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Chrysler 6 cylinder flathead 310


wagoneer

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According to the  flathead wiki , in the early days the 6s and 8s were humongous! The 6 got as big as 310 cu in's ( 5 liters ), and the 8 as big as 385 (6.3 liters). Somewhere on this forum was a discussion on how to get the block displacement so large, and it was a copy-cat block.  Seems there are beefier versions of our venerable flathead all the way back to 1926-1928 that have disappeared, or become so rare that few have them or the parts to fix them. 

 

Anybody have one of these older blocks? Are they very different? I am constantly amazed at the variety of uses the Chrysler 4, 6, and 8 have gotten through the years. The same block can power everything from a generator to a military land or marine transport.

 

That 1928 Imperial Series 80L is super sharp. I wouldn't mind having that as a second car with its drop top. 

 

 

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Wow! That image is a bit low res, but those blocks must have had a full inch extra in height in stroke! Would these bigger engines be drop-in replacements for our humble "regular" engines? Everything else seems the same (compression). With so much combustion volume, you'd think there would be a lot more horsepower generated. They are super torque-y. In comparison, the 400 cu in small block chevy made 265 gross, and nominal 150. 

 

Why don't these engines generate a ton of horsepower?

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Engines like those were designed for torque and low revs.  Truck engines need torque to get the load moving and keep it going.  As Sniper alluded to the reciprocating mass of these engines is large and really cannot do the higher rpms needed for increased horsepower although I expect with changes improvements could be made.  

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1 hour ago, Frank Elder said:

@wagoneer
Those big engines would be in the engine  compartment and in between the seats, and the transmission will be in the rear seat and a 2 inch drive shaft. They are longer than a straight 8 and heavy! @Dodgeb4ya has a good picture that will show you the difference.

You mean this one?

 

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This is a pic of a DT 413 six....

The engine block has extra lower reinforcement to support the crankshaft journal webbing.

Also adds extra stiffness to the block in general. 

Seven main bearings. Tocco hardened crank, Nickel Chrome Molybdenum block/head  etc. Hydraulic lifters. 

The design of this engine looks similar to the large displacement engines of the 30's that Chrysler built.

The Chrysler straight eights... 323, 385 are designed very similar to the above moly block 413.

The 385 had nine main bearings...the 323 had five.

The 413 shown above has seven main bearings.

3" main journals.

This engine weighs right at 1100 lbs.

When I can get to it I'll load some pics of the Chrysler eights... 20201209_211652_compress65.jpg.f29d3ce2ad0e72ebf81ceb747e9eec59.jpg

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Edited by Dodgeb4ya
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1 hour ago, Plymouthy Adams said:

is that a mechanical tach drive adapter on that distributor....?

It is a cable tach drive.

This engine has the cast housing adapter tach drive.

The other style tach drive is built right into the distributor like in my "Big Red" truck.

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Those truck engines are monsters.

 

I found a great set of articles on the imperial club pages - http://www.imperialclub.com/Articles/26-28Sixes/index.htm

 

on the six, it’s the last 300+ Cu in car engine.

 

in theory it would fit our “latter-day” models.

 

 

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