Glamour Shots.. '62 Valiant Wagon

[slant six]

3/4/24:

I got some more things accomplished. Nothing super important, but fiddly stuff that takes time.

I am still waiting on parts to properly set the valve spring pressures on my head before I start to assemble the engine. That is the big hold-up on engine assembly for me right now.

I got the OE 3-speed bell housing all cleaned and ready for reassembly. As bell housings go this one was just as grimy inside as any other one I have ever come across.
Parts look good and I ordered a new clutch fork boot.
It is clean now and I found a damaged threaded hole. so I fixtured the part up on the drill press and set it up for heli-coil surgery.

The surgery went well - no problems.

Shiny:

I also spent a few hours back and forth futzing with the Crank Scraper - they always need to be adjusted to be close and correct without banging into the rotating assembly.

Lastly, I measured the pistons in the holes to begin to calculate the compression ratio.

 

[abdywgn]

the minute details take time but make a difference in the end! Thanks for all the posts!

 

[slant six]

the minute details take time but make a difference in the end! Thanks for all the posts!

Yep no problem.
The fiddly bits do take time, but it's worth it.

 

[slant six]

3/14/24:

I have been getting some small things done - I am still waiting on the proper valve locks to be manufactured and arrive from PAC. I have been trying to set my spring heights and pressures. So far, I cannot get them quite right without trying a few more bits.

I also ordered some parts from Dr. Diff, and am waiting for those to arrive so I can build the 3rd member for the 8 3/4" axle.

I also CC'd A new to me head that has been milled and unknown amount with 11/32" stem Chevy 1.7/1.44 valves, new guides, and the spring seats machined for more cam / valve lift.The head came in at 42.2CC which is good to get this engine in the Mid 9:1 CR range which will be perfect for this combination.

I also found that I have a reputable local chrome shop within walking distance from the shop. There actually used to be 2 chrome shops in town, and about 2 years ago the other shop closed up when the owner passed away. I decided to give Bill a try with some spare Door handles. - They turned out great!

I finished up the front parking lights with new lenses and seals, got them installed and tested.

 

[slant six]

3/19/24:

The parts arrived that were ordered from Dr. Diff. A bunch of stuff needed to make a swap meet "741" carrier and 3.55 gears work well was sourced, including: Dr. Diff Torsen style differential, pinion bearings, races, seal and carrier bearings. The 3rd member was setup and installed.

The 7.25" axle that is being replaced also had a 3.55:1 ratio in it as this was an original factory "stick car"

The axles were installed without much fuss, and I started to assemble the rear brakes when I realized that there were no parking brake levers in the donor rear brake parts that were acquired for this build. A set of rear parking brake levers were ordered from Dante's MoPar parts and they should arrive this week.

The front upper control arms were installed and the ball joint threads on the LH arm were stripped. The ball joint was just swimming around in there having fun, so I broke out the hot glue gun and welded the ball joint to the upper arm. This fix has been used before and should provide satisfactory service for quite a while. If you have been following the epic saga here, you will recall that about a year ago I rebuilt the upper arms with new bushes and upper ball joints as well as a fresh paint job.

Welded:

Not welded = Good Threads

Lifter valley return "stand offs" were installed as per Doc Dutra's recommendations.
The '62 Block has 6 Lifter Gallery return holes; at Ø25/64" each - some of the later blocks have 5 oil drain holes at a larger maybe Ø1/2", leaving out the return hole above the oil pump arm.
A cheap and easy solution for the oil standoffs can be fashioned out of some valve guides wit some drilling and turning as needed - I Found some SBI engine parts powered metal guides that cut and drill very easily.

Lastly, the camshaft went in for some degree work. The head is still incomplete; waiting on some valve locks. My goal is 101° intake lobe ℄ for this build.
I installed the Rollmaster timing set with a small amount of hand sanding and also a bit of anti-seize on the bottom gear and installed it in at "0" on the crank gear. The cam degreed in at 102.5°℄ and my goal is 101°. so I am going to advance the cam 2° and then I should be very close at 100.5°

More updates to come!

 

[slant six]

3/29/24:

I have been getting some things accomplished:

The 10" Rear parking Brake Levers arrived and got installed.

This 3rd member was missing the pinion snubber, I was going through some bins of parts and found 2 of these that I had stashed away when I was a kit and forgot I had them. So i installed that too.

10" skinny rear brakes installed with levers now! The rear is getting buttoned up!

Notice anything about this flywheel?

Okay Slant 6 Trivia masters did you figure it out?
Stock Small center bore flywheel with the 10" / 9" pressure plate pattern on it and the 10" Mazda/Ford pressure plate bolt pattern on it too.
Paul at my local non automotive machine shop does odd jobs for me and the have a "file on me" too. I am not sure if that is good or bad.. but I can now take any stock slant 6 flywheel to them and they can drill it for the Ford/Mazda 10" diaphragm pressure plate.

Next we'll have to see if this whole shebang fits in the 3 speed a903/a745 bell housing. I would guess that it should but we will see!

Got the engine all dressed up. ready to marry up the the bell, transmission and k frame.

This is not the head to be used - jut stuck on as a lifting point, as I sent my head to get the spring pockets cut 0.045", Tired of waiting on PAC for the retainers. to try out.

Ran out of time this winter for the 5 speed conversion, so maybe next fall for that. I just cleaned up the crummy a903 for now.

Doing down, first floor, Slant 6

All bolted in. Ready for some spindles and suspension bits.

Cleaned up the OE booties and replaced them back on the tie rod ends.

