I'm of the same mindset. The 300 Ford is the absolute king of 6's, followed by the 250-292 Chevy. Until recently, 6 cyl. powered stock cars and Modifieds were a traditon here on the circle tracks. Both engines can make big power numbers reliably and much less expensively than a Slant if that's what you want. OTOH, the Slant 6 is a good reliable mill, and a mild build would propel a track T or any light car down the road in fine style. Jan
clifford research makes (or made) a new version of the hyperpack intake for the slant. I won one for a buck in a raffle at the mopar show, sold it for 250.00. too radical for my old 61 dodge. speaking of broken cranks, the crank in my 61 broke also. didn't wreck anything but the crank. this was not a race motor just an old stocker with a 3 speed got a 390 holley and an offenhauser intake I'm planning on installing some day
I have heard good things of the 300 ford but a ford is not in the cards for this build. It either needs mopar stuff or chevy stuff. I want reliable with decent mpg and the six cyl sound. the whole reason behind this is just to get that sound from the pipes other wise i would just put a sbc in it cause i love them and they love me.
The AMC 6's or the newer 4.0 Jeep motors are worth a little closer look. They're easy to find, reliable, good torque and you've got the Jeep community to pull info from. Granted most of these are built for torque but if you're building a street car, torque is nice. The 199, 232, and 258 are all the same except for stoke. Forged cranks and earlier versions had forged rods as well. Rumor has it that some of the early 199's had very high quality steel cranks too. Barney Navarro used a 199 in his Indy car with twin turbo set-up and a stock crank. You can also put a 258 crank in a 4.0 and with a .060 overbore will yield around 296 cid. The 258 crank will need about 1/4 taken off its snout to get the pulleys to line up. You get more displacement and the 4.0 head is a better flow than the 258, but the 258 head can be cleaned up with decent results. These motors also can use the 904 or 727 trans (but they have the AMC bolt pattern) if you're automatically inclined.
there's a good reason why a lot of smaller junkyards have slant 6's in their 'yard trucks, they're damned near indestructible and don't **** a lot of gas...they may look funny, but the damned things work like nothing else...
My first car had a slant six. used to smoke those 5.0 Mustangs back in 1986. Had a 4bbl and 125 shot NOS, DC purple shaft cam. lots of fun!
I've had very good luck with the slant 6, here's one I recently got, so far it's an interesting story.... http://www.slantsix.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=22499&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0 Dave
go with the slant 6, it would be alot cooler then everyone elses 216/ 235's. hell, the junk yard may even give you one when you tell them what it's for. parts are not to bad for them cost wise, a little more than a chevy. at least you did not go for a ford!
the 250 is my pick, i agree the slant 6's are hard to kill but the dizzy location ****s! my choice would be a 4.0 jeep 6 because my daily driver is a 98' grand cherokee with 4.0/aod/373's all stock and pulls down a honest 21mpg and is very smooth riding. but on the flipside run the one you want.
I'm a chevy guy, but I'm a six banger fan first. I've never had one, but almost bought one to replace the 360 in my 50 plymouth untill i considered the clearance problem with my heater as well. I would just stick the six in that matches the make. and don't under estimate the 300 inline ford, i've had a few of them . I don't like em as much as my 216's or my 250's but that's just cause I'm a chevy guy too.
Dont know about the "cant kill them", Ive killed 2 -225's and 2- 170's in my Anglia. I think with a torqeflight they would be fine. Again on the street Id agree with it manual or automatic. No subs***ute for cubic inches though. A decent 292 turbo350 or 300 with a C4 would be a nice street combo too. Your money, your choice
I agree on the 4.0 over the slant six, if you are looking for power. Not as indestructible, and they don't tolerate overheating well (head gasket pops). Unfortunately, the 4.0 is ugly as sin, even if it isn't shaped quite as unflatteringly as the slanty. Multi carbs or port injection - centralized fuel ditribution on a stock intake for that engine family never worked well, even when they were new. I personally like the 250L6 - my first car (er, truck) had one - never did kill it, though I tried in earnest for many years. Beats the heck out of the slanty any day, except in the mileage department, IMO.
It matters what you want to use it for. For a daily driver that will get good gas milage and go forever, get the leaning tower of power. If you want to go fast, get te 170ci version and rev it. If you want to have a nice driver, get the 225. Later slants have hydralic cams and a different head but its all interchangable. A super six intake will give you a couple MPG more and about 10 hp. If you want to go fast, a 258ci jeep engine with a 4.0L head, a cherokee split manifold, and a clifford intake will howl. They are kinda fragile when you lean on them though and will take out head gaskets. I had 406,000 do***ented miles on my 73' Scamp's slant 6 when I sold it. It wasn't fast - 17.8 at78mph on the strip, but it got 28mpg. I killed the rear axle drag racing it. I got 42 p***es in that day and the rear end didn't like it.
So what kinda mpg can i expect out of a chevy six. I found a couple 258 jeep sixes on graigs list for cheep but then i dont know about transmissions. i would run a 3 on the tree depending on what rear end i find. but i would really like a 5 speed or a overdrive auto. I want to daily drive this car and i want it to be reliable and get at least 18mpg. i dont really care how fast it is but as long as i can pull out into traffic. its going in a 3200lbs car.
