This is Gertrude, currently languishing on a farm in Saskatchewan Canada. She's a 1966 Canadian market Valiant 200 Custom that I've owned since sometime in the late 1990s. I originally bought her for $300 from a couple in Vancouver who were the second owners, having purchased her from the proverbial little old lady original owner. Since then she's gone through four engines, and brought me out to Saskatchewan when I went to school there.
She's got a dead 225 Slant six (bottom end has gone) hence why she ended up where she is. I'd previously upgraded the front suspension by swapping in 340 Torsion Bars and the big bolt pattern disc brakes off of a Chrysler Cordoba, and upgraded the rear leaf springs to a HD/340 spec set. The body is generally pretty solid though showing some battle scars.
Anyways, I'm supposed to be travelling out to visit my Mum in a couple of weeks and I'm planning on getting her hauled out of her current resting place, and if time allows, get a good running motor swapped in place of the current dead one.
Which is where I'm going to need your help... what engine should I go for?
The car originally came with a 225 slant six. Obviously this would be easiest swap (I'm a little out of practice but having changed four of them in this car my record is about five or six hours to get the old engine out and the new one in)
However, I'd like to see more power out of the car than a stock Slant Six can provide. Unfortunately, the power potential of these motors is somewhat limited by the small bore and a less than optimum cylinder head design. On the other hand, they can still be made to perform, and in the 170 CID iteration (2.8L) can be built to rev to 8000 rpm. And don't forget the Hyperpak - the original factory racing package that features perhaps the sexiest inlet manifold of all time.
The other advantages of the slant six is that it has a reputation for indestructibility and they are reasonably easy to come by, though in Saskatchewan good ones tend to get snapped up by farmers as they were used to power all sorts of farm equipment. I figure that over time, if I go this route I could build an interesting, reasonably economical engine that could put out about 200hp.
However, a small block Mopar V8 would be a very easy swap as they were available as an option in these early A-bodies, and will bolt in with just a change of the motor mount brackets. My preference would be to try and source a 273 cid engine (4.5L) as this was the only V8 offered in this era Valiant and thus "suit" the car. The 273 also came with other goodies such as a forged crankshaft and close chamber cylinder heads, and some very pretty rocker covers in the HiPo Commando version
The plan would be to eventually upgrade the engine beyond Commando specifications, using late model 318 swirl port heads, and some bolt on upgrades (cam, aluminium inlet manifold, TTI headers) which would probably see a realistic 280 hp. 273 Commandos are known to be quite economical to run, and fuel economy should match or even exceed that of the six cylinder. The downside to this swap is the general unavailability of decent 273s and a lack of some rebuild parts such as pistons and rings.
Or, I could go for the crazy option and drop a big block in. There are aftermarket motor mount kits available that make this a bolt in proposition, and even though the cars weren't designed for to accomodate the B Engine, oddly enough they fit, and can even get away with using factory Hi Po exhaust manifolds. Plus it looks the business.
383s are relatively plentiful and probably no harder to find than a slant six. Initially it would make the car a nose heavy pig, but alloy heads, inlets, and water pumps are readily available which would bring the weight down to that of a small block. Fuel economy would suffer but it would be easy enough to build a reliable 350-400hp engine.
I suspect that due to time constraints imposed by my visit I'll probably just try and find a decent slant six to drop in for the meantime to get the car roadworthy, but it would be good to know what you all think.
She's got a dead 225 Slant six (bottom end has gone) hence why she ended up where she is. I'd previously upgraded the front suspension by swapping in 340 Torsion Bars and the big bolt pattern disc brakes off of a Chrysler Cordoba, and upgraded the rear leaf springs to a HD/340 spec set. The body is generally pretty solid though showing some battle scars.
Anyways, I'm supposed to be travelling out to visit my Mum in a couple of weeks and I'm planning on getting her hauled out of her current resting place, and if time allows, get a good running motor swapped in place of the current dead one.
Which is where I'm going to need your help... what engine should I go for?
The car originally came with a 225 slant six. Obviously this would be easiest swap (I'm a little out of practice but having changed four of them in this car my record is about five or six hours to get the old engine out and the new one in)
However, I'd like to see more power out of the car than a stock Slant Six can provide. Unfortunately, the power potential of these motors is somewhat limited by the small bore and a less than optimum cylinder head design. On the other hand, they can still be made to perform, and in the 170 CID iteration (2.8L) can be built to rev to 8000 rpm. And don't forget the Hyperpak - the original factory racing package that features perhaps the sexiest inlet manifold of all time.
The other advantages of the slant six is that it has a reputation for indestructibility and they are reasonably easy to come by, though in Saskatchewan good ones tend to get snapped up by farmers as they were used to power all sorts of farm equipment. I figure that over time, if I go this route I could build an interesting, reasonably economical engine that could put out about 200hp.
However, a small block Mopar V8 would be a very easy swap as they were available as an option in these early A-bodies, and will bolt in with just a change of the motor mount brackets. My preference would be to try and source a 273 cid engine (4.5L) as this was the only V8 offered in this era Valiant and thus "suit" the car. The 273 also came with other goodies such as a forged crankshaft and close chamber cylinder heads, and some very pretty rocker covers in the HiPo Commando version
The plan would be to eventually upgrade the engine beyond Commando specifications, using late model 318 swirl port heads, and some bolt on upgrades (cam, aluminium inlet manifold, TTI headers) which would probably see a realistic 280 hp. 273 Commandos are known to be quite economical to run, and fuel economy should match or even exceed that of the six cylinder. The downside to this swap is the general unavailability of decent 273s and a lack of some rebuild parts such as pistons and rings.
Or, I could go for the crazy option and drop a big block in. There are aftermarket motor mount kits available that make this a bolt in proposition, and even though the cars weren't designed for to accomodate the B Engine, oddly enough they fit, and can even get away with using factory Hi Po exhaust manifolds. Plus it looks the business.
383s are relatively plentiful and probably no harder to find than a slant six. Initially it would make the car a nose heavy pig, but alloy heads, inlets, and water pumps are readily available which would bring the weight down to that of a small block. Fuel economy would suffer but it would be easy enough to build a reliable 350-400hp engine.
I suspect that due to time constraints imposed by my visit I'll probably just try and find a decent slant six to drop in for the meantime to get the car roadworthy, but it would be good to know what you all think.
