My 65 Valiant Vert Resto

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Garethw

Mopar. Because rocket science is too easy.
Joined
Mar 10, 2015
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Location
Georgia
Alright FABO, I've been working on my 65 Valiant convertible for a little while and have been making some decent progress. So I thought I should start a resto thread. This is my second A body, I had a 65 Cuda for a while in college but sold it years ago. I also still have a 66 Belvedere which was my first car back in high school. I love Mopars.

I got this car from my dad who bought it to restore but changed his mind when he started getting into it. Can't remember what I paid him for it but as it would turn out, was probably too much. I was originally going to "fix it up" and flip to fund other projects. But then my 16yr old daughter absolutely fell in love with it, so now I'm keeping it. Didn't really take much to convince me to keep a convertible Mopar :)

The car came with a slanty and 904. It also had the 7 1/4 peg leg rear end. These weren't really going to work for me, so they aren't going back in. My current plan is to put in a slightly warmed up 318 (~300hp) with a A500/42RH behind it. I will also be swapping in a Ford 8.8 rear with 3.73 posi (or whatever Ford calls it). Color scheme idea right now is a cream white exterior with tan/beige interior and tan canvas top. This has changed a few times already so we'll see.

I will fill you guys in on what I've done so far. So sit back, relax, and I hope you enjoy my journey!

This is what it looked like when I towed it home...(no, that big house in the first pic is not mine).

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Well after I got it home and started deconstruction, I found a lot of surprises. Floors, A pillars, and upper cowl were all junk. The lower cowl was rusted out so bad it wasn't even existent. The floors had several previous repairs with random sheet metal from some old machinery and crappy fiberglass work. Rockers were solid though. I'll detail the repair of the cowl and A pillars next. Man, that was a chore. But I got a ton of help from some members on here so look for some shout outs!

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I know what you were/are facing with the cowl. I Ended up replacing the upper and lower cowl as a complete unit in my 65 wagon turned sedan delivery. Donor was a 65 Barracuda.
 
I know what you were/are facing with the cowl. I Ended up replacing the upper and lower cowl as a complete unit in my 65 wagon turned sedan delivery. Donor was a 65 Barracuda.

That's almost what I did too. My donor was a hardtop though, so I had some bonus work to do. I got a lot of great help here though. I think it came out great. I'll be be showing how I did it all.
 
Time for a cowl and windshield frame replacement. I forgot that I documented most of this transplant here Hardtop windshield frame for a vert?.

I got a ton of help from @66Dvert who gave me a lot of details and pictures to follow. Thanks 66Dvert!
Next up @hemi446 was kind enough to cut up a 63 Dart (if I recall right) donor car and provide me the transplant part. Thanks again! I had a buddy of mine truck it down to me so shipping was free, can't beat that.

I won't repost all of the photos, you can get the idea in the link, but here are a few highlights. It looked pretty scary because I had to cut way down to the bone, but it really wasn't that bad.

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Since the donor was from a ‘63 I had to use my old wiper motor mount. I measured a bunch and transferred that over. Came out great I think.

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Next was some repair to the front left frame rail. It was pretty bad so ended up cutting a lot out. I made my own metal brake and bent up some 14ga steel to match the profile. Then cut a pie wedge out to form the kink. I welded it up along the whole seem and also did some plug welds. It’s solid. No judging my welds :) I never welded anything before until starting this resto so I’m learning as I go.

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The new cowl had some rust on one of the hats (that’s what I call it anyway). So fixed that up.

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If you’re planning on a V-8 your 63 firewall wiper motor mount will present a problem .
The 64-66 has clearance for the distributor , 63 was 6 cylinder only .

I just took another look at your fire wall ..... Never mind . ( as said like Rosanna Danna ) ( Early Saturday Night Live reference )
 
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While the rockers were in really good shape, I did have to replace the front caps and a small section on the left rocker. Luckily, the donor section I got for the cowl and windshield frame had the front section of the rockers attached too, score. While that front cap was off, I sprayed a bunch of rustoleum down the rocker. Figured it couldn’t hurt.

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Next was cutting the entire floor out. Had to clean up the front frame rails and cross member. Cut the old boxing plate off the frame rails and replaced with new. Also added a boxing plate to the cross member just for good measure. Figured a little extra support was good for a convertible.

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With the torsion bar crossmember and frame rails all taken care, it was time to mock up the 318 and get this A500/42RH stuffed in. I had to cut out a lot of the original hump. I welded in a new hoop made of 3/16 plate, 2.5” wide. Then I made a new transmission crossmember/mount. I made it from 3/16 steel plate. Had to drill a new mounting hole in the driver side since I lost one cutting out the old hump. I grabbed the generic isolator from Amazon.

I set the trans so the output shaft sits at 2.5deg down. I kinda wanted it at 2deg but I didn’t want the trans to sit too high, so I compromised. Should be fine I think.

Next up are home made frame connectors. Then floors. Then new trans tunnel.

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Here is the old hump vs the new one. Just to show how much bigger it is. You can also see the driver side bolt hole that was lost on the original.

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Anybody think I should add some kind of rubber bump stop like the original had? It has a minimum 3/4” clearance now.
 
Great work ! And lots of it .

For those of you wanting to add overdrive there is another option that doesn’t require tunnel modification. It’s Gear Vendors o/d unit . Yes l know it’s a bit spendy but it saves the labor, time and material plus when you sell the vehicle you can keep it and use it on another like trans or for a few bucks you can get the pieces to put it on anything else .
I hope this help others .
 
@GGs66GT That is a good option. I did consider that also, but honestly not for very long. For $150 at the local pull-a-part, the financials didn’t make sense. Even after a rebuild too. I don’t count my labor anyway, it’s free :)
 
Got my frame connectors all done. Made them from 2x3” square stock. Did I mention I hate welding upside down laying on my back? Next car I restore is definitely going on a rotisserie.

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WOW! that's a project. I must say, your doing a great detail job on this. I'll keep watching the progress.
Thanks for the kind words! Being my first resto, I’m definitely learning a lot as a go.
 
Found some rust in the frame section near the right front spring hanger area. Fixed it up.

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Thought I’d take my other “A” body out today. A radiator flush and fill and a little drive for some gas. Been a few months since I had her out. Ran great.

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