Not for nuth'in but what kind of car could use a Slant 6 Mopar OR a Chevy 6 but definately NOT a Ford 300 6 ? There's that unwritten law again "anything but Ford power for hot rodding". The inconveniant thing about that law is the Ford simply has the others covered in virtually every way. They are good and reliable, they have MORE potential for a variety of reasons, they are easy to find and get. They are fairly cheap. (4" bore 4" stroke, 12 ports, great ignition, factory split ext manifolds on late EFI units) You gotta spend alot of money on the others just to match what the Ford comes with stock. Lastly they can be spiffed up real nice too. What's not to like?
Hey DirtyT, I have one in my 41 Sedan. It weighs close to 3600lbs. I have no problem in traffic. Gets me about 22mpg on the highway at about 70mph. cruises no problems, I p*** my buddies with the big blocks and hemis, at the gas pumps. Yes the fire wall was notched out for the lenght. I have the super 2, out of a pickup. The pickup has a rear oil sump that was a must for the steering, mine is stock.
I love I6 engines.. The Ford 300 has to be my favorite but you said you want a Mopar. One of my customers has a 1969 Barracuda with the slant six and a 904 trans. The car is completely reliable, drives like a dream and is good on gas even with the super six setup on it. Go with the slant over the chevy if you can find it. My personal experience with the Jeep 4.0 was very bad. I had a Comanche Eliminator. Very fast truck, fastest compact pickup on the market until the Syclone came out. The 4.0 engine is fine, just don't try to re-use any of the systems that run it. Go back to a carb and a distributor for the sake of your sanity. Also, you can build the Jeep motor to 4.51 litres by using the 4.2 crank and rods with custom pistons. Check here for info: http://www.bc4x4.com/tech/bryce/stroker/stroker.cfm Shawn
OK, ok, you guys convinced me,,, For ease of install, cheap and locally avialble in large numbers, biggest CID, Powerfull, Aod or 5 speed, Factory tube header,, The Ford 300 six WINS hands down for installing a Inline 6 in a Old car that originally had a 6, but never had a V8 from the factory, such as Early dodges and chevys. a 1949 to 54 chevy with a ford 300 six would work very good. Much better than a Chevy 235 or a chevy 250 six. Number 2 candidate is the 4.0 mopar Jeep six. Number 3 candidate is the 250 -292 chevy six.
I say go for the slanty. I done a couple 235's but never done a slant. Besides, I have one that needs rebuilding and this would be a good guide for me. GO FOR THE SLANTY-DIRTY!
I'm shooting for a Ford 300 for my Hudson and have talked with a fair number of old Hudson guys who run em and love them. One old guy was running Chrysler pistons, a 3/4 race cam, skimmed head, 4.11 rear and an AOD in his Hudson with the 300 and said it hauled *** off the line, would cruise all day at 80-90 and was not to bad on mileage. Glad your going inline no matter what brand you choose.... Oh and the Chevy 292 can really howl too, just check out what Leo Santucci does with them!
Thought this might be a good thing for you. http://www.moparchat.com/forums/archive/index.php?f-58.html
In Aussie they produced a 240 cube sloper , in Dodge pickupsmy choice would be None of the above. If it were me I would look in Australia and find a 265 cube Hemi 6. Output depends like everything else on how much you want to spend .A stock two barrel is over two hundred horsepower ,but the hottest factory RT Charger E49 with Bathurst cam put out 325 HP, and they can put out way more . http://www.automotiveforums.com/t128503-valiants.html http://users.bigpond.net.au/pacer265/images/bitmaps/6packhdrs.jpg http://users.bigpond.net.au/pacer265/images/bitmaps/DSC02345.JPG Listen here http://users.bigpond.net.au/pacer265/index.html
is anybody using this engine in their ride? Inside Chevrolet’s Vortec 4200 Inline-Six Cylinder By Bob Mehlhoff photographer: Courtesy of Chevrolet More than 1 hp per cubic inch. Mention that phrase to Chevrolet enthusiasts and you’ll probably hear about early Z/28 engines, fuel-injected 327s, and a few big-blocks. But Chevrolet has a completely new engine that not only delivers that kind of power, but also does it with fuel-efficient performance and unmatched smoothness. The engine is called the Vortec 4200 I6 and was initially created for General Motors’ midsize sport utility vehicles. Chevrolet engineers created a 24-valve, dual overhead cam, all-aluminum straight-six that produces 270 hp from 256 cubic inches, with 90 percent of its torque coming in from 1,600 to 5,600 rpm. Let’s take a closer look at this amazing new engine.
In the early 70's I ran a 51 Anglia in H & I gas powered by a slant 6 for a while then a Ford 300. The slant 6 is not industructable. It is when it doesnt have any power but when it does it tend to break cranks right at the flywheel. The Ford 300 6 with an steel F600 crank is as tough as they come and will make more power then the slant 6 ever will and live a lot longer. Just my opinion. If you want to run the Chevy 6, the 292 is also a very good engine, tough and makes good power.. If youre not racing the slant 6 and leaving at 6000 it will probably hold up Ok but wouldnt be my first choice
Haven't heard of too many Ford 6's holding records on the salt but a lot of slant 6's have held numerous records and then there is the matter of factory suppport. How much racing racing support has Ford USA ever put into the in line 6? How much has MOPAR? no contest there ,you can buy mountains of hi perf stuff for SL 6's and there pages of info in their engine book devoted to drag racing the 6. As for Chev 6's,It's going to cost more to get a chev to perform as well as hot Sl 6.
I would run the Ford 300-6. It's the biggest 6, and they run forever. 7 main bearings to the Slant's 4. Beefy forged cranks can be found in F300-F600 trucks. With some modifications, you can run BBC rockers and screw in studs. Nick
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