Projects 170 Slant Powered 27 T Shortened Touring, "Basurati"

So, I've posted about this car over on my main build thread, "MODIFIED LAKESTER BUILD (THUNDERCASKET)" so far but it is time it gets its own thread. I had been urging @justa170 to build a traditionally styled hot rod for some years now and onde day he found this 27 touring car "rat rod project" for sale at a price I said was reasonable and told him to go grab it.



First thing I wanted to do was mock it up and sit him in it.


As is almost always the case, it was worse than the pictures told but I expected that. We ended up shelving the frame and punted the front end entirely (it looks VERY underbuilt and under-engineered).


This is all welded up and made of steel that seems to be like 0.10 or something.

We made the decision to throw money at the chassis and time at the body so we ordered the Speedway Tribute T chassis kit which took a while to arrive but is a really nice kit (it came mostly assembled).

Oh, and the body has A LOT of mudwork where metalwork was called for, like the door tops made of tape, cardboard, and Bondo for instance:



Once that finally arrived (it was backordered for weeks and we are still waiting on some things from the order), we determined the body wasn't going to jive with the chassis quite how we hoped BUT that wasn't really that big of an issue because I have DEFINITELY shortened a touring car before and this car was DEFINITELY not too nice to cut up.



So, we cut the back half off (the subframe had been butchered by previous owners long before we got it anyway) and this is what we got.




SO, the plan now is actually an idea that I WISH I had used on the Thundercasket body; we are going to mount/merge the rear quarters D pillar to the C pillar (where the front seat frame attaches) and section the front and rear doors together to make a long-door shortened touring tub. Since the body sits so low due to the kick up, we will move the back of the tub up until we clear but the C pillar location looks to put us in the ballpark.



photodump to follow

 

Looks like it's gonna be a fun build. Subscribed.

 

I like it!!! Anticipating photo dump!

 

Nice! I love slant sixes

 

I'll be here to watch & learn. We'll and maybe say some stupid stuff.

 

Circa '16, Studebaker did a center-door Touring. Rare these days. Looked neat, one I've long loved, same idea as yours. Keep your proportions correct, & it'll look killer. .
Marcus...

 

So does @justa170 & I think they are neat too. He is DEEP in the rabbit hole on them though; I can't even do justice to the amount of super nerdy planning he has put into the engine build (which is also at Power Play Machine along with my flathead). I think it's roughly a 'small displacement block with bigger head and a hot cam' type thing but hopefully he will chime in and correct me. Regardless, it should fit and the small displacement will work great with this little car which I think will weigh in possibly under 1500 lbs.

The only non-period part going is going to be a ford pattern T-5 (which we still need to find) that he has a fancy adapter for. There are A LOT of T5 cars on here so I don't wanna hear any guff! I'm going to put a housing over it regardless.

Stock 170 specs here for future reference:
------------
Bore: 3.40" (86.4 mm)
Stroke: 3.125" (79.4 mm)
Con. rod: 5.669" (144.0 mm)
Rod ratio: 1.814
Displacement: 170.2 cu in (2.8 L)
Peak HP: 115@4400
Peak Torque: 155@2400

 

I have a slant six in pieces to be built as well. Some of the machine work is done, it’s a little off topic for here but is going to be forced induction.

 

OK, this is everything from up until a few weeks back I think.

 

Will the doors have the wheel cut out still in place? I wish we were not so far apart. I have some sheet metal you could use and I'd do some trading for your disgusting front end. I think it has possibilities especially for a non-Ford to 3 springer.
Interesting specs on the slant six. It's about 5ci smaller than where my 153 Chevy 4 cylinder ended up. It will be plenty of engine for such a light car. There was a kick-ass version of that engine offered in Australia. Stock it made over 1 hp per ci and had 3 side draft Webbers.

 

This is after we cut the back off and wrestled the body down on to the frame for the first time. This is obviously not where the body goes. We decided that we should get the steering box mount and firewall as close together as we can (which seems to be the intent were we to be using the glass body from SW).



