"POWER NATION" slant six build
Bill, you don't have to have 4 or 500 ponies to whup up on V8s. I think most people forget nowdays that the 69 440 barracuda ran a 13.89. If I were to get within a second of that with an n/a slant, I'd do handstands. That's what is so great about most slant guys, is they don't care if they are slow, they have FUN being different. Taking a car that probably ran a 19 and shaving 5 seconds off is rewarding in its own way.
Look at it like this, if you've got a 14 second V8, that's nothing too special but if you've got a slant that may even run 15s, that's pretty sweet.
Brandon, I know that what you say is true. The low 14's turned by Ed Thomson's naturally-aspirated slant six-powered '68 Dart will outrun a lot of cars, (like, stock 340s,) but the fact is, cars are getting faster all the time. For the last several years, the V6 Camrys and Nissan Altimas have had 100mph quarter-mile capabilities and the Honda Accords are just a tick slower... These are just soccer mom grocery getters, bone stock front wheel drive economy cars.
To make a naturally aspirated slant six, A body Dart or Valiant, run any faster than these mundane utilitarian vehicles is not an easy task... it requires a lot of work in the engine compartment if you are going to accomplish it without some SERIOUS lightening of the chassis... OR, forced induction. Or, both...
It's an uphill battle, naturally aspirated, because of that head..
Ten pounds of boost can be tolerated indefinitely, in a stock slant six motor, I think, without removing the cylinder head, using a chemical intercooler like a "Snowperformance BoostCooler." I think just ten pounds of boost on an otherwise stock slant six will put a 3,000 pound A body into the 13's on pump gas. That is an appealing prospect for someone who is facing the possibility of a swap to a 318 or 360 V8, with all the expense and detail work it entails.
The fact is, though, the performance capabiiities of a forced induction slant six is a too-well-kept secret... Hardly anybody knows about it...
Can anyone on this board reading this tell me when, if EVER (excluding the piece(s) on Steve Nitti's excellent supercharged Duster,) they saw any article anywhere, at any time, conveying the details about what a turbo can do for a slant six???
I have
NEVER seen such an article, and I read a lot...
It's ridiculous...
This POWER NATION show should do a slant six build using a mostly stock slant six, a 2bbl Holley carb (with Hangar 18 mods) on a super six manifold, and a PISHTA J-pipe, and not much else, and show what it can do installed in a 3,000-pound A body.
That should wake some folks up...
Think it might could happen?
Not likely... not selling any parts... LOL!
So, the boosted slant six will remain one of hot rodding's best kept secrets...:oops:
More's the pity!:banghead:
