Thoughts on early vs. late Slants.

[RustyRatRod]

Let's not catastrophize things. The '81-up Slant-6 hydro lifter setup is unconventional, with its top-down oil feed, but it works well for plenty of years and miles, and doesn't cause problems. They pump up just fine, and fast enough—unless the vehicle owner uses too thick an oil, and/or is super neglectful (skips multiple oil changes in a row, etc).

The only real downside is the meek stock '81-up camshaft. Better cams for the hydro setup aren't off-the-shelf items, and buying the generic Chevrolet-lobes-on-everything crap from Comp can make you cry, but a good cam grinder (Oregon Cam, like such as) can make a fine upgrade cam.

That's why I used the word "some". I stand by it. I remember well a lot of the problems they had when they went to hydraulic lifters working on the line as first an apprentice and then by myself as a certified tech. They didn't all exhibit those issues, but those that did were plagued.

 

[slantsixdan]

Maybe so, but Chrysler's quality control was dogshit on everything back then, number one; number two, that was most of half a century ago. Similarly, pretty much all the F-bodies that still exist are the good ones; the crummy ones all went away years ago.

 

[kevin charles]

Cast cranks can withstand 500HP. The crank and reciprocating assembly are also much lighter than their forged crank brethrens.

All I plan on doing with mine if I choose to use it is installing a factory Super-Six set-up, complete with the Carter BBD, dizzy, the stock (or aftermarket) electronic ignition, and the 2-1/2” exhaust (or Dutras if I want to shell out for them). I should be fine, and before I would use it, I’d freshen it up a bit. It sits in a 1981 B250 passenger van. I bought the van as a complete parts van (I have a ’79 Street Van) that had been a non-op for decades, and said to have been parked due to a bad trans. “If it spins, it wins."
On a side note, my research tells me that by 1981, truck variations of the Slant were long gone, which is unfortunate. I have one in my garage that I picked up from a guy that was swapping a 360 into his ’64 Valiant wagon. I saw it run and helped him pull it. Imagine my excitement when I got it home, ran the numbers, and discovered it came out of a ’60-’61 truck! Since my ’61 Pioneer currently has a ’64 engine in it (along with a Holley 1920), I will probably do that swap eventually. Though I have a line on a Slant from a ’61 Seneca, which would be the numbers-matching mill for my car, I think that the truck engine is fine. If it were a V8 car, I would definitely snag a numbers-matching engine, but I really don’t think anyone cares if it’s a Slant, since most folks in the market for my Pioneer 2-door post would most likely V8 the car anyway (if I should decide to sell it, and I most likely will). Conversely, in the Slant world we here live in, having a year-matching truck engine in a FL car is gold, complete with a Carter BBS, which is proper for a 1961 Slant.