New here, but seen a Doba LS for sale yesterday

[hemi_ram]

What is a good price for a red Chrysler Cordoba LS, I think it is an 81 or 82? Has the leaning tower of power in it but needs work to keep it running, needs a windshield but has great interior, new white letter tires and great looking rims. Has some cracking of the plastic filler panels on the rear and one small rust spot in the right wheel arch. Guy has 3 garages rented in an apartment complex and he has to let one stall and car go.

 

[Jack Meoff]

If it was nice with minor spots, rails and floors are solid...
With a slant....really? A slant in a Doba?
I'd throw $1200-$1500 depending.
Minty....I'd go $2000-$2500 depending.

And by the way...

Welcome.

 

[hemi_ram]

Thanks a bunch; will go over and check the underside tomorrow. I think you are right about the price. I'll let the board know the outcome.

 

[kkritsilas]

Hemi_ram:

The slant 6, unless you are willing to hot rod it, is pretty weak (90 HP) for a car that is 3400-3500 lbs. in weight. I know you can get some very nice low end torque out of a S6, but it may be better to get a V8 into it. The issue with that is that the transmission will need to be changed (S6 A904s have a different bell housing bolt pattern than the LA/Magnum V8s), and the differential may need to be changed, too (the 7 1/4" differentials used on the S6s are considered to be very weak, the 8 1/4" used on the V8s is better, but still no 8 3/4" or Dana 60). You can try to get a V8 K member (there was one for sale on this board, don't know if it is still available), or the conversion mounts from Schumacher. There are many more performance parts for the LA V8 (273-360) than there is for the S6 (Clifford being pretty much the only source, with a couple of exceptions).

Even with the factory V8s, most people find the stock J bodies (Cordoba, MIrada, and Imperials (Y body derivative)) fairly sedate. Fairly easy to get the V8s to wake up with a cost effective rebuild (Engine Quest heads, KB 167 pistons, good intake manifold, 4 barrel carb, headers, cam/lifters/pushrods, and a dual exhaust). Your ability to do that with the S6 is fairly limited. Captain Caravelle (another board member) was looking at some S6 performance parts. You may want to contact him to see where he is at with that, if you decide to stay with the S6.

Kostas

 

[hemi_ram]

Hemi_ram:

The slant 6, unless you are willing to hot rod it, is pretty weak (90 HP) for a car that is 3400-3500 lbs. in weight. I know you can get some very nice low end torque out of a S6, but it may be better to get a V8 into it. The issue with that is that the transmission will need to be changed (S6 A904s have a different bell housing bolt pattern than the LA/Magnum V8s), and the differential may need to be changed, too (the 7 1/4" differentials used on the S6s are considered to be very weak, the 8 1/4" used on the V8s is better, but still no 8 3/4" or Dana 60).. You can try to get a V8 K member (there was one for sale on this board, don't know if it is still available), or the conversion mounts from Schumacher. There are many more performance parts for the LA V8 (273-360) than there is for the S6 (Clifford being pretty much the only source, with a couple of exceptions).

Even with the factory V8s, most people find the stock J bodies (Cordoba, MIrada, and Imperials (Y body derivative)) fairly sedate. Fairly easy to get the V8s to wake up with a cost effective rebuild (Engine Quest heads, KB 167 pistons, good intake manifold, 4 barrel carb, headers, cam/lifters/pushrods, and a dual exhaust). Your ability to do that with the S6 is fairly limited. Captain Caravelle (another board member) was looking at some S6 performance parts. You may want to contact him to see where he is at with that, if you decide to stay with the S6.

Kostas

Very good info to know; it looks like to either get the salant 6 running and sell it or do a small block transplant. Thank you for the in depth rundown on these J bodies.

 

[Jack Meoff]

As Kostas pointed out....the mighty slant is no rocket.
Going by the year I'd say the car has the Super Six 2 bbl.
Rated at an earth shaking 110 hp.
I however love those little beasts.
My Volare is bone stock...it's my wife's daily driver.
Running on premium and beautifully tuned up, it does a more than adequate job if you're not planning on blowing Hemi Challengers off the lights.
My Caravelle has lost it's cat along the way and is pretty damn peppy off the lights. I think it's got 2.94's in the rear....not sure what they saddled your car with. I know the Fifth ave's have 2.2's which means instant slug out of the gate.

My plan for my slant in the Caravelle is an Offy 4bbl intake.
Without changing the cam to something more aggressive I'm limited to a 390 cfm carb....tops. With a larger exhaust the most I'm going to see is a "wake up".
Hot rodding a slant is totally doable but it requires a whole lot of money.

If performance is what you're after an 8 swap is the cheapest and easiest way to go. If you just want a nice pleasure cruiser....myself..I think a well tuned Super Six does just fine.

