Slant 6 in rat rod

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1973_440_DUSTER

1973_440_DUSTER

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So I've got another motor I'm planning on swapping into my 1973 duster /6 car. I also have a 27 ford roadster rat rod I'm building, I figured with an easy rebuild on the slant 6 I'd use it to build my crusher rat rod. I also have a 74 dodge pickup that's donating it's 400 for the duster. It has a 4 speed in the truck. Could I possibly use the truck 4 speed behind the slant 6? Or should I find something else?
 
You'll need a bell housing. Was the Slant in a manual or automatic car?
 
Which 4 speed does the truck have? could be a NP435 which is a heavy duty, LARGE trans with the "granny" first gear. I wouldn't use that. If its a 833 or 833OD then it would work fine in my opinion.
 
Too funny - I've been eyeballing craigslist looking for a '27 T for a Slant build!
 
replicaracer43 said:
Which 4 speed does the truck have? could be a NP435 which is a heavy duty, LARGE trans with the "granny" first gear. I wouldn't use that. If its a 833 or 833OD then it would work fine in my opinion.
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The slant was an auto, and I the trans has a granny, why do you suggest I don't use it?
 
There is a retired shop teacher running around the Barberton/Akron Ohio area. He has what he calls a Dodge Roadster. Truth be told, only the radiator shell is Dodge as the body is a 23 Ford T and IIRC a beer keg gas tank.
Anyway, he runs a /6 through a 904 into an 8-3/4 rear end. (all Mopar) He built this thing while he was teaching shop and I'm going to say that was 20-25 years ago. he told me he only spent about $2000 building it as he was good at scrounging. It's black and it now has a top but the cool thing is he runs 6 individual pipes without a collector that he made out of lengths of mandrel bent tubing. After he had those worked out he had them chromed and uses motorcycle baffles in each individual pipe.

I used to see him and his wife maybe twice a year at local cruises but it's been a couple years since I've seen them. He's getting up in age, maybe as old as Bill Dedman :D

It was a long distance cruiser as they used to go to out of state Street Rod events. I remember he told me about one trip to TN in the rain. I have pictures of his car but it would take me awhile to find them plus I'm at work. I'll see what I can do.
 
1973_440_DUSTER said:
The slant was an auto, and I the trans has a granny, why do you suggest I don't use it?
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If its a NP435, it is a HUGE heavy duty transmission, with really wide gear spreads. You could use it if you want, but for what your doing almost any other manual trans would be a better choice in my opinion.
 
replicaracer43 said:
If its a NP435, it is a HUGE heavy duty transmission, with really wide gear spreads. You could use it if you want, but for what your doing almost any other manual trans would be a better choice in my opinion.
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This roadster s basically just a scrounged together car with things I have, I just wanted to know if it was even capable of mating, but I plan on swapping it out when I find something better of course but for know I think it will do
 
replicaracer43 said:
Which 4 speed does the truck have? could be a NP435 which is a heavy duty, LARGE trans with the "granny" first gear. I wouldn't use that. If its a 833 or 833OD then it would work fine in my opinion.
Click to expand...

Why wouldn't you use the NP435? It's a rat rod. The 435 is perfect for that type thing. It's big, brutal and indestructible. I am actually on the lookout for one for my rat truck. I would swap my 833 OD straight across the board for a good NP435.

The only "drawback" is you cannot speed shift with one......but you'd be surprised how fast I can shift one. I have Borg Warner's version in my Ford truck. The T18. It's still in good shape and shifts really well. Kitty even drives it all the time and likes it.

One thing's for sure. The NP435 won't break.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Why wouldn't you use the NP435? It's a rat rod. The 435 is perfect for that type thing. It's big, brutal and indestructible. I am actually on the lookout for one for my rat truck. I would swap my 833 OD straight across the board for a good NP435.

The only "drawback" is you cannot speed shift with one......but you'd be surprised how fast I can shift one. I have Borg Warner's version in my Ford truck. The T18. It's still in good shape and shifts really well. Kitty even drives it all the time and likes it.

One thing's for sure. The NP435 won't break.
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You darn sure right about the strong part, I have had a few of them and they are tough. My thought was that in a build like his, its total overkill for a slant, and they are pretty tall also, makes tunnel fitment harder.
 
No doubt it's overkill, but Chrysler did it right from the factory in medium duty trucks such as D500 dump trucks and such. They came with slant sixes and the NP435. Right off the assembly line.

Can you imagine a D500 slam full of gravel goin down the road? Don't hit any grades. lol
 
replicaracer43 said:
You darn sure right about the strong part, I have had a few of them and they are tough. My thought was that in a build like his, its total overkill for a slant, and they are pretty tall also, makes

I'm not gonna build a tunnel for the trans just the driveshaft,. Im just gonna shine up the trans and have it mostly exposed so tunnel fitment isn't an issue
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I don't know where the exposed transmission fad came into play in the rat rod world, but you might want to rethink that. I have a friend who has a 41 Chevy rat truck. It has a dual quad 383 with a 727. He decided to expose the transmission in his build with expanded metal. Only after a few minutes of driving, it gets hot as HELL in that truck. So much so, that he only drives it on cool evenings and in the spring and fall. He's going to put a solid floor in it probably this spring. It's one of those ideas that looks cool but doesn't WORK too well.

Although, if you use a manual transmission, I don't think the heat buildup will be nearly as much.
 
In the late 70s and 80s a lot of 2wd dodge trucks came out with a slant six and an 833 OD transmission. If you could find one in a junk yard you could grab the slant bell housing and trans for dirt cheap. Just something to think about.
 
RustyRatRod said:
I don't know where the exposed transmission fad came into play in the rat rod world, but you might want to rethink that. I have a friend who has a 41 Chevy rat truck. It has a dual quad 383 with a 727. He decided to expose the transmission in his build with expanded metal. Only after a few minutes of driving, it gets hot as HELL in that truck. So much so, that he only drives it on cool evenings and in the spring and fall. He's going to put a solid floor in it probably this spring. It's one of those ideas that looks cool but doesn't WORK too well.

Although, if you use a manual transmission, I don't think the heat buildup will be nearly as much.
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Its a roadster not a solid cab so I'd imagine it wouldn't get as hot as that we'll see how it goes if I don't like it I can always change it haha
 
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