'64 Valiant Signet (Prince Valiant)

[nwpencrawler]

So I thought I'd add my car to the mix of resto projects here as I finally had my first big "win" yesterday.
I bought the car back in late June (2026) and attempted to drive it home from Portland, OR to Port Angeles, WA (about 240 miles). Everything was going good until I heard a loud clattering under the hood and immediately pulled over (somewhere around Castle Rock, WA on I-5). I immediately thought the worst and thought "ugh! , bottom end has thrown a rod/bearing/etc. Fortunately I had come prepared with my wife driving our full size truck full of tools and other emergency gear and I was able to rent a U-haul car trailer and tow her the remainder of the way home. There is sat untouched for a month.
In July, I started it back up just to hear what was going on and really try to determine if I needed to pull the engine or not. The good news is the noises weren't coming from the bottom end, it sounded more like upper engine and acted more like a cylinder was misfiring or not firing at all. I pulled off the valve cover and low and behold, both #2 cylinder push rods had jumped out from under the rocker arms and had bent and were flayling around when the engine was running. And then here is where good luck was shining down on me. I checked all the boxes of spares the PO gave me, and guess what? I found 2 brand new OE pushrods! Couldn't believe it!
So for the last 3-4 weeks, I have been installing the push rods, adjusted valve clearance, revamping the entire cooling system, changed out belts, hoses, WP, etc. Cleaned out PCV, replaced vacuum lines, replaced air filter, VC gasket, battery and hold-down, etc. Yesterday (8/13), I finally got the last piece installed (upper radiator hose), and filled it with coolant. Started it up and man she runs great! Like so many before me have said "runs like a sewing machine". I couldn't have been more happy!
Anyway, this is the beginning of what will be a very long and interesting journey into A-body ownership and adventures. All hail the Slant-6!!

 

[MILO]

Nice the leaning tower of power

 

[missing linc]

 

[AJ/FormS]

If it was mine, I'd be checking the guide clearance.
Those bent pushrods didn't just bad-luck happen. Most likely the valves seized in the guides; and if they did it once, they'll do it again.

 

[Slugfarm]

If it was mine, I'd be checking the guide clearance.
Those bent pushrods didn't just bad-luck happen. Most likely the valves seized in the guides; and if they did it once, they'll do it again.

My slant was repeatedly bending/breaking pushrods and it turned out the previous mechanic had put in mismatched lifters.

 

[rmcomprandy]

View attachment 1716576224
So I thought I'd add my car to the mix of resto projects here as I finally had my first big "win" yesterday.
I bought the car back in late June (2026) and attempted to drive it home from Portland, OR to Port Angeles, WA (about 240 miles). Everything was going good until I heard a loud clattering under the hood and immediately pulled over (somewhere around Castle Rock, WA on I-5). I immediately thought the worst and thought "ugh! , bottom end has thrown a rod/bearing/etc. Fortunately I had come prepared with my wife driving our full size truck full of tools and other emergency gear and I was able to rent a U-haul car trailer and tow her the remainder of the way home. There is sat untouched for a month.
In July, I started it back up just to hear what was going on and really try to determine if I needed to pull the engine or not. The good news is the noises weren't coming from the bottom end, it sounded more like upper engine and acted more like a cylinder was misfiring or not firing at all. I pulled off the valve cover and low and behold, both #2 cylinder push rods had jumped out from under the rocker arms and had bent and were flayling around when the engine was running. And then here is where good luck was shining down on me. I checked all the boxes of spares the PO gave me, and guess what? I found 2 brand new OE pushrods! Couldn't believe it!
So for the last 3-4 weeks, I have been installing the push rods, adjusted valve clearance, revamping the entire cooling system, changed out belts, hoses, WP, etc. Cleaned out PCV, replaced vacuum lines, replaced air filter, VC gasket, battery and hold-down, etc. Yesterday (8/13), I finally got the last piece installed (upper radiator hose), and filled it with coolant. Started it up and man she runs great! Like so many before me have said "runs like a sewing machine". I couldn't have been more happy!
Anyway, this is the beginning of what will be a very long and interesting journey into A-body ownership and adventures. All hail the Slant-6!!

My parents bought a "64 Valiant new ... became my first car; it was a stripped version, 170 slant six, three on the tree without even a radio. Served me very well ... wish I could buy another one but, in Michigan there are no clean ones even if you even came across one.
The first engine I ever hot-rodded. Sorta copied the early sixties Hyper-Pac versions. 392 Hemi exhaust valves fit perfect as 1/8" larger intake valves, milled the head .090", installed a slightly larger Marine camshaft, (still much smaller than the real Hyper-Pac cam), and bought a Clifford intake for a Carter 4 barrel carb. I surprised a lot of people as to how fast a small six can be.

 

[nwpencrawler]

I thought I'd treat my ignition system to something nice, so I purchased a Magnecor spark plug wire set. When I first looked into them, their catalog doesn't list an off the shelf set for the slant 6. If you look it up, it says "refer" next to 74-60 Plymouth. I contacted Magnecor and had a great experience with the lady who took my call. I ended up sending her pictures of my wires plus measurements for alll wires. I chose the Electrosports-70 7mm cables as this is not a race engine. Magnecor then made up a custom set for me that look OE (including the wide spark plug end that covers the spark plug tubes) and are numbered at the distributor end. The custom set is only offered in Black which was fine for my needs. Anyways, I thought I'd share this as others may want something similar for their slant six ignition system. The new set fits perfect and I'm extremely happy with the entire process through Magnecor.

 

[MILO]

Looks good Nice to know and made in Detroit USA Thanks