198ci

Compared to the much more plentiful 225's and 170's, the 198 seems like the oddball of the group. I know it was introduced to make production easier by using the same block as the 225, but why make different models of the slant 6? I have a 198 (3.2 L) in my Swinger, and I was just wondering the specs/performance and pros/cons, and maybe why it was taken out of production in the mid 70's.

I've heard of some performance build with 198 rods in a engine and was wondering if someone could elaborate on this?

Thanks