Slant Six Build Ideas

Ask 10 guys opinions and you'll get 20 answers.

So here goes. You say you want economy and it's for your parents. No use spending money on fancy stuff like sure grip and hi stall converter. My parents and millions of other parents drove these cars forever bone stock. You can improve on it though.

Charlie said a long time ago that there is no down side to increasing compression and it helps economy and power. So I milled my 225 head .080. (I wanted .100 but my machinist was against it so we compromised) You give some back because composite head gaskets are twice as thick as the original .020 steel.
100% rebuild, bored and honed professionally. I'd have to look but the machine work was 500 something.
Forged crank was checked and polished, no cutting.
Silv-o-lite pistons, King bearings, Hastings moly rings. I bought a kit and picked components eith my machinist.
Gave Oregon Cam a call, told them my intended use and specs and he recommended 2 grinds using my stock blank. I went with the milder because this is a driver afterall. Cost with shipping was 120.
Head rebuilt and had him put hardened exhaust seats in. (He was against that too) I pocket ported and gasket matched myself. Cost for the head work was 400 something.
He refaced my solid lifter rockers for $6 each. (He had a jig)
Installed Rolmaster roller timing chain and degreed cam.
Did a little intake porting and enlarged exhaust outlet before RRR made such a big deal about it.
Rebuilt original BBS Carter with a good kit from Daytona Carb.
Replaced the distributor drive gear myself and set endplay to specs using shims.
Checked oil pump to FSM specs and reused because of known drive gear problems. Also added a distributor drive gear oil squirter for same reason.
Installed brand new larger exhaust system. Going bigger in the future but this was a lucky swap meet find for only $40.
Painted engine red because 64 Valiants had red engines.

Close to 10,000 miles on rebuild finished 4 years ago. Have not changed plugs or points (dwell is still good) Driving to Carlisle I get 23-24 mpg at 65-70 mph on 87 octane. 3 speed manual and 3.23 7-1/4.
It scorched the quarter mile at 18.51

Edited: my head was milled NOT the block