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mid 1980's truck motor...how hard to convert for a 1968 Dart
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Author:  USAJon [ Tue Nov 19, 2013 10:29 am ]
Post subject:  mid 1980's truck motor...how hard to convert for a 1968 Dart
so we have a mid 1980's 225 truck engine. I am thinking of a winter build. I can see the oil pan is different..
can I use a 1968 pan?
do I have to change the oil pickup?
any other issues with the swap...
Author:  Reed [ Tue Nov 19, 2013 10:41 am ]
Post subject:  Re: mid 1980's truck motor...how hard to convert for a 1968
Quote:
so we have a mid 1980's 225 truck engine. I am thinking of a winter build. I can see the oil pan is different..
can I use a 1968 pan?
do I have to change the oil pickup?
Change pan, pickup, and motor mounts to the 68. I assume you will be switching to a mechanical cam as well, so don't forget to change the rocker arms and shaft. In fact, you will likely want to use the 68 head since the 80s slant will have air injection ports behind the exhaust valves and will weigh more.
Author:  Ssg Pohlman [ Tue Nov 19, 2013 2:01 pm ]
Post subject: 
And before it's asked, I just swapped engines. It's an 82' (hydro) w a 79-81 head running all mech lifters etc. so it does work....or at least in my case 500+ miles :shock:
Author:  Reed [ Tue Nov 19, 2013 2:12 pm ]
Post subject: 
Quote:
And before it's asked, I just swapped engines. It's an 82' (hydro) w a 79-81 head running all mech lifters etc. so it does work
Yes, yes it does work.

http://www.slantsix.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=46756
Author:  Sam Powell [ Thu Nov 21, 2013 4:51 am ]
Post subject: 
Are there issues with the hydraulic lifter engines? I did a search on this and found about 1000 threads with hydraulic lifter in them. I am considering looking for a late truck slant and building that as a stock DD, LONG TERM PROJECT . I am hoping a few enthusiastic slanters will want to chime in here.

Sam
Author:  Reed [ Thu Nov 21, 2013 7:14 am ]
Post subject: 
Sam-

No, there are no known issues with the hydraulic lifter engines. There are slight differences, but nothing that makes them a bad choice. The crank is lighter, the head is a bit heavier, the block is lighter, and you don't have to adjust the valves. You can install a custom ground camshaft provided the profile of the camshaft won't make the lifter operate outside of the plunger travel. However, the plunger travel gives you lots of room to work with before the cam profile becomes too large for the lifter to work with.

The two main reasons I see repeated by people who don't like the hydraulic slant are the cast crankshaft and the extra effort needed to get the valve stem heights all identical.

I converted my brother's slant powered daily driver van from a mechanical camshaft to a hydraulic camshaft and he has been very happy with it. I used junkyard/used valve train components and everything dropped in place of the old mechanical parts with no difficulties. The van has a 76 block and a 72 head, both rebuilt in the past.

I will be building a hydraulic lifter slant for his Duster project and I have no reservations about building a hydraulic cam motor, especially for a daily driver. Dadtruck even has a very detailed thread about his research and ultimate selection of a custom ground hydraulic cam for torque and economy in a daily driver truck.

See:

HERE, HERE, and HERE for starters.
Author:  Sam Powell [ Thu Nov 21, 2013 9:49 am ]
Post subject: 
Thanks Reed. To further complicate thongs, how about using an aluminum block? Is that insane?

If I am reading this right I can make my current engine hydraulic with a valve train and cam change. An option for future fun and games would be to leave the block in place but tear it down and balance the rotating assembly with new cast pistons.
Sam
Author:  Reed [ Thu Nov 21, 2013 10:46 am ]
Post subject: 
Quote:
Thanks Reed. To further complicate thongs, how about using an aluminum block? Is that insane?

If I am reading this right I can make my current engine hydraulic with a valve train and cam change. An option for future fun and games would be to leave the block in place but tear it down and balance the rotating assembly with new cast pistons.
Sam
I see no reason why an aluminium block could not be converted to hydraulic lifters. Doc even mentions in one of his posts that some of the aluminium blocks had bosses for extra oil galleries to be drilled to feed side-fed hydraulic lifters. As it is, I don't see why you couldn't retrofit post-81 hydraulic components to a 60-61 aluminium block.

To convert a mechanical lifter slant to hydraulic lifters, you must do the following:

(1) swap the cam to a hydraulic lobe cam with the groove on the rearmost cam bearing journal. The mechanical lifter cams only had a hole that provided for periodic oil flow to the rockers. The hydraulic cam has a groove in the full circumference of the rear bearing journal to permit full-time oil to the rockers.

(2) swap the lifters to hydraulic lifters

(3) swap the pushrods to the hollow hydraulic pushrods

(4) swap the rocker arm shaft and rocker arms to the hydraulic ones. Be aware that you may or may not need to drill out the rearmost rocker arm hold down bolt hole. If your cylinder head already has a stepped rear bolt, then you are fine. If you have an older cylinder head that has a non-stepped rear bolt then you need to drill out the lower hole in the rearmost rocker shaft holddown bolt hole on the hydraulic rocker arm shaft.

I discuss these pints and have pictures HERE.

My personal goal is to build a modern slant six with a hydraulic cam and Ford MAF based MPFI. It may even be possible to go to a distributorless ignition system with the Ford MPFI system I want to switch to, but that might overcomplicate things.
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