Yes, it is practiclly worthless to Chrysler, and it's not like something holy either. Like you said, it's 30 year old technology. That's why it's crazy for anyone on here to get riled up about it! Most of you know....Doc has some good stuff, and everything "factory" that's that old can be improved.
A raised port slant head would raise power and port velocity sky high; why fight and argue about what is essentally a $2000 conversation piece.
The ideal thing would be to contact someone who had one, and ask them to let you borrow it for measurements. For half of what that old head went for. Then work from there. Or just wait: Doc is sharp enough to get this head to it's full potential. I, or anyone else, doesn't really know why Josh pulled the bid. He may have run into some kind of cash trouble for all anyone knows. The fact is that the seller is trying to "play the market", and pulling the auction is indeed an extreme. He didn't care crap that Josh pulled out,..he saw that he could make more money on it by relisting. What would make you more angry: Me telling you that I wanted to buy your car, then calling and saying I changed my mind? Or me selling mine, and you driving all the way to my house; then I tell you it's not for sale?
In the extreme, running off a fellow slanter could hurt everyone. Josh may have been a great help in researching some of this "new" stuff. Maybe not...but the fact is another bridge was burnt that possibly could have been another road to success; among the few that actually apreciate this little, slanted marvel the Mopar produced.

No hard feelings toward anyone, but we can do better than this....
BBBanjo

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225 Cubic Inches of Iron-Head American Muscle

225 bored .040 /.100 off block, Schneider Cam 224@.050~ .480 lift - Stock valves, blended bowls, Offenhauser intake with 500 Edelbrock carb

I think you are missing the point. Yes, this head represented 1976-1979 technology...which was about 2 decades more advanced than the technology we have in our present cylinder heads. The knowledge represented by that head is what is so hard to lose to greed and selfish behaviour.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Dan, you spoke to the person selling the head, right? Did you get an idea or anything definite about how, where, when or why it was made and where was it supposed to or did it end up? Was it in house development for some possible production engine or for factory interests outside of normal production? Maybe this was in one of your posts but I have not found it. History is half the fun of old cars and maybe any leads might turn up more info about this. I have been under the impression that nobody knew anything about this head until it showed up on ebay. I know one of the first things I looked for when we got our Swinger was information about what heads were made for slants and how they were modified, and I never found any info about aluminum.

Exchanged a great deal of e-mail with him and was within one hour of leaving to meet him at his place at an agreed time when he e-mailed me to say "The head is now spoken for, but you're welcome to come over and look at it before it departs for its new home".
Didn't need to ask the seller any of this...I've known this info for about a decade!
Yes, that is exactly what it was. Engineering program #A431, initiated in 1976, to modernise the combustion chamber for better combustion efficiency (=better performance & driveability and cleaner exhaust) via new ports and combustion chambers, and speed machining and reduce the weight of the engine assembly via the use of aluminum rather than iron. A431 was terminated in 1979 when it was decided that the use of slant-6 engines would decrease drastically due to Chrysler's impending 1981 changeover to front-drive passenger cars. Most trucks and vans by that point were being ordered with V8 engines, so the volume was judged insufficient to bother. Remember, cash was tight and costs were high at Chrysler in 1979, and any change costs money, so that was a factor as well.

It, like all other prototypes and design studies, was to have been destroyed.
Not the case. The info I've summarised above first surfaced in former Chrysler chief engine engineer Bill Weertman's History of Chrysler Corporation's Slant-Six Engine, many parts of which including this info were reprinted in sequential issues of the Slant-6 News in the mid 1990s, and posted at Allpar not long thereafter.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

No, I understand that point of it. But how about some 21st Century Technology? I DO understand it would be much easier to take an existing/improved head and go from there. But as many people have stated, 95% of folks cannot, or will not, spend $3000 for an aluminum head. Hardcore racers will be the most interested, and utilizing a port configeration/shape/contour such as in AFR's RP-SBC head, would benefit those stated to a greater degree than simply a reworked aluminum head.
I understand this takes time/money, but for a 100% race slant 6, that would be the hot ticket. I'm not disregarding what your saying Dan, I also know that if not enough interest is seen, a "prototype" will not happen. I'm just stating the ideal.
I do agree that the knowledge is a real loss, after all: the better you know where your at, the better you know where to go.
But airflow, understanding VE, swirl tech, and the engine in general have advanced lightyears since even the 80's. Just look at the camshafts. The hyper-pak cam is ancient compared to todays grinds. the ramp rate was pathetic! If they made that much power with that cam, imagine what a "recent cam" would do, esp. in a cutom application. Lots more torque...just my .02....
In short, everyone has his say on a subject, and I think it's great. If everyone thought the same, nothing would get done! I appreciate all the trouble some of you go to, in improving the factory design. It takes effort, and should be recognized. I could drop a 440 in my Dart...but since I like being different, I'm staying with the six. Besides, you gotta love some of the characters on here....my day wouldn't be the same without you......

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225 Cubic Inches of Iron-Head American Muscle

225 bored .040 /.100 off block, Schneider Cam 224@.050~ .480 lift - Stock valves, blended bowls, Offenhauser intake with 500 Edelbrock carb

Thanks for getting back to me Dan. Very interesting. No matter what was to be done with it it would have been nice to have. Myself I would have documented it as much as possible, maybe made some silicone plugs of the port shapes and when all done probably set it up on a new engine and into the Dart! Maybe it or another will pop up again, but who knows? How many could there be. I don't suppose the seller ever told you where he got it?

The seller told a lot of different stories to a lot of different people. He told me (amongst other conflicting tales) that he wanted to give everyone a fair shot at the head, so he picked eBay. He told Doc he didn't intend to sell it on eBay and just put it up to try to get an idea of its open-market value. And that's just a couple of the stories I know of.

Why do good parts happen to bad people?

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

BigBlockBanjo you know what im talking about. I have built a Slant Six bracket race car that will almost go dead on at most races. We are not there yet but we will try to improve next year. This is a footbrake car that will run with in 2 hunderdth of a second now and we are going to get it better next year. 12.54 aint bad for a Slant Six In the 1/4 mile. Thanks Ron Parker







It Aint Over Until I Win

Rock on, Ron! That's what I'd call great reaction times! Are you running a throttle stop? Hope everything works great!
BBBanjo

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225 Cubic Inches of Iron-Head American Muscle

225 bored .040 /.100 off block, Schneider Cam 224@.050~ .480 lift - Stock valves, blended bowls, Offenhauser intake with 500 Edelbrock carb

Nope we run footbrake only. That is tuff to do . But our Racing guru Mr RedNeckerson and our racing coach James Longhurst have guided us thru this year and look foward to next yearThanks Ron Parker










It Aint Over Until I Win

Just bring plenty of whisky Ron!

-James

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James my man we are bringing all our racing fuel next year. Did you not get my memo. ? . Racing fuel People Fuel not a problem. I know as a coach this is not your favorite team but you signed on as a coach. Hell if we doint win we want feel no pain. After all you are getting a lot of money to be my coach. Thanks Ron Parker








It Aint Over Until I Win

That would make a nice street car time Possum.

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Official Cookie and Mater Tormentor.

At least it will go more than a 1/4 of a mile with out looking like it hit a land mine Your Racing Friend Possum











It Ain Over Until I Win

How do you know? You never run it past the MPH stripe.

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Official Cookie and Mater Tormentor.