Читать книгу Chrysler Slant Six Engines - Doug Dutra - Страница 9

INTRODUCTION

The goal with this book is to document Slant Six engine information gained over the more than 40 years I have worked on this engine. There is some development history included so the reader understands how an engine can end up overengineered, to the point of becoming one of the most robust engines ever built, but I do not intend to go into the engine’s ongoing advancement history and eventual demise. I will cover all the basic Slant Six engine configurations released into production and present information on how to correctly identify those engines using casting numbers, ID stampings, and visual clues. I will also show major engine components and the differences that distinguish them, but I cannot show all the application differences that were used to install the Slant Six into a wide range of vehicles and equipment.

Rebuilding an engine is a big, expensive job, so I will give some attention to engine evaluation with the hope that you can get your engine running well by doing a simple tune-up or valve adjustment. The “keep it simple” thinking also applies to the tools used in this book. I will try to show you ways to do a task with the tools you have, instead of the special factory tools shown in the Factory Service Manuals. I will show you some special tools needed to perform specific tasks on a Slant Six, but the focus will be on items that are inexpensive and readily available or that can be rented or made at home with common materials. I will not spend a lot of time or photos on machine shop equipment and processes because most Slant Six owners are going to select a machine shop, take their engine to that shop, and have a professional machinist do the precision engine machine work for them. Look elsewhere if you want to see photos of a crankshaft grinder, engine bore and honing equipment, or other specialized machine shop tools.

The steps for engine removal, breakdown, and inspection will be covered in sequence as I perform the disassembly. The particular sequences shown were chosen so your work is easier and time is not wasted. I want to support a do-it-yourselfer who has access to basic tools and is working on a street-driven vehicle, so the engine rebuild I show here will be a “pump gas” engine, not a race engine. There will be some measurements that you need to take during disassembly and reassembly, but I want to keep those to a minimum and do these measurements in a simple way with common inspection tools.

Engine assembly, installation, and initial start-up will also have an important sequence of operations that should be followed. I will share additional tips and tricks to address the special needs found when working on a Slant Six for the first time. As a bonus, I will review some currently available performance parts and special Slant Six engine combinations that I have tried, in case the owner wants to go to the next step and squeeze more power out of his or her engine. In summary, I want to share all the Slant Six–specific engine rebuilding details I have learned over the years and deliver understandable information to the owner of a street-driven Slant Six vehicle who has some mechanical ability and a set of basic tools.