1971 Dodge Gets A Slant Six - Engine Power S2, E3

engine power completes the classic Chrysler slant-6 engine build and found a classy place to put it last week on engine power you saw us tear down a 225 cubic inch slant six which was Chrysler's most durable and reliable engine ever built unfortunately our sat out in the elements and heavy corrosion kept us from reusing it so we started with a later model block and had it freshly machine now the crank was installed with an upgraded one piece rear main seal and reconditioned rods would drop through the bores with new Pistons attached a completely refreshed cylinder head was dropped on the deck and the engine was finished off with performance parts from hooker often Hauser and Edelbrock we couldn't dyno our slant-6 because the bellhousing diameter is too small and it wouldn't dock up to the dyno but we told you we had a home for it and it doesn't get any better than this 71 duster when it's cold it spits and sputters I gotta warm it up it's got an exhaust leak so it just makes a lot of racket and here's its owner Ken Symington who has an emotional attachment to this work-in-progress you know this car is over 40 years old there's not that many of them out there running mainly since my wife bought it brand new when I first met her she was blind she was cute when the next time I saw her she showed up in this red car and the red car and the blonde hair went together and I knew right thing I was in trouble she loved it it was her first car she might love it more than she does me I've never asked that question to her recently Ken's son paid to get it back to its original condition by sending it to a local body and paint man where the Refresh started the car was stripped to bare metal and received a couple new panels before the original color was laid back down now the final touch was the black pinstriping that gave it a nice but subtle look Ken's next upgrade is obvious everyone will have a 340 or 440 and employment priced or product I don't erase it I just want to drive around and in short to people and educate them about what type of motors were done in the 60s and 70s and the slant six is a classic and that's why we asked him to bring the car here this is actually more fun than dying on a big tower no I I feel safer but not really just for fun let's see what this one has left in it all right here we go we'll make the pole from 2,000 to 3,800 and hope we can make it there this isn't the original 225 engine it was replaced with a 95 horsepower in 1975 model in the 80s and it's seen a lot of miles since making this duster a perfect home for our leaning tower of power well I think we're there and a whopping 64 miles per hour it made just over 70 horsepower and the graph tells the story we're not laughing at it because this was a staple of economical performance back in the day so to get Ken back and reliable cruising status we'll be upgrading the cooling system from Summit Racing a drum to disc brake conversion kit from classic performance products all new steering links shocks and mounts from Rock Auto a one ring and pinion from Yukon gear and axle and ADCO sway bars for better handling from the top we'll start removing everything we can without draining any fluids yet this will include the single barrel carburetor intake manifold and the cast iron exhaust manifold this duster was factory equipped with air conditioning and it's going back that way now it's been out of service for quite a few years so there's no refrigerant in the lines allowing us to remove them without an evac system now we can remove the massive starter and using our Matco evac canister drain as much power steering fluid out of the reservoir as possible the same goes for the master cylinder now we can loosen the alternator to remove the belt then on both the mechanical fan and remove it with the water pump pulley now we have access to the fasteners that hold the AC compressor bracket in place so the whole assembly goes as well from underneath we can drain the coolant and the engine oil remove the transmission linkage on both the torque converter from the flex plate remove the transmission cooler lines and get as much fluid out of them as we can now the drive shaft can be pulled in the bell housing bowl so we can drop the transmission this is a 904 that's getting replaced with a remanufactured unit with the engine mounting nuts removed we can hoist this 225 out of the car to make way for the new bullet we're back and before the new engine and trans goes in we have plenty to do underneath when's the last time you popped off a hubcap looks like it's been a while for Ken to the front wheels are 14 inch in diameter and cannot be used with our front disc brake upgrade since they require a 15 inch wheel for clearance so away they go the nasty dirty drum brake assemblies are the next pieces to come off now the easiest way is to separate the upper and lower ball joints and remove the whole setup as an assembly followed by the upper control arms and the shock absorbers we're also going to replace the bushings in the strut rods so they can be removed as well this requires removing the torsion bar by loosening the nut up front and removing the retaining clip at the back now the bar can be pushed rearward so we can remove the lower control arm assembly since the upper control arms are shiny new we'll clean and paint the lowers to match them with VH T's black epoxy paint which is rust and salt resistant as they're drying we