The most reliable engine ever made in a older American car

[Cranky]

I know cars are better now a days than in years past. Our Durango is over 16 and my 'yard cart' Dakota is 21+ and the 2500 is 18. They are all original. The Dakota is original down to the hoses....except for the starter and water pump. Only the 2500 has over 100k miles on it with the others right at 100k miles.

It would probably be easier to list the lemons that were produced lol. I do know the Chevy engines of the 60's were produced with fairly 'soft' cast iron. You can even hear the sound of the cutter when you are boring one vs a Mopar or even a Ford block. Another thing I noticed when boring a Ford was the intermittent sound the cutter made. The material was not consistent at all and HAD to be honed. Granted, they should all be honed and you have to with moly rings but if you know what you are doing, you can finish tool a good finish without having to hone if you are using cast rings on a basic rebuild and it will last a long time. The Chevy stuff was much easier to do this on with a Mopar block being a bit too hard to finish tool. I was amazed at how quiet the sound was when cutting the Chevy stuff lol. As a machinist, we call soft cast iron peanut butter It's easy to cut and easy on tooling and even the dust it creates is at a minimum.

 

[barnfind]

Cummings 12 valve, poly 318, LA 318, slants and flathead 6. 98 1500 dodge with 289000 on the 360, a puff of smoke when it was first fired up in the morning, and was still solid the day I sold it. Mechanically the transfer case chain wore holes in the case at 250000 and was better to replace than try to rebuild.

 

[uwss]

318

 

[69a100]

Just read my saying at the bottom of my post!

 

[lewtot184]

2bbl 283 chevy.

 

[Sonny Black]

2bbl 283 chevy.

I never had one that held-up.....sorry:eusa_pray:...BUT mine (3) had 4BBL's

280-pee ( used to call them) I blew up 3...3 different ways.....all 3 had bad bucket , #7...why???

 

[Seventy]

I know cars are better now a days than in years past. Our Durango is over 16 and my 'yard cart' Dakota is 21+ and the 2500 is 18. They are all original. The Dakota is original down to the hoses....except for the starter and water pump. Only the 2500 has over 100k miles on it with the others right at 100k miles.

It would probably be easier to list the lemons that were produced lol. I do know the Chevy engines of the 60's were produced with fairly 'soft' cast iron. You can even hear the sound of the cutter when you are boring one vs a Mopar or even a Ford block. Another thing I noticed when boring a Ford was the intermittent sound the cutter made. The material was not consistent at all and HAD to be honed. Granted, they should all be honed and you have to with moly rings but if you know what you are doing, you can finish tool a good finish without having to hone if you are using cast rings on a basic rebuild and it will last a long time. The Chevy stuff was much easier to do this on with a Mopar block being a bit too hard to finish tool. I was amazed at how quiet the sound was when cutting the Chevy stuff lol. As a machinist, we call soft cast iron peanut butter It's easy to cut and easy on tooling and even the dust it creates is at a minimum.

I agree, luckily most of the cars I have rebuilt were High Performance motors and Chevy was good enough to put "high nickle" 010 marked blocks in them cars, and I have stockpiled my share of good 010 small blocks, PROBLEM with them is, now its cheaper, faster, and better to buy a crate engine. I can get an l82 350 for $1899 (long block, vortech heads), cut the heads, change the head gaskets, cam set, timing set, and valve springs, add an aluminum intake and 700ish carb and get have a 350hp 350ci for around $2700!!! ALL NEW, no rebuild, from carb to pan... I actually have 2 of them all done back in the crates, because last time I needed one they told me the price increase was coming I bought 3 of them, lol...

The thing that keeps us rebuilding 440's is the crate engines are $11K, lol... at that point may as well get a hemi for another $4500...

I never had one that held-up.....sorry:eusa_pray:...BUT mine (3) had 4BBL's

280-pee ( used to call them) I blew up 3...3 different ways.....all 3 had bad bucket , #7...why???