It's back down on all fours with edelbrock front shocks, adjustable front strut bars and big ~1.03 Front Torsion bars.

Brake bleeding and head install / exhaust fab to come in the hopefully near future.

 

[Swifster]

All of that work looks great. I can't wait to see the finish project.

 

[slant six]

All of that work looks great. I can't wait to see the finish project.

Thank you, I am glad you appreciate it. I will be happy to tie all of this up hopefully soon. These things never go quick, always taking longer than anticipated or expected. I wanted to slam a T5 Transmission in there as well, but maybe next winter.

 

[slant six]

3/31/24:

I figured out how to fit a 10" Diaphragm Pressure plate into the 3 speed bell. More futzing to shim the fulcrum closer to the plate fingers is needed.

The 10" 1" x 23 Chrysler splined clutch disk is fitted under the pressure plate as well. I have some 1 1/16" x 10 10" Discs ready to go as well for that eventual swap to a T5 transmission in the future.

The brakes are connected and fully bled ( I think), to the best of my ability with one person doing the bleeding.

This looks alot better than the old 9" steam rollers that used to be there before!

 

[slant six]

4/12/24:

Well, I finally moved the car off of the lift. mainly because it has 4 wheels connected to axles and spindles again, and I had broken stuff to fix on my XJ Jeep that the lift made easier work of the job.

I sent the cylinder head to the machine shop 2 weeks ago to get the spring pockets cut down just a little bit, as I was trying to equalize the valve spring pressures for the seat and open. Since this is a second or 3rd hand head it has had work done to it before. I got some Speedway small block Chevy springs, so it needed a spring locator in the spring pocket to keep the springs from flailing around as the springs are quite a bit smaller on the I.D. compared to MoPar Slant 6 / LA valve springs. So that means all different retainers and locks too.

I fussed around off and on for seemingly months to get the correct combination of parts to make these valves, springs, locks, etc work correctly with each other. I also had trouble because my valve spering micrometer was for larger valve spring retainers and it was difficult to get an accurate measurement for the installed heights.

I got a PAC Racing spring height micrometer T-904. It's meant for LS engines but it works with these little SBC retainers too, It's pricey but the height measurements will be "dead nuts on correct".


My "el cheapo micrometer" "fell short" due to the retainer diameter being small.
I made some shims for it but they turned out to be garbage as well.

The PAC Micrometer is tiny but works well for the small OD Retainers.

Phew! Finally! Ready for studs, temp sending unit, paint, and put this head in the car to hang some headers and build the rest of the exhaust!

 

[slant six]

4/15/24:

Happy Tax Day.
Pay the government today!

In Valiant news:

I got the head Painted, 13 new manifold studs installed with sealer, and it is ready to place on the car.
Fun Fact: 2 of the head bolts cannot be removed/ installed on the '60-'62 A bodies with a 225 and the heater box installed!

A new Victor gasket with copper spray goo was placed on the block as well.

I got the cylinder head on, all torqued, lifters installed rocker arm installed, new Smith Brothers push rods in stock length installed, rough cold lash set, filled with water, intake, exhaust, and other side and front of engine accessories installed, etc.

Had to futz around with the starter because it stopped starting somehow. On this setup, the manifolds/header need to be removed to remove the starter, so I got some more practice at removing and installing slant 6 manifolds. After pulling the starter, I took it apart and put it back together and it started starting again, I probably overtightened something on the starter's terminal block allowing an intermittent connection, but I seem to have fixed it after removal and reassembly.

Got it to crank over and prime the oiling system until the Warning light went off. I still need to install an oil pressure gauge before the initial fire. I will probably spin it over a bunch again to get some oil over to the rockers. It is ready to fire once I connect the fuel lines and get the Spark plugs in, but I will wait until I build some exhaust off of the headers to get the exhaust to exit below the car.

 

[slant six]

4/21/24:

I have about 14 hours in the front header pipes / down pipes etc. that connect the headers to the merge collector behind the cross member.
I got both the front and rear header collector pipes down to the suspension level and past the bell housing. The stuff I am making now will be much better than the previous owner's muffler shop garbage with aluminized pipe. poor fitting, leaking boogered MIG welds and clangy pipes that did not allow for a clutch linkage adjustment.

This chassis has to be the most difficult to complete this sort of custom down pipe fabrication on. With the 3 speed column to transmission rods, clutch linkage torque shaft, and giant power steering box, all in close proximity. I did this job on my 64 Dart before. I had slightly more room on that car, and I wanted this iteration to be better, so it is slower going.

I started with some of these:

For the front pipe I left the header collector reducer alone and began burning pipe right onto it.
The front pipe 90°'s down toward the frame rail, then bends again just above the torsion bar.

Here is what that pipe looks like semi completed:

When the gaps are right, the hot glue gun runs like butter:

For the rear pipe that was not possible, no way that long ~5" of stainless reducer would clear what is going on under the car.
So a little slicing and dicing to the stainless works part was needed:
I ended up with about ~ 1" of header reducer. Maybe not Ideal, but required for the packaging of this car - It aint' no E Body or Truck!
]

Little by little..

A lot of work was required to get to this point.
I realized that Here, I needed to order some more 45° Mandel bends to complete the job. So they are ordered.

Just another 2-3 feet to get from that monstrosity of front pipes, pie cuts, and bends to here:

But that will be the easy part (probably)!

These pipes sure look goofy because I have yet to figure out where to cut and at what angle, and if I need some more pie cuts it there too.

See you next time!

 

[Darter6]

Great work !