Hey guys, so I thought I'd finally make a thread for my on-going project. It's a '69 Valiant 2dr sedan, /6, 904, 7-1/4. It's pretty bare bones, split bench front seat, 9" manual drums all around when I got it. I bought this car in 2011 and at the time I still lived with my parents (gimme a breal I was only 21). I saw it down the road from their house and pulled over to check it out, I always wanted an old car to wrench on and have fun with. I talked to the owner, checked it out (albeit not very thoroughly), and bought it without really doing any research. Kinda silly of me, but I was too taken with the style of the car and the thought of me cruisin' around in the thing.
Here's how it was when I got it home:
I made a thread in the welcome section and learned that the front clip was incorrect! I was a little disappointed in myself for a while for failing to notice before I bought it.
The problems with the car when I bougth were as follows:
During the swap:
Wheels on the ground after:
I replaced the carb with a refurb unit and that took care of the leak and general sad state of the original carb. I guess at this point I didn't have a clear plan nor a realistic goal for the car. I ran in to some trouble bleeding the brakes, dead batteries and registration/insurance issues. I moved out of my parents house around this time and got a motorcycle so I kinda lost interest in my car.
Fast forward three years later, I regained my hope after watching an episode of roadkill where they took a challenger and put a RV 440 in it. I don't know why that really inspired me, but it did and I started back where I left off, now with a goal in mind and a clear idea of what I want. I realized this will never be a show car, that doesn't bother me anymore. In the words of Ricky Bobby, "I just wanna go fast!".
I finally got around to sorting out the DMV paper work issues a couple of weeks ago and decided to tackle the problems with the brake install. As it turns out, the problems I had bleeding the brakes were a simple fix. The wheel cylinders in the rear were both leaking badly and the prop valve I got with the kit was missing a piece so it was pissing brake fluid from all sides LOL! I rebuilt the rear drums with all new pieces, got the piece I was missing from the prop valve, bled the brakes and I was good to go! Also I got a new battery which solved my starting issues and a turn signal cam which solved the turn signal problems.
Rebuilt the rear drums:
At this point I drove it around short distances, that really was an awesome feeling! I also found out the suspension was totally toasted. I ordered hotchkis rear leafs, PST 1.03 torsion bars, hellwig front sway bar, inner and outer tie rods with solid sleeves, and KYB shocks. I also decided to try and take care of my cracked plexiglass driver window so I orded a sheet of 24x48x1/4 polycarbonate.
Pile of parts reaching critical mass:
Tackling the rear leafs:
Buttoned up for the night:
I don't have any pics of the new door "glass" in yet to show but it turned out ok, I scratched up the new piece a little getting it in to place. So that brings us up to today. Right now I'm gathering parts to put the proper '69 front clip on the car and I'm prepping to put the new front suspension pieces on. I'm hoping to start on the front suspension this weekend but we will see. Progress on this car will happen in spurts as I work a rotating shift schedule which really only allows significant time to work on the car once every six weeks. In the end I don't think this car will ever be "pretty" but I hope to eventually put a 408 in it and drive it like mad. Thanks for reading my story thus far. Stay tuned!
Here's how it was when I got it home:
I made a thread in the welcome section and learned that the front clip was incorrect! I was a little disappointed in myself for a while for failing to notice before I bought it.
The problems with the car when I bougth were as follows:
- Turns signals did not work
- Brakes were terrible, dangerously bad, scary to stop at 5mph bad
- tires were dry rotted
- speedo did not work
- gas leaked from carb
- wrong front clip
- driver door glass was a piece of shattered plexiglass
During the swap:
Wheels on the ground after:
I replaced the carb with a refurb unit and that took care of the leak and general sad state of the original carb. I guess at this point I didn't have a clear plan nor a realistic goal for the car. I ran in to some trouble bleeding the brakes, dead batteries and registration/insurance issues. I moved out of my parents house around this time and got a motorcycle so I kinda lost interest in my car.
Fast forward three years later, I regained my hope after watching an episode of roadkill where they took a challenger and put a RV 440 in it. I don't know why that really inspired me, but it did and I started back where I left off, now with a goal in mind and a clear idea of what I want. I realized this will never be a show car, that doesn't bother me anymore. In the words of Ricky Bobby, "I just wanna go fast!".
I finally got around to sorting out the DMV paper work issues a couple of weeks ago and decided to tackle the problems with the brake install. As it turns out, the problems I had bleeding the brakes were a simple fix. The wheel cylinders in the rear were both leaking badly and the prop valve I got with the kit was missing a piece so it was pissing brake fluid from all sides LOL! I rebuilt the rear drums with all new pieces, got the piece I was missing from the prop valve, bled the brakes and I was good to go! Also I got a new battery which solved my starting issues and a turn signal cam which solved the turn signal problems.
Rebuilt the rear drums:
At this point I drove it around short distances, that really was an awesome feeling! I also found out the suspension was totally toasted. I ordered hotchkis rear leafs, PST 1.03 torsion bars, hellwig front sway bar, inner and outer tie rods with solid sleeves, and KYB shocks. I also decided to try and take care of my cracked plexiglass driver window so I orded a sheet of 24x48x1/4 polycarbonate.
Pile of parts reaching critical mass:
Tackling the rear leafs:
Buttoned up for the night:
I don't have any pics of the new door "glass" in yet to show but it turned out ok, I scratched up the new piece a little getting it in to place. So that brings us up to today. Right now I'm gathering parts to put the proper '69 front clip on the car and I'm prepping to put the new front suspension pieces on. I'm hoping to start on the front suspension this weekend but we will see. Progress on this car will happen in spurts as I work a rotating shift schedule which really only allows significant time to work on the car once every six weeks. In the end I don't think this car will ever be "pretty" but I hope to eventually put a 408 in it and drive it like mad. Thanks for reading my story thus far. Stay tuned!
