64 SRT8 Dart
Well-Known Member
In these pics it shows the frame capped off and the k-member blasted and how shoddy the welds are, lol.
My 1966 Valiant Effort
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64 SRT8 Dart
Well-Known Member
Blasted K-member pics.
pettybludart
Well-Known Member
Nice project,sorry to hear about your frame too.After reading about your rear tires being 29x14.5x15??They won,t fit(too wide)I squeezed 29x12x15 slicks under mine and had to trim the 1/4 lip and beat in my frame abit due to buldge effect from the slick.Just a heads up.Good luck.
64 SRT8 Dart
Well-Known Member
Thanks Pettybludart,
yeah, I plan on removing the old rear frame rails and using some 2x3 box and moving them inward for them meats, lol.
Gonna finish up the pass side today and hopefully get the driver's side done as well.
Not too sure right now if I should just paint or use por15 or just re-undercoat everything?? Any suggestions? This is a daily driver car for now.
yeah, I plan on removing the old rear frame rails and using some 2x3 box and moving them inward for them meats, lol.
Gonna finish up the pass side today and hopefully get the driver's side done as well.
Not too sure right now if I should just paint or use por15 or just re-undercoat everything?? Any suggestions? This is a daily driver car for now.
pettybludart
Well-Known Member
The Por-15 works well and spreads out very well then hardens like porcelin.I did my cage with a very small amount.
vitamindart
Well-Known Member
i have heard of some people having issues with POR and clean metal.
not sure if it was a Prep issue or what? but it flaked right off.
if its all clean now i would etch prime it and epoxy it then a light coat of undercoating.
not sure if it was a Prep issue or what? but it flaked right off.
if its all clean now i would etch prime it and epoxy it then a light coat of undercoating.
Badart
Senior Member
Awesome work on capping the top of the frame rails. They are horrible for collecting moisture. I did something similar.
64 SRT8 Dart
Well-Known Member
Hmmm, still deciding on what to coat with.
Thanks John, it's not too bad capping em off, just getting all the rust out is what's a pain in the rear. I used a chisel and hammer to knock out as much as I could and then used a rotary file in a 2" 90* grinder in the "hidden" and hard to get places. I then used a weld through primer and put the caps on.
Also, bought some seam sealer for the places I couldn't reach with a welder, just to keep as much grime and moisture out as possible.
Thanks John, it's not too bad capping em off, just getting all the rust out is what's a pain in the rear. I used a chisel and hammer to knock out as much as I could and then used a rotary file in a 2" 90* grinder in the "hidden" and hard to get places. I then used a weld through primer and put the caps on.
Also, bought some seam sealer for the places I couldn't reach with a welder, just to keep as much grime and moisture out as possible.
64 SRT8 Dart
Well-Known Member
Some more pics. Almost done with the passenger side. Got the caps on the driver's side.
64 SRT8 Dart
Well-Known Member
Added some gussets to the k-member and boxed in the steering mount.
Cool ride man. Love the early-a Valiants
BillGrissom
Well-Known Member
A lot of beefing up of the frame rails and K-frame, but you will need a stiff structure for those new coil-over forces. For people keeping the T-bars, I don't think a little K-frame rust is a big deal since I doubt the UCA's take much load. They are just there to orient the wheel and bend up and down easily. My 64 & 65 had that whole top of the K-frame filled w/ undercoating and gunk, but the metal was solid underneath.
Re painting, several rust converters say to use only on rust and not on clean metal (fine print). For bare metal, an etching primer is best. Kind of hard since you usually have rust and bright together. One might use rust converter, then sand to bright and leave the converter in the pits, then an etch primer. I usually use Rust Destroyer, which claims it is the only paint that both converts rust and etches bare metal. Comes in quarts or spray. Home Depot carries the spray next to the Naval Jelly. Before that, I wire brush, scrape w/ file, sand blast, air blow, naval jelly, sandpaper, repeat. That is 80% of the work on my cars. Smarter might be to strip it all and take the shell to a media blast company, but I am more cheap than smart.
Re painting, several rust converters say to use only on rust and not on clean metal (fine print). For bare metal, an etching primer is best. Kind of hard since you usually have rust and bright together. One might use rust converter, then sand to bright and leave the converter in the pits, then an etch primer. I usually use Rust Destroyer, which claims it is the only paint that both converts rust and etches bare metal. Comes in quarts or spray. Home Depot carries the spray next to the Naval Jelly. Before that, I wire brush, scrape w/ file, sand blast, air blow, naval jelly, sandpaper, repeat. That is 80% of the work on my cars. Smarter might be to strip it all and take the shell to a media blast company, but I am more cheap than smart.
64 SRT8 Dart
Well-Known Member
To anyone using the RMS upper control arms, is the Left and Right stamped into the balljoint socket from sitting inside the car or looking at the front of the car??
Also, with the balljoint boot there is a washer that I guess goes under the boot on top of the spindle??
And, is the upper control arm ball joint socket supposed to be kicked at a slight angle when installed?
Also, with the balljoint boot there is a washer that I guess goes under the boot on top of the spindle??
And, is the upper control arm ball joint socket supposed to be kicked at a slight angle when installed?
64 SRT8 Dart
Well-Known Member
Ok, so got everything in and just drove it today.