I try to get pictures when he is making only the worst faces.

My predictions for where the wheels were going to end up wanting to be were pretty near dead on.


Here is the back half as we were playing with ideas before cutting the subframe back out of it (that I spent part of a day putting in a couple weeks before). We clamped the front seat frame in to get an idea how much the D pillars were going to have to come in (about a 2x4's narrow side) and fiddled around with an idea I had years ago to run a Model A gas tank flipped around but not sure this car will get that.

 

That is the current plan, yeah. Using the front half of the front doors and backs of the rear doors +/- makes for less modification and I think it will be an interesting look. Since the rear will be offset back a bit in relation to the wheel well, I may make some bolt in filler panels but that is not a priority at this stage. If we get this mocked up like this and decide we hate it, we will stretch the front doors and hack up the rear quarters more to make that work but honestly, I would REALLY prefer to not do that to this car. The front/back sectioned together door path looks a lot easier to do with what we have to work with and our near-future goals for the car.

The front axle itself looks OK. Not sure what it came off and I am not familiar with the spindles. I haven't inspected the wheels/hubs to see what they actually are either. Frankly I just want it gone because I do not think it is suitable for more than yard art or a very mild yard driver. The "batwings" are made of like 0.10 plate and welded on to the axle with the hairpins welded on as well. I would not feel safe on the road with this setup. All the welds look to have been hit with Bondo so I did not trust them. The welds I saw inside the body on the subframe were boogers and I broke them free by hand. Also, the J bolts for the quarter springs were welded in and the odd sleeve bolts that hold the eyes on are a mess. The way it was set up on the original frame, it looked to me that you could damn-near end up leap frogging your axle and going ass-over-teakettle. It is yard art.

I believe he has dual 2bbls of some variety I have forgotten but he was very specific about. He had the cam custom ground so I think this thing is going to run like a scalded cat from a cherry bombed trash can. I would not be shocked if he bests 1:1 hp.

 

You could always use the front half of the rear doors and most of the front doors to create a long profile door looking like a stretched stock door.

 

IIRC, the rear door hinge locations are slightly different but I am not sure I remember correctly; it has been a long time, I think I put a set on somehow. However, the operation you suggest involves twice as many cuts and joints to get to the same idea but I will certainly take it under advisement.

Here it is!
Yeah, I think the door tops on rear doors are a little higher when they meet the cowl. This will be something I will have to blend out when I section the doors, likely with a long pie cut but the door tops need to be replaced anyway.


This is my car in early 2015 (I would have saved myself A LOT of time if I was satisfied with it this way).

 

Oh, man. It all started innocently enough: A couple of magazine articles made me slant-curious, so I bought Doug Dutra's excellent book on the subject. Then I joined slantsix.org. It's a slippery slope from there.

Cast iron slant blocks were built in two flavors: G (~9.06" deck height) and RG ("Raised G"; >10" deck height). The 170ci motors were built using the G block. The RG block could be built as a 198 (using a 3.64" crankshaft) or a 225 (4.125" stroke). Many years ago, Doug Dutra observed that the G block can be clearanced to house the 198's crankshaft. Overbore that block and you have a slightly undersquare 200ci+ motor that weighs less than a 225 and has a better rod ratio. (There are obviously much easier ways to make power, but I like weird motors.) [Edited because, contrary to what I wrote earlier, I'm pretty sure the rod ratio will *not* be quite the same as a 170's.]

The stock connecting rods are plenty strong for this build. Find oversize pistons with a shorter wrist-pin height to compensate for the longer crank throw. Off-the-shelf hypereutectic Silv-O-Lites are perfect for this, and they're cheap! I got P/N 1287-5MM.

My block (and userpic) came out of a 1961 Lancer.


The 198 crank came out of this, from a 1970 Dart.


