64 Valiant 440 build

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So my plans have changed slightly for the rear suspension. I've been looking into a torque arm coilover setup, but I cant seem to find anything specific to my application or for any mopar. My options would be to buy a setup built for a nova/Camaro/whatever and modify it to fit, or just build my own from scratch. Does anybody here have experience with torque arm setups?

The setup pictured below is a TCI kit for a 62-67 nova I believe. The picture below that is a random pic of a watts rear link, which I like more than running a panhard bar........ Any thoughts?
 

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I would go for the street lynx setup, but tge torque arm would deffinately be different
 
Picked up a rebuilt 1971 440 off craigslist today! The price was too good to pass up. I'll post all the good parts and machine work that went into it later. I already had that intake and carb setup, just thought I'd set it on there for the picture.

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Boy howdy! Look at that! Get er done!

...not to sound like a Debbie downer, but I'd swap out that Fram filter with a Wix or at least a Purolator before I ran it...Fram are probably the worst. Filters. Ever.
 
Had a really good week! I cancelled my addco swaybar and seeing as I now work at Firmfeel, my boss Dick was nice enough to hook me up with a 1 1/4" tubular sway bar kit. It is some seriously beefy hardware and installation was a breeze. Because my K frame doesn't have any swaybar tabs, I had to drill all the holes for the bushing mounts. I decided not to install the end links into the LCA's yet because it's all gotta come apart again for paint soon.
 

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Progress is amazing! this car is going to be a monster! Are you building it for cornering? How does that firm feel sway bar mount to the LCA? Do they supply weld on tabs? Do you have a part number for it? Been looking for one for my 64.
 
nerd racing said:
Progress is amazing! this car is going to be a monster! Are you building it for cornering? How does that firm feel sway bar mount to the LCA? Do they supply weld on tabs? Do you have a part number for it? Been looking for one for my 64.
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Thanks nerd racing. I'm mostly building this for a badass street machine, but I want it to be able to handle corners for some road racing at the local track. Also want it to be able to put down at the drag strip from time to time. If you don't have lower sway bar brackets, then Firm feel supply's LCA brackets that bolt on to the lower shock bolt, no welding required. Part number is *SBTA1.

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Sounds like how I want to build my Barracuda. Except I'm going small block and a 5 speed for now, maybe a 6 speed later on. I don't have the heart to cut my sheet metal for the sub frame connectors like you did on yours though. not even pin holes in my floor.

Is your 440 internal balance? we make sfi dampers at work for crankshafts.
 
Enjoying this build that is moving forward in leaps as nd bounds
That was great of your boss to hook you up like that :thumleft:
 
Thanks mrhotrod.
As far as updates go, I just got the inboard spring boxes from rms and hopefully will get the rear suspension going soon. Also I'm slowly rebuilding my steering box at work to a 16:1 fast ratio, just been really busy lately. Oh, and I picked up some 15x7 cop car wheels at mopar nationals a while back. Sorry, no pics yet.
 
badass, that guy helpin you put the engine in looks like a tougher, more handsom version of Jason Statham. Damn, mrhotrods valiant is pretty badass. Are you still on the ball with the torque arm? I think that's way cooler than goin with the street linx kit. Nothin' against them guys.
 
Finally a bit of progress. I removed the old 7 1/4" rearend and stripped down my 8 3/4 to a bare housing. I've decided to stick with the torque arm idea and build my own rear suspension. The center bracket for the rearend housing is from Currie Enterprises and is designed to work with a custom build torque arm from Spohn. I'll be building my own cross member for the arm similar to the one pictured. This is gonna take a bit of fabricating. Other parts I finally received are some Welderseries axle brackets and bushed rod ends. The back brace is a Moser part from summit, RMS leaf spring boxes, some FFI 11/16" tie rods, and my finished 16:1 fast ratio steering box.

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Damn, son! If you DO lack in experence, you sure more than make up for it
in ambition and imagination. Nice work. Very cool. Good luck.
 
Back brace is welded on. I setup the housing on jack stands on top of a sawhorse table, then ratchet strapped it down so I wouldn't warp it. My fear was the back brace pulling the housing backwards. I realize now it would have been smart to put some kind of support in the middle.

Also, I made the mistake of not checking the straightness of the housing before I started welding, so you can see where a minor dilemma started. After spending a few hours welding about 1.5" at a time and taking long brakes in between (as to keep everything from getting to hot) I flipped the part around and saw what looks to be a growing gap from the center, down the tube, to the outside flange. If this is the case then it would now have some wicked toe out. I thought for sure the housing is warped and I majorly screwed up, so I busted out my new digital level to see how perpendicular the flanges are with the pinion. The housing is level, so the flanges should be 90 degrees, right? To my surprise everything looks accurate within .3 degrees. I even checked the camber and it looks fine. Just to make sure, I slapped in the pumpkin and axles only to find it all spins smoothly with no binding.

I ran this situation by a few friends and they all say it's probably fine. My guess is these housing tubes aren't completely straightened from the factory and all that's important when building them is welding the flanges concentric with each other and the center section. Anyway, I may be worried over nothing but I would greatly appreciate your opinions and input. Thanks

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Sorry for the wait between posts fella's, I'll make up for it with some pics. I had thorbros.com send me some axle brackets and make some lower control bars from 1.25" .120 wall tubing. One side is a welded on bushing and the other will have a weld-in threaded bung for my new Spohn Del-sphere rod ends. If you haven't heard of these, they are pretty damn cool. They're adjustable and are completely rebuildable. I cut out some frame rails and tacked in the leaf spring boxes for the lower bars, also made some spacers for the rod ends. The axle brackets came with one mounting hole, I drilled out two more to make them adjustable. I included a picture of the car with the stock rear for an idea of the before stance.

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