1965 Valiant 200
One of the first things I did(not pictured) was I came across 1965 lower control arms with sway bar assembly on craigslist so I swapped that out. Such a difference! Now that the electrical was good to go and I was driving around a bit, noticed that the rear end was howling at any speed above 35mph. Original 7.25 was trashed. Was also overheating and the speedo was way off. Not being prepared for full upgrade rear just yet, FABO found me a 7.25 rear that had already been upgraded to big bolt pattern, and the seller had a set of mags to go along with them.
Swapped the rear out and it drove so much nicer! Also flushed coolant and installed thermostat(previous owner removed it). Drove great on the way home. No more howling from the rear gears, ride was smooth, speedometer was accurate once again, etc. Got home and took another car to drop off a UPS package. Came home and noticed some dripping under the Valiant as I pulled up. Went to check it out and found an external crack in the cylinder head. Didn't bother me too much since I was not planning on keeping the engine/trans anyway but I was looking forward to driving it as-is for a while......oh well. I guess that speeds up the rest of the plans!
Picked up this freshly rebuilt 5.9L magnum short block from someone that was moving out of state and sold cheap. Even threw in all the new parts he has been collecting for it. Comp Cam, Mopar Performance valve spring retainers, Mopar Performance magnum valve covers, double roller chain, oil pump. Some of these part that I am not using, I have already sold to help fund the build. I'll finish putting this together and throw it in along with this 904 trans.
Decided to play it safe and, even though this short block was already assembled, decided to get it checked out before full reassembly. Took it apart and dropped off with IMM Engines for full inspection and may decide to let them build it up. They also offer some aluminum heads I may go with. It'll be a couple weeks before they can get to it.
In the meantime, I've got front big bolt pattern disc brake setup ready to go and am going to rewire the whole vehicle. Hope to start these two projects in the coming weeks.
One of the first things I did(not pictured) was I came across 1965 lower control arms with sway bar assembly on craigslist so I swapped that out. Such a difference! Now that the electrical was good to go and I was driving around a bit, noticed that the rear end was howling at any speed above 35mph. Original 7.25 was trashed. Was also overheating and the speedo was way off. Not being prepared for full upgrade rear just yet, FABO found me a 7.25 rear that had already been upgraded to big bolt pattern, and the seller had a set of mags to go along with them.
Swapped the rear out and it drove so much nicer! Also flushed coolant and installed thermostat(previous owner removed it). Drove great on the way home. No more howling from the rear gears, ride was smooth, speedometer was accurate once again, etc. Got home and took another car to drop off a UPS package. Came home and noticed some dripping under the Valiant as I pulled up. Went to check it out and found an external crack in the cylinder head. Didn't bother me too much since I was not planning on keeping the engine/trans anyway but I was looking forward to driving it as-is for a while......oh well. I guess that speeds up the rest of the plans!
Picked up this freshly rebuilt 5.9L magnum short block from someone that was moving out of state and sold cheap. Even threw in all the new parts he has been collecting for it. Comp Cam, Mopar Performance valve spring retainers, Mopar Performance magnum valve covers, double roller chain, oil pump. Some of these part that I am not using, I have already sold to help fund the build. I'll finish putting this together and throw it in along with this 904 trans.
Decided to play it safe and, even though this short block was already assembled, decided to get it checked out before full reassembly. Took it apart and dropped off with IMM Engines for full inspection and may decide to let them build it up. They also offer some aluminum heads I may go with. It'll be a couple weeks before they can get to it.
In the meantime, I've got front big bolt pattern disc brake setup ready to go and am going to rewire the whole vehicle. Hope to start these two projects in the coming weeks.
