On Wed, 20 Jul 2005, Roger Blake wrote:

> How did their aluminum six hold up? I know the Rambler aluminum mill was
> prone to all kinds of problems, and many were replaced with cast-iron
> jobs while still under warranty.

The aluminum 225 slant-6 has no systematic problems at all -- except for
knowitall owners used something other than glycol-based antifreeze in the
cooling systems. The design of the engine is extremely robust
(integrally-cast iron cylinder liners, deep-skirt die-cast aluminum block,
beefy factory align-bored cast iron upper and lower main bearing caps,
etc). Proper procedure must be followed when installing the head gasket,
but that's true with everything. I have owned five of these engines --
still own two -- and they're not much less robust than the iron version of
the same engine. Certainly Chrysler never had to engage in warranty
heroics as AMC and (later, with the Vega) GM did with their more halfassed
efforts.