Hello Guys, I'm new to this board and would like to introduce myself. I live in Northeast Texas and have dabbled with classic Mustangs, Fox Body mustangs, and rat rods. I've recently gotten interested in slant six engines and the bodies around them. I am part of a nostagia drag racing group and want to build a car with a slant six..

The rules state that I can use a four or 6 cyl OHV, or v-8 flathead produced 1962 or earlier. So after discussing the situation with an old circle track driver friend. The choice was obvious, a slant six.

So here's my question, how would you build a 225 or 170 (I'd like your opinions on that also) slant six to push a 1800 lb dragster down the strip? It has to be carburated, no nos or superchargers. Everything else is fair game. Is it worth the trouble to get an aluminum block engine?

Thanks in advance

If I did it right, the link below whould take you to a picture of the car that won the event this year. A CHEVY 6. Thanks for your assistance,

Crap, I can't get the link to work.

The aluminum block(in my personal opinion) isnt worth the extra work. and is very hard to locate a good one to rebuild. I would look for a good 225 block(over the 170) What kind of 1/4 mile speeds and horsepower are you looking for?? are there any other limitations or engine regulations we should know about to consider for this engine build??? We just finished our engine build last week, and it is an all motor(no power adder) street/strip car. We are running a custom ground 570 lift 310 duration cam, 10.5:1 compression(pump gas), offy 4brl, 600 edlebrock carb,headers, and a big valve cylinder head. If rules allowed you could definately run a little bigger cam and more compression and that thing would fly. let us know the ruled and the power your looking for and there are plenty of guys on here that can help you build an awesome slant

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Ryan Covalt
62 Plymouth Valiant Race Car 2170# 11.008 @ 117.65 MPH 1/4 Mile Best
72' Dart Swinger Street Car, 4 spd, 3330# 14.061 @96.58 1/4 mile Best

Thanks, I'll be running a couple of two barrels on a home made intake, probably. Open headers. I can use any cam, lifter, piston, CR I want. I will have to use the early style head with the tubes to look period correct.

As far as speed, I'd like to dip into the low 12s which I don't think will be that much of a challenge for this light car with the slant six.

The car that won the event this year was running a 235 Chevy with two deuces and open exhaust. He claimed that the engine was basically stock with a cam. But, you know how racers are sometimes. He ran a 13.4 with a car that weighs about 1600-1800 lbs. By the way, he was running an aluminum power glide and I plan to use a 904. Thanks. John.

By the way, can anyone recommend a good free photo host service? I have pictures on Yahoo, but when I try to leave a link on this board, it screws up.

Ryan's right...stay away from the aluminum block for a performance engine. It's a free-standing cylinder, open-deck design, and the head gaskets are hard to come by, and worse, Chrysler dropped the project in late '61 due to sealing problems. You would most likely make the sealing problem worse with higher cylinder pressures.

How hard are the tech inspectors going to push the mfgr date cutoff issue? Early slant blocks had only three frost plugs in the side, while later years had five. You are correct about the tube-type heads, as those went away in about the '73-'75 year range.

It probably wouldn't take a huge buildup to get the e/t's you're looking for. An over-bore and deck of both block and head to boost C/R, go to larger valves in the head with a good port/polish job, the open exhaust will really help in that respect, and really work the bugs out of your dual dueces setup. A decent trans rebuild with a shift kit, and a good converter, I would think it would put you right about where you want it.

If you really want to go faster, try the "long-rod" engine that Doug Dutra developed, and wrote an article on. You can find that in the articles section of this BB.

Roger

Thanks for the help. I've found an old dirt track racer here locally who has what he calls the "wide journal block". I'm assuming this was a 225 truck engine. He also has an early head with the tubes. I think it needs rebuilt and I can get the engine, head, and matching 904 in need of rebuild for about $300. I'll let you know if I end up getting the engine and will come back for for advice. Maybe I can get pictures to link by then.

Actually this is the steel crankshaft engine. All the motors prior to '75 had the wide journals, and yes, they are considered better for racing.

Fact is, even the cheaper 'cast crank' motors are rock solid for standard street use, and will endure a mild build up if put together with good parts.

Sounds like you are on the right track and good luck with your project.

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1980 Aspen 225 super six

In choice of head read this:
http://www.slantsix.org/articles/combus ... hamber.htm

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Lasse

Signet -66 225
Holley 600 Offy-5270 Dutra Dual,regrind. cam 272 0,420 110, head shaved 0.100 slight.ported
MSD6A
A904
7 1/4 3.23