I Broke The Valiant

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66340SEDAN

FABO Member #3649
Joined
Nov 20, 2006
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Location
Minnesota
I went to a local car show that had a burnout contest, I made a couple earlier runs and they went great. The third time out I was goint to start with a smoky power-brake one. The guy asked me what I was going to do just as I backed the car up to the shop...well he distracted me and then all hell broke loose. :angry7: I thought I had it in first gear...I didn't, it was still in reverse. Well, dumped the clutch and BANG BANG BANG! Got the car pushed out of the way, looked underneath and seen antifreeze running out and a huge dent in the oil pan, I got a huge lump in my stomach. Turns out cause It was in reverse, when the engine tourqed it twisted the other way, causing the passenger side motor mount to break and sending the engine leaping up. I have a tourqe strap on the driver side which helped but the damage was already done.

The fan took out the rare factory shroud, fan was destroyed, fan shoved the steel shroud into the radiator causing a pinhole, causing the radiator to leak, upper hose was also sliced. The left side header smashed into the inner fender, causing the header tube to flatten a bit and also smashed the fender and cover up too. My oil pan also has a huge dent from smacking the k-frame but is not leaking. The distributor cap also popped off.

After I removed the shroud and straightened the blades out on the fan it did fire up and run ok.....that made me feel better. It also moved in the reverse and first gears so that was good. I still trailered it home cause of the radiator leak. Hopefully nothing else is wrecked, I will have to check the z-bar and clutch linkages over to see it they got bent, also have to chack the tranny mount.

I felt pretty stupid cause I have beat on my car several times, then I go and do this crap. It was totally my fault for not making sure the car was in the right gear, I gues it could have been worse, the car could have jumped back into the building. I also had a passenger with me this time, my friends son wanted to go with me in the worse way, guess I let him down, oh well.

Hopefully I will get this all fixed tommorrow, I have another fan and an extra shroud, hopefully a shop can fix the radiator asap. I was going to race on weds nite at the street drags and see how much the drag raadials help, no I will have to wait and see if I get this thing fixed in time.

Here are some pics and the video.



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Well that sucks Keith!So much little damage(many different areas)Hope ya get er fixed for the track.I,d like to see what ya run with the sticky,s now?
 
Dude this is not a good weekend for us FABO guys. My hood took a dump today because of a dumb cat. Gotta redo it now.

Hope you get everything fixed. Those videos are badass.
 
No kidding...I just read your thread, bummer. I also seen the pics of 360scamp's Dart that got hit in the front end, what the hell??
 
damn dude, that a bummer! Good luck getting it going for the race, let us know how that nasty little small block does!!
 
That shroud looks as though it could be repaired. :)

Sorry to hear about this, I've always dug your car. Breaking is bad enough and then knowing that there was a way to prevent it just makes it that much worse. Sounds like it might be time to pick up some interlocking style MM's too.
 
Yea, good idea. I have Schumacher mounts for a slant to V8 conversion, do they use a standard a-body mount for the later 67-72 cars? It looks like a regular biscuit mount. Unless they use the early-a mount with their bracket? Not sure.......:read2:
 
I called Schumacher up and they use the 67-up slant six a-body rubber insulator for their conversion mounts, number 2265 at your local parts store.
 

Yup, that is where I got my mounts and that is who I called. Their poly locking mounts and very nice and a little spendy so I will have to wait for now. The guy I talked to there on the phone was very helpful and polite!

The shroud can be fixed, just bent a little and the one spot weld broke, thanks Ramcharger!
 
Well, I called the radiator shop and my radiator should be done in an hour, sounds like it is going good with the repair. He told me where the hole is, it is a tricky repair cause they need to heat the area up and this could cause the tubes to seperate from the lower part of the upper tank, hope like hell this don't happen! I got a new hose, belt, and motor mount. Just need to dig out a fan, hopefully should be good to go. I will install the extra shroud I have for now. Wish me luck!
 
Sorry to hear about this Keith...but it does sound like you had backup parts! I agree with RC, that the fan shroud could be fixed.

How about the pan, inner fender, and header? Any assessment on those things? I hope it's not as bad as it looks. We all dread these times when our pride and joy brings us down a bit.

Good luck.
 
So many nice A bodies got hurt this week end :angry7:
Dang man #-o That sure sucks :pale: Your 66 is one of my best screen savers and I show your Video's to all my friends here on the hill.
I have to say I enjoyed the other video's :cheers::burnout:
But the one where they said Oh $h!T made my hart sink.
It sounds like cat's and dumb young girls took out some of our member's car's :sad5: I am glad it's not worse bud :happy10:

See what happens when I leave and get all Tequila'ed up playing music.
I am glad I parked Victoria most of the weekend.:happy10:
Holler If there is anything I can do or look for Keith :happy10:
 
Nooooo Keith, say it aint so!? man I cringed when I saw the video. For sure it could have been alot worse but it still sucks to see (and hear) that damage done to such a sweet ride. hopefully everything else is ok and your back posting more burner vids soon. good luck.
 
DEA Products. # A 2460 for a small block, think I got them from Summit.
Steel interlock mount.
 
The drive shaft will be dropped at the shop in the am, I'll fix the snubber and get some straps for the yoke. I got Keith the correct motor mount today, he installed it after work, we did an inspection on everything and a couple test drives so hopefully we'll be at the track tomorrow evening.
I'll be taking the Coronet.
 
Yea, the adjustable pinion snubber got smashed down into the driveshaft yoke and bent one of the straps and the 2 bolts holding it on. U-joints are also worn which was hopefully the vibration we were finding at highway speeds. Hope the driveshaft checks out good, add some joints and should be good to go.

Thanks again for the tons of help, I owe you big!
 
Well, drive shaft was tweaked a little and they fixed that, installed new bolts and straps and the vibration seems to be gone, also had Mike fix and reinforce the snubber. On my way to the track for some 1/4 mile action, hopefully it holds up and doesn't break, maybe even get a good time running the drag radials!!

So, wish me luck, cross your fingers, or say a prayer for me and my car!! :cheers:
 
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