64 vallie... what did I get myself into.

[hemitheus]

So I saw this impound dog with a broken leg on its way to be put down, kind of 64 valiant signet 200 2dr. Im a sucker ... anyway, the thing is I know NOTHING about early A's. Will be home with in in a week or 2 and I will share pics at that time. Any key things to look for or know going into an early A project?

 

[memike]

Rust at the frame rails near the floor board area and rear frame rail.
Other then that these are some great light and fun cars
I wish mine was a signet 200 hard top, But still very happy with my daily driver.
Congratulations Can't wait to see it, /6 car ?

 

[hemitheus]

She is a pushbutton slantie... Yes sir. Pretty 66 you got there BTW

 

[hemitheus]

Beautiful slanty you have there..

I am not looking for a ton of HP's Just enough to be a solid cruiser.

I havent given it too much thought but if I do go the slant route I was thinking a 4bbl carb, mild cam, and good exhaust and evaluate how it feels.

Also going to look and see if any companies make timing gears for the slanties... i love the moan of timing gears.

 

[Bill Dedman]

Beautiful slanty you have there..

I am not looking for a ton of HP's Just enough to be a solid cruiser.

I havent given it too much thought but if I do go the slant route I was thinking a 4bbl carb, mild cam, and good exhaust and evaluate how it feels.

Also going to look and see if any companies make timing gears for the slanties... i love the moan of timing gears.

Thanks for the kind words!!!
The sound from the turbo will make you forget all about the whine of a gear drive cam...:roll:

 

[hemitheus]

Oh I know and love that sound.. My eagle talon tsi introduced me to that sound

 

[Old Tired Rebel]

No where in his first post did he say anything about a engine swap and while I read on he was asking about a 4bbl set up,cam and a good enjoyable car like MeMike has. The Turbo /6 cost way more to build then what he is looking for?

 

[1wild&crazyguy]

Beautiful slanty you have there..

I am not looking for a ton of HP's Just enough to be a solid cruiser.

I havent given it too much thought but if I do go the slant route I was thinking a 4bbl carb, mild cam, and good exhaust and evaluate how it feels.

Also going to look and see if any companies make timing gears for the slanties... i love the moan of timing gears.

You are speaking of a gear drive.
I am not sure, I have not looked for one.

You can score a 4 brl intake like an offenhauser off of e bay or clifford performance, but look for a used piece....it will save you big time.
A good working 4 brl carb would be the 390 vac sec holley.

Another route you could take is by going with the super 6 factory iron 2brl intake and use the holley 350 cfm 2 brl, I've done this and the ladder, But I also changed the cam to something bigger and ran headers which is something else you mught want to consider since the slant exhaust is very restrictive.

I maintained good milage and had enough pep to smoke stock small displacement v8's-302/273/smog 350's, gotta keep in mind it's only 225 inches...so you're doing very well accomplishing that alone...though with enough money you can make anything fast.

Question is how much do you want to spend?


No sarcasm from me.

 

[1wild&crazyguy]

No where in his first post did he say anything about a engine swap and while I read on he was asking about a 4bbl set up,cam and a good enjoyable car like MeMike has. The Turbo /6 cost way more to build then what he is looking for?

Yep no question, that was a high pressure sales pitch if I have ever seen one..:newb:

 

[Bill Dedman]

Yep no question, that was a high pressure sales pitch if I have ever seen one..:newb:

I get a little carried away in my enthusiasm for that idea; forgive me, please...

The idea that dropping a junkyard turbo on a stock engine is expensive is one that bears some examination.

A 2-bbl carb is all that is needed for such a conversion, and getting a Super Six intake and carb is a lot cheaper than buying a 4bbl Cliffird or Offy manifold and 4bbl carb, The stock cam works well on a turbo changeover, while keeoing the stock cam with a normally-aspirated 4bbl motor won't get you much performance. Headers are not a necessary part of a turbo motor, if it's a low-key, stock engine project, with a weld-onto the stock manifold turbo mount, contrasted with a set of tubing headers for the normally-aspirated package. The stock 8.5-to-1 compression ratio works well with the turbo system, while to get any kind of performance and cylinder pressure at all with the normally-aspirated mods, you're going to need to mill the head, or block, or both. More money...







