65 Valiant

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B-onefan

B-onefan

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I picked up the last car of 4 I bought this spring. The car is a Signet V-8/ auto, convertible. It has no motor or trans. As I was loading it I noticed it had a 5-6" notch made into the rear valance on the drivers side. I looked it over and it is factory made into the valance and has a bracket mount on the frame rail. All the other V-8 cars do not have
this notch. Could this indicate a resonator exhaust was factory on this car and what option packages could you get this in? I inspected the valance and it is factory installed and has no indications of ever being welded on as a replacement. The inner fender tag is missing and I am hoping it is in with all the parts buckets I got with the car. There are no rear seats so no build sheet. Please help.
 
I also noticed the car has sway bar tabs on the lower control arms.
 
Sounds like it had a 273 commando engine & a sports suspension package.
Cool car!
Can't wait to see pics.
 
Here are a few.
 

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few more
 

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Am I correct in saying that the only way you cold get the resonator exhaust is with the 273 Commando package?
 
I think so, since it require that unique valance cut-out. Search here and you will find many posts. One place makes/made repro HiPo exhausts. The AllPar site has more info and photos. A member here from Sweden is the expert on the 65 HiPo stuff. You can find many posts.

Congrats you lucky devil. The rust doesn't look bad to guys back East, though worse than most AZ/CA cars. Hopefully, it will clean up. I understand there is nothing to distinguish the engine blocks or heads, just the pistons, finned valve covers, and 4 bbl iron intake were special, so if you get any 65 block and those parts, you can put it back to "correct and valid".
 
Here's few more pictures
 

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Wow! Looks good!
I hope you have plans to get it back on the road and have at least some of the trim.
I love the trailer hitch.
 
SSVDP said:
Wow! Looks good!
I hope you have plans to get it back on the road and have at least some of the trim.
I love the trailer hitch.
Click to expand...

Yes, plan on getting it going. I bought 4 cars and 1 is a complete 65 Convertible for parts and all the trim for this car is also there. The guy bought it complete, tore it apart and realized he was over his head.
 
Nice car. Can you get a better pictrure of the accelerator wire bracket? They are different! Does it have a V8. Vin number?
 
VIN is V45512**** I decoded it and all I get is that it was a factory V-8( no breakdown on which). I will try and get some more pictures of the Bbracket.
 
The partial build sheet I found in mine, was under the front carpet on the passenger side.
 
B-onefan said:
I picked up the last car of 4 I bought this spring. The car is a Signet V-8/ auto, convertible. It has no motor or trans. As I was loading it I noticed it had a 5-6" notch made into the rear valance on the drivers side. I looked it over and it is factory made into the valance and has a bracket mount on the frame rail. All the other V-8 cars do not have
this notch. Could this indicate a resonator exhaust was factory on this car and what option packages could you get this in? I inspected the valance and it is factory installed and has no indications of ever being welded on as a replacement. The inner fender tag is missing and I am hoping it is in with all the parts buckets I got with the car. There are no rear seats so no build sheet. Please help.
Click to expand...

your vert is indeed a commando car, and requires the resonator with the large stainless tip, which fills in that cut out notch very nicely. Accurate exhaust systems in oregon sells a complete factory style exhaust system, including the resonator. google them for pics and info. many of those cars came without a sway bar. your lower control arms have the sway bar link tabs on them, so its easy to obtain a factory sway bar and bolt it in. I have 3 65 valiant converts and 1 65 barracuda commando cars, and am a certified early valiant nut/enthusiast. let me know if you need any help sourcing parts or have any other questions about your 65.
 
Great buy! The only way I know of that would get a resonator would be the 273 4v aka. Commando V-8. I'm also not aware of any package on the 65 Valiant or Dart that would include the Commando. It would need to be ordered a'la carte from the list of available options. Conversely, the Commando would probably require 904 or 833 transmissions as well as HD cooling. The VIN isn't going to tell you which engine was in it because Mopar did not distinguish between the 2v and 4v versions until 1967. If the car is essentially a Formula S Valiant, it should have 14 x 5½ wheels on it.

The notch in the valence looked a little large. I went through some old photos and found that the size and location seem to be correct. The entire system is available in repro $$$. It makes good music for a single. IIRC the 65 used a muffler that was like a Dynomax Ultraflow. It was basically a louvered pipe with an S-bend in it installed in a casing to look like a muffler. They must have heard the complaints in Detroit because the 66 models had a reverse flow muffler.
 

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Hey Dustin, and I were talking about swapping our dealer added dress up air cleaners at one point, back on the 62 to 65 list. The stainless air cleanera could be added at the dealer, mine had a commando cleaner on my 4bbl car, dustin's barracuda came with the charger 4bbl tin on his. We never did swap but quickly learned some dealers just put on what they had in stock if someone paid the extra for the dress up performance items. ;-)
 
65dartcharger said:
Nice car. Can you get a better pictrure of the accelerator wire bracket? They are different! Does it have a V8. Vin number?
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That is clearly the 4 bbl accelerator cable bracket in the pictures. It's upside down in the photo but if you were to rotate it so the stud is pointing up it would turn toward the outside of the motor which is what you need for the wider 4 bbl carb. The 2 bbl bracket turns toward the centerline of the motor for the narrower 2 bbl carb.

I had to make that bracket for my car. If you don't need that one, PM me and I'll buy it from you.
 
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