Blue Brick

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go-fish

go-fish

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I recently bought this car and decided to send it straight to paint and body. I had been interested in Valiants since my teenage years. Around that time the Green Brick hit the press and I started following it. I thought it was so awesome that a Mopar was taking down supercars. All these years later I decided to pull the trigger and go for it.

The shop that is getting my money and car is none other than Reiss Racing. You might have heard of George Reiss because he built/ co-piloted Tomswheels Plum Crazy Valiant. I am having him do similar things to this car. I'm sticking with blue but going from the old B5 Blue to the new B5 Blue that is going on the current generation of Mopars. The new B5 has the pearl in it and seems a lot deeper. The quarters and fenders are getting massaged to fit larger wheels, 18x10 square setup. Hotchkis TVS will be added and some chassis stiffening for now.

The car is non-power steering and non-power brakes. The transmission is a 727 with manual valve body and the rear is an 8 3/4 with 3.91 gears. The engine is a pretty stout 318 with Edelbrock aluminum heads and intake.

Changes to the drivetrain will be a swap to a close ratio 833 4 speed and probably 3.55's in the rear. The engine is going to stay the way it is now except for a FITech fuel injection set-up. The fuel system will be upgraded to a cell with an in-tank pump.

The car came with some really bad seating options. The front seats are going to be changed to something more autocross friendly and the rear will be recovered.

Reiss Racing is going to handle everything that needs painted or welded. Probably instaling the suspension too. I need to put thicker head gaskets to get compression down a bit and hopefully stop an overheating issue. The pan will be getting replaced with a Milodon road race pan. I'm going to put an Air Gap intake on it when I do the FiTech as well. THe exhaust is going to get some TTI's but keep the rest of the 3" system with Flowmasters. Eventually, I will be putting my 408" stroker in it but the 318 will be the engine that powers it for awhile.

I am in San Diego so I will be running this thing at the same place Tom was running, Qualcomm Stadium. I plan to take it to Autoclub Speedway and Goodguys at Del Mar too.

Plans for the extende future will include a Speedway floater axle and Dr. Diff stage 4 front brake kit whenever he gets them back in stock which I hope is sooner than I order the Enkei RPF1's because I think it may affect the offset of the wheels.

The car just arrived at Reiss Racing today so I'll be visiting weekly to take progress pictures. Stay posted. Also, please, if there are any tips or advice folks can share I am all ears.

IMG-0185.jpg
 
Not the Green Brick. Just a brick that's blue. Yes, it's a 69
 
John Good luck with the car, I know you'll do it right
Kevin
 
go-fish said:
I recently bought this car and decided to send it straight to paint and body. I had been interested in Valiants since my teenage years. Around that time the Green Brick hit the press and I started following it. I thought it was so awesome that a Mopar was taking down supercars. All these years later I decided to pull the trigger and go for it.

The shop that is getting my money and car is none other than Reiss Racing. You might have heard of George Reiss because he built/ co-piloted Tomswheels Plum Crazy Valiant. I am having him do similar things to this car. I'm sticking with blue but going from the old B5 Blue to the new B5 Blue that is going on the current generation of Mopars. The new B5 has the pearl in it and seems a lot deeper. The quarters and fenders are getting massaged to fit larger wheels, 18x10 square setup. Hotchkis TVS will be added and some chassis stiffening for now.

The car is non-power steering and non-power brakes. The transmission is a 727 with manual valve body and the rear is an 8 3/4 with 3.91 gears. The engine is a pretty stout 318 with Edelbrock aluminum heads and intake.

Changes to the drivetrain will be a swap to a close ratio 833 4 speed and probably 3.55's in the rear. The engine is going to stay the way it is now except for a FITech fuel injection set-up. The fuel system will be upgraded to a cell with an in-tank pump.

The car came with some really bad seating options. The front seats are going to be changed to something more autocross friendly and the rear will be recovered.

Reiss Racing is going to handle everything that needs painted or welded. Probably instaling the suspension too. I need to put thicker head gaskets to get compression down a bit and hopefully stop an overheating issue. The pan will be getting replaced with a Milodon road race pan. I'm going to put an Air Gap intake on it when I do the FiTech as well. THe exhaust is going to get some TTI's but keep the rest of the 3" system with Flowmasters. Eventually, I will be putting my 408" stroker in it but the 318 will be the engine that powers it for awhile.

