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Princess Valiant

Princess Valiant

A.K.A. Rainy Day Auto
FABO Gold Member
Joined
Dec 14, 2011
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Location
Colorado
Some of this content parallels the content going into my valiant thread which is the car this slant six is for but this is a slant six rebuild thread. It's purpose is to get input from other members who have built slant sixes before. This is by far not the first time I have rebuilt an engine but it is the first time I do it on a slant six. In years past, you simply bought a spare six and when yours started smoking, you just swapped it out. Now a days , I am finding these leaning towers of power are getting very scarce and the ones you do find in yards anymore are there for good reason and beyond any hope..

What I have here is a 1970 slant six. Numbers matching engine to a dead 70 challenger convertible. I pulled this engine and ran it in a 72 I had for awhile and then I pulled the engine out and sold that car, so it was painted and set up to look stock in a 72 model year car.

Now I am going to install it into a 63 valiant so I am going to be repainting it red to look period correct for a 63.

when I pulled it apart, I found that it had been rebuilt before. The main and rod bearing shells have dates on them which suggest somewhere around the summer of 1993 is when this may have occurred.

I found the crank had been turned .030 under and the rods .020 under and the block has been decked (unknown how much was shaved) and it was bored .030. over and has no ridge.

I plan to run a Clifford header and intake with a 390 cfm carb.

I also plan to swap the head out to a different head that is a 1973 head that was shaved a confirmed .070 under.

The shaved head should bring the compression up quite a bit ??

ok, some more updates as this happens

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The date(s) on the bearing are irrelevant. Who knows how long the bearing might have been sitting on the shelf (and who cares). I have bearings on the shelf that have been there for maybe 20 years. What you need to do is measure everything. What bore is required for clean up, and what bearings will be required, after the crank is checked. Determine what deck hight, and head CC's you need, for the compression ratio you want. FYI, if you use an auto trans, that is 1967 or older, and the crank is 1968 or newer, you will need to use a spacer "ring" in the end of the crank, and a 1968 or newer flexplate.
 
I have had two rebuilts
The first was a generic unit. It was a pretty good runner, with 3.23s and a 2400TC.
The second one I engineered myself. 9.5 Scr, a bit of a cam, and a SS intake.
This was to be set up for fuel-mileage only, I had no interest in power. I got what I paid for. But I'll never run 2.45s again,lol.
 
Charrlie_S said:
The date(s) on the bearing are irrelevant. Who knows how long the bearing might have been sitting on the shelf (and who cares). I have bearings on the shelf that have been there for maybe 20 years. What you need to do is measure everything. What bore is required for clean up, and what bearings will be required, after the crank is checked. Determine what deck hight, and head CC's you need, for the compression ratio you want. FYI, if you use an auto trans, that is 1967 or older, and the crank is 1968 or newer, you will need to use a spacer "ring" in the end of the crank, and a 1968 or newer flexplate.
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I agree the dates on the bearing shells may not always matter but in this case, it does correspond with the back story I got from the challenger.

Thanks for the info on the auto trans. that is the kind of info this thread is intended for to help out anyone else rebuilding one these engines as well, however for me, I shouldn't be having any flexplate issues :)

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Is that a 3 SPD or does it have od. Mine has od and I wish it were a 5 speed. I have a spare Borg Warner t5 from one of my chevys that I've been wondering if I can mount to my 225.
I do like the a833 but I. So used to being able to have that extra gear. Plus I went to get it aligned and the stick felt smooth getting in and out of gear. I handed the. The keys and they couldnt find reverse. Then had worse time getting it into first. When I came back the mechanic doing g the alignment was trying to slam it into great cause he couldn't get it in. I was about to have a heart attack. Got in and my sick was sloppy as ****. I only go in for alignments so I should have to go back for a long time. I just don't like people tearing my **** up and the t5 is easier to deal with for ppl not used to driving the a833 or any older manual
 
Phily said:
Is that a 3 SPD or does it have od. Mine has od and I wish it were a 5 speed. I have a spare Borg Warner t5 from one of my chevys that I've been wondering if I can mount to my 225.
I do like the a833 but I. So used to being able to have that extra gear. Plus I went to get it aligned and the stick felt smooth getting in and out of gear. I handed the. The keys and they couldnt find reverse. Then had worse time getting it into first. When I came back the mechanic doing g the alignment was trying to slam it into great cause he couldn't get it in. I was about to have a heart attack. Got in and my sick was sloppy as ****. I only go in for alignments so I should have to go back for a long time. I just don't like people tearing my **** up and the t5 is easier to deal with for ppl not used to driving the a833 or any older manual
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you might have a shifter problem. Reverse does take a little more effort with a HURST shifter because it was intended to be a performance shifter and you don't want to accidently go into reverse when you are in a race or high performance situation. But over time those shifters do get worn out.

My transmission is a 1to1 final gear 4 speed 833.

The OD is a nice set up but its a wide ratio set up so the OD is not really a high performance unit. The OD is basically a 3 speed with an extra gas saver gear. I was originally going to go with an OD but I don't really care about gas mileage and I like throttle response.
 
