Fireside Valiant chat

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Ah the memories. Good thread. In 67 and 17 car shopping with my dad we looked at a Lancer 2dr with 3 on the floor. I didn't think it was cool enough. The ignorance of youth.
 
Lovin this thread, glad your warming up to the earlier cars.
 
So today I decided to take a change of clothes with me to my office job and change on the way out to go get dirty and do some hunting....car parts hunting that is.

I received a tip about a man locally who was said to have an 833 OD transmission out of a Volare for sale. I has reservations about replacing the three speed manual on hand with a Volare OD because I have heard bad things about aluminum cased ODs. However, I research the topic of bushing the countershaft and found several threads and it seems a lot of people have the opinion an aluminum cased OD is plenty strong yet others claim to have had them fall apart really easy......WE may never know how much of that is real world in a reasonable context.

So I get there and the man has at least 7 4 speeds in a row on a shelf but they are all the ball and trunion type. I actually entertained the idea of using a ball and trunion in the valiant since that is what it had originally and the man also has a number of drive shafts available that would work. At the end of the row was a cast iron truck OD with the long tail shaft.

So now the options were to go Ball and trunion or long shaft OD and change the tail shaft over.

With the ball and trunion ...The Con: what is going to happen if the U-joint goes bad...is that something I can replace?? The driveshaft available will work with the 7 1/4 but if I ever upgrade rear ends ??? The other problem with the ball and trunion is the 3.5 inch bearing retainer. So now I would need to buy a bell housing to a slant with the small bearing hole, shame too because I already have a nice OD bell. The small bearing retainer bell housings are available but not really all that common. Brewers has one listed right now but for 3 bills. So that is a con on the side of the ball and trunion.

The positive on the ball and trunion is a strong early 60's vintage four speed with the one to one final gear.

But then I had to think, is the temptation of a one to one final gear something I should cloud my judgement with ?? I mean, had he had a short shaft OD ...I would have been loaded up already and on my way home happy.

The con of the long shaft OD is : I need to put more money into converting it to the short shaft. however, between ebay and brewers, all the parts I would need for the conversion are around.

The positive of the long shaft OD is: I can use that long tail shaft housing on another 4 speed for another car and save me some $ on another build because those dual mount tail shafts are worth some coin because that is the ticket for the E-body crowd. The other positive is that it's from a truck so its the strong 30 spline output and the cast iron case which circumvents my original concern over the rigidity of the aluminum case.

So I went back after thinking and looking up on ebay what is available and stuck a deal on the long shaft OD for 2 bills .........then I looked over and noticed one of the ball and trunion transmissions had a shifter and linkage, so I asked how much for just the shifter. It was thrown in the deal for 2 bills, so that was a SCORE!!!

So now I need to crack this baby open and evaluate what I need to convert to short shaft and go through it. So here is the birth of the part of the driveline for Princess valiant.

The shifter is definitely the early type with the bolt on handle. So now I just need to get a handle and that whole thing one less thing to worry about

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I picked up a few odds and ends for the valiant. I am a nerd for these old print items so it seems natural to me to complete the car with buying stuff like this. The map holder looks to have never been used. I just love the old style drawings in the owners manual

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all those trinkets are must have stuff and cost so little. but, if you have 4 or more sets of different wheels for that one car, them maybe ya got a problem!!?? ha
 
Great stories. My first car was a 62 Valiant with a 61 Lancer Front end and trunk lid. $110 dollars and I ran the wheels off it!
Little old lady up the street had a 63 2 door valiant, White, Blue interior. I fell in love with that car, but she gave it to her son who trashed the car. I know my life would have been different if I had been able to buy that car! So now I have come almost a full circle, 1962 Lancer Wagon being restored for my last cruzer. Thanks for sharing all the stories!
 
I have January-September,1963, Plymouth traveler, that would go good with the other odds and ends.

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Have had this valiant in the family for ever. I raced it from 95 to 2006. Then I got busy raising two boys. Car sat till 2015. I had just finished my 67 barracuda, and was bored. So I decided to convert my race car to a quasi street car. However I had no interior. So I decided to piece meal the interior with what I had left over from other projects. Money wise the valiants aren't worth much so it's not like I'm breaking any cardinal sin. Haha. This valiant has been in the garage its entire life so there was zero rust. Easiest car I ever prepped for paint. Plus I had every piece of exterior trim except the front bumper. Got thrown away 40 years ago. Got very lucky, cosig on this forum had one for me. Awsome. Still has the cage in it. Tubbed 390/45/15 rear tire in the back. 4:88 gears, 3500 stall. Use to race a 340, however I rebuilt that motor and put that in the fish. So I bought a stroker kit for a 318 to make a 389 small block. Why, because nobody strokes a 318. And nobody where I live has a 65 valiant. Ps... I know it has a 64 grill. I like it better than the 65!
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so as of today, I have the bucket seats on the way but it would seem they got held up by the great blizzard of 17 out on the east coast.

