1966 Valiant Signet Convertible Resto

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HemiEd said:
Beautiful car, love it! The top is striking.

Just curious though, why the Hydroboost?

I have a manual cylinder on mine, with the Disc brake conversion, and it stops great.
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Thanks man. I love the top. Really sets the car off.

The Manual setup from SSBC worked fine but I like the touch and feel of a modern brake pedal. Just looking to do something a little different too. Along with the Stage III power steering gear box from Firm Feel the car should feel like driving a modern car, which is what I'm after. I can always go back of course if I don't like it.
 
daves66valiant said:
Thanks man. I love the top. Really sets the car off.

The Manual setup from SSBC worked fine but I like the touch and feel of a modern brake pedal. Just looking to do something a little different too. Along with the Stage III power steering gear box from Firm Fell the car should feel like driving a modern car, which is what I'm after. I can always go back of course if I don't like it.
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Thanks, for probably repeating that, it makes a lot of sense. I will keep up with your thread, and look forward to seeing your progress.

The difference between my Barracuda and Challenger are striking, one of the reasons I just put in the late model 318. It really made it have some manners.

I regret giving all of my PS stuff away, along with the /6 that was in my car.

With my little steering wheel, and the manual box and bigger tires, you have to really want to turn it. I have toyed with the idea of putting PS back on, but that may be an issue with the TTI headers etc.
 
HemiEd said:
Thanks, for probably repeating that, it makes a lot of sense. I will keep up with your thread, and look forward to seeing your progress.

The difference between my Barracuda and Challenger are striking, one of the reasons I just put in the late model 318. It really made it have some manners.

I regret giving all of my PS stuff away, along with the /6 that was in my car.

With my little steering wheel, and the manual box and bigger tires, you have to really want to turn it. I have toyed with the idea of putting PS back on, but that may be an issue with the TTI headers etc.
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PS in your year cuda fits just fine. I have PS, TTI in my 68 and it fits with no issues.
 
Looking good Dave!Did you order any chinese hands to get at those hedder bolts?LOL.It looks very confined in that area.Keep moving forward,the rest is a piece of cake.:clock:8)
 
looks great dave,,,love that chrome trim at the base of the top,,i would of thought you would of moved the battery to the trunk
 
fstfish66 said:
looks great dave,,,love that chrome trim at the base of the top,,i would of thought you would of moved the battery to the trunk
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Thanks Don. I have thought about moving the battery to the trunk. That might be a future project. For now it seems I'm trying to stuff as much stuff in the engine bay as possible. :-D

I am removing the flex fan and going with an electric puller fan for my aluminum radiator with alum shroud.

I've been working a lot lately. So I have a day off tomorrow and hope to get some work done.
 
Not much to report as of late. Got the electric fan/shroud kit fitted to my radiator. I had to make a couple of small notches in the upper radiator support which are hardly noticeable. Grinding off the old aluminum brackets was a little sketchy but I was able to do it without gouging the tank. Made up some new ones and now everything just barely clears the water pump pulley. Maybe 7/16" clearance. Should be enough since the motor doesn't move forward.

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I also modified (cut/reweld) the driveshaft safety loop I had ordered to fit my car. Of course it didn't fit because of the TKO-500 tailshaft angle being different and the x-pipe being in the way. It's now NHRA legal and looks good and beefy.

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Looking forward to hooking up all the wiring this week and installing the dash and steering column. In a couple weeks she could be mobile again...minus all the panels. :cheers:
 
Awesome , I didn't realize how far you have gotten. We might be getting our cars on the road about the same time.
 
Looks good, Dave.

What brand of radiator is that?
 
lilcuda said:
Looks good, Dave.

What brand of radiator is that?
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Northern. The fan setup came from them too. I just got it wired up today and it really sucks some serious air. Really nice and clean install.

My Dad showed up and we're getting a lot of work done. So more progress coming.
 
daves66valiant said:
Northern. The fan setup came from them too. I just got it wired up today and it really sucks some serious air. Really nice and clean install.

My Dad showed up and we're getting a lot of work done. So more progress coming.
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My rad and fan setup came from Northern too, the do nice work.
 
daves66valiant said:
Northern. The fan setup came from them too. I just got it wired up today and it really sucks some serious air. Really nice and clean install.

