Stop in for a cup of coffee

RustyRatRod said
It does achieve making the engine shorter so they can shorten up the nose of the vehicle. In similar fashion to how Chrysler engineers designed the Valiant around the slant six. It was the first inline six to have the water pump offset to the side to allow a shorter nose on the vehicle. Worked pretty good, too. Wouldn't you say?

Assuming it's mounted for a rear wheel drive car. On a transverse mounted engine some have the water pump on the back of the engine which would be on the driver side over the transmission and that is a ton easier than fighting the passenger frame rail for wrench space.

The ford vulcan 3.0 is an example of that