1962 Lancer Wagon, Lancersaurus!
When I read the early design info on the slant, they started with the 170 and that was the basis for the engineering. All the design was around the little engine. When they enlarged to the 225, they had a ton of problems and one engineer said it was a P.O.S.
Geeze Louise…it is amazing how distorted and garbled a story gets when it's retold and misunderstood enough times. Just like that kids' schoolroom game of "Operator" -- you remember, the one where the teacher whispers a sentence to one kid, who whispers it to his neighbor, who whispers it to
his neighbor, all round the circle until the last kid speaks it out loud and everyone laughs and laughs at how different it is from the original message.
Fact is, the 170 and the 225 were both engineered at the same time. One didn't come before the other, and they did not have "a ton of problems" with the 225. Port sizes were completely fine, and still are. Valve sizes were ample for the stock 170 and a little on the small side for high RPMs with the 225, but since the 225 was configured as a low-RPM torquer, this was not considered a problem. Bill Weertman was Chrysler's Managing Engineer - Engine Design from '55 to '62, Assistant Chief Engineer - Engine Design and Development from '62 to '76, and Chief Engineer - Engine Engineering from '76 to '87; if you're interested in the
actual facts behind just about every aspect of the Slant-6 engine's initial and ongoing development, you should read his 3-volume work, "A History of Chrysler Corporation's Slant-Six Engine". It is probably still available from Chrysler Historical. There's also a great deal of information in the Slant-6 chapter of his
Big Dåmn Book of Chrysler Engines (which if it's not on yer bookshelf or your Xmas list, should be).
