Hello Guys, I have recently purchased the above and am planning on an engine rebuild, I have a few questions that I am hoping can be answered.

I would like to know if this engine basically remained un-changed throughout its history, in other words can I swap parts such as heads, intake manifold/exhaust ect from any slant six to another.

Conforming to emissions is not something I am concerned with, most of that stuff was removed from the truck prior to my purchase and we have no emissions check where I live.

I ask this because my engine is a 1986, I am under the assumption ( guessing ) that by this time the engine was made to conform to emission regulations and was heavily bogged down by performance hindering crap.

If parts are interchangeable throughout the years would there be any benefit to using an earlier head on my block or swapping an earlier intake/exhaust manifold ect ect ect.

My goal is to drive the truck daily, I have no intention of racing it or looking for any performance modifications that will worsen gas mileage, I would only like to help it do its job easier and more efficiently if that is possible.

If there were a re-build kit with some sort of RV cam than I would not be apposed to that but so far I have not found that kit and again if that will strongly affect gas mileage for the overall life of the engine than I would even stay away from that.

I do know where there are several early ( sixties ) slant six engine so I would like to take advantage of anything I can now, the engine will be going to the machinest this week possibly.

My project can be seen here http://ramchargercentral.com/vehicle-help/1986-dodge/ if anyone is interested in these trucks.

If this particular 1986 casting is junk please let me know, I am not apposed to having one of these mid sixties slant six engines that I know of rebuilt instead if that were the case, I would prefer to use the original engine but again I am after longevity as a priority.

Thank-you for any help/replies. I just love the slant six and am excited to have found this truck with the right combination of drivetrain I was looking for.

Welcome to the site. Sounds like a fun project. There is nothing wrong with the 1986 engine for your purposes, on any front. The head will flow a bit better than the 60s heads, as is. The crank is cast, but is plenty strong for just about anything. The first Slant 6 to run 10 sec in the 1/4 mile in a full bodied car used an 80s cast crank engine (block, crank, head). Any intake or exhaust manifold/header will fit any Slant 6 engine.

There are few "off the shelf" cams available at this time. I have been getting mine custom reground by Oregon Cams for $70+core and they work well. You might search "RV15" and "RV10" on this site to see what others are doing with mild upgrade cams.

I just built a 1985 engine for my 64 Dart and it is making good power and economy. It has a highly ported head, big cam, 10.6:1 comp, headers, EFI, etc, and makes more power than the 1960s engine I had previously.

The only emissions stuff on your engine would have been an air pump and catalytic converter, and removing those will take away all restrictions. The carb could also be an issue, but I assume you'll want to go to a 2bbl or other aftermarket carb for this project anyway.

Feel free to ask questions as you proceed, and do some searching/reading on this site.

Happy building,

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

the last runs of the slant six's are fine

you will have a cast crank that is lighter than the early forged cranks. Some folks like that. Blocks and heads from the 80's will likely have more uniform walls ( less core shift issues) and would have been cast with much better metalurgical controls than blocks and heads cast in the 60's and 70's.

DadTruck is right. One caveat is that I believe the later 80s blocks have thinner walls so you should only bore up to about 0.060" over. The 76-down forged crank motors can often be bored 0.140" or more, and 0.100" over is fine. The upside is the block weighs 20-30 lbs less than an early block (I have measured 25lbs).

This is only an issue if you want a big overbore.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

It may well be a "Lean Burn" engine. Lean Burn engines have an ignition system that employs computer-controlled spark advance and as such, use a distributor that is different from a conventional one. They often have no centrifugal spark advance mechanism, and some have no vacuum diaphragm. Some have dual pickups in them that facilitate different advance specs. Engines so equipped are usually identified as "Lean Burn" engines by a callout decal on the air cleaner.

Some owners choose to keep the circuitry intact and seem to think that the system works very well for fuel economy, and is reliable as installed.

Others opt to remove all vestiges of that complex, computer-controlled system, replacing all "Lean Burn" ignition components with conventional items, such as the distributor, wiring harness, by-passing the computer, etc., in the interest of simplicity and perceived reliability.

Then again, it may not have that system at all, but my friend's '86 slant six-powered half-ton has it and is as delivered from the factory, so I know that at least, some of the '86's were so equipped. His Lean Burn system works flawlessly, by-the-way.

Worth looking into, either way.

Good luck!

Bill, in Conway, Arkansas

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1964 Valiant 4-door sedan, 225 turbo/904

Thank-you all for the great replies, I did not expect so many so quickly. Very big help for me, I am sure I will have many more questions, the engine is being dropped off tomorrow to be gone thru, I would like to assemble it myself, I have some experience and am confident that I could do it, I would like to save the 500 dollar assembly cost as well but I am also into a pretty big project here so for the sake of simplicity I may just go ahead and have the work done complete.

The best thing you can do is to purchase a factory service manual for your truck. It will answer most of your questions.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

Yes you are right, that extra hundred bucks for E-bay manual is hard to come by right now

How about $40? CLICK HERE

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

Thanks for the link, that re-print is more reasonable

This is a link to one of the articles.

It lists the different iterations of the slant six block, heads and cranks.

One thing to keep in mind, the '86, unless it has been modified, has a hydraulic valve train. Parts don't interchange in that regard. To convert to a mechanical valve train requires appropriate lifters, push-rods, rockers, shaft and fasteners. The hydraulic slant six pumps the lifters down through the push-rods. Mechanical parts can't be used with hydraulic, and vice-versa.

Determine the way you want to go, then build appropriately. For the build you are describing, there would be no need to swap to a mechanical valve train.

CJ

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Part of Tyrde-Browne Racing

Thanks, interesting and thorough...............One thing I did forget to ask, previous owner did not care for the truck, by all signs abused truck, he had been driving it around missing these two shields, http://ramchargercentral.com/vehicle-he ... 4014;image clutch wide open

It is a Dodge NP 435 4 speed trans

I am not having a whole lot of luck finding them, can anyone here help with these. I will put an add in the buy/sell area as well. Thanks

I know this picture is blurry but at this point this is what I have http://ramchargercentral.com/index.php? ... 4012;image[/img]

Machinest is telling me hardened valve seats were not originally installed in this engine, is this correct? I thought by this time ( 1986 ) that they were.

Find a new machinist. Mopar standardized hardened valve seats in 72 on the slant six cylinder heads.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.