can put in the uppers from classic performance that are a direct replacement they come ready to bolt in with new bushings and ball joints already installed new bushings and washers are going on the strut rods to eliminate movement that can affect the car's alignment while driving on the other side of the strut rod we can attach the freshened up lower control arm as it slides through the k-member and with the lower arm force down with a pry bar we can reinstall the original torsion bar and retain it out back with the factory clip this drum to disc brake conversion from classic performance fit 63 through 76 B and E body Mopars now it comes with an 11 inch vented rotor that has a five on four and a half inch bolt circle now you also get a power assisted booster master cylinder and proportioning valve already preassembled now the kit also includes brand new spindles steering links calipers brake pads and the hardware for an easy installation the spindles to the lower control arms first using the supplied castle nut and cotter pin now the upper control arm can attach to the spindle the same way with the bearings and spindle greased we can slide the rotor into place the spindle nut needs to be finger tightened as you rotate the rotor now once all the play is out of the bearings i'll preload it to the next slot the cotter pin can drop into since the bearings are new the new pad can go in place followed by the single piston caliper with the other pad inside of it these clips are all that retain it something else can needs besides an engine our new shocks now these are KYB gas adjust we got in from rockauto.com replacing the brake lines is a must for a car this old these came with the brake conversion with new brakes and suspension we're gonna put the firmness back in the steering wheel as well we're gonna replace everything in it that has a ball joint because frankly we know they're all worn out and that'll include a new pitman arm Ayler arm and new inner and outer tie rod ends with new adjusting sleeves the first thing to go is the worn-out idler arm we'll use our Matco air hammer and ball joint separator to remove it the new one can go back in its place and tighten down the pitman arm joint separates the same way then the nut securing it to the steering box gets removed we'll make sure to note the position it's in so it goes back the same way to keep the steering centered using this pitman arm remover we'll pull it off the spline shaft that it's wedged onto and replace it with a new one making sure it's in the same location now reattach the drag link and finish the steering off with new tie rod ends and sleeves all the front end needs is our slant six to fill that big hole from the stand to the chassis the engines dropping in so does the owner coming up that's super cool we're back and ready for the true purpose of this classic engine build bringing it to life in a classic era-correct cruiser with its new mounts and this dusters royal pan and pickup installed it's time to drop it in yes yes nice job very clean-looking powertrain products sent us this reman 904 automatic transmission now they're rebuild process is straightforward keep the original parts together like the valve body the case and hardware like it left the factory for more reliable unit now once assembled each one is tested on their custom dinos that apply force to replicate real-world driving conditions so they know it's a solid unit before it leaves their facility they also triple check all the threads and fasteners to ensure proper torque specs are achieved plus they supplied the torque converter to make this a package deal a 318 Dodge Ram starter that's smaller and spins faster will fire up the slanting now the booster and master cylinder are the final pieces for the front brakes the assembly bolts to the factory master cylinder studs it's also getting a new power steering pump and a/c compressor from Rock Auto will be supplied to the battery with a new alternator from Rock Auto as well now the freshly painted fan can go on and to drive all this three Nuvi belts to keep this slant-6 cool this replacement radiator that's a direct fit from Rock Auto it's also getting new hoses in fact we finished off the entire engine hookup from the wiring to the fuel lines and on up to this classic Mopar air cleaner we tore the rear end down as well replacing the 276 ring and pinion with a 321 from Yukon gear and axle the leaf springs had little spring left in them so it's getting nice from classic industries and pair them up with new shocks as well for rollers Coker Tire Mopar rally wheels with trim rings and center caps wrapped with BFG silver town redline radials made by them as well which will complement the cars color the exhaust is made from scratch using magnaflow's two-and-a-half inch stainless pipe and an 18 inch straight through muffler finished off with a turndown at this point this project is done Wow and just in time that's super cool feel like a kid I feel like a kid at Christmas yeah well the good thing is you can pull it out of your duster put in the tractor and put it back in the duster it's multi-purpose how many horses you think is pulling we're about to find out it's those red stripe tires it's really making that paint job pop all right and we didn't tell you but when you drop the car off we went ahead and put it on the dyno to get a baseline it only made 71 horsepower I was that for a motor that age I think I have a lawnmower that makes a little more we're