They are coming from a FABO member I consider a friend ...thanks @halifaxhops , apparently found them at a yard near him

These are his pics, they look great but the seat pattern identifies as from a 63 dart. I am very happy with the deal. The only thing is the lower seat tracks are rusty but the uppers and seats are in great shape

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To solve the problem of the rusty lowers, I remembered there is a parts 65 Barracuda at a yard near me. the passenger side ones were still bolted in the skeleton of a 65 barracuda and I found the driver side ones in the trunk of a second 65 Barracuda in the yard.

I know the passenger ones are 65 Barracuda for sure but the driver side I am guessing they are 65. I will have to compare to the rusty ones when they arrive. I have never messed this early A stuff before. I wasn't even aware till now the early ones adjust and are actually two parts, I am used to the later 67-76 style.

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since the last update I also had also received the clutch pedal assembly and have since swapped it in.

Talk about an easy swap, just the four master cylinder nuts and the two bolts under the dash. Of course , after dropping the steering column out of the way, took maybe 10-15 minutes.

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Lovin the progress, keep it going! If you have any issues you can always ask. I have access to lots of early-a parts down here. :)
 
Rainy is moving forward :steering::steering: Looking good young lady :thumbsup:
 
Rainy Day Auto said:
More so than a build thread .....I would call this more of a "thinking out loud" thread. I am finding through experience that every early Valiant has a story. If there is a such thing as a valiant without a story, it would have been good as a valiant leaving the factory without wheels.

When you stop and think about the history of cars and condition and style of cars as of the 1959 model year, it might be easier to imagine this new car that was then new to the market.

My story includes a 63 Valiant,

think out loud a little? the deal was back in the 50's, 60's maybe even 70's was that people got very excited in the fall when the new models came out. maybe that is partially why these old cars all had stories??
glad Rainy has found mopar fascination with the early A's! cool wagon.
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Princess Valiant is still on the move!!

As of today...I have some NOS tail lights on the way

I have the bell housing on the way. Totally not cheap bell housing that is the Slant six/ 4 speed pattern. The bell is often confused for the 3 speed type which will not work. The slant six/ 4 speed (NON OD) is quite a rarity, having been made in 64 and 5 only.

Also I scored the right steering wheel I was looking for.

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Awesome looking sport steering wheel! I like those too.
 
That will be a fantastic ride!
Slant six, four speed, bucket sears and the faux wood wheel is super cool.
Thanks for keeping us informed.
 
We're running parallel. I have a 64 Valiant vert with a 3 on the tree and 225. I've been collecting parts to do a 4 speed conversion. About 18 months ago I drove to VA and back in one day to buy and pick up 1965 barracuda bucket seats and steering column from a FABO member.($100) About a year ago I drove to the other side of Pittsburgh to buy and pick up a trunnion 4 speed and Hurst shifter that came from another 65 cuda. ($320) Finally bought a 66 floor hump from a FABO member in CA about a month ago. ($120 with shipping) I was looking for a hump and bellhousing for about a year. I finally broke down and bought a bell from Wayne Brewer and met him at a Mopar Swap Meet about a month ago to make the deal. At $280 it was a lot but nothing was turning up even running wanted ads in FABO. I will say the bell is in PERFECT shape and Wayne even installed a new fork pivot.

You may have an advsntage in that guys are probably more willing to help a chick than a dude with obtaining parts.

I won't do the swap until after a Mopar show in June because I want to show this barn find car as is before modding it. However, I do have the car entered in Carlisle and hope to do it before then.

Good luck Rani. And you're right Dave1967, the 64 grille looks better than the 65, IMO. :)
 
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KosmicKuda said:
You may have an advsntage in that guys are probably more willing to help a chick than a dude with obtaining parts.
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I certainly hope not, I try to stay as neutral as possible, I went to auto school and I do my own work so I would like to think I am on a level playing field.
 
KosmicKuda said:
We're running parallel. I have a 64 Valiant vert with a 3 on the tree and 225. I've been collecting parts to do a 4 speed conversion. About 18 months ago I drove to VA and back in one day to buy and pick up 1965 barracuda bucket seats and steering column from a FABO member.($100) About a year ago I drove to the other side of Pittsburgh to buy and pick up a trunnion 4 speed and Hurst shifter that came from another 65 cuda. ($320) Finally bought a 66 floor hump from a FABO member in CA about a month ago. ($120 with shipping) I was looking for a hump and bellhousing for about a year. I finally broke down and bought a bell from Wayne Brewer and met him at a Mopar Swap Meet about a month ago to make the deal. At $280 it was a lot but nothing was turning up even running wanted ads in FABO. I will say the bell is in PERFECT shape and Wayne even installed a new fork pivot.
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the cool thing is ball and trunion 4 speeds are cheap when you find them because hardly anyone wants them LOL

I am figuring that to add a 4 speed option is costing me around 600 bucks over using a 3 speed I already had.

I doubt I will regret it later so its just money and the money wont mean anything 5 years from now :)
 
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