I am in San Diego so I will be running this thing at the same place Tom was running, Qualcomm Stadium. I plan to take it to Autoclub Speedway and Goodguys at Del Mar too.

Plans for the extende future will include a Speedway floater axle and Dr. Diff stage 4 front brake kit whenever he gets them back in stock which I hope is sooner than I order the Enkei RPF1's because I think it may affect the offset of the wheels.

The car just arrived at Reiss Racing today so I'll be visiting weekly to take progress pictures. Stay posted. Also, please, if there are any tips or advice folks can share I am all ears.

View attachment 1715235196
Click to expand...
Can you let me know what sheet metal they use cause I need some two.
 
Kevin, thanks! This transmission will be at Reiss Racing ready for pick up if you are still interested in it. I'll let you know when it's pulled.
 
Biff said:
Can you let me know what sheet metal they use cause I need some two.
Click to expand...

I will post it up. The quarters aren't reproduced but I think I read that Duster fenders are the same.
 
I'm looking forward to the progress on this one, i have a '69 Valiant 2 door post as well..........
 
Very interested in this build because the green brick is the inspiration for my current direction for my build on my dart
 
This is a neat build and it's nice to see that people are still interested in these things.

Referencing the Green Brick is a bit of a stretch when you're just buying the latest greatest and paying someone else to assemble your super-car for you. Wasn't the whole point of the brick nested in how it was basically a pile of stock parts? Maybe I'm missing something.
 
Projectile Dart said:
Very interested in this build because the green brick is the inspiration for my current direction for my build on my dart
Click to expand...
The Green Brick is an inspiration for me as well but to be honest my car won’t see many road races or track days, if any. The Green Brick was a road racer and this will be an autocrosser. I live in a prime location for auto x. Logistically, roadcourses aren’t as do-able as auto x.
Tom’s car is probably the car this one will follow after the most. I’m planning on a couple of different things than what Tom did but really kind of picking up where he quit developing the car like floater , brakes, stronger engine. Tom had some good exposure to people who know how to drive and improved a lot as a driver because of that. By associating within the same circle I hope I can developer into the same caliber of driver. This ain’t no pro-touring deal, I went down the road with an E-body ‘cuda. I’m ready to do some competitive driving.
I have long term goals of building a road race car but it won’t be in an A-body. My E-body will serve in that capacity and it will be far down the road.
I am looking at it this way, building an auto cross car will help me develop my driving skills and I will enjoy it for several years while I build my war chest for the ‘cuda road race build.
 
go-fish said:
I recently bought this car and decided to send it straight to paint and body. I had been interested in Valiants since my teenage years. Around that time the Green Brick hit the press and I started following it. I thought it was so awesome that a Mopar was taking down supercars. All these years later I decided to pull the trigger and go for it.

The shop that is getting my money and car is none other than Reiss Racing. You might have heard of George Reiss because he built/ co-piloted Tomswheels Plum Crazy Valiant. I am having him do similar things to this car. I'm sticking with blue but going from the old B5 Blue to the new B5 Blue that is going on the current generation of Mopars. The new B5 has the pearl in it and seems a lot deeper. The quarters and fenders are getting massaged to fit larger wheels, 18x10 square setup. Hotchkis TVS will be added and some chassis stiffening for now.

The car is non-power steering and non-power brakes. The transmission is a 727 with manual valve body and the rear is an 8 3/4 with 3.91 gears. The engine is a pretty stout 318 with Edelbrock aluminum heads and intake.

Changes to the drivetrain will be a swap to a close ratio 833 4 speed and probably 3.55's in the rear. The engine is going to stay the way it is now except for a FITech fuel injection set-up. The fuel system will be upgraded to a cell with an in-tank pump.

The car came with some really bad seating options. The front seats are going to be changed to something more autocross friendly and the rear will be recovered.