Have a brake problem. The front brakes seem to be sticking and riding the rotors and getting ultra hot. I still need to get the alignment done so the tires are leaning in a bit....will this possibly cause the rotors to bind? I drove it roughly 12 miles and could smell the brake material and the wheels were even hot.
I have the dual resevoir master cylinder from Dr. Diff and a proportioning valve from him as well that he recommended. Hmmmm.
Have a brake problem. The front brakes seem to be sticking and riding the rotors and getting ultra hot. I still need to get the alignment done so the tires are leaning in a bit....will this possibly cause the rotors to bind? I drove it roughly 12 miles and could smell the brake material and the wheels were even hot.
I have the dual resevoir master cylinder from Dr. Diff and a proportioning valve from him as well that he recommended. Hmmmm.
tdmer
rpdtrns
Did you change out the rubber lines to the calipers? Those can go bad and also check the pedal to master cylinder rod isn't overly tight. Either condition could keep fluid from flowing back into the master and cause the brakes to drag.
64 SRT8 Dart
Well-Known Member
Okay, couple updates and pics.
Got the brake issue figured out....the pedal or m/c plunger was jammed in a about a 1/4" or so. After popping it out, haven't had a problem since.
The innner fender area I sandblasted, used a rustoleum primer, and then used the duplicolor undercoat. Actually turned out looking pretty good in person, other than the scratched from tightening the cam bolts.
Been driving the car for about a week now and drives smooth, stops smooth. Handles great.
I'm prob gonna go with a set of 9" 350lb coil over springs, as of now I have the 10" 400lb ones and the car sits higher in the front than I like and the ride is stiff. I have the c/o settings at 3 clicks which is for dragracing and the front is still stiff as heck...so I'm sure the springs are taking much of the weight and travel and not letting the shock do its thing.
Well here are some pics.
Got the brake issue figured out....the pedal or m/c plunger was jammed in a about a 1/4" or so. After popping it out, haven't had a problem since.
The innner fender area I sandblasted, used a rustoleum primer, and then used the duplicolor undercoat. Actually turned out looking pretty good in person, other than the scratched from tightening the cam bolts.
Been driving the car for about a week now and drives smooth, stops smooth. Handles great.
I'm prob gonna go with a set of 9" 350lb coil over springs, as of now I have the 10" 400lb ones and the car sits higher in the front than I like and the ride is stiff. I have the c/o settings at 3 clicks which is for dragracing and the front is still stiff as heck...so I'm sure the springs are taking much of the weight and travel and not letting the shock do its thing.
Well here are some pics.
64 SRT8 Dart
Well-Known Member
tdmer, yeah, changed out the rubber lines and also ended up running all the hard lines, from the m/c to the dist block and from the dist block to both passenger and driver side.
The prebent lines that Dr. Diff sent me for the m/c to the dist block would've placed the block just hanging out in the air and unable to attach it to anything, so I mounted it close to the stock location and just bent new ones.
The prebent lines that Dr. Diff sent me for the m/c to the dist block would've placed the block just hanging out in the air and unable to attach it to anything, so I mounted it close to the stock location and just bent new ones.
So is that all you do with the support hoop is tack weld it to the shock tower??? Also when at fully compressed how close is the wheel to that hoop???? Nice work--I was scared to do this now I think you changed my mind,I've got a 68 valiant on the way to my house and I think you just convinced me to go this route !!!!!! Steve
64 SRT8 Dart
Well-Known Member
Ended up buffing the paint out and putting a nice coat of wax on it. Painted the back wheels satin black and used a vinyl cleaner/protectant on the top. Also, took the little bumperettes off. Think it looks better without em, well or less grandmaish. lol
Didn't turn out looking too bad. Still needs lots of tlc, ie quarter work. But, I guess this will suffice for now.lol
Didn't turn out looking too bad. Still needs lots of tlc, ie quarter work. But, I guess this will suffice for now.lol
64 SRT8 Dart
Well-Known Member
Swifter, well, the shock tower hoop is completely welded to the shock tower, all the way in the front and as much as I could get inside and behind.
There is an extension that John sells with these kits that welds another piece from the hoop to the firewall, I decided to leave that out for now. So far, there hasn't been an issue with leaving it out. Also, on my car the tire won't come close to hitting the tower hoop, even fully compressed. I hope I never have it fully compressed though. lol.
There is an extension that John sells with these kits that welds another piece from the hoop to the firewall, I decided to leave that out for now. So far, there hasn't been an issue with leaving it out. Also, on my car the tire won't come close to hitting the tower hoop, even fully compressed. I hope I never have it fully compressed though. lol.
64 SRT8 Dart
Well-Known Member
Thanks Steve, yeah, those are the 10" 400lb springs. I'll be going to a 9" 350lb spring as the current ones do make the car sit just about level. I also have the spring adjusted about as low as it will go.
Badart
Senior Member
Looks great. I am swapping to the same springs on mine also to get it lower. Good thing that they are cheap huh?
64 SRT8 Dart
Well-Known Member
Thanks John! Yeah, definitely! lol
Haven't seen you on here a whole lot lately, but then again, I haven't been on much with school and stuff. I still need to order the springs, lol. Car drives and handles 10x better though. Can't wait to get the rear done. However, i need to stop spending money on spare parts, lol
Gotta get em before they're gone I guess
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