Bringing a slant back to life

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BlueDream

BlueDream

Aspiring Mopar enthusiast
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My friend just scored a 67 D100 for free and it's been sitting for about 15 years or so. Anybody got any good tips on starting an engine after its been sitting for so long? We got a new battery for it, new fuel pump, new fuel filter, new fuel lines, and I rebuilt the carb but haven't put it back on yet. We also got new vacuum lines, spark plugs, and some marvel mystery oil for the cylinders. It's a 225 slant, 3 on the tree, 8 3/4 rear truck. Is there anything else we need to get before we turn the key?
 
If you have a chance try to spin the motor 360 degrees before you dump more money into it. I bought a 360 and it would spin 180 degrees before it would stop because of a broken rod.
 
I bought a 1968 Dart with a slant six that had been sitting for 12 years.
I rebuilt the carb,changed the oil and filter,replaced the fuel pump,installed a battery,filed the points,cleaned the spark plugs and ran a fuel line from the fuel pump to a 5gallon gas can....
It fired right up and ran great.I dropped the tank and cleaned it out later with a new fuel filter...been running ever since.
 
We got a new fuel filter. We pulled the dipstick and there doesn't seem to be any water in the oil which is good. The truck has been sitting in the same spot since the 90's so it's kinda sunk into the ground and we dont have enough clearance to get a drain pan under there to change the oil. It's been in his family since it was purchased new so they've got a complete history on the car. They just stopped driving it and didn't park it because it was broken. So I doubt we'd find a broken connecting rod in there. There's bushes grown up around it so we couldn't get inside to take it out of gear. If it does turn out to have some kind of giant problem that would prevent us from running it....I'm going to have a spare 318 here in about 6 weeks after my Dart gets a 340.. It would just be nice to be able to drive it out of there under its own power. We probably would keep the slant in it for a while anyways as long as it was drive able. It's pretty clean for what it is. it's got original paint with a good amount of patina and surface rust but it's not rusted through. So if it isn't siezed up we should be all good to go? We'd pull the valve cover and oil the rockers and stuff too before cranking it over. These old slants are pretty great, working on this one is making me start to miss mine.
 
Bet ya it will fire right up !!!
Just need some fuel and fire !
 
BlueDream said:
We got a new fuel filter. We pulled the dipstick and there doesn't seem to be any water in the oil which is good. The truck has been sitting in the same spot since the 90's so it's kinda sunk into the ground and we dont have enough clearance to get a drain pan under there to change the oil. It's been in his family since it was purchased new so they've got a complete history on the car. They just stopped driving it and didn't park it because it was broken. So I doubt we'd find a broken connecting rod in there. There's bushes grown up around it so we couldn't get inside to take it out of gear. If it does turn out to have some kind of giant problem that would prevent us from running it....I'm going to have a spare 318 here in about 6 weeks after my Dart gets a 340.. It would just be nice to be able to drive it out of there under its own power. We probably would keep the slant in it for a while anyways as long as it was drive able. It's pretty clean for what it is. it's got original paint with a good amount of patina and surface rust but it's not rusted through. So if it isn't siezed up we should be all good to go? We'd pull the valve cover and oil the rockers and stuff too before cranking it over. These old slants are pretty great, working on this one is making me start to miss mine.
Click to expand...

remember, a dipstick wont tell you if there is water in the pan, water sits at the bottom, the dipstick tells you whats at the top.
 
Thanks for bringing this up. Will help me out with my 76 Dart that I picked up 2 yrs ago and will be working on this spring to get fired up. Same Situation, They parked it about 10 yrs ago (original owner bought it new in 76 and I snagged it off her hands in exchange for some pasture rent she owed me) and got it towed over here to our place. Engine on mine will rotate a full 360 degrees and cranks, but all the gaskets are so dried out I will have to replace them for the fuel system, can't prime it because all the fuel just slows out the dried up gaskets. They did drain the fuel tank before they parked it though. I got a Carb Rebuild kit, Tune up stuff for it, new fuel Filters and couple other things and gonna tackle it this spring, I want this Car running and driving again so we can stop using the 2008 Electronic POS Chevy Aveo that we have. Good luck with yours.
 