taking this one to a safe 4,500 rpm look at that 125 horsepower out of here 161 foot-pounds of torque Wow we're not done oh we're not no we're gonna put a little more out of it oh really yeah mega timing chain two more degrees of initial timing for a total of six 129 and 164 picked up three foot-pounds and full horsepower that's impressive one last run with two more initial degrees for a total of 8 130 to 170 that is marvelous 2 degrees picked it up three horsepower and six foot pounds and you just can't get used to here now I see rolling down the road just zipping and now he can with almost twice the power he started with hats off to Ken for keeping the legend of the slant-6 alive an important but often overlooked aspect of engine building is balancing and there's two types of balancing that are done to your powerplant when you take it to machine shop the first is dynamic meaning spinning the crankshaft with bob weights attached to it on a machine to measure the balance tolerance the other aesthetic meaning weighing all the components and making them weigh within a certain amount since inline cranks don't require a bob wait to get spin balanced the parts don't have to go with the crank to the machine shop Mike and I are going to show you how to static balanced pistons and rods yourself with a few things you most likely have lying around like a belt sander a die grinder with a few cartridge roles and carbides plus something you'll actually have to buy like this affordable Goodson balancing setup now doing this yourself is going to save you money at the machine shop on any inline engine since they won't have to take the time to balance these parts themselves now weight matching all these components is going to help the engine to run smoother and last longer no matter the application with our Goodson gram scale fired up we'll start by weighing the Pistons be sure to pre number them so you can keep track of the weights to avoid confusion now what we're looking for are the lightest ones in the set now we recorded the weight of each piston and found the lightest ones which come in at 604 grams the goal is to get them all to weigh within one gram of each other so the next step is to setup your die grinder to start removing some material now make sure you also have your safety glasses on for this because you don't want the aluminum in your eyes starting with the heaviest which was p1 at 607 grams the object is to lightly grind around the thickest part of a pin boss area which removes weight make sure to repeatedly check it on the scale during this process so far we've removed 1 gram so two more have to come off to reach the lightest Pistons weight of 604 this is one of those operations where you need to take your time and not get too aggressive it's easy to take out too much and have to start the whole process over again now that goes back to the scale and the magic number has been met switching to a cartridge roll we can clean up any rough edges that the burr created and that wraps up the Pistons we only had to remove weight on a four Pistons because two of them were at the lowest weight of 604 typically Pistons will weigh within four grams of each other which is fine for production engines with our capabilities of our set up here why not make them weigh all the same like a race engine next up are the rods now both ends have to be balanced because the small end reciprocate and the big end rotates so they affect the total balance differently now that's where the Goodson rod fixture comes into play we have to weigh the big ends and the small ends and find the lightest ones just like the Pistons we'll go ahead and start with the big end accuracy and repeatability are key when using the fixture now I'll place the rod with the bearing tanks facing down now make sure the rods beam is level and it's not binding in the fixture if it is the reading will be inaccurate rod ones big n weighs 424 grams the lightest big end is rod 4 which is 421 material must be removed in a safe spot on these as well in this case there is a distinct balance pad on each end using our dake belt sander we'll carefully sand a little at a time off the heaviest begin repeatedly checking our progress to make sure we don't overdo it now I'm going to set the fixture up to do the same procedure to the small end of the rod we just need to move the big end bushing to the other side and practice the same repeatability and accuracy as before the lightest small ends were 180 grams and there were two of them the heaviest was 182 that's a close range for factory production pieces now I'll match the weights to the lightest the same way as the big end on the belt sander with the small end weights at 180 grams and the big end at 421 grams all said and done the rod should weigh 601 grams and here's how to confirm that you put the rod directly on the scale and the magic number will pop right up job well done balancing the Pistons and rods yourself is another task that you can add to your engine building skill set plus with a setup like this you can pay it off and even put a little money in your pocket helping your buddies out too so remember keep your balance and may the slant be with you we'll see you next time

Channel: PowerNation

Views: 444,967

Rating: 4.8685322 out of 5

Keywords: Automotive;, Cars;, Vehicles;, How-To;, Auto, News;, Howto;, How, To;, DIY;, Car, Tips

Id: pjYW-SkQzvE

Length: 18min 42sec (1122 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 06 2019