Getting your slant to run - lesson 1

[68barracuda]

Ok So you have your valiant with a slant - but hold your Horses before you charge into REPLACING the slant with a V8...

Valliant’s have now become collectable and a Numbers matching car that LOOKS spec and performs like rocket is worth a hell of a lot more than a V8 Conversion.

To give you an idea the world wide production of RHD 68 Barracudas with six cylinder engines is...........2700. Same goes for the rest

And only in South Africa will you find a Valiant Charger with a slant six.....or 383 - but that is a separate matter

BUT the poor beast have been strangled by the cylinder head - imagine trying to breathe through a straw and trying to ignite your mixture with wet flint..get the picture?

Ignition - as soon as you can TURF the points ignition - do not waste money on a conversion - the electronic distributors are available -
Get the transdapt mopar recurve kit - summitracing.com - replace the stock short loop spring with the lighter one from the package keep the original long loop heavy spring. While at summit order accel or similar Distributor cap and rotor - BTW the slant and the big blocks V8 mopars use the same rotor.
Replace your Plug wires with Accel prostreet or similar and go for NGK ZFR5N plugs - American SUV in centurion stock them plugs for 2000 model Jeep 6 Cylinder.- - remember to remove the squash washer.......... the drool tube seal for you. replace drool tube O-rings while you are at it - Media Hydraulics is your friend here.
To Fire this lot there are 3 Options - MSD Very good but very expensive, Mopar Orange Box Good but the design is aging, and the quality is questionable since they are now made in CHINA AND the Chev okes is going to love this - The GM 4 pin HEI unit with heat sink - which you have to do your self R200 good value to say the least.
And oh yes you can do Worse than a Blaster 3 Coil from MSD

Now I assume you read through this a couple of times before charging away like a bull in a China Shop - please mark WERE your ROTOR are pointing before you pull the dizzy OK

If you Have bought a brand spanking new dizzy - Hooray for you - you can skip reconditioning the dizzy if not please make certain the bushes are healthy.

Install your toys - make certain the rotor is pointing at your mark - you did mark the block did you not...? If you are going with the msd or hei - bypass the ballast resistor and wire accordingly. If using mopar don’t.

Point to note - replace your POINTS type regulator with an Echlin solid-state one = 13.6 volts at idle and the flickering lights are gone...and it looks like the original - cool tip. - your electronics will thank you - if you have a later 2 wire type alternator - don worry - just make certain it works.

I assume you have everything installed plug wires cut to length and crimped wire separators in place plugs in etc? Good now try to start her - if your installation is according to specs she will. if not email me - you have made a mistake. let her warm up and follow theses instructions.

Block of vacuum advance and take idle up to 2600RPM
Allow the engine to idle 10 minutes at this speed. now set your timing to 32 Degrees before TDC. drop idle to factory setting or nearest stable RPM - this would give you around 12.5 - 15 degrees advance at idle - and the car would be a hell of allot more drivable.

What I do here is to hook up a vacuum gauge and test idle vacuum and fine tune the timing with the vacuum gauge for maximum vacuum at idle.

Now take her for a spin and check for pinging in the midrange - where vacuum can kicks in - the can takes an Allen key through the nipple - Clock wise increase RPM at which vac kicks in anti-clock wise decrease- you can not change the value - only when it kicks in - play around until ping (pink?) has just disappeared if it was a problem to start out with.

And there you go - One Saturday spent and you have an easy starting strong pulling slant.