Roger Dowding wrote:Ray,
.....The original transplant was back in the late 70's early 1980's and is the 225 CI slant six - to fit under the bonnet of the Healey.....
The Hemi 6 would probably be no higher than the slant 6 and certainly less in the way. The slant leans over across the steering and could well interfere with the master cylinders, whereas the Hemi is more like the original engine.
The thought that the slant was leaning over to make a lower bonnet line possible is a phurphy. I realised this when I did some thinking about the Peugeot 404/504 engines, which lean over at 45°, so are much further over than the slant 6's 30°. In the Peugeot it could readily be established that the carby sticking up at an angle from an inlet port that was minimally lower than it would have been had the engine been vertical meant that the engine was no lower overall.
With the slant, the inlet ports were actually higher than they would have been if the engine had been vertical. I set up a diagram to show this once on a forum and got howled down, but the facts are the facts. The centre of gravity would have been very much unchanged, the height at the air cleaner was no different (and that's the kind of thing which truly sets the bonnet clearance or height) while in right hand drive cars they become a maintenance menace.
In left hand drive it made sense, both for Peugeot and for Chrysler. Better access for the steering, column change mechanism, master cylinders etc. The starter motor is more accessible and generally there's more room for things. With the Valiants I believe one of the major considerations was intake runner lengths, though Peugeot didn't worry about that.
A side benefit of the slant is that the water pump can still be centralised in the car and moved back alongside the block, so the engine could be a little shorter overall.
The thought of a Hemi in a Healey is definitely attractive. There's a 260Z running around Brisbane with one in it, the engine's lighter than the Datsun engine, more powerful and fits in well.