Reiss Racing is going to handle everything that needs painted or welded. Probably instaling the suspension too. I need to put thicker head gaskets to get compression down a bit and hopefully stop an overheating issue. The pan will be getting replaced with a Milodon road race pan. I'm going to put an Air Gap intake on it when I do the FiTech as well. THe exhaust is going to get some TTI's but keep the rest of the 3" system with Flowmasters. Eventually, I will be putting my 408" stroker in it but the 318 will be the engine that powers it for awhile.

I am in San Diego so I will be running this thing at the same place Tom was running, Qualcomm Stadium. I plan to take it to Autoclub Speedway and Goodguys at Del Mar too.

Plans for the extende future will include a Speedway floater axle and Dr. Diff stage 4 front brake kit whenever he gets them back in stock which I hope is sooner than I order the Enkei RPF1's because I think it may affect the offset of the wheels.

The car just arrived at Reiss Racing today so I'll be visiting weekly to take progress pictures. Stay posted. Also, please, if there are any tips or advice folks can share I am all ears.

View attachment 1715235196
Click to expand...


Love your car go-fish,

Some suggestions for you having just gone through this type of build...

1. recommend the 8-blade aluminum mopar water pump p/n p5249559, 3 core rad and shroud, clutch fan. Works great with my 10.5 compression engine magnum 360 stroker. No need to drop compression.

2. if you don't have them already in the car, front and rear torque boxes and the form fitted framerail connectors from US Car Tool. My mistake was that I should have also gotten the lower rad support as well. The improvement in rigidity is truly spectacular, put the car up on front jackstands and the doors close perfectly, no flex or twist in the body.

3. Go with shorty headers if using a mopar 833 4-speed. You will not have the front drivers side pipe hanging down below the trans linkage and you will be able to drop the car even lower. Small hp loss but not drastic enough to worry about.

3. Decide on tires and wheels early. Mount the tires and drop the car on the ground. Then turn steering wheel lock to lock and see how much clearance you have. A lot will change depending on what spindles you are going to use. My guess is you will have to modify the clearance of lower front of the fenders .

Hope this is of some help.
 
jos51700 said:
This is a neat build and it's nice to see that people are still interested in these things.

Referencing the Green Brick is a bit of a stretch when you're just buying the latest greatest and paying someone else to assemble your super-car for you. Wasn't the whole point of the brick nested in how it was basically a pile of stock parts? Maybe I'm missing something.
Click to expand...

I never said I was recreating GB. Your reading comprehension skills missed the part where reading about GB as a teenager got me interested in Valiants and motor sports.
You consider having a shop paint my car and weld in chassis stiffening to be paying a shop to build a super car?
 
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go-fish said:
I never said I was recreating GB. Your reading comprehension skills missed the part where reading about GB as a teenager got me interested in Valiants and motor sports.
You consider having a shop paint my car and weld in chassis stiffening to be paying a shop to build a super car? Ok, they’ll probably put the Hotchkis system on since they would be putting the old stuff back in it so I can pick it up. Also, Reiss is a Hotchkis dealer and gets a deal and if I purchased it separately I would pay more. That’s pretty much what they’re doing for me. I don’t do bodywork and I don’t have a paint booth. I could and have replaced Mopar suspensions but I’m getting a good price on the deal.
Sounds like you are reaching to throw shade. You don’t sound too bright and you come off as a little jaded. There are some things in your life you need to address, apparently. It’s just cars, why you mad, bro? Am I missing something?
Click to expand...

Not sure why you think I'm mad, I said it's a neat car and a neat build. Maybe your own comprehension skills aren't any better than my own.

I reckon the thread title "Blue Brick", combined with the initial dissertation about the MA Green Brick, leads me to assume some unintended correlation with your blue Valiant, with which you are intending to autocross. The Green Brick impressed me, too. My Dart isn't too far from it. But I digress, breathing through my mouth caused my computer screen to condensate ever so slightly, and I misread. My apologies. If it weren't for spell-check, you would be unable to converse with me in the least, I'd wager.

My car ain't nice but at least I wasn't afraid to lay in the dirt and grease and replace my parts, lay paint, and weld reinforcements myself. I don't do bodywork and I don't have a paint booth, either, nor do I pay other people to address issues in my life. I handle that myself. If you're worried about it.

