turbo slant (work in progress)
2000 Chevy 155" cargo van - The Abductor
1970 Newport convertible
1996 Buick Roadmaster Wagon
1966 CruiseAire motor home
1990 Toyota 1 ton box truck TURBO slant (scraped)

maybe spare engine along with cheery picker

Good luck on the 2000 mile trip and keep us posted Kip!

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To each his own (so what if I wanna build a 450 horse MPFI turbo /6 instead of using a V-8!)

Here's another engine swap:

http://board.marlincrawler.com/index.ph ... ;topicseen

Mercedes turbodiesel into a toyota..........

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

Think I found the problem that was holding me back on the truck. Turns out the pilot bushing was shot, allowing the trans input shaft to wobble, allowing the clutch disc to go nutty.

While doing that, I found out why it was leaking oil. I cocked the rear oil pan gasket when I installed it - half of it was hanging out of the block. Doh!

As of this morning the engine is reassembled and back in, and I'm about halfway through the buttoning up process. Tuesday night I'll finish that, Wednesday I'll shake it down as best I can, and Thursday morning I'll drive 2000 miles in it. If I can't get the speedo problem solved, then I won't be able to calc the mileage very well. Doesn't matter - the EGR isn't hooked up yet. I might be able to get a ballpark by using interstate mile markers. We'll see.

_________________
1965 Valiant wagon Turbo slant (work in progress)
2000 Chevy 155" cargo van - The Abductor
1970 Newport convertible
1996 Buick Roadmaster Wagon
1966 CruiseAire motor home
1990 Toyota 1 ton box truck TURBO slant (scraped)