The big thing with that engine is they love premium. Night and day running on it.

 

[hemi_ram]

I had a 1960 Dodge Dart Phoenix with a 318 wide block with a factory 4 bbl and I got beat at a local dragstrip by a hopped up slant 6; had a factory hyper pak or something like that. I was embarrassed to say the least.

 

[Jack Meoff]

I had a 1960 Dodge Dart Phoenix with a 318 wide block with a factory 4 bbl and I got beat at a local dragstrip by a hopped up slant 6; had a factory hyper pak or something like that. I was embarrassed to say the least.

The hyper pak does indeed turn a slant into a rocket.
But again....to do it requires a lot of money.
There's a lot you can do with a slant to make it a scary little monster.
But again......lots 'o money.....

 

[kkritsilas]

i didn't intend to disparage the S6 in any way. It is a great engine in its own right, being the baseline engine for many of Chrysler's cars over its very long production run. Anvils can only look on with envy regarding its reliability.

The issue, in my mind, with the S6 is not the S6 itself, but its misapplication in the J bodies. Put simply, the J body weight is just too high for the S6. The 318-2BBL is barely adequate (130 HP or so), the 318-4BBL is getting closer to the ideal. Reality is, the J bodies would have had the 318-2BBL as standard if Chrysler was not as overly concerned with CAFE in the early 1980s. Ideally, the engine line up would have been 318-2BBL base, with the 318-4BBL and 360-4BBL as options. However, it was not to be, and you can't change history.

In today's world, with the freedom to do anything you want, I think the ideal combination would be a 318/360 built up the way wrote about above. Should have a pretty strong running engine, I would think somewhere in the 250-300 HP range, with good torque and drive-ability, on regular gas. Teamed with an A518 4 speed overdrive transmission and a rear end geared at 3.55 (in a 66-70 B Body differential) , it should be a great all around street car. The other approach, is to get a carbureted Gen III Hemi and its 545RFE 5/6 speed automatic transmission, a much more involved swap (with all the computer/ignition related issues), but doable. In either case, they will both make for a great looking, great perfroming all around car that can be daily driven without a problem or hassle.

Kostas

 

[Jack Meoff]

i didn't intend to disparage the S6 in any way. It is a great engine in its own right, being the baseline engine for many of Chrysler's cars over its very long production run. Anvils can only look on with envy regarding its reliability.

The issue, in my mind, with the S6 is not the S6 itself, but its misapplication in the J bodies. Put simply, the J body weight is just too high for the S6. The 318-2BBL is barely adequate (130 HP or so), the 318-4BBL is getting closer to the ideal. Reality is, the J bodies would have had the 318-2BBL as standard if Chrysler was not as overly concerned with CAFE in the early 1980s. Ideally, the engine line up would have been 318-2BBL base, with the 318-4BBL and 360-4BBL as options. However, it was not to be, and you can't change history.

In today's world, with the freedom to do anything you want, I think the ideal combination would be a 318/360 built up the way wrote about above. Should have a pretty strong running engine, I would think somewhere in the 250-300 HP range, with good torque and drive-ability, on regular gas. Teamed with an A518 4 speed overdrive transmission and a rear end geared at 3.55 (in a 66-70 B Body differential) , it should be a great all around street car. The other approach, is to get a carbureted Gen III Hemi and its 545RFE 5/6 speed automatic transmission, a much more involved swap (with all the computer/ignition related issues), but doable. In either case, they will both make for a great looking, great perfroming all around car that can be daily driven without a problem or hassle.

Kostas

I fully agree.
With a slant in that car right out of the box
It will indeed be a bit of a slug.
What I was saying is if performance isn't what you're after
A well tuned Super Six will be adequate.
But it won't win any races stock and it won't make your heart race.
Best bang for the buck is a swap if more speed is what you're after.

 

[Mr.Lopar]

Best way to get power from a slant is to have the head milled down .100" and get bigger valves/springs installed, along with a offy or Clifford 4bbl intake, and of course you can have a cam custom ground to whatever specs. And if you wanna go crazy you can throw a small turbo at it

 

[Jack Meoff]

Best way to get power from a slant is to have the head milled down .100" and get bigger valves/springs installed, along with a offy or Clifford 4bbl intake, and of course you can have a cam custom ground to whatever specs. And if you wanna go crazy you can throw a small turbo at it

You can do a lot with a slant....no doubt about it.

 

[R/T Mirada]

This may be considered sacrilege but a GM 700r-4 behind any 6 would make a world of difference in get up and go. The 1st gear is so steep, something like 3.059:1 Plus you will have the overdrive and get even better MPG

 

[My imp]

If building a leaning tower of power doesn't put you in the poor farm, adapting that trans will. I checked Summits price on adapting a 700R4 to a BB & *STB (*shit the bed!).