I use your channel as a resource for fixing up an old Polara. Keep making these Mopar history style videos and I'll stay tuned in while I'm folding laundry.
Great slant 6 history! I had a 1969 valiant 2 door back in the late 80's with a slant 6, it was my every day driver then, I Nicknamed it the "Pro Granny" it would do unlimited burnouts and got good gas mileage! I actually traded it for a 72 Cuda in 1991! And I actually missed it! Still do!😊👍
My first car was a 1972 Duster with a slant 6 with a 3 speed manual. When Dad ordered the the car he tried to get a 4 speed but they would absolutely not put it in there. The only way to get a 4 speed was to get the 340 engine, but dad was looking to get the Duster with a slant six due to the gas crises going on at the time. .....I wish he would have gone with the 340! LOL. Take care Mr. Tim. 😎
We had some in aircraft tugs back in the late 80's and 90's. With a HD 727 and a Dana 60 with a rear axle ratio in the 7's, they really hauled butt, up to 35 MPH at least. Can't recall any mechanical issues with them.
They as used them in fork lifts and probably other odd applications to run generators or large water pumps ect. I like them and like doing at home mods to improve on their oil system flaws to help keep them performing . like restricting some of the oil flow to the head so more oil goes to the main bearings and making a windage tray for them. factory exhaust pipe and exhaust pipe flange is very restrictive . the port on the manifold is 2 " . I did a video on the exhaust mods
The slant 6 was originally casted to be an all-aluminum engine. They casted it extra thick thinking the aluminum wouldn't hold up. During testing they encountered an issue with the engine running too cool thus resulting in the atomized fuel recondensing causing the engines to run very poorly. During this time, they also experimented with multiport fuel injection on the slant 6. There were also aluminum head variations. To correct the issue, they recasted the engine in cast iron utilizing the same molds, thus creating a very heavy yet durable engine. The only advancements the slant 6 really inherited were hydraulic lifters, and electronic ignition, besides the increases in cubic inches they received early on. Holley now makes throttle body 1-barrel and 2-barrel units that can be retrofitted fairly easily to the slant 6 these days, of course you can also opt for a 4-barrel intake as well. The slant 6 was truly a marvel that should have received much more attention than it did. Chrysler, however noted that the cost during the time to bring the engine up to speed was unachievable to be recouped. Great video, thanks for sharing.
The casting dimension̈s of the the alloy block are very different than the cast iron block. For whatever reason, Chrysker never created a thin-wall cast iron block. The critical milled surfaces of the alloy block is the same - could use the same production tooling - but at faster speed for the aluminum block.
Thanks brother for that theres still heaps 225 hers in new Zealand they were great in stock cars because of the direction the race went oiling was Enhanced so they could be thrashed that much more still plenty of valiants around with them still going my very first I ever owned was a 1965 ap5 Val with the 225 slant
I love the slant 6. Ive got close to a dozen in the Pentastar fleet and 7 more in the engine shed for future projects. I pulled a marine slanty from a fiberglass boat a few years back. I think an early Barracuda powered with a boat engine would be whimsical.
I had to tear 2 of them down and build them back together in trade school, I never personally own a slant 6 but everyone and their grandma has heard of the slant 6, I can see why your a dodge guy now from your dad, I sure would like to get my hands on that sortie van of yours Tim
Thanks! A good post and I want to address your points! Yes, everyone and their grandma has heard of the slant, proving it's an American Icon in the engine history. Also, my dad was actually a big Ford fan from the 50's. However, though he owned many brands, had some partiality to the Mopars once in the mid 60's and going forward. Last, the shorty van is my wife's favorite, so I can't imagine that going anywhere.... however... the van of war may hit classifieds....
The engine also moved the water pump over and back to make it shorter. The intake had three different lengths of runners witch help make the power curve move flat. It made all its touqe under 2800 RPms.
The slant six is a exalent performer. You would need to compare the 225 to the 240 Ford truck engine or the 250 that Ford used cars. The 250 Chevrolet is a fair comparison to the 225 not the 292 truck engine. The AMC 232 & 258 are exhalent engines and worked well in cars and trucks.
Ive owned and built many slant sixes. Exhaust was the real killer for these motors. getting rid of the factory exhaust and replacing with headers even on a single exhaust really brought out some power. Split headers or split manifolds were better. There is a ton of room for upgrades. Small block chevy valves are easy and .060 overbore were my go to options. A lot of folks went with 4bbls but I ran a holly 500 cfm 2 bbl. It has a lot of room for a cam improvement I had several custom grind cams and a few direct connection cams. I really liked a custom grind I had made that I copied from a 426 hemi cam. A really fun motor to play with in the 80s and 90s when you could still find them cheap in junk yards and cams could be found.
my first car was a 1980 Cordoba with the slant six, super dependable, straight six with 3 speed in a full size car and i was able to get 21mpg on trips, it was great!