Since the later heads flow better, I took the head from the 198 as well. Scott Ouellette (PowerPlay in Wilmington, MA) made it look this nice:


A big overbore means bigger valves will fit, so 1.72" intake and 1.45" exhaust valves are going in. (EngineTech V0399, I think, with the exhaust turned down to 1.45.")

That's Bertram.

The cam is a Pattern #346, with 110-degree LSA, from Oregon Cam Grinders. (Slantsix.org folks speak highly of them.) Stock valve springs will come out for a set of COMP Cams 901-16. [Edited to remove part number for retainers because I was WRONG. Not sure which retainers we'll use yet.]

Stock lifters and rockers can stay. Stock water pump housing (2128-284) with plastic impeller (2205-549). Stock oil pump.

I'll probably need to order pushrods.

Port/polish head. Shave/deck head and block for a static CR of ~9.5. Replace the single-row timing chain with a double roller (JP Performance JP5613). Add a custom-fabricated windage tray.

Intake: Offenhauser 5041 with a pair of Carter BBS 7044s.

(Not my photo, and not my stuff, but that's the idea.)

GM HEI upgrade: ACDelco D-1906 module, Standard Motor Products FD-478 coil, GM 10474610 heat sink, Super Lube 98003 heat sink compound.

Mopar distributor #3874876, distributor cap #2098765 (tan alkyd, wide contacts). Echlin rotor MO3000.

Remy 16054 mini-starter.

Exhaust: Clifford shorties. Can't find the P/N. We'll see whether/how much they need to be altered.

 

Clifford 6=8! Love it!

 

Sooo, Justa; You're going with a well-breathing long rod motor. Pretty good choice, IMO, but Doug is the expert on such matters.

Do keep us all in the loop on this build, please.

Roger

 

I should've specified that I'm using the stock 170 rods (not the 198s). I think "long rod" slants are usually an RG block with the 225 crank and the 198 rods.

Oh yeah. Doctor Dodge knows his slants.

 

A lot of our time these past few weeks was spent erecting 'the hut' and giving it some creature comforts like a floor, soft sides, and an insulated ceiling to work on the "BASURATI" project and starting to finally clean up my driveway now that my shoulder is getting a little stronger. It is actually surprisingly comfortable in there.



That being mostly done, we managed to get the car slapped together and rolled in there. We had to roll it back out to get the mockup engine dropped in now that we have a nice T5 with goodies to mount up. The adapter plate went on the bell just fine and we got the whole rig dropped in using a spring pack as a temporary cradle.







I was astonished to find that the engine mounts lined up just about perfect considering none of this is what the frame was designed for (a Flathead!).




The body will come forward at least another 3" once I get the subframe reinforced and relieved. At the moment the transmission interferes a bit but this is the only remaining crossmember so I need to do other work before I make a cut.

 

Wow, Progress on all fronts, two cars and a shop!

 

I've always been a sucker for the slant six. Built a couple '67 Valiant coupes with 'em and a 4 speed and had a riotous time. Always thought it'd be a sweet hot rod engine.

Looking forward to more!!

 

I have the makings of a long rod slant at home with a bunch of the machine work already done…

 

Those are the carbs I ran on my 261, but manual choke. Got them from a place in Fresno, NOS. The were perfect for the Chevy.

 

We hacked and slashed on the car this past Saturday from like noon (once we fought off a flood in my basement) til 10pm and I have like ONE picture to show for it. We got the body reinforced enough to notch the one subframe crossmember for the transmission and slice/bend part of the firewall for the bell. The inside part of the firewall is now butted right up to the steering box tower on the frame.

The big story of the day is that @justa170 fabricated his first metal part and it will probably become a permanent piece of the car. I took a marker to this piece of box tube I had cut to length and marked out all the holes and cuts it needed and then went to the hardware store.



Once we got it in place, he screwed it in tight which allowed us to cut that crossmember without the body going floppy on us.

 

Yet another "point of no return" on this journey.

 

Pat...your a busy man...good on you both...there was a dark green tub I've shared a couple times drag racing and I believe it's a mighty slant 6...