My 2-cents...

If the presentation, here, all those facts constitutes "high pressure salesmanship," so be it... LOL!
Somebody show me the error in my philosophy...:read2:

 

[Old Tired Rebel]

Bill I understand your enthusiasm for a turbo/6 and I have no problems with it. It just didn't answer the op question except about the rust issues. And how to improve his /6 cheaply to make it a good all around driver.

But in most cases when you read about junkyard turbos they need to be rebuilt and it isn't cheap to do. Also here where I am at finding a turbo is hard to do. I like the pictures you posted and seems to well thought out but dollar for dollar that turbo /6 was not cheap to build.

Back to the op question.

 

[Old Tired Rebel]

So I saw this impound dog with a broken leg on its way to be put down, kind of 64 valiant signet 200 2dr. Im a sucker ... anyway, the thing is I know NOTHING about early A's. Will be home with in in a week or 2 and I will share pics at that time. Any key things to look for or know going into an early A project?

You are speaking of a gear drive.
I am not sure, I have not looked for one.

You can score a 4 brl intake like an offenhauser off of e bay or clifford performance, but look for a used piece....it will save you big time.
A good working 4 brl carb would be the 390 vac sec holley.

Another route you could take is by going with the super 6 factory iron 2brl intake and use the holley 350 cfm 2 brl, I've done this and the ladder, But I also changed the cam to something bigger and ran headers which is something else you mught want to consider since the slant exhaust is very restrictive.

I maintained good milage and had enough pep to smoke stock small displacement v8's-302/273/smog 350's, gotta keep in mind it's only 225 inches...so you're doing very well accomplishing that alone...though with enough money you can make anything fast.

Question is how much do you want to spend?


No sarcasm from me.

You also might want to do a front disc brake swap using. Here is a link and I plan to do this same swap to my 65 Barracuda

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=90216

 

[slant6/4speed]

Personally I love driving my 64 Valiant conv with the 225 slant six and the factory 4 speed-think of it as a American MG! But with a huge trunk and a heater that works.

 

[Bill Dedman]

Bill I understand your enthusiasm for a turbo/6 and I have no problems with it. It just didn't answer the op question except about the rust issues. And how to improve his /6 cheaply to make it a good all around driver.

But in most cases when you read about junkyard turbos they need to be rebuilt and it isn't cheap to do. Also here where I am at finding a turbo is hard to do. I like the pictures you posted and seems to well thought out but dollar for dollar that turbo /6 was not cheap to build.

Back to the op question.

You make good points. I apologize for skewing the original poster's query,
There are some factors to consider that I didn't mention, but I think they're pertinent. The guys who run hard with turbos on this board have learned that those forced-induction engines don't respond well to deep final-drive gearing. They make better power by being "held back" like a nitro motor does. Ryan Peterson's '66 Valiant which runs in the tens, does its best 60-foot times with a 2.76 final drive.(!)

Could be wrong; been wrong before.... but, we're havin' fun, so far!:burnout:

 

[slantsixdan]

Skip the 4bbl idea and go with a 2bbl. See this post and this one.

 

[crvtec90]

Be aware of cowl rust. You might not see it from the outside. There are 2 large holes inside the cowl that flow fresh air into the interior through the black boxes on either side near the kick panels. Dirt, leaves, contaminants get in there and sit around eating away at the metal and let water inside the car.

 

[hemitheus]

I can appreciate both points of view. I wont go the turbo route for many reasons, but i appreciate the info and think hte turbo setup is crazy cool.

Thanks for the info on the disc brake swap, 2bbl carbs and cowl rust.

at first what I am going to do is rebuild the brake cylinders to get it stopping right. maybe look into a dual resovoir power brake setup. Clean out the fluid and filter in the tranny, ckeck the linkages, pull the valve cover adjust the valves, get it timed, tuned and running shifting and stopping right before I do any real changes. Then slowly work on it here and there.