I traded a 318 for a slant (never had one, what the heck) and the guy pulled it from a impound yard car. Just for grins, I installed it, dribbled some gas into the carb vent and set the choke with one pump. The thing lit off before I could even pump the carb linkage and it just purred. I called the guy and asked how long it was out of commision, he said 8 years minimum. I let it get warm, poured a quart of motor flush in it and let it idle for another 5 minutes then drained the oil. Black as ink and exactly 2 quarts came out (one quart being the motor flush!) So these motors are pretty basic work horses, simple and tough. I bet it starts and drives with some fresh gas and a battery, but do check the oil....I did a youtube video of its first start (67 in a 65) I didnt have the fuel plumbed so it died.
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9uU5G3rIkg#t=55"]Slant six first start 67 in a 65 - YouTube[/ame]
 
Most /6 dipsticks go pretty close to the bottom of the pan so no rust on it is a good sign. Sounds like you should first fire it up with the fuel pump drawing from a gallon jug.

You need a jack and brush cutter. Just get the truck up and drain the oil. If you can't get inside to take it out of gear then how are you gonna get inside to drive it out? You gonna start it in gear? Sounds like a little more thinking and bit of work is needed here....LOL
 
nm9stheham said:
Most /6 dipsticks go pretty close to the bottom of the pan so no rust on it is a good sign. Sounds like you should first fire it up with the fuel pump drawing from a gallon jug.

You need a jack and brush cutter. Just get the truck up and drain the oil. If you can't get inside to take it out of gear then how are you gonna get inside to drive it out? You gonna start it in gear? Sounds like a little more thinking and bit of work is needed here....LOL
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We've got our work cut out for us, thats for sure. We did clear some brush out, got inside, and popped it out of gear. That door was HARD to get open. It opened fine the first time and then we closed it and it took us 10 mins of fiddling to get it open again even though it wasn't locked. The door latch looks like a spur that'd be more at home on a cowboy boot than a door. We're definitely going to have it drawing fuel from a jug. The fuel was black and looked like molasses. When I rebuilt the carb I spent a couple of hours just getting every last bit of junk outta that thing. The floats on that poor carter were so caked in gunk that they were adhered to the bottom of the float bowl and wouldn't move at all. The idle jet was filled up with gunk too but the main jet didn't look too bad. Still got a thorough cleaning though. Trying to fire the engine without rebuilding that carb would NOT have been good. The screws on the butterfly valve at the bottom had backed out so far that it was barely hanging on the shaft. Yeah, anything associated with the fuel system on that thing needs a good once over before feeding that slant any fuel. No telling what's in the tank. I really enjoyed working on that carb though, I get a kick out of that kind of stuff. I love learning and tinkering on cars, especially Mopars. We got a good amount of snow last night so idk when we'll be trying to fire this thing up. It's sitting less than half a mile from my friends place so we might even try to drive it to his house if the brakes and everything work fine. Another concern for me is the clutch, it's hydraulic. It seemed to actuate the clutch fork just fine but I've never worked on a hydraulic clutch before so that'll be fun to figger out. The key is nowhere to be found as of yet but we're going to run a hot wire to the coil and we've got a trigger starter too. That should be enough to get it to fire I hope, it worked with my 318! So, anybody have a clue on what transmission is in this thing? This is my first time dealing with a column shift. My Dart was a 225, A-230 floor shift, 8 1/4 car so I've worked on slants before but I think the trucks have different transmissions, right? And it's got a freakin 8 3/4 rear end with a SLANT SIX. Were they all like that? I have a bellhousing for a small block and a 3 speed that didn't work on my car so maybe it'd work on the truck. I've been over on the truck forum but honestly, you all are the best source of information on mopars in general that i've found on the web so far. Even if it's not A-Body specific stuff, somebody on here usually knows the answers.
 
Who likes pictures? We all like pictures! So here, pictures. We've cleared out a good amount of brush since the pictures were taken. Hopefully if we can get it to run we'll be able to back it out under it's own power or at least hook up a chain to the bumper and give it a little help. Then we'll put tires that hold air onto it and either load it on a trailer or drive it to my friend's house.
 