Why you jump to conclusions, bro? Take the compliment and no get butthurt, bruh.
 
jos51700 said:
My apologies. If it weren't for spell-check, you would be unable to converse with me in the least, I'd wager.

My car ain't nice but at least I wasn't afraid to lay in the dirt and grease and replace my parts, lay paint, and weld reinforcements myself. I don't do bodywork and I don't have a paint booth, either, nor do I pay other people to address issues in my life. I handle that myself. If you're worried about it.
Click to expand...

Well, I’m glad you have your spell check on so I can understand and converse with you.
 
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go-fish said:
The Green Brick is an inspiration for me as well but to be honest my car won’t see many road races or track days, if any. The Green Brick was a road racer and this will be an autocrosser. I live in a prime location for auto x. Logistically, roadcourses aren’t as do-able as auto x.
Tom’s car is probably the car this one will follow after the most. I’m planning on a couple of different things than what Tom did but really kind of picking up where he quit developing the car like floater , brakes, stronger engine. Tom had some good exposure to people who know how to drive and improved a lot as a driver because of that. By associating within the same circle I hope I can developer into the same caliber of driver. This ain’t no pro-touring deal, I went down the road with an E-body ‘cuda. I’m ready to do some competitive driving.
I have long term goals of building a road race car but it won’t be in an A-body. My E-body will serve in that capacity and it will be far down the road.
I am looking at it this way, building an auto cross car will help me develop my driving skills and I will enjoy it for several years while I build my war chest for the ‘cuda road race build.
Click to expand...

Very true, I would want to go more of an auto X route myself. All I know is that I have a friend who has a newer Subaru STI who has been going to a couple local events and thinks he has the best platform out there. Don't get me wrong, that car is fun and all buuuuuut I would love to show him how my 50 year old grandma's grocery car can spank modern Japanese rice burners or at least be competative on 1/4th of the budget
 
go-fish said:
The Green Brick is an inspiration for me as well but to be honest my car won’t see many road races or track days, if any. The Green Brick was a road racer and this will be an autocrosser. I live in a prime location for auto x. Logistically, roadcourses aren’t as do-able as auto x.
Tom’s car is probably the car this one will follow after the most. I’m planning on a couple of different things than what Tom did but really kind of picking up where he quit developing the car like floater , brakes, stronger engine. Tom had some good exposure to people who know how to drive and improved a lot as a driver because of that. By associating within the same circle I hope I can developer into the same caliber of driver. This ain’t no pro-touring deal, I went down the road with an E-body ‘cuda. I’m ready to do some competitive driving.
I have long term goals of building a road race car but it won’t be in an A-body. My E-body will serve in that capacity and it will be far down the road.
I am looking at it this way, building an auto cross car will help me develop my driving skills and I will enjoy it for several years while I build my war chest for the ‘cuda road race build.
Click to expand...

Are you building it to the rules of that SCCA Solo II class Tomswheels was in?

What is the name of the class you are aiming for?

What are the basic rules of that class?
 
Projectile Dart said:
Very true, I would want to go more of an auto X route myself. All I know is that I have a friend who has a newer Subaru STI who has been going to a couple local events and thinks he has the best platform out there.
Click to expand...
Yes, I think the short A-body has a lot of things going for it and Ma Mopar gave us some good engineering. I’m not going to worry too much about the Subbies as they’re in a different class anyway. I’ll just have to worry about not plowing through cones, lol.
 
autoxcuda said:
Are you building it to the rules of that SCCA Solo II class Tomswheels was in?

What is the name of the class you are aiming for?

What are the basic rules of that class?
Click to expand...
CAM- T
Classic American Muscle - Traditional. Cars and trucks from 1954 - 1989. car and truck body styles originating from 1954-1989. Weight limit is 2950 lbs. No “race car” interiors. This class allows for some pretty heavy hitting pro-touring cars. Not really worried about the others 3 links and IFS with LSx engines. I just want to be as competitive as possible with what I’m building.
Here’s a link to the rules handout

https://dk1xgl0d43mu1.cloudfront.ne...34/2018_CAM_handout_2017-11-30.pdf?1512080131
 
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