Project El Cheapo 1971 valiant drag car
Project el cheapo is making progress slowly. Got my 50 dollar 8 3/4 from a 69 cornet. Me and my buddy he's 74 years old and an old school mopar man rebuilt the whole thing. Actually I did most of the work while he instructed. New bearings, seals, all new brakes and new hard brake lines. I used a 20 ton press to press the bearings on and off. Man do they make a pop when they come off!
He showed me a trick he's done before. We took the leaf springs from my valiant and the springs from the cornet( they were still on the axle) and cut them apart and put them both together, made new straps and a longer i bolt. Ta da heavy duty springs for free, they look great and it sits just right now.
I got a 3:91 posi 3rd member online for 250 in great shape, which I thought was a great deal. I was suprised by how much room I have to fit wider tires. Actually I dident even move the perches, on that year B-body the perches are 44 inches apart. An A-body is 43 so its only half an inch difference on each side. No big deal it bolted up fine.
I have some 265/50/15's on 15x8 rims and I still have 2 1/8 inches before they hit the springs! Those tires are 9 inches wide easy! That means I could fit some 12 inch wide meats easy.
I'm very excited about my progress! The car sits just right with these springs and looks great. I have a rebuilt 360 shortblock awaiting rebuilt heads, airgap intake, headers, havent decided on the cam yet( still researching) I have a 727 that needs a rebuild, Im gonna use a transgo stage 2 shift kit. I have a tci 2600 stall converter and b&m flexplate already.
Here's the install picks, first step install springs onto axle. Then I put a floor jack on each side. Push it under the car and use the jacks to raise it to desired height. Dont tighted any of the bolts all the way. leave them loose till everything is bolted up. Then just tighten everything up. Its actually really easy. The 3rd picture is actually just a mock up, the axle isnt underneath there, I just put that one in there so yall could see the car.
So far I think I have somewhere between 1000-1500 in everything, not bad. I could finish this thing with 1500 more bucks.
Project el cheapo is making progress slowly. Got my 50 dollar 8 3/4 from a 69 cornet. Me and my buddy he's 74 years old and an old school mopar man rebuilt the whole thing. Actually I did most of the work while he instructed. New bearings, seals, all new brakes and new hard brake lines. I used a 20 ton press to press the bearings on and off. Man do they make a pop when they come off!
He showed me a trick he's done before. We took the leaf springs from my valiant and the springs from the cornet( they were still on the axle) and cut them apart and put them both together, made new straps and a longer i bolt. Ta da heavy duty springs for free, they look great and it sits just right now.
I got a 3:91 posi 3rd member online for 250 in great shape, which I thought was a great deal. I was suprised by how much room I have to fit wider tires. Actually I dident even move the perches, on that year B-body the perches are 44 inches apart. An A-body is 43 so its only half an inch difference on each side. No big deal it bolted up fine.
I have some 265/50/15's on 15x8 rims and I still have 2 1/8 inches before they hit the springs! Those tires are 9 inches wide easy! That means I could fit some 12 inch wide meats easy.
I'm very excited about my progress! The car sits just right with these springs and looks great. I have a rebuilt 360 shortblock awaiting rebuilt heads, airgap intake, headers, havent decided on the cam yet( still researching) I have a 727 that needs a rebuild, Im gonna use a transgo stage 2 shift kit. I have a tci 2600 stall converter and b&m flexplate already.
Here's the install picks, first step install springs onto axle. Then I put a floor jack on each side. Push it under the car and use the jacks to raise it to desired height. Dont tighted any of the bolts all the way. leave them loose till everything is bolted up. Then just tighten everything up. Its actually really easy. The 3rd picture is actually just a mock up, the axle isnt underneath there, I just put that one in there so yall could see the car.
So far I think I have somewhere between 1000-1500 in everything, not bad. I could finish this thing with 1500 more bucks.