I agree Sonny, the 283 was nothing to write home about, nor was the 327. I have had and have now a 302dz z28 and EVEN them were NOT bullet proof by any stretch of the imagination, actually almost everyone I bought had a blown motor, lol... BUT, I can NOT think of another 5 liter motor that can rev or make power like them DZ's?!?!?!? (from back then obviously, now they have 3.8's that make 600hp and run on pump gas)... Them old chevies 283/327/etc were good for "driving", not racing... they didnt like daily spankings, especially in big heavy cars...

The 5.7 and 6.0's are good motors for driving and the occasional spanking, kind of like work horses, while the LS series IMO is one of the nicest motors produced EVER, is good for everything, from mild to wild, 325hp to 800hp, daily driver, race track mule, what ever, they do it, cheap, light, efficient, and reliable while still being powerful.... PLUS dont forget they come with one of the only reliable transmissions being produced right now, lol...
I WAS never impressed with a mopar or ford tans, even the 727, its ok, but they are sloppy and have their issues....

 

[patrick66]

Sorta true. The old 318 Poly ain't the same engine as the later 318. Same displacement, different everything else.

Not entirely true. There is a LOT that interchanges between the two engines - hence the names 318A and 318LA. Rods, cranks, water pump, timing cover, and distributor are just a few of the bits that swap out. They use the same torque converters and bolt right up to any 904 or 727A transmission the same way. Same engine mounts, throttle and kickdown linkages, and more.

 

[YY1]

Sevety's point about special blocks for gm HP cars is actually one of the arguments for Mopars-

For the most part, there are no special block castings (yes I know there are differences), but we don't have to worry about finding a block with "four bolt mains" or "high nickel content", in order to maximize potential- all ours are capable of the same durability and performance from the factory.

 

[FIRST R/T]

slant six hands down !!!! 3 stories .... 1970 d100 3 times a week parts run from wash dc to newark del ... After xing bay bridge kept foot on floor at 83 mph all the way to newark ... Never an issue ... 2nd tale ... 1973 dart had a slight tick so chry rep says put in a set of rod brgs ... Still had the tick .. He says blow it up and put in a short block ...after draining oil and 75 miles it finally put a rod out side of block .. Drove it back and put in a short block !!!! 3rd tale .. My own 76 dart in fla. .... Wife calls "car won't run" ... After checking it out found no oil or water in it !!!! Nary a drop !!! I let it cool down and put water and oil in it and drove it for a couple of more years b4 selling it for more than i paid for it ...... I would stake my life on the reliability of a "slant ticky" as our tec's use to call them ..

 

[67440chrg]

/6 I had a 80 dodge d100 225 4sp od with duel tanks. That thing could go from Okc to little rock to Kc on the 2 tanks and still have a little left. With a little over 300,000 miles it wouldnt pull my boat out of the water any more with out smoking the clutch. retired it and put a 383 in.

 

[FIRST R/T]

/6 i had a 80 dodge d100 225 4sp od with duel tanks. That thing could go from okc to little rock to kc on the 2 tanks and still have a little left. With a little over 300,000 miles it wouldnt pull my boat out of the water any more with out smoking the clutch. Retired it and put a 383 in.

gee ....... Only 300k on it ? I guess i would be a little tired too but it still ran !!!!

- - - Updated - - -

I SOLD A LOT OF PARTS TO DC CABBIES IN THE EARLY SEVENTIES AND SAW MANY SLANT SIXES WITH 250 = 300 K ON THEM WITH ONLY VALVE COVER OFF TO ADJUST VALVES ....

 

[300]

194/230 inline 6

 

[Auggie56]

Worked as a line mechanic at a Chrysler Plymouth dealer from 1970 to 1979. The only six (leaning tower of power) I ever had taken down, was for a bad head from the factory. No knocks, no oiling problems no nothing. Unless you talking the cracked exhaust manifolds, but then with me it was only a few. A friend did buy a short bed Dodge, some where in the early eighties. It ran great, but after driving a long distance, the exhaust manifold was cherry red. The dealer/factory was never able to fix it. The emission standards is what killed that engine.