1968 plymouth valiant 2dr sedan

[TheDeputy]

Hi Guys n Gals

I thought it would be nice to show you all what happens on the other side of the pond, in The Netherlands. This topic is about the mechanical upgrades that I'm planning and doing on my 1968 plymouth valiant 2dr sedan.
The car started out as a grocery getter 170 /6 three on the tree. Originally sold new in belgium, and partially assembled in Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
These cars are very rare overhere. I only know two other 2dr sedans in the netherlands, with 8 million other cars.

This is what she looked like when I picked it up at the 2nd owners house, after it had been standing still for about 25 years

 

[TheDeputy]

To make it road worthy it needed a lot of work. So I began fitting new brakes. To get it running fast I decided to just renew the parts of the original 9" drums, and maybe go larger after a while. Offourse all the hard lines, hoses and the MC were replaced as well.
The 13" wheels also had to go. I changed them for 14 x 5,5 steel wheels with dog dish hubcaps, and 205/70-14 tires all around
I also replaced the entire exhaust system and got the motor running.
This was enough to get it through the dutch inspection, so now I was finally able to drive it.

 

[Badart]

I love 68 Valiants. Welcome. Looks like a great project.

 

[TheDeputy]

Driving home for the inspection, I realized the 170 was completely worn out, and the three speed had it's gears spaced apart too wide.
So....
Install a bigger engine and a better gear box.
The gear box wasn't that hard since I picked up a /6 A833 from a 67 barracuda some time earlier. I completely took it apart and installed a new small parts kit and gaskets
I also had to modify the floor to make it fit, and make my own shifter since the one that came with the A833 was for a console car.

 

[TheDeputy]

The engine was done at the same time. I located a 225 from a dodge van for only 150 euro (200 $), it even had a rebuild head on it.
I changed the oil pan so it would fit the valiant. I also found a 225 super six set-up locally, which is rare in the states, but extremely rare overhere. It also deserved some nice paint so I brush painted it with a red engine paint from a local hardware store
I like to keep it a "stock" look, so I kept the original 1 barrel air cleaner, but adapted the base from an old 318 air cleaner I had lying around.
Because it's my daily it has to be trusty, that meant upgrading the ignition to electronic. fortunately I could also make that work with parts I had accumulated over the years.
So I now had a pretty decent combo, 225 super six, with a /6 A833 and a 3.23 rear.
I've been driving it like that for the past 2 years with great fun, and it has never let me down.

 

[4spdragtop]

Very nice work, looks like ya got a solid car to work on too!

 

[mopardude318]

very cool man!!!

 

[Dartnut]

Gotta love the Valiants!
Show us more please.

 

[TheDeputy]

The basis is indeed very solid. There has not been done any welding. The body still has all original paint, except for all the parts that are rusty since it's been standing under some sort of carport for 25 years, and the right front fender looks like it's been repainted once after a small accident.
It only has rust on the lower left front quarter, en the right rear lower quarter. Everything else is rockhard.
I also treated the underside and all the cavities with a product called RX5. It's a liquid as thin as water and converts rust to hard substance that prevents the metal from rusting any further.
Anyway, Now the time has come to update the mechanical parts the way I intended it in the first place.
That meant getting front disc brakes, only if I do that the bolt circle changes in front, so I'm going to have to do something about the rearend as well.
Luckily I found a complete set of front discs from a 1984 chrysler fifth avenue. After a lot of searching on this website I found out how to install it on my valiant and make it work, so I looked for the upper a-arms, lower and upper balljoints and all the other stuff.
I also found an old C-Body 8 3/4 and a pair of 67 B-body axles. Unfortunately the C-Body axle had one tube bend, but after hours of pressing I got it straight, and the housing shortened to the B-body axles width.
So now is the time to install it all, beginning with the rear axle swap.

I first measured the body height to see how much I would have to raise it to get it better looking.
This is what it looked like to begin with, and how it's supposed to look when finished.

 

[TheDeputy]

Those wheels are 15" steelies from a D100 and the tires are 225/70-15. Nice fit huh!
Anyway, the rear has to be raised 2,5" to get there.
So the plan was to take out the leaf springs, which are 6-blade heavy duty ones, and re-arch them.
I've seen it been done about 15 years ago, and figure it's not that hard to do.

