Hot Rods Giving the Valiant some love ....

I think it's Canadian...with some custom touches.

 

I hated doing tune ups on those things because my hands didn't fit down where the distributor is very well at all. That is small hands man territory.
When I was in trade school in 1965/7 one of the mechanics at the Mopar garage in town (Anderson Motors Grandview, WA ) had an earlier Valiant 2 door with a built six that he drag raced in the North West. That thing was a beast. He was building a new motor for it and the aluminum block was at the machine shop down the street. One of my classmates that hung around with him tossed it over his shoulder at the machine shop and carried it up the street to the dealers shop. He was still laughing at the looks he got when he got back to class after lunch.

 

Here’s my old -64, sold it two years ago.
(Wife’s Simca -57 in the background, and our -69 camper.)

 

I love Valiants and you have an amazing car. But, I really need to question if this is a traditional hot rod and belongs on this forum?

 

Why not? The 65 looks about the same as a 63 and both fall under the 65 and older cut off line. The 61 & 62 with the slant 6s dominated their class at the drag strip. They are every bit as much a traditional hot rod as the Falcons, early Vette, and many other early 60s cars we see here. Gene

 

Yes. It is pre 1965 and it is customized. It may not be the most popular choice but I think the feature of the silver Valiant wagon in a few traditional hot rod magazines several years back sort of set the precedent...oh, and there was Hemi under glass.

 

I'm going to share a secret I discovered a long time ago...the '59 Chevy grille fits almost perfectly in between the headlights of the 64-65 valiant... you're welcome.

 

Here are a couple of Valiant Efforts. Renteria Brothers - Morgan Hill, CA

 

Regarding gas caps, there's a guy on eBay that makes a billet CNC gas cap. Polish it up and it looks just like the originals but has a better seal so you're gas doesn't go down the quarter on a right hand turn.

I picked up a '64 Dart convertible last year. It's torn apart right now getting a later model 7.25" rear, better front brakes, and a dual master cylinder so that I can move up to the 5x4.5" bolt pattern for better wheel choices.

 

Just did a search, here's the google result. Looks like he built it custom.
https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf...kAhUGTd8KHZthBb0QsAR6BAgJEAE&biw=1912&bih=909

 

What a sweet ride. Laugh all you want but with a mild hop up the slant six has a lot of pep (Smokey Yunick said it responded to a few simple modifications, more than any other engine he ever saw).

You can have more fun with a car like that, get 25 miles per gallon on regular, and if you treat it half decent you can use it to your heart's content and never wear it out.

 

Didn't Hot Rod have a project Valiant in early '60's where they installed a turbo off an Olds F-85 (Jetfire?) or Corvair Spyder and did very well on the drag strip? Seems like that would fall in the HAMB dept

 

The slant six should work well with a turbo except for one thing. The exhaust manifold. They were prone to breaking if you torqued the bolts to more than 12 foot pounds. The manifold had to be free to expand when it got hot. If the gasket starts to leak you need to spend a couple of bucks on a new gasket, don't just tighten up the bolts.

How it would deal with the extra heat and pressure of a turbo, I don't know.

 

There are lots of turbo slant sixes on the internet, I have everything here to build one, infact the machine work is done just never got to assembly


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You are supposed to pull the distributor and replace points, condenser and adjust on the bench. It is easy to put it back in the same position because of the way the hold down is made (1 bolt and out it comes)

 

I don’t hate them.

 

These are cool cars! Have a buddy who stalled on his 65 Dart convertible build so I jumped in and did a bunch of welding and repair to the quarters, floor, and cowl of this one. It's a 273 automatic floor shift bucket seat car. Going to be nice when done.

 

Dad and I got this one running around 20 years ago and have been enjoying it ever since. She has a iron head, hydrolic cam 360 with a E-body four speed. Its a blast to drive on the street and has run 12.20 through the mufflers.

 

Here's one I bet you won't see everyday! Saw it at the Mopar nationals last year.

 

Swear there was one in Dallas when I was a young one.....we had a few Val's already in the family -a 64-66 and 68 and I couldn't even say UTE but always wanted that style once I knew what it was.

 

My very first car was a 66 Valiant 4 door. Paid $200 for it in '79. Pop showed me how to work on cars with that car.
We rebuilt the whole front steering/suspension. Then I got a bunch of free, gold shag carpeting from the apartment complex we lived in and covered the floor with it. Of course I had to put a Pioneer stereo in it with 6x9 speakers. Lol.
It had a slant 6 with auto in it. Simple car to work on. Fond memories.

 

Also a good time to check for wear on the nylon distributor drive gear.