The slant 6 was great in an A body. Reliable as a rock, and economical. The cost of ownership was about as cheap as you could get, and the A bodies weren't as cramped and small as other compacts. They were about the best bang for the buck for anyone who just wanted low priced, reliable transportation and enough room to be fairly comfortable.
Good stuff, I keep getting deleted. Apparently RU-vid thinks I am saying something bad when commenting on these 225/6. Lol! Anyway iconic for me are Chrysler Flathead Sixes and LA block V8’s. So many applications and long long production runs. Flathead Chrysler 6 is a better engineered engine than a Flathead Ford.Can be massaged a bit to run pretty good , easier to work on too.
Did you mean the flat head v8 ford?.... The slant six was a great engine one engine that has gone 1 million miles...its durability is legendary.... I had a super six in my 72 dart no original to the car it ran great but Since I have multiple v8s around tried to sell it no one wanted it engine and transmission $200 with all super six goodies. This is before all the craze about slant's came ended up scrapping the engine....the 225 can be compared to the ford 250 six....and even to the ford 300 six with more cubes both engines were dependability legends.
Yeah flat heads were everywhere as in 4cyl and 6s and even 8s!.... Overhead valves killed the flat head knocked the king from his hill... Even a lowly slant six is a better engine...as early flat heads had splash lubrication like a lawn mower engine they even had access through the oil pan to clean out the sludge...makes the slant six look ultra modern 😂😂😂
Great video! I agree but I have to say as an automotive tech that the modern version of the reliability of the slant has to be the gen 3 gen4 5.3. I am consistently seeing the 99-06 models coming in with 300 to 500 thousand miles on the original engine. But no doubt the slant six powered America's fleet and taxis and has a solid place for one of the best engines in history for reliability and decent for the time fuel economy.
My dad talked about stupid stuff "car guys" would say when he was a mechanic in the 50s and 60s. You know how guys always have an opinion on new things, maybe zero knowledge, but they have an opinion. When the Slant came out, the "experts" said it'd eat piston rings because the cylinders were at an angle. 😂
The slant 6 was also known for being bullet proof I remember bak in the 80s when slick 50 came out they used a slant 6 and pulled the oil pan off and sprayed water on the crank and rods while it was running it wasn't the slick 50 keeping the motor alive they were just that tough.
Willem Weertman was the fella that designed the Leaning-Tower-of-Power Slant\6 AND the Elephant 426 HEMI = that's why they're famous in two different portions of American history!
There is dodge here in my neck of woods here in Georgia. for sale. 87 d150 slant 6. Runs good he says. All paperwork. Original owner. No rust. Or savage. He says. For 3500. Should I get it.
No doubt no one ever puts the word power with the slant and means it but reliable is it’s strong hold. Really I think all the manufacturers that made inline sixes were reliable because of the simplicity of the engines the 300 ford were strong pulling engines
It’s a shame that Chrysler went with such a small 3.4 inch bore to keep block length down. Just an extra inch longer block could have given a 3.6 inch bore with room for bigger valves and slightly wider ports, for possibly 20 extra HP.
A different slant casting could have been 3.7-inch or so. The Ford Coyote v8 has the same bore center spacing. A 2JZ has slightly small bore than slant six. The 4.2 jaguar has same bore center spacing as slant six with 3.63-inch bore - from back in 1964. Mopar just wanted a low stressed workhorse with an affordable v8 upgrade. I'd have liked a stroked modified "170" block with 3.60-in bore/3.2-inch stroke and raised intake port head with v8 bell housing pattern cocked more upright for Dakota. I think a V8 transmission could have been cocked with v8 BH - the trans pan might need to be deep on one side. A 3.2 liter slant (3.6-in bore x 3 2-in stroke) with improved head might have only produced 120 hp but replaced the optional 4 cyl. Dodge wasn't selling a lot of trucks and everything else was FWD, so investing is a motor with worn out tooling wasn't smart. A base 3.2 liter six in Dakota would be good today for me. If they had done this in the 2.2 design era - the na 2 2 never was tuned for beyond what a good pushrod motor could produce - but they didn't know that in the late '70s. An OHV 2.2 couid have shared tooling with an inline "slant" six . A raised intake port slant with "cathedral" intake ports might flow 15 percent better than the stock inline 12-port slant 6 head - not a 2JZ - but recall a 2JZ isn't spectacular without a turbo. The raised ports have a larger water box for improved exhaust valve cooling to tolerate 9:1 CR ( much of the power increase over the 170). Maybe the new head could have been also used on the ancient 225 block.
@@timothykeith1367 That would have been awesome overkill… Aussie Chrysler Hemi 6 owners might have been jealous. I had at least five Slant 6’s and enjoyed the short stroke 170’s more (till I bought a Toyota 5M and discovered what could be done with a 170). The long-stroke 225 was better suited to postal trucks (had one). Offering the 225 in Barracudas was not a great idea (trust me). My “if-only” pushrod Slant 6 would have been a “square”bore & stroke 3.6 inch 3.6 litre with higher RPM & power than the 225 (3.7 litre)