These 6s have a proven track record for Mopar that's for sure...workhorses...

I have a vision of you both cruising together in the near future...

Here's Ole Greeny...aka the Flyin' Brick



https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...-build-race-thread-ex-flyin-brick-car.800081/

I suspect you both are well aware of this Hambers beast but I'll share it for those that may not...

Credit to Photographer, Owner
​

 

I am a fan of that car too!

 

Excellant build and , give Bertram plenty of scritches ,

 

Took a holiday break from projects but got back at it New Year's Day. Not a lot of visible progress since the last update.

We pulled the other rear in favor of a later one I had out back and promptly made a mess trying to get the bushings out. They had been in there for years and got all tight so we couldn't get shackles through them nor could we get them out. I got one out and promptly seized the piece of tubing I pushed it out with in there. That is still in there since I misplaced the bolt I bought to chase THAT out and the new bottle of MAPP gas to heat it with. Trail of fail on that front.

We did a lot of measurement work trying to figure out what to do about the spring issue back there. The one we got thinking it was correct for this application turned out to be completely useless for old Ford rears entirely, and is meant for weld-on perches, which made me mad and also made me feel stupid. HOWEVER, I measured the rear crossmember which Speedway both refers to as "Model A" and yet then says you need a 2" spring for and it is actually identical in dimensions to a Model A rear crossmember, so, we ordered a high arch spring which will work.

Next we evaluated our options for the motor mounts some more. It looks like the simplest solution is going to be to cut the tops out of the FH frame mounts and drill the sides so the late style slant mounts will fit inside. This is the only way we can get the engine sitting lower, involves the least BS and most precision.

The only thing I took pictures of is a little jig I put together to play with windshield rake so here's that.

 

We have been hitting our heads on this thing a bit lately. Currently, the main roadblocks are finding the right wheel and tire combination and figuring out the rear suspension.

Wheels & Tires:
I think we can get away with a 26" tire up front and 32" tires out back; we have it mocked up that way now using my wheels off the Thundercasket build and some blocks up front. The major issue we are having is finding new wheels with the right offset so the wheel doesn't look like it's sitting on top of the finned drum that are narrow enough to work with the tires @justa170 wants to run, bias look Stahl Sport Radials. We keep finding wheels with 2.375" to 2.75" offsets which seems too shallow to me vs. stock Ford 16's. We are looking at 17" & 18" wheel combos too but it's been a bit maddening trying to figure this out without stuff to actually try and look at. Anybody got 2.75" backspace wheels with Buick drums we can see?

Rear Suspension:
So, since we are using this Tribute T chassis in a way other than it was intended, we have some things to figure out on our own in regards to things like body & engine mounting and the rear suspension. We want to have pretty stout nerf bars mounted to the frame on the sides without coming up into the body with them but this makes running the rear rods outside the frame a bit tight.

The rear end kit and the mounts for it put the rods all the way up by the transmission crossmember. With a T5 this puts that pivot point about a foot too far forward of the U joint. Moving that mount back to be in line within the tailshaft/U-joint area would solve that issue but still appears to leave potential for scissoring into where we want the nerf bar to be.

This kit DOES NOT seem to want to work with old Ford rear rods. We have a set on there now, it was a chore, and the pinion is nose-down a few degrees. We could pie-cut them, but we would still have the potential interference with the nerf bar and the body itself potentially. I though about moving them inboard but that would mean mounting short rods much closer to the rear center or using rods shaped like hockey sticks, neither of which seems ideal. A 4 bar setup would sound like an option but the top bar could want to come up your butt crack if you hit a pothole.

The kit setup uses a 4 link setup I'm unfamiliar with. It uses race car style single rods on the sides, tied to dropped mounts on the axle tubes with short, angled links to the center from the crossmember.



I am somewhat inclined to reverse a set of old Ford rods (point them down) and pie cut/gusset them so they're dropped down to scrub and pointed at where they need to go on the frame. This seems like it would clear what it needs to clear and control what it needs to control.