It's no wonder the Slant 6 is so great!

I have managed to kill a slant six - or at least get it to the point I needed to pull it for a teardown because I expected something catastrophic was just around the corner. It was running, but making horrible noises. It turned out the #6 rod bearing was pretty much gone and the journal had visible scratches. As for how it got that way....

A previous owner had left it outside in winter with water instead of antifreeze, and there were cracks in the water jacket buried under mud and grime.

About 200,000 miles on the odometer.

Clogged oil pickup.

5 psi of boost

Repeated dyno pulls to 5500 rpm.

As for why to build a slant six? I wanted to see how much power I could get out of one while remaining practical for street use. And it's my first car. I have worked on a lot of different types of cars and project choices don't have to be rational. Few are, in the grand scheme of things.