Has anyone ever heard of a slant six being installed in a 41 era dodge ,plymouth or Chrysler.I am considering removing my flat head fluid drive to install a V8 3 speed std or a slant six 3 speed std
sounds like a nightmare not worth visiting . you will need to cut up the inner fenderwell on passenger side and firewall likely Jen
your engine is 25 inches long at the head, the /6 is 30+, where you gonna put the extra length. Can be done, but do you have the where withall to accomplish it?
I have seen a slant 6 in a 38 Plymouth but don't recommend it for your car. It would be much easier to rebuild your old engine, and get equal horsepower. If you want more power the old flatheads can be hopped up. But chances are if your engine was running right you would find you had enough power, fluid drive and all. The old flatheads are foolers. They can be in an advanced state of wear or badly out of tune and give no sign of distress. They still start and run without complaint even though badly down on power. I know one guy who had a 41 Plymouth. He had the engine rebuilt, and was planning to add overdrive or change rear axle gears. Once he got the car back and had a chance to drive it with the new engine, he lost all desire to make any changes. It ran great and had all the power he needed. Besides the flathead six is one of the simplest engines to rebuild and parts are available cheap. Vintage Power Wagons has all the parts, even NOS pistons for $65 a set of 6.
Sounds good everyone.I had a chance to pic up a flat head cheap and rebuild it but will either go back to my original plan of installing a 318 or rebuild the flat head.I guess I just want something reliable.It runs great but the engine has a bad rumble in it .The oil pressure runs at 50 lbs the last 2500 miles this summer with very little oil consumption. How dependable were these engines? I do know from driving it that it has lots of power.I would like to travel farther from home with the car and just dont trust it.Also on the open highway it likes its fuel.Thanks for all the speedy info .
No doubt that the slants are way cool engines....but the previous advice is good. Rebuild a flathead six and you'll be surprised. I had a 53 Plymouth 20+ years ago that I sold while I was building it. The guy I sold it to, rebuilt the flat 6 and let me drive it. I was pleasantly surprised at how torquey it was. It was certainly no hot rod, but it was cool, and these days, anything running a flat 6 would be incredibly unique. Also....don't underestimate what a modern transmission might do mated up to a rebuilt flathead.
There is one in a '41 Plymouth coupe here in my town. It has a Clifford Engineering setup on it and is coupled to an A-727. It screams for the size of the motor. It even has a set of Weber #36 carburetors on it with a Cross Flow Ram intake system. Normbc9
The flat six is a good engine and I have seen plenty of them mated to a modern transmission and driven great distances. The slant six it is a great engine and you can get some great power from them, you can mill the heads quite a bit to up compression and you can even turbo charge them. The 318 is also a great cruising engine and mated with the right trans can get good gas milelage. Now with all that said, fitment becomes the issue, if you have the fabrication skills anything is possible, I always look at the cost factor i.e. is it cheaper to keep the mill I have and make it work or ditch it an cut up the car to make something else fit. It is Hot Rodding conundrum at best, I personally would stick with the the flat six and see if I could mate a 5 speed or overdrive trans and change the gearing in the rearend. I think you will find with that combo the car will be a great cruiser... my .02
Years ago a buddy and myself put a slant six into a stock 1950 Dodge Coronet. It was great! Didn't have to cut the inner fenders or firewall. Got super good fuel economy (about 25 mpg freeway) and was a lot faster than the flathead POS. Split headers with tiny pipe and no mufflers and it sounded GREAT!! Stock suspension, stock brakes, 3 speed manual, 1977 Dodge Aspen rear end. Then we drove it to car show 400 miles away with very little testing. http://waywardgarage.com/category/pastcars/gregs50dodge/ It's one of those worthless cars thatI'd love to have back just because it was such a fun bomber!
There can't be much wrong if you have 50 PSI oil pressure, good power and very little oil consumption. Have you done a compression test? Don't know what the rumble could be but chances are it is not too serious. Do you know an old time mechanic who could look at it? In there day they were VERY reliable. Much more so than the Chev (babbitt pounder) six. For long life it is best to keep the speed down to 60 or so. If it was mine I would keep doing regular maintenance and tuneups and drive it as long as possible.
You'd do all that work only to say "I coulda had a V8" when you're done. Which will probably be an easier swap. A rearend upgrade is a good idea, do away with the press-fit drums and get a more highway friendly gear ratio in there and you might be happier with it without any other changes.
I can appreciate you wanting to travel in you 41 without worries. I have a 41 Chrysler Windsor that is all stock and have been a couple hunderd miles from home in it. If you dont trust it I would rebuilt as suggested or go with a 318. My 48 Dodge accepted a 318 without much trouble.
Well I removed the car from the frame and painted everything up .Looks like new as there wasnt any rust.I have fabbed in a 9 " rear housing and at present I am fabbing my engine mounts so as to install a 318 Auto.Good bye six.Thanks for all the help everyone as it was greatly appreciated as usual
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