The car is for me but I am also using it to teach my 10 year old son about turning wrenches on real cars before peer pressure gets to him and he gets seduced by the teenage riceburner crap.

For performance. I am not looking for an 11 second car. Just looking for a good cruiser that can hop on the highway without overrevving or slowing up traffic. something with a little guts. Handing people in their 90's 5.0 mustangs a dose of "yeah what" is appealing. But all in all a budget build.

Although I do need both front fenders, a hood release mechanism, drivers door glass, tail lights and door panels

Dan I have been watching you.. what do you NOT know about slants? wow

 

[slantsixdan]

Dan I have been watching you.. what do you NOT know about slants?

Doug Dutra is among those who know more than I do about 'em.

 

[rumblefish360]

Responding to complaints, and I don't want to, but here it is;

Bill, curb your enthusiasm on the turbo issue and stick to the subject at hand because this is a help board/post/thread that the OE poster never mentioned anything about what you keep flag waving about.

Your becoming arumentive on the subject and runing the thread. Take it back to your own thread that was replaced 3 times for you.

Stop bad mouthing other peoples idea on what they want to do (AKA V-8 swap)
Stop interupting this thread on a turbo virtues
Stop mucking thread(s) up on this subject
Stop stop stop stop............

You have been here by warned in public and as for record on this matter. Further more issues like this will leed to keeping a track record of these issues.

 

[hemitheus]

That was interesting....... back on topic(s)

Its a bucket car... do 67+ consoles fit?

 

[Dart_Doctor]

That was interesting....... back on topic(s)

Its a bucket car... do 67+ consoles fit?

well the sad thing is i have 3 of them and never tried i mite and see if one fits lol well i think the guys have got all the rust spots down and dont forget the batter spot it rusts out alot on them and around the glass and trunk cracks i dont know where ur at but here in ok u never find one that dont need floors or 1/4s so dont let that stuff get ya down :burnout:

 

[Bill Dedman]

Responding to complaints, and I don't want to, but here it is;

Bill, curb your enthusiasm on the turbo issue and stick to the subject at hand because this is a help board/post/thread that the OE poster never mentioned anything about what you keep flag waving about.

Your becoming arumentive on the subject and runing the thread. Take it back to your own thread that was replaced 3 times for you.

Stop bad mouthing other peoples idea on what they want to do (AKA V-8 swap)
Stop interupting this thread on a turbo virtues
Stop mucking thread(s) up on this subject
Stop stop stop stop............

You have been here by warned in public and as for record on this matter. Further more issues like this will leed to keeping a track record of these issues.

I have been accussed of a lot of things in my lifetime, but the dissemination of TOO MUCH useful information has never been among them, until now.

If any of you have been offended by anything I have said. I apologize. I'll limit my suggestions regarding forced induction to the forced induction forum, from here on.

Thanks for listening! l:

 

[hemitheus]

DD I am in AZ... not a ton of rust. If you try out that console take a few pics for me would ya?

 

[Dart_Doctor]

DD I am in AZ... not a ton of rust. If you try out that console take a few pics for me would ya?

ya man u got it if i got the time

 

[2 Darts]

Beautiful slanty you have there..

I am not looking for a ton of HP's Just enough to be a solid cruiser.

I havent given it too much thought but if I do go the slant route I was thinking a 4bbl carb, mild cam, and good exhaust and evaluate how it feels.

Also going to look and see if any companies make timing gears for the slanties... i love the moan of timing gears.

Great find.

Memike hit the potential rust issues real well. It rains in the desert sometimes and body seals dry out and crack. My 72 Demon was a CA desert car that had rust pin holes in the floorboards when I got it.

Given the age of the car, I'd check the brakes and suspension out thoroughly. Look for cracked hoses, leaky wheel cylinders, and flattened steel lines. Shocks and tires, naturally. If the suspension bushings are badly cracked, strongly recommend replacement. As long as things are apart in the front end, go ahead and do the ball joints. It will really transform the way it rides and drives. There are very few changes you can make later that will invalidate what you have to do to make it safe to drive now. Have fun!