1968 plymouth valiant 2dr sedan

[TheDeputy]

So, I parked it in the garage and started to dissassemble the front end. That was just basic wrenching.
I took out the torsion bars, 892-893 340 bars on a 170 slant six car, with my hand made removal tool.
The plan now is to add stiffening plates to the lower control arms, press in new bushings and install new strut rod bushings.
I started dissassembly at 21:15, and by midnight I had both sides completely dissassembled.

Antoon

 

[TheDeputy]

Here are the LCA's with my hand made sway bar tabs. They're going to cleaned up and have stiffening plates added. I allready cut a paper template so I can cut one in metal and weld it on the LCA's.
But that's probably for next week.
Antoon

 

[pettybludart]

Great job your doing!Keep up the good work.:cheers:

 

[jw_german]

You have that valiant coming along really well. Awesome work.

 

[franky2mopar]

nice car antoon

groeten uit belgium frank

 

[TheDeputy]

Thanks guys. Just trying to do my best with the means provided.
Anyway, again, some spare time was on my hand, so I decided to make the plates to box the LCA's and weld them on.
I just took a metal strip, 5mm thick, shaped it like my paper template, and welded it to the LCA's.
And a little paint is always nice offcourse.
Next week I'm going to install them and try to finish the rest of the front disc brake installation.

Antoon

 

[1967Dart273]

Nice car and great work!

 

[Basoline]

She's coming along real well Antoon!

 

[dennday67]

One of my favorite upgrades I did on my 68 valiant with a 225 /6 was the HEI ignition. Simple to do, more reliable, and only cost me about $25. No more ballast resistor and I can use it on my 360 in the future.

 

[TheDeputy]

Today some small progress was made. I say small because Murphy got in the way of doing some serious wrenching.
Before I started it all, I gathered the parts, and was told I should mount the calipers in front of the rotors, so the hose routing wouldn't give any problems.
So I bought the correct hoses and all the other stuff.

Sadly, after mounting the left side first....... completely, I became aware that the calipers wanted the occupy the same space as the sway bar, which meant I had to swap spindels left to right. Aaaaaarrrrrghhhhhhh.

So I now need other brake hoses.
Which ones do I need with F,M,J body spindels and the calipers on the rear of the rotors?

Also some pics,
Installed the lower control arms.
Put new bushings and ball joints in the a-arms.
New ball joint on the nicely painted spindels.
Rebuild the calipers

 

[TheDeputy]

These are the wrong hoses.
Does anyone have a part number of the hoses that should be correct?

 

[TheDeputy]

Left side spindel installed the first time, and the second time.

 

[Basoline]

Real nice Antoon. Does it matter where the caliper is mounted? Front or back? I can remember a small discussion we had once about the same issue with my Roadrunner. Remember?

 

[Brad426]

Looking great

 

[TheDeputy]

@Basoline,
I remeber all too well, and I wanted to mount them in front of the rotor, but the sway bar was occupying the same space. Apparantly the hoses go a little smoother when installed in front of the rotors.
Now for the correct hoses??

Antoon

 

[TheDeputy]

Yesterday I finished up the disc brake installation. I had some issues with selecting the right hoses but in the end the result is perfect.
So the spindels were swapped left to right, but get the hoses to be mounted safely I had to swap the calipers right to left again, so th ehose connection is on top. One downfall to that, is that the bleeder is now on the bottom making it difficult to bleed it.
But, by taking of the caliper and hanging it so the bleeder is on top solves that issue.

 

[TheDeputy]

I also installed the new MC with the 1 1/32" bore, and bench bled it on the car.

 

[TheDeputy]

Bench bleeding the MC

 

[TheDeputy]

Offcourse I also had to install the correct prop valve which came from the donor car.
Some brake lines needed another nippel, so I made some new collars, and installed some new hard lines.

Now all that's left is bleed the entire system, mount the front wheels and put it on the ground to fasten up all the suspension bolts, and have it aligned.

Antoon

 

[4mulaSvaliant]

Man nice work! Its looking great!

 

[Basoline]

* applause *

 

[TheDeputy]

Thanks guys!


Today I finished up the last big jobs to get here back on the road. I had to Bleed the complete system, placing the calipers on the steering arm so the bleeder was pointing upwards.
After that, I installed them, put on the wheels, set the ride height and tightend all the suspension bolts.
This is how it looks now. It might get a little lower in the front, but not much. Just have to see how it turns out when I can park it in a good spot.

All that's left now, is take her for a spin to see if it all works as planned, install another speedo pinion and mount the brake light switch.

Antoon

 

[Basoline]

Osm!

 

[Dartnut]

You do great work my friend!

 

[TheDeputy]

Yes!!!!

Finished!!!

I took her out for a spin today. The brakes felt a little spongy, but the emergency brake light was out, and I could lock them up easily. Could that be because of the large amount of oil that has to go into the calipers?

Anyway, here are some nice pics to enjoy. The rear tires will be switched to black side wall for a more stealth look.

But overall I'm very satisfied with the look it now has. Super stock look!!!!

Antoon