Hot Testing Slant Six Engines

Col_Steve said
You pose excellent questions. And I have no good answers.

Please understand I'm not calling you out or challenging your recall. You were there and I'm sure the trucks were as you describe. But they sure are weirdo items!

We wondered about the exhaust valve seats in the antique engine since all there was was no lead gas

Maybe Chrysler put in hard seats, but I'd guess they wouldn't be needed on such a low-stress engine design with low compression and small valves running in a giant heat sink (cast iron block). The valves and seats would have a very hard time reaching the critical temperature; they'd live a long and happy life without any lead.

The book called for whale oil in them which by that time was either in short supply or never to be seen again. If we found them to be uncontaminated we put the original whale oil back in as there wasn't a viable substitute for it at the time. If it was watered we were forced to use 80-90. I left for greener pastures in 1980 and don't know if the 80-90 caused any problems.

Whale oil…jeeziz. That's some olde-tyme shіt, right there!