Having just purchased a slant six van with 145,000 miles, and having a spare engine and a bunch of performance parts I've been saving in my garage, I want to rebuild a 225 to drop into the van and build it to improve low end performance and fuel economy (if possible)

Here's my proposed specs, tell me what you think:

225 block
.030 pistons, stock rods and crank
1972 198 head with Ford 300 valves installed with porting and angled valve seats
Mopar Performance 244 cam
Mopar Performance double roller timing chain
Mopar Performance cam advance bushings advancing the cam 4 degrees
Dutra Dual exhaust, 2 inch pipes
Holley 2305 carb or maybe Carter AFB 400 CFM or Edelbrock 500 CFM carb
HEI ignition
Mallory coil
Recurved distributor

This would go in front of the stock A-904 (until I could swap in an A-500) and a rear axle with 3.56 gears

What are your opinions for this proposed combination in a 86 Dodge shorty van? Would it be worth the trouble? Any items that wouldn't work in a package aimed at the 1000-3500 RPM power band?

Thanks!

I believe the normal intake centerline for the MP244 is 102, so you might not want to advance the cam anymore (you may want to retard it a bit........)

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

Hopefully the 500 has a real nice/'kind' first gear... I know the A-518 coupled to a 9.25" 3.55 sure grip behind a 5.2 magnum was a real dog trying to shove a Ramcharger around...

sounds like a fairly good plan for a RV style buildup.

-D.Idiot

I thought the A-500 had the same gear ratios as the A-904. Hmmm. I do have a A-999 that has the lower first gear ratio, maybe I'll swap that in instead....

The A500 can be a nice tranny if it's built correctly but as they came stock from the factory they are a bit weak. There's been a lot of discussion of their shortcomings on the Dodge Truck World forum regarding them. The A-518 is better but I don't know how difficult it would be to mate it up to a slant. My Dakota has an A500 and I just had to have it rebuilt but at 130K+ I guess I can't complain but I've had 904s go way beyond that with no problems and a lot of folks are having to rebuild the 500s at 40-50K.

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David Kight
'62 Valiant Signet, White
'98 Dodge Dakota
'06 Jeep Liberty

Growing older is unavoidable but growing up is strictly optional.

The A500 uses the "low" 1-2 gearset - 2.74,1.54,1.00,0.69 ratios. Should be great for a truck/van.

Reed, everything you said sounds good for low end. Any headwork will not hurt you down low on a 225.

FYI, almost all cam centerline specs from manufacturers are more retarded than optimum for a 225. I base this on my own experience with about 5 cams, and talking to many other racers. Advancing 4 deg from recommended should work well. Will you centerline it first? If the chain is off to begin with (common for MP roller), you won't know where you are.

The spec I've seen on the 244 cam is 108 or 106 installed, I think? Maybe some books say 102? 100 is about right.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

I think you're going to have a hard time passing emissions with this setup.

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

As far as emissions goes I will be keeping the air pump and catalytic but replacing the catalytic with high flow versions (one for each exhaust line). I have always removed the emissions from my cars (except the catalytic and air pump) and had them pass no problem. I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

I have found a complete adapter kit from an A100 van to mate a slant six to a small block tranny, I'm just waiting to hear back from the guy who is selling it.

I will degree the cam once it is installed, but if anyone knows the factory centerline specs I would appreciate it. I am buying the cam used so I don't have the installation specs.

Thanks for the tips guys! It is nice to be thinking about working on a slant again!

Having driven big cars with the 225 ('80 Mirada), I would stay with a v8. A properly prepped 318 or 360 would have the same good gas mileage and push that brick down the road better the a hopped up 225. Just my opinon, but if you want a hot \6, put it in a A-body. And yeah, I know the reasons why you don't want to do that. But you are not that much bigger then me, and I fit my '65 just fine.

Thanks for the advice Kesteb, but it is too late. I already sold the 74 Dodge van to a guy in Norway and I have an 86 slant six van in my driveway. I just like messing with slant sixes more than smallblocks, plus I ned to usethese parts that have ben collecting dust in my garage for the past five or six years.

Aaay! I like my big slanted brick!

Thats what I say. You can't drive faster than 60 around here anyway, and I am in no hurry to get there. It reminds me of an old blues son g I once heard, "I'm built for comfort, not for speed." Thats my philosophy these days.

60!!! I guess you haven't been down 405 in a while. Either you are doing 70+ or stopped dead in your tracks, nothing in between. The I-5 parking lot is not much better.

Fircrest is just a bump in the road between me any everything south on I-5, when going thru that strip of freeway I am at 70+, with everybody else, you really don't have to slow down until Olympia, and when your past there, not unitl Oregon. If you are trying to do 60, you just might become a damp spot on the freeway.

Woah, what time of day do drive through town? When I go to work at 8:30 and when I come home at 5:00 I am lucky to do 30 on the surface streets, much less the highway.

That being said, I just got back from taking the family to Christmas dinner in Gig Harbor in my new van. In the 5300+ pound van with five adults I was flooring it to make it up to 55. Definitely time for at least a two barrel.

I think the motor is also getting worn. The guy I bought it from did a compression check on the cylinders and the compression varied between 90 and 110. Plus it smokes on startup and it still diesels on shutoff. And gas mileage doesn't seem to be that great either, even with the spark control computer and feedback carb.

I don't need top nothc accelleration, but I would like to top out at at least 55 on the highway. I think an overdrive tranny and built motor ought to let me do that. Time will tell.

No kidding. On my drive to Everett every day, its 65-75 all the way. Of course, this is around 1 in the afternoon and 11 or later at night. I've tuned the Satellite so its "sweet spot" is between 2500-3000 rpm, just right for the speeds I drive, which is about 90% freeway driving.

Reed, ditch the computer.