I have a 70 dart slant six with factory A/C . I changed the K-member to the spool type motor mounts when I added disk brakes. I cant seem to be able to remove the valve cover because the A/C heater hoses are in the way. I don't want to open the A/C system if there is a trick I can use. It looks like if I remove the motor mount bolts and drop the motor down i will have to remove the fan shroud. If I try to drop the trany mount then I have to remove all the shift linkage. Any Help would be Appreciated.

Bill S
Convx4@yahoo.com

You should not have to mess with motor mounts or anything else to remove the rocker cover, despite the presence of the A/C line. There's usually enough flex/give in the A/C line to allow the removal of the cover. Is it possible that the heater hoses are misrouted, so they're too tight on the cover to allow it to be removed? Given the placement of the compressor and firewall connections for the A/C suction line on a '70, I can't picture how the A/C line could possibly dip low enough to be making the problem you describe.

Pictures...?

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

Ditto on what dan said. I have worked on a 76 Volare slant six with A/C and a 74 Valiant slant with A/C and both of them had enough give in the A/C hoses to allow the removal of the valve cover. Its a tight fit but can be done.

If it really is the A/C hoses that are in the way, the best bet is to remove the A/C compressor from the engine, leaving it attached to the hoses, and pick it up enough to move the hoses out of the way. I have to do that all the time at work when wrenching on other people's modern trash.

Can't remember ever having to do that on a slant, but mabey the hoses have been replaced at one time with hoses for the wrong application, or hoses made up locally, or... who knows.

If you're removing the valve cover for a valve adjustment and need to run the engine that way, you may have to reattach the compressor by one or two bolts so it will stay out of the way while running the engine, but it shouldn't be to hard to figure something out.

Good luck.

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Brian (Valianator)

'65 Valiant V100 170/T-flite
'82 D150 225/4-speed
'65 Dart 225 4 door
'68 Dart 225 4-door with Valiant front clip (future project)

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/convx4/de ... pg&.src=ph

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/convx4/de ... pg&.src=ph

I did it, that is I got some links to some pictures that show how tight of a fit it is.

the tight fit is at the fire wall. I can get the valve cover past the heater hoses on the front of the engine. Butt there is not enough room on the rear to lift over the rockers at this point it hits the A/C at the fire wall.

I have 550 miles on the motor and (the whole car) would like to adjust the valves. I adjusted them cold before first start up. I think that it could idle smoother when stoped in drive.
Bill S

I still don't see the problem. There's gobs of room under the A/C hose! You won't be able to lift the cover straight off, but you'll be able to remove the bolts, rotate the cover "counterclockwise" (as you're standing at the front of the engine bay) down towards the spark plugs, and lift it out from there. Same as has to be done on a '60-'62 A-body with 225 engine to clear the heater housing. If anything, next time you make up new heater hoses, make 'em a little longer.

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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 you have got plenty of room in there. My Duster is just like that and it has an aftermarket valve cover that is taller than the factory cover and I still have plenty of room. It took a pretty good bit of wiggling to get the cover off and a good bit of profanity but I managed to get it off.

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82 D150-225/727
02 Dakota-3.9/5 speed
87 GMC C7000-8.2 Detroit Diesel/5+2

Well I will give it a try.
My last 70 /6 dart didn't have A/C, I think I am used to working on it.
Thanks for the input.

Update
Well I got the valve cover off
First I lifted off the front of the cover so that I could push the heater hoses under the cover. Then (looking from the front of the motor)I was able to move the cover to the left over the ALT.. This then allowed me to slide the cover forward under the A/C lines.


Bill S