Tired of the ticking, i got to get in there every month and readjust the rockers .010/.020. Cant we put hydraulic lifters in these motors?

All the slants after 81 were hydralic, stock from the factory.

There were also 20,000 of them equipped with hydraulic lifters in 1978 as a test run!

A 246 cubic inch version of the slant six almost made production status for 1968. One issue that killed it was an extra drill station to handle the oil feed for the hydraulic lifters that were also thought to be needed to justify the significant revision.

Then, a few years later an engineer had a brainstorm and invisons feeding oil for the hyd via hollow pushrods. The idea worked better than the pundits expected. Too bad those guys couldn't have thought of that for '68 instead of '81 because it might have made the difference to get the costs low enough to justify the 246 motor.

I read somewhere that the newer slants with lifters weren't as desirable as the older mechanical ones. Of course I forget why.

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I've been calling it as i see it for my entire life and that's not about to change. Take it or leave it.

Cast cranks instead of forged ones whats the hassle of adjusting valve clearences. Maybe you have not hugged your Slant enuff. Thanks Possum Parker.

One of the main reasons (at least from my experience) is cam selection. Not much out there for those of us w/ hydro slants. I suppose floating the valves could be a consideration for the serious drag racers here. I have only had my slant up to about 4600 rpm (cam falls flat on its face at about 4200) and could not detect any valve floating probs.

Another major reason is the fact that hydro-slants are cast crank, cast piston. The rod and crank journal bearings are also narrower. Basically the Hydro-slants just are not as strong as their older, forged crank, solid cam counter parts.

-S/6

That's it, you nailed it you big happy guy you. Thanks!

Yeah, hydraulic lifters are only good for eliminating lash adjustments. the regular lifters are far better and I wouldn't have it any other way. Even converting an older engine to hydraulic would be a nightmare due to the oil gallery needs. It's fun to get in there once in awhile and do it. You could look up hood insulation on EBay, there's a spammer on there who sells patterned stampings for any car for about $50 US, he also does trunk liners and such

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I've been calling it as i see it for my entire life and that's not about to change. Take it or leave it.

Actually, there is no difference in the oil galleys between a hyd and a solid cam motor. The lifters are oiled from the rocker arms down the pushrods. All you would need would be the appropriate hyd cam, lifters, rocker arm shaft, rockers and pushrods. Is it worth the expense? Thats a matter of personal opinion. If all the valvetrain was worn out anyway....then why not go for it. If its not, then for me I would say no. Easier to do the maintenance and adjust the valves.

But then again, my 83 is hydraulic so no need to on my own truck.....

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"That thing gotta HEMI in it??"

Really? Would the lifter bores need to be any bigger/smaller? I thought the heads were different on the late design too. Hmm... something to consider then, I guess!

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I've been calling it as i see it for my entire life and that's not about to change. Take it or leave it.

I believe the lifter bores are the same size, and yes the later engines did get a different head. But, if you can swap adjustable rockers and all the solid lifter stuff to the later blocks/heads why can't you go the opposite way? Food for thought....

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"That thing gotta HEMI in it??"

Another great idea is to get the roller rocker arm package from Cox Bros. Fabrication. they have locks on the adjuster, ran them a year down the track never had to adjust them and only checked them twice.










Drake N. Male duck scared of Possum and allergic to Bagels

Yes, you can install the 1981-up hydraulic lifter setup in the older engines without any problems. I will have to dig up the service bulletin I have about that.

I believe the main change in the head is that it was redesigned to allow the lifters to be removed from the engine without having to remove the cylinder head as was required with the 1975-80 heads. Then perhaps some valve cover and gasket changes to help prevent valve cover oil leaks from the extra oil up there. Chrysler did install hydraulic lifters in about 20,000 slant 6 engine back in 1978. I have the service bulletin about that. I will have to dig it up and scan it for you guys. From that, I'm sure you can use the hydraulic lifter stuff on any slant 6 with any head.

If I remember correctly, when converting from solid lifters to hydraulic lifters, the rear cam bearing is different. It is grooved to allow more oil up to the rocker shaft. I think, it is possible to groove the rear cam journal, instead of changing the bearing, since you will be installing a hydraulic cam any way.
Doc, can you weigh in here? I don't have first hand experiance on this. Just posting what I have read, and might be wrong.

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Charrlie_S
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