Your right. I had to spray some lithium grease on the list mage when I got it a day it was great. But big o loosened everything up with there abuse. I need to go in and tighten thinGS up and see if I can do d some kinda bushings to keep it a bit smoother.
Do you know how much it would cost to buy the parts need to swap out the gears to ha e a true 4 spd
 
Rainy Day Auto said:
Thanks for the info on the auto trans. that is the kind of info this thread is intended for to help out anyone else rebuilding one these engines as well, however for me, I shouldn't be having any flexplate issues :)

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You will need the flywheel for the 68 and newer crank. That trans is for a 65 or older vehicle. Other option is to have a machine shop enlarge the center hole in the early flywheel.
 
Think hard before you decide to spend any money with Clifford. They have a long and ugly reputation for being a bunch of clowns; see for example here, here, here, here, and here. Much of what they sell is inaccurately described, and a lot of it is not even slightly cost-effective. The good news is that you don't need to go to Clifford to get hot rod parts for slant-6s; there are lots of other, better options. See for example Dutra Duals and header options discussed in this thread and this one, Erson custom cams, HEI ignition upgrade, Mike Jeffreys windage trays, Hurricane intakes, other exotic intakes. Hi-perf engine buildup here, high-perf parts and build info here.
 
slantsixdan said:
Think hard before you decide to spend any money with Clifford. They have a long and ugly reputation for being a bunch of clowns; see for example here, here, here, here, and here. Much of what they sell is inaccurately described, and a lot of it is not even slightly cost-effective. The good news is that you don't need to go to Clifford to get hot rod parts for slant-6s; there are lots of other, better options. See for example Dutra Duals and header options discussed in this thread and this one, Erson custom cams, HEI ignition upgrade, Mike Jeffreys windage trays, Hurricane intakes, other exotic intakes. Hi-perf engine buildup here, high-perf parts and build info here.
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yea, I see what you are saying. The only reason I am going Clifford is because I already have the Clifford header and intake. They came on a duster I had bought years ago so they weren't that much for to me to acquire.

Thanks for the heads up anyways because this wont be my last slant build :)
 
ok, so I finally made some progress by having stuff show up in the mail.

The first thing I did was sent the crank out to get polished.

Check on the crank polish, came back and the machinist confirmed the measurements. Also measured the bores and it is confirmed they are still .030 over

That gave the green light to order.

I ordered:

Full gasket set (fel-pro)
Main bearings (king bearings)
rod bearings (king bearings)
freeze plugs
Cam bearings (dura-bond)
piston rings (hastings)

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Tool wise

since there are no real functional machine shops locally and someone basically stole my cam bearing tool, I bought a new Lilse 18000 which I cant wait to try out.
Dont loan out your tools

Also for this engine I bought a flex hone. 3.5 inch, 240 grit

I am thinking these bores will clean up with the fine grit since was a turning engine in decent shape when I pulled it apart.

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if anyone has any suggestions for a good cam. I doubt I am putting the original cam back in, after going through all this and new cam bearings and all.

I don't quite understand cam specs so I really don't know what I am look at...at this point. so any suggestions ??
 
racer brown got some nice grinds for a /6,..id call them or oragon cams with your build spects and discuss your intended use, ether can re grind your cam to new spec's
 
Rainy Day Auto said:
Tool wise

since there are no real functional machine shops locally and someone basically stole my cam bearing tool, I bought a new Lilse 18000 which I cant wait to try out.
Dont loan out your tools

Also for this engine I bought a flex hone. 3.5 inch, 240 grit

I am thinking these bores will clean up with the fine grit since was a turning engine in decent shape when I pulled it apart.

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Lisle cam bearing tool and a BRM ball hone. 2 quality pieces right there! Have fun with your leaning tower of power build.
 
I'll be following along here Rani. I just brought this little gem home a while back and it's slanty is gonna need some love pretty soon!
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BrianT said:
I'll be following along here Rani. I just brought this little gem home a while back and it's slanty is gonna need some love pretty soon!
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bought my truck with a knock,...with craigslist /6 been putting around few months now with ruffly 1000 bucks in it, love it!! put 10 gallions gas in it n ride round week or 2!!!!
 
why cant I ever find slant six trucks locally LOL

I know of a few but all are 318.

70s and 80s trucks and vans are getting mega hard to find, after the really dumb cash for clunkers crap plan years ago.
 
a truck would be cool but the six I am building is for this valiant, but you all probably knew that one already :)

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Sorry, wasn't trying to change the direction of your thread. lol Everybody just loves old trucks!
 
trucks and wagons sorta parallel themselves! and both in the slant flavor, are not very easy to find at least for a decent price!
 
I contacted Oregon cams, gave them the specs on my 225 and they recommended 2 grinds. I picked the milder as my 64 is a driver. I just could not see putting all that work into this thing and staying with the stock grind with it's 375 lift. With shipping I think it cost me around 100 bucks to get a regrind.

A 225 will never be a high revver so I want good driveability. Pocket ported, gasket matched, .080 off the head and .040 over. I hogged out the stock exhaust and intake manifolds in the appropriate places a little and still running the Carter BBC for now. I only wish I had a chance to drive it before the rebuild for a comparison but it was locked up when I got it. Engine still looks stock on the outside but I'm happy with it. I'm not burnout guy but it'll easily smoke the tire.
 
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