I measured that the springs sag in about 4" when the body weight is on them,which means that If I want to raise the body 2,5" the springs need to take half that amount because the wheels take the other half.
And because the axle isn't centered at the springs, the entire spring assembly needs to be arched"about 1,5".
After unbolting the complete axle, I put one leafspring on a large piece of cardboard, and traced around it to see how it arches at the start.
Then I took it apart, and traced around each of the blades, and scribed off where they would need to be after pressing. This was done by estimated guessing.
Then all I needed to do was pressit in the desired shape, and check it against the scribe marks on my piece of cardboard.

 

[TheDeputy]

When I was finished with the first complete leafspring I installed a new centerbolt, put it on the traced piece of cardboard, and it was dead-on. Not one millimeter of difference. Exactely 1,5" of lift on the center of the spring. So I took it apart, scribed the finished result of each blade, and duplicated it to the for the other side.
Offcourse, it also needed some paint, and all new bushings.

 

[ocdart]

Hey Deputy -
Welcome to FABO from SoCal. You're going to have fun here!
Great work on your '68 Valiant so far. Good to see so much interest in Mopars on your side of the 'pond'.
Here's a couple of pics of the '68 Valiant my club, Inland Mopars, built as our charity project raffle car a couple of years ago

View attachment SoCalShootout2008023_edited (Small).JPG

View attachment SoCalShootout2008025_edited (Small).JPG


When finished, the Valiant had a 400-cube big block/727/8.75 drivetrain combo, RMS AlterKtion front and Street Lynx rear suspension, custom paint, and new Legendary interior.

Keep us all up to date on your progress with your nice '68.

 

[4mulaSvaliant]

Sweet! Another one being saved!!!!

 

[3404speed]

Nice work, especially considering your search for parts!

 

[360duster]

Hi Antoon,

nice to see your progress over here! Nice mods!

Michael

 

[hustlinA]

from another '68 Sedan owner

 

[pauly v.100]

Nice work!!

 

[TheDeputy]

Thanks guys!
I've been a regular visitor to this site for over two years, from as soon as I bought my valiant, but I just never took the time and effort to start this thread.
I'm more into mopars than into computers:yawinkle:.
Great pics of great valiants!
Here's another one I really love
http://scottygossonexposed.blogspot.com/2011/08/banned-steve-currys-mopars.html

Antoon

 

[Plaschy]

Good to see another Valiant being saved!

 

[TheDeputy]

Here are some pics of the rear axle that's going in.
Like I said it started life as a C-boy axle. The car it was in had been in an accident of some sort, so one tube was bend. Fortunately I was able to straighten it by sliding in a long pipe, through the differential bearing caps, and bushings in the outer ends, so I could align it perfectly.
I then shortened it to the lenght of the 67 b-boy axle's I found and welded on new perches.
I also had left over parts from my challenger restoration, so I rebuild the 10" brakes with some new parts from rock auto, installed new wheel cilinders and made my own hard lines.

 

[TheDeputy]

The gears going in that axle is the one that came with it when I bought it. A 489 open diff with 3.23 gears. Perfect for a daily driver.
I took it apart, and the bearings still looked decent enough for my purpose, so I just adjusted them, put in a new seal and called it ok.
The bearings on the axle's were also cleaned from 45 year old grime, and they came out great, so new grease and they are ready to install.
A little lube won't hurt either.

 

[TheDeputy]

Now it's time to install it. I allready had a drive shaft shortened and balanced to the right specs, so that was an easy install.
The U-bolts are oem ones with the correct cross-hatch pattern so they won't move on the axle tube.
And see the finished result. The car is a quarter inch higher than I estimated as seen in the first pics of this upgrade, so that's not too bad I guess. I think it will sag down a little

This is the progress so far. Next week I'm going to bleed the brakes and hook up the parking brake cables, which I have to transfer from the old 7 1/4. And make a test drive. Then it's time for the front end to come apart again.

Antoon

 

[Vitamin c]

Very cool! i wish mine was a 100 or 200 and not a signet, I think those cars are cooler as bare bones models. neater to turn into a hot rods.

 

[Rockerdude]

Cool ride! Keep up the great work.

 

[TheDeputy]

Yesterday I finally had some time to wrench on my valiant again. First thing I needed to do was finishing some odds 'n ends on the rear end, like hook up the parking cables, bleed the brakes, and tighten all the bolts in final position.
Then it was time to take it for a spin and check for weird sounds.
That turned out great, no noises, and the car went straigt as an arrow.

See the finished result of the rear. It now has the german stance but that will be fixed with the installation of front disc brakes and bigger wheels.

Antoon