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pishta said:
I traded a 318 for a slant (never had one, what the heck) and the guy pulled it from a impound yard car. Just for grins, I installed it, dribbled some gas into the carb vent and set the choke with one pump. The thing lit off before I could even pump the carb linkage and it just purred. I called the guy and asked how long it was out of commision, he said 8 years minimum. I let it get warm, poured a quart of motor flush in it and let it idle for another 5 minutes then drained the oil. Black as ink and exactly 2 quarts came out (one quart being the motor flush!) So these motors are pretty basic work horses, simple and tough. I bet it starts and drives with some fresh gas and a battery, but do check the oil....I did a youtube video of its first start (67 in a 65) I didnt have the fuel plumbed so it died.
Slant six first start 67 in a 65 - YouTube
Click to expand...

When I first started getting interested in working on old cars I decided to bring my Dart back to life. It hadn't been driven regularly since the 90's and when I was growing up my gramps and I would bring it out of the shed every spring and drive it. He moved away and I got the car when I was 9 and it sat until about 2011 when I decided to start working on it. My step dad wasn't very supportive and said it'd take a miracle to get it to run and $10,000 to make it roadworthy. I took this as a challenge and started working on making it run again. I found out it wasn't getting fuel and I decided to change the fuel pump, put in a new battery, changed the fuel filter, drained the tank. Poured some fuel down the carb and it fired right up. I drove it up to the house with the biggest grin on my face and a huge sense of accomplishment for making it run. At this point I didn't understand the concept of oil circulation and that oil would drain down from the important places and end up in the pan, I don't even think I checked the oil level. And that gas will turn to varnish after sitting for years and that it's not good for the carb to run that through it. Theres a lot I didn't know back then and I wanted to be more thorough this time as to avoid damaging the engine. I do love slants though, not a ton of power but they'll run forever.
 
See my Avatar. Trans is probably A745 and plate is on the LH cab frame. Check the manufacture date on there. Are you sure it is a 70....that engine looks yellow and it has the small window option. If there is a SERT sticker, somebody got lucky. The clutch is probably stuck, which you will find out when you start it and it takes off down the hill. Put it on a trailer or dolly and bring it home. Drain the oil like suggested instead of clogging the rockers and everything else up. Check the points. The grounds are bad on these trucks.
 
my5thmopar said:
See my Avatar. Trans is probably A745 and plate is on the LH cab frame. Check the manufacture date on there. Are you sure it is a 70....that engine looks yellow and it has the small window option. If there is a SERT sticker, somebody got lucky. The clutch is probably stuck, which you will find out when you start it and it takes off down the hill. Put it on a trailer or dolly and bring it home. Drain the oil like suggested instead of clogging the rockers and everything else up. Check the points. The grounds are bad on these trucks.
Click to expand...

My friend said it was a '67. Now if thats true or not I don't know but it's got two headlights and not four like the earlier trucks. What's would the SERT sticker mean? If the clutch is stuck that'll be a headache.. but the clutch fork moves when the clutch pedal is pressed so hopefully everything is free and not stuck.
 
BlueDream said:
My friend said it was a '67. Now if thats true or not I don't know but it's got two headlights and not four like the earlier trucks. What's would the SERT sticker mean? If the clutch is stuck that'll be a headache.. but the clutch fork moves when the clutch pedal is pressed so hopefully everything is free and not stuck.
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Yes probably a 67, don't know why i thought I read different. I see backup lights and I think they were standard equipment in 67. Not sure if that year got a neutral safety switch, but its just a ground anyway. SERT=Special Equipment Release Truck. If the engine is yellow it is probably an early 67. That was the year the trucks went to red. Just because the clutch arm moves doesn't indicate that the clutch isn't stuck. You really should consider towing it so, you can work on it in a controlled environment. Mine sat for 25 years and started right up and idled for 30 minutes....No smoke, but i checked everything first that was mentioned in the previous threads. Good luck.
 
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