Scotty, I recently bought a daily driver 1968 Dodge dart because I heard the 225 slant six engine can run for over a million miles, what is your experience with these engines? Are the rumors true?
yes they are great engines but that's an exceptionally old car and I sue many other things will break if you drive it as a daily driver
Yes, I will be replacing the front end suspension, converting to front discs, and replacing the rear leaf springs in the near future but the car runs like a top! About 200 freeway miles once a week with only minor vapor lock annoyance. Still less maintenance than my 67 VW Beetle, thanks Scotty!
Great car, and those engines can run practically forever. I don't know about a million miles, but several hundred thousand should be no problem if you maintain it. The main problem with those cars is rust. What would usually happen in the rust belt is the engine and trans would keep running perfectly as the body dissolved around them. If the torsion bar anchors rot out the car is just scrap at that point. Hopefully you live in an area without salted winter roads. If you do, spraying the underside with something like Fluid Film each season will help.
You'll no doubt have a number of old-car type problems to deal with but there is little on that car that cannot be repaired with simple hand tools. No sensors or computers to deal with. You'll want to be sure to replace all rubber parts in the fuel and brake systems if that has not been done already. Maybe convert to front discs for daily driver use assuming it has 4-wheel drums.
Thank you! Yes it was only rebuilt 10,000 miles ago and I fixed all the rust spots with sheet metal this past summer(there wasn't much since I'm in California) and got it painted so it looks brand new. I drive freeways every weekend and as long I'm in the slow lane the car runs perfect! My next steps are to change out the shot bushings and rubber with polyurethane and convert it to front discs which is a $600 job if I do it myself. Thanks for the advice!