Glamour Shots.. '62 Valiant Wagon

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1/14/22:

More Progress this week:

Bushings arrived and were Pressed in:
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New Upper Ball Joints arrived too, and got those screwed in... Ready for paint.
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1/27/23:

Got some more things finished up...
I drove the car from the Garage to home last week... Noticed some oil out of the valve cover gasket.
This is one of the original 1962 Covers on the engins so it has no Slits to help retain the gasket. So it either has a slipped gasket or it was not totally tight. so I may hafta remove it and try again.

The heater core and valve was installed to the Firewall. Now that it's in place I found that it is quite difficult to remove the valve cover.

I also found that the haeter control cable was quite grody and corroded. It moves but when I install it on the heater control knob it has a bit too much tension and it will slip off.
I will try to lube it all up or get a new piece to replace it.

Also got my OE L.H. Threaded Studs from another forum member for the KH discs.
I got those pressed in and greased up the New bearings for the calipers.
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1/29/23

Here is a picture of the proper Valve Cover installed:
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It had a little leak at the corner and I am hoping that retourquing the valve cover bolts will stop the leak. If that's not the case then I will prpbably have to pull the heater core off the firewall again and redo the valve cover gasket.

And the Rejuvenated Heater core and New Valve installed on the firewall too.
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Like many '62 Valiants this one was factory delivered with no radio. Some Previous owner had got some of the parts to add, like a radio, like an antenna, face plate bezel, and a speaker. When I bought the car The radio did not work and nothing was connected or wired properly, also the Radio had the (close to proper) ( I really do not know if what I have is actually correct for a '62 valiant.) knobs on it display behind the tuning needle. The Radio in this car was thoroughly corroded and seems to have water damage, but the buttons and the face plate were presentable.

I had found a working AM Radio from a early '60's Dodge and was able to swap the face plate indicator dial background and the 5 selector buttons from my rusted Valiant radio to the dodge radio. I buffed up all the chrome and and added a FM Converter for an easy swap to FM. I don't yet know if the FM converter actually works yet as I am testing in a garage with LED Lights and there is no FM in there, but the AM seems to work well.
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Also while I was working a bit under the dash, I was able to oil the outside of the metal temperature control cable and get that working free when connected to the temperature control slider mechanism, as well as install a missing Defroster tube.
I was amazed that I was able to get the Speaker grille of and reinstalled without any major incidents or damage. :)
 
Well it was nice / dry enough yesterday to run some errands, still some salt and grit on the roads but has been washed away a bit.
What a better way to go to the girl scout meeting?
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Work still to be done..
Valve cover gasket will need redone.. I bought a proper new fel-pro one for that, as well as the FM Converter - it does not work.. Will need to find one that does and swap it out.
Heater works but the valve and cable needs some adjustment - I am not sure that the Heat shuts all the way off.
 
Last edited:
2/21/23:

I did some driving with the car a few weeks ago and the Valve cover was a leaker, so time to take it apart and do it again properly.

This is really the first experience I had with the valve covers that do not have the Tabs to hold the gasket in place.. It's an OE '62 Piece so no notches in the stamping.

So I cleaned everything up and gasket shellac'ed the gasket in place and used some small spring clamps to keep it in place, and let the shellac slowly dry and setup for 24 hours.
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Whilst all of this nonsense was going on I decided to go down the rabbit hole of semi engine compartment detailing. Bead blasting and repspraying small brackets, horns, voltage regulator cover etc.

The alternator was particularly crusty it worked fine but was ugly....So I will be getting it sorted out. - It seems to be a legit piece as it has the 1961/'62 Dodge Chrysler logo on it.... groovy I will keep it .
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'Till next time.
 
2/23/23:

I worked on cleaning up and painting some under hood things.

Had to remove most of the passenger side engine components and engine bay components on the same side to shimmy the Valve cover on and off to fix it's leak. Quite tricky on the '60-'62 Models with the Heater core box hanging over the valve cover.
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Got the Coil Bracket detailed and clean - Mounting bolts were just greasy and grimy - so much oil that they never really surface rusted :)
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Got the Horns and Alternator Case Degrimed and blasted clean ready for paint.
- Will also be adding a proper set of NOS MoPar Wires - incorrect date code from the '80's but better than the old parts store garbage that was on there.
Will be replacing the Spark Plug O ring seals as well! ad sourced the Proper 1 groove alternator pulley to replace the ubiquitous parts store double