Technical Plymouth Valiant question

I am looking at 63' Plymouth Valiant Signet 200 convertible that became available for sale and wondered if anyone had any experience with this year and type of Plymouth. The car I am looking at is automatic with PS, power top and 6 cylinder engine and looks pretty solid.

Any inputs on reliability/serviceability would be appreciated.

Thank you.

 

Floors are very prone to rust especially on a vert, Other than that top goes down price goes up.
Also the SMALL 5 on 4 1/4 bolt pattern does not leave much wheel choice

 

Ummm. The A body Mopars, from '60, all the way to about '73, had a 5-on-4" pattern. When they started disc brakes on them, they got the 5-on-4.5" pattern. (The left lugs were also left-hand thread on the small pattern.)

HotRodzMartin; go to "slant6.org" and register yourself. That board is exclusively a slant board, but there's a lot of experience with early A bodies.

Roger

 

Damned phat fingers again......

 

From what I remember the slant 6's were good motors but a PITA to change the points with the distributor being on the wrong side of the slant.

 

Dead reliable, easy to work on. Being a convertible check the rockers behind the doors. Check for rust in the cowl area.

 

Very nice daily driver, just need to get on top of any and all rust issues. Dead reliable. I wouldn't say no to a good deal on one.

 

Thank you all for the input and advise, I appreciate it. I will surely check out the website.

 

Is it brown ?

 

ALL convertibles are prone to rust !

 

Actually disk brakes were an option starting in 1965 and the 4" was carried all the way until 1976 on the 6 cyl cars.

 

Correct for the V/8's which got the 4.5 starting in 1973...........

 

My 1964 factory V/8 convert has provided many a happy mile.....like to run the 1965 caps on it but have some spinners as well.....

 

my little Val......

 

Here in Canada, the Valiants look like their American counterparts as far as the front end sheet metal, but from there on back, they look like Dodge Darts.

Sent from my SM-T350 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Possibly the most reliable and economical compact car of their time. Also the best performing six cylinder compact. We had 7 or 8 of them in the family when they were late models, and were happy with them until they went through a molting period in the late 70s. If it is in decent shape you should be able to enjoy it for years with nothing but routine maintenance.

 

Thank you guys for your inputs, I appreciate it.

stillrunners.....nope it is blue.

 

Those engines powered thousands of Taxi cabs over their run. Dead nuts reliable as long as you service and maintain them but as 51504bat said changing points is a royal pain unless you have skinny arms and tiny hands. Kick the kids out of the garage when you do that if you don't want them to walk back in and tell mom the new cuss words they learned.
The only issue on the car outside of not much aftermarket support is as others said, rust. There is a little ragtop a bit newer for sale not far from me that you can see the rust issues in the photos.

 

A mechanic at the Chrysler Plymouth dealership I worked at had one that was turning over 300,000 MILES last time I saw him He did regular maintenance and that is all. Replaced rings, bearings and valve grind every 100,000 miles and still running strong but the body was a rusted out hulk by that time and he finally got rid of the body but kept the engine.

 

I purchased a 1963 plymouth valiant signet 200 coupe in 2015 and imported it into Australia,
I am slowly fixing it up to give to my middle daughter as she is into old cars. We never got any mopar coupes here until 1967 so this thing is rare over here. A lot of parts are interchangeable with our AP5 AP6 valiants.
The one i have has rust behind the rear wheels in the lower quarters as the drain holes were blocked, and some pin holes in the floor mainly due to the heater core leaking. As with all early mopars the front end was pretty sad all rubbers, ball joints, pitman, idler arms and rod ends were worn. But the slant 6 & push button auto work like a dream
i have also changed the L/H threaded left side wheel studs to R/H thread, because not a lot of people here know that they are left hand thread and will end up breaking them off.
But these old mopars are virtually indestructible and pretty cheap to run and maintain

 

As far as the ignition goes it's not that tough compared to lots of V8s that had the distributor stuck back against the firewall. Electronic ignition off a later model slant six will drop in place, then you don't have to touch it for 50,000 miles. New or rebuilt, under $100 https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog...l+225cid+l6,1069635,ignition,distributor,7108

 

Memories of my '64 Signet 200 HT. 273/235, 4spd, factory Hurst, high school ride. Really thought I was the shit! Got the Mustang guys attention (non hi-po)!

 

25+ years ago I built a replica of the Valiants that competed in the 1964 Monte Carlo rally. I started with a '65 two door sedan, six, auto. Found a 318, A833 four speed with all linkages and went to town. Had to replace floors in front using stampings for 67+ A bodies as none were available for earlier models. Used Volare spindles and disc brakes in front and a later Dart 8.25 rear axle, both with 5x4.5 bolt patterns. Eventually found a 16:1 steering gearbox. Used big block A body torsion bars and Valiant wagon rear springs. (I still have a set of A body big block rear springs to sell). I learned the hard way that I should have replaced/reinforced the rear torsion bar mounting crossmember when it broke on my second rally. At the time there was a business on the east cost manufacturing that part, though I can't remember the name.
I ran five Press On Regardless touring rallies in that car, from 1994 through 1998. It was great.
1963-1966 are essentially the same car, with only trim differences; and different fenders from 1965 onward. 273 V8 became available in '64, but still used the little 7.25 rear axle.
If I can help by providing any additional info, don't hesitate to pm me.

Chuck

 

My brother had a '64 that someone gave him, he was the 3rd owner in the space of about 500 feet from where the car 1st lived. It was garaged, so no rust and clean in and out. He would pull the distributor to change the points. Very reliable and IIRC, he gave it to someone he worked with.

 

My best friend could kill a sherman tank, but the two slant six vehicles he had ran far longer than any other car or truck he had. Only problem I can remember was a broken drive gear on the distributor, and he blew up the 3 speed in the plymouth convertible.

 

Which Slant 6? 170 or 225? The 225 has longer stroke but same bore as the 170.
Uncle Tony on YouTube is a MOPAR and Slant 6 guru. Look him up.

 

Thank you guys for all the input, I enjoyed reading all your comments. Well, it seems to me that if we agree on price, I may be a new owner of 63' Plymouth......

The Slant 6 is 225.

 

My wife's brother got a used 63 4 door Valiant given to him as his 1st car when he turned 16. He hated that 4 door and did his best to try to kill it. He ended up trading it in, still running great, when he turned 18 for something he thought he just had to have. The car he traded the Valiant in for he killed in about a month. To this day, he has killed a lot of cars, but he still comments on how tough the 63 Valiant was.

I saw many of them on the road when I worked in the service station from about 72 through 77. As I remember, most had wore out front suspension, crappy brakes, rusty front fenders and rusty rear quarters, but if you needed something reliable to get you to and from work every day regardless of the weather conditions, there were really hard to beat.

I had a few different versions of the 63-65 Valiant through the years. The 65 Barracuda (a 65 Valiant with a big glass rear window making it a "fastback") with the V8 4 speed was a really fun car to drive. Gene

 

Hi Gene.....yes sir....I owned Barracuda as well and was very happy with it.....it was great driving car. That is why I am now looking into this convertible.

 

My grandma on my dad's side of the family had a '63 Valiant. It was a good car dependable as a hammer. it was the last car she ever owned and she was still driving it in the mid '70s.

They were pretty much all 6 cylinder cars as I recall.