My First Car!

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1971Valiant

1971Valiant

Member
Joined
Feb 10, 2015
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Location
Pennsylvannia
Hey guys! I'm a new member here. I just recently bought my first car. A 1971 Plymouth Valiant, 4 door, 198 slant six, three-on-the-tree. It has been sitting in a garage since 1986! It isn't the most desirable Mopar, but I sure love her. I'm only 15, so I have some time to build it the way I want to before I get my license (with help from my father, and brother). Since i'm only 15, I am on a pretty tight budget. I plan on doing a cheap turbo build, since a can't currently afford a v8. Well, that's all. Glad to be a member!:cheers:
 
gald to have ya aboard. it's really good to see you younger people interested in the classics. let me know if i can help ya's find any parts. did you know that you can build a slant six to push out 500 plus hp? a .040 over bore with a wild cam, with headers, a decant carb and a 727 trans or a 4 speed with an 8 3/4 posi rearend and you will blow away many of the V-8's. post more pics when ya can .
 

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Thanks a lot ! I hope to be able to atleast keep up with a worked v8 car. The funny part is that I know a worked six banger would destroy anything in my area. All the kids around where I am, all drive slow imports..
 
Thanks a lot! Im jealous of you're Dart.. But I would be happy with even keeping up with a worked v8 car. The funny part is, I know a worked six banger would destroy anything around where I'm from. All the kids around here all drive slow imports..
 
Welcome from Texas, you will get there. Just keep your goal in mind & keep striving to meet it. There are plenty of Mopar people up in the northeast & I'm sure you can get help finding parts & advice about your build.
 
Welcome to the site and thank you for saving a fine piece of Mopar history.
 
Welcome to FABO!! I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun with your car!!

I'm originally from Pennsylvania also.
 
Welcome and congrats! I started out with a 69 dart swinger that I still have. Trust me I was by far not the most sought after mopar or car when I got it.
 
Thanks guys! Means a lot, im sure I'll be coming to you guys for help and advice when we pull the motor, and really start this build! Since im not going to be working in a garage, it's probably better off that i wait to pull the motor until spring.
 
maybe we will get a chance to meet up at the all-mopar show in carlisle in july. we will be there with the dart.
 
Welcome! It's your first car, take your time & make it reliable ,and safe.
 
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Congrats on your first purchase.
Seriously turbo and cheap are not in the same sentence.
Turbo's cost a lot of money to get to work correctly.
Listen to A-body bomber, get the car safe.
Your car is now over 40 years old, the front end most likely is wore out and will need rebuilt.
I think the one most dangerous thing about old cars is the front drum brakes.
It is really hard to drive in any type of modern day traffic using drum front brakes.
I would start reading and learning how to convert to disk brakes.
There are factory service manual available to down load here, read it several times you will need the knowledge for future repairs.
Change all the fluids in the car, fix the oil leaks and learn how things work, you will have to work on it most likely sooner than later.
Most of all have fun and do not get discouraged, there is a lot of knowledgeable people here just ask for help if you need it.
Good luck
 
Welcome -!

Neat car- I like it.

to post pics just scroll down below the post window and "add attachment"

PS not all imports are slow. My brothers stock Subaru STI was one of the quickest cars I've ever driven.
 
Well, I'm looking at cheap ebay turbo setups. Full universal kits for under 1k. I'm hopefully selling some stuff and saving up enough cash to buy one of these kits. Their not the highest quality, but it will work for now. My Valiant is at 70k original miles. I just plan on rebuilding the factory drums for now. When I do get my license, this will not be my daily driver. There's actually no leaks surprisingly. The car had been sitting in a garage for nearly 30 years. When I do the whole turbo build, I plan on keeping the motor stock. I just want to open it up, check over it, and replace all of the gaskets. Paint it, and drop it right back in. Swap the carb for a 2 barrel, and just throw a ebay turbo set up on it. Just run low boost until I can afford to rebuild the motor incase it blows. I was just thinking about changing all of the brake lines (just to be safe) and rebuilding the factory drums for now. Until I can afford a disk brake conversion. This is pretty off topic but I found the original build sheet to the Valiant!!!
 
crj1968 said:
Welcome -!

Neat car- I like it.

to post pics just scroll down below the post window and "add attachment"

PS not all imports are slow. My brothers stock Subaru STI was one of the quickest cars I've ever driven.
Click to expand...

I have nothing against imports or anything. But kids these days, their acception of "fast" is a 17 sec quarter mile! I personally love STI's, but I'm talking about the "ricer" kids. Who think their Honda's or Volkswagens are the fastest things around...:wack:
 
As some of you guys may notice, there is a different fender on the front drivers side. This is because the original owner of the car, her "retard husband"(her words), drove it into a street sweeper, back in the late 70's. In the engine bay, you can see that the original color of the whole front clip is a dark green. And I guess they just painted what they had to, which would explain the dis-coloration of the front end, and passenger door. I'm thinking about shaving all side markers. But I'm not so sure yet. Don't make fun of her, she was only $1250 delivered.
 
Welcome to FABO!

My son and I are also building a 71 Valiant 4 door. His was originally a 318 A/C car, we're swapping a 360 in and beefing up the suspension. Don't worry about having a 4 door, there are a few of us here with them. Your friends will like getting in and out of the back seat easier with the back doors... They are made to be shared with more people.... :D


Don't rush it, it takes time to get it done. Here are some pictures of our car along it's journey. We are not done with it, but making slow progress...


Here's when he first got it:

View attachment 5d56_3.jpg

Here's the 360 we built:

View attachment Ken 360 032914 A07 B.jpg

Here's the car with no engine or suspension:

View attachment Ken Val C01 B.jpg

Here's the 360 with the pulleys, carb, and fuel lines all made up:

View attachment Ken 360 042514 A02 B.jpg

Here's the new disc brakes that we put on when we rebuilt the front suspension:

View attachment Rt Disc B.jpg

Front suspension with disc brakes:

View attachment Rt Side A02 B.jpg

Here it sits today with the paint stripped off:

View attachment Ken Val C04 B.jpg

View attachment Ken Val C08 B.jpg
 
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