Finally got another A-body
My Talon build has been snowballing into something much more complicated and expensive than I originally planned, so I decided to throw together a really basic A-body for this coming summer.
A local guy put this '67 Valiant on craigslist recently, and I've always loved these 2 door post cars, so I drove out yesterday and brought it home. It's a 273-2/auto car, original drivetrain, paint, everything. The good: transmission was just rebuilt, engine runs good, frame and floors are super solid. The bad: needs quarters, gas tank is rusty.
The plan is to first just get it running and drivable with the original engine, replace rusty tank and lines with fuel cell and new lines, do a brake job and wheel bearings, replace slot mags with 14" steel wheels and decent tires, remove the crappy carpet and find a better set of seats for it. Once all that's done I'll drive it to cruises and car events as I gather the pieces I need to swap a 5.9 magnum and put a decent rear end under it. Looking into the 8.8 Explorer swap, it looks like a nice alternative to the 8 3/4 which is getting harder to find. Might also do a Ford 9, depends what I find with 8.8 stuff or if I get lucky and find an A-body 8 3/4.
My Talon build has been snowballing into something much more complicated and expensive than I originally planned, so I decided to throw together a really basic A-body for this coming summer.
A local guy put this '67 Valiant on craigslist recently, and I've always loved these 2 door post cars, so I drove out yesterday and brought it home. It's a 273-2/auto car, original drivetrain, paint, everything. The good: transmission was just rebuilt, engine runs good, frame and floors are super solid. The bad: needs quarters, gas tank is rusty.
The plan is to first just get it running and drivable with the original engine, replace rusty tank and lines with fuel cell and new lines, do a brake job and wheel bearings, replace slot mags with 14" steel wheels and decent tires, remove the crappy carpet and find a better set of seats for it. Once all that's done I'll drive it to cruises and car events as I gather the pieces I need to swap a 5.9 magnum and put a decent rear end under it. Looking into the 8.8 Explorer swap, it looks like a nice alternative to the 8 3/4 which is getting harder to find. Might also do a Ford 9, depends what I find with 8.8 stuff or if I get lucky and find an A-body 8 3/4.
