There is no "open" or "closed" on the Slant-6 valve; that's on V8s. There's "heat on" (rotated full clockwise as viewed from the front) and "heat off" (counterclockwise).
Yeah, I've sprayed quite a bit of the Mopar penetrant in there. It seams to have a bit of front to back slop, along with the shaft and/or housing worn a bit. It seams to bind less when the shaft is towards the front, so I 'farm fixed' the free play with a stack of flat washers between the manifold and return spring. I'm not holding my breath for a fix though...
I guess I should have looked closer at the flapper when the manifold was off. Does the heat on flapper setting restrict exhaust flow? If I had to have one setting for now, I suppose the heat off setting would be the place to be and let the car act like a cheap Japanese motorcycle when first started?
