[Ross]

Hello everyone, I'm new, and of course I have a question.
My son and I have a 1950-something Willys/jeep/station wagon, or whatever they called them back then.
My son inherited it when he bought a house and property in the country. We would like to restore that
vehicle, and thinking we want a climber and crawler with torque, and some decent MPG, rather than a hotrod, we are thinking about
installing a Mopar Slant 6, with tranny and rear end, suspension to be considered also. Do any of you
have any hands-on experience with the Slant 6? How difficult would it be to find an engine. I would
appreciate any help you could be to get us started.

Thank you,
Ross

 

[dana44]

Welcome to the forum. Slant sixes are very common, probably the one of the most common engines ever built buy Ma Mopar, so finding one is not going to be an issue whatsoever. As far as a transmission goes, look towards the trucks, as they had slant sixes and three and four speed transmissions there. The bolt pattern, thus bellhousing, is specific for the slant six, starter location is different than for the V8 engines.

 

[Ross]

Thanks for the info. I will appreciate any information anyone has to share with me

 

[BlackSheep01]

1. Get the 225 slant six. The 173 and 198 are just as bulletproof but the 225 really is a better engine for gen-purpose / performance buildups.

2. If it comes with Lean Burn ditch that ASAP. Seriously.

 

[Dave Z]

AMC 4.0 is another option, perhaps more fitting with the vehicle.

Could be really clever and do electronic fuel injection, though it'll add to the cost, it'll slash maintenance and give you more power.

 

[valiant67]

If you're looking for a stock set up for a slant 6, I highly recommend the 78/79 Super Slant 6. it was a 2bbl setup to replace the 1bbl. Sure made a noticeable difference.

 

[Speeddm]

I know where there is a near new /6 sitting in a swather. It was replaced by the farmer with a mopar long block straight from the dealer. It's in a farm equipment salvage yard North of Grande Prairie. If your interested let me know and I can track it down for you.

As for slants they are allot of fun . I Am just finishing a built forged and balanced 225 in a scamp ruining a180 shot. Take a look at http://www.aussiespeed.com/

 

[Eladio Lopez Jr.]

Hello- I recently purchase a 72 Dodge Dart Swinger with a slant 6 225 with 47,000 original miles on the car. I want to build a decent muscle car with it and wanted to know if I can sup up the current 225 engine or is it better to go with a 340 or 360. I was hoping I can modifiy the current engine to save money, but I don't know if that is an option. Any help is greatly apprecaited!. Thanks

 

[Bob Lincoln]

Depends on your goals. If you want to light up the tires, the slant-6 is not the best choice. If you want a balance of halfway decent gas mileage and being noticeably quicker, you can keep the 6 and make some minor, inexpensive modifications. When I had a 72 Dart Custom, I put a capacitive discharge ignition in it (keeping the breaker points), and between that and carefully cleaning and rebuilding the carb, got it to give me 22 mpg highway, and even 24 on long trips. The CD ignition gave it more and smoother acceleration in the 30-50 mph range.

You can be more aggressive with the slant-6 with a performance cam, a 4-bbl carburetor and headers.

 

[jd_1138]

The original engine that came in those was the small inline 4 cylinder "Hurricane" engine. They only put out about 75 hp. If I had the Willys, I'd probably just try to keep it as stock as possible and use it as a grocery getter "run to town" type of car. If you put in a larger engine, you will have to beef up the suspension, and there'd be less room to work on the engine once it's inside. Maybe the Dodge 2.2 inline 4 cyl or the GM 2.5 "Iron Duke" might be something nice to put in it? Those Iron Duke 2.5's were put in Postal Jeeps from the 70's until 80's, I believe. According to the Wiki, these 2.5 Iron Dukes were backed by a Chrysler 904 transmission. Interesting.

But then again, you want a more powerful engine so you could rock crawl and do off-roading. Slant 6 would be better of course, for more power.

 

[Bob Lincoln]

The original engine that came in those was the small inline 4 cylinder "Hurricane" engine. They only put out about 75 hp. If I had the Willys, I'd probably just try to keep it as stock as possible and use it as a grocery getter "run to town" type of car. If you put in a larger engine, you will have to beef up the suspension, and there'd be less room to work on the engine once it's inside. Maybe the Dodge 2.2 inline 4 cyl or the GM 2.5 "Iron Duke" might be something nice to put in it? Those Iron Duke 2.5's were put in Postal Jeeps from the 70's until 80's, I believe. According to the Wiki, these 2.5 Iron Dukes were backed by a Chrysler 904 transmission. Interesting.

But then again, you want a more powerful engine so you could rock crawl and do off-roading. Slant 6 would be better of course, for more power.

??? There was never a 4-cylinder in the original Darts. Did you mistakenly post in the wrong topic?

There was no Chrysler automatic behind the Iron Duke, except in Jeeps at one time.

 

[dana44]

The Willys jeep had the 4 cylinder engine, not the Dart. A 2.5 out of a Dakota truck with a 5 speed would be a good 4 cylinder option, don't think the automatic was ever offered with the Dakota with a 4 cylinder engine (someone can correct me on that one).

 

[jd_1138]

??? There was never a 4-cylinder in the original Darts. Did you mistakenly post in the wrong topic?

There was no Chrysler automatic behind the Iron Duke.

I never said that the Darts had the Chrysler 2.2 liter inline 4. I know Darts had Slant 6's and 318/340/360 V8. We are talking about a 1950's Willys Jeep wagon that originally came with like a 70 hp small inline 4 banger, so I was just mentioning that perhaps a Dodge 2.2 inline 4 or a GM "Iron Duke" 2.5 liter inline 4 might be a good replacement engine to put into it. Or as Dana44 said, the Dodge 2.5. It would have more power than the original engine and parts would be easy to get.

And where I got the Chrysler 904 transmission reference from was that according to the Wiki for Postal Jeeps (Jeep DJ), both the 2.5 liter GM Iron Duke and the (might also be a good option) AMC 2.5 liter inline 4 were both backed by the 904 Chrysler tranny. Who knows, that might be wrong, though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeep_DJ

But I think he wants more power than a 4 banger, so this is all academic.

 

[Bob Lincoln]

Ah, see, I wasn't looking at the original post, I answered the one above mine about the Dart, that's what confused me.

 

[patricklynch]

??? There was never a 4-cylinder in the original Darts. Did you mistakenly post in the wrong topic?

There was no Chrysler automatic behind the Iron Duke, except in Jeeps at one time.

Chrysler automatic backed up to an Iron Duke? I had a friend who had that in a Gremlin. I put a starter in it in a parking lot sometime in the mid 80's and remember being surprised by the combination.

 

[jd_1138]

Chrysler automatic backed up to an Iron Duke? I had a friend who had that in a Gremlin. I put a starter in it in a parking lot sometime in the mid 80's and remember being surprised by the combination.

Yep sometimes a car co. sources its parts from a competitor if it makes sense. Henry Ford started his co. by making parts for the Dodge Brothers. Rolls-Royces used American sourced transmissions until recently.

My dad (a mechanic who specializes in transmissions) bought for $200 in the late 90's an early 90's Dodge D-50 pickup (built by Mitsubishi). The transmission was out on it but the engine ran beautifully, so he took out the Mitsubishi tranny and declared it to be a bad design, and then he installed a 904 Chrysler or perhaps a Ford C6 or maybe it was a GM Turbo 350. It was definitely an American transmission. It was a quick and dirty installation. The shifter was a metal rod that poked up through a hole in the tranny hump. He took me for a test drive and said "feel how nice and solid its NEW transmission shifts!"

 

[BlackSheep01]

/6s make low-end power. If that's what your application requires, that's where you should go.
But it might be easier to find a Ram Miser and just swap the driveline. Is your frame / suspension / K-frame up to holding up that /6?