My Dad showed up and we're getting a lot of work done. So more progress coming.
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So did the radiator require cutting the radiator support, or did it bolt right in?
 
lilcuda said:
So did the radiator require cutting the radiator support, or did it bolt right in?
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No cutting is required if you are using the alum. radiator by itself. You can use weld on brackets from Northern $$$$$. Or make your own from angled 2" aluminum stock $$. I used some factory holes in the radiator support as my mounting points. I adjusted my brackets according to these holes. Then had the brackets TIG welded ($30 labor fee). Damn I wish I knew how to TIG weld. It would so come in handy. Anyways.

Now if you decide to use their radiator shroud/SPAL puller (2300cfm) fan setup then yes you may need to slightly notch the area where the radiator tanks hit the top support. I needed to notch mine so it would clear the water pump pulley as you can see in the pictures above.

If you didn't ask you would never know I notched the rad. support. I love this setup and love the idea of not having to run a mechanical fan. The other benefit I have is that I live near the ocean and the temperatures are rarely greater than 85*

I use a 180* thermostat in the car and the trigger for the fan kicks in at 185*

I hope to keep it below 200* on the hottest days. I'm also using Redline Water Wetter. Purple Ice from Royal Purple is good too.

Hope that helps

~Dave
 
Hi Dave,hope your build is coming along quicker with the added help from your father.Enjoy your time while he,s visiting.8):-D
 
Thanks Guys!!!

pettybludart said:
Hi Dave,hope your build is coming along quicker with the added help from your father.Enjoy your time while he,s visiting.8):-D
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Yeah we are having a great time.

Our goals tomorrow

- Get the hood installed with the custom hinges I fabbed up from a 70 Duster

- Get the motor running after wiring up the dash, gauges, etc. and topping off the radiator

- Get the deck lid installed with new weatherstripping

- Bench bleed the Master Cylinder and gravity bleed the system

Friday's goal

- Still waiting for my PowerSteernig pump rebuild from NAPA but hope to hook up the Hydroboost lines if it's ready

- Tighten up all the suspension bolts and loose ends

- Toss in the bench seat

- If we have time before a test drive--- hang the doors

- And if all goes well we can cruise it around the block

Cruising around the block would be the icing on the cake but I'm not going to rush anything. My Dad is very proud of the work I've done so far and that alone is priceless to me.

Until tomorrows update :clock:
 
It sounds like your gonna make huge progress with the car.Who better to help you with some final fitting than your father.Very cool!Hope you get that cruise around the block with him,before his visit is over.Good luck.
 
Well I had a great week with my Dad. We got a fair amount of work done and had alot of fun. We would have gotten more done but we had to entertain the stepmom sister and GF as well. Too much car time can piss off the ladies.

We managed to get the hood on and got the car running and did some tuning and rewiring. The hood opens and closes like dream. So quiet. The fan works great and it really keeps the car cool. We put a box fan in front of the car while tuning and the electric fan would pop on ever so often then shut off. It's a 185* switch so it must be doing it's job really well because the temp would spike to 200* after turning the car off for a couple minutes while testing the engine timing.

We got the carb baselined and the timing is almost there. The car still pulled the starter down when cranking after warm up. Currently the car likes about 18* initial and I'm getting a total of 36* at 3000rpm with the vacuum plugged. The vacuum canister was totally closed. We had to turn the adjusting screw out quite a bit before it would advance any. I still need to work on that with the dial back timing light to see where I'm at with the vacuum advance. Was only getting about 41* with the vacuum advance on. Seems a little low to me. I would think I'd get an extra 12-15*

Oh and there is a valve tick too. The engine has less than 2 miles on it. I'm hoping it's just a matter of adjusting the stamped rockers. I'm used to the adjustable rockers. Any advice on the stamped rocker adjustment? I've got so reading to do I guess.

Enough blathering here are a few pictures of the hood and tuning pics with my Dad. Oh and a short video. My Dad was super excited to hear the engine run and was really impressed.

We smoked a couple of Acid Cigars (very good cigars) and drank some Arrogant Bastard Ale (very good as well) to celebrate a good couple days work.

abra cadabra
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presto Hood
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Dad tuning. Check out those 70 Duster hood springs too :)
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Little video

 
Any updates on your resto?
Looking forward to see a video of it on the road.
 
swedefish said:
Any updates on your resto?
Looking forward to see a video of it on the road.
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Doing the tedious stuff right now. Restoring the plastic pieces of the convertible interior trim. Lots of little mods as I go along. Still have a lot more misc. stuff to attend to before I get her on the road. I'm not too far off though. :clock:

There will be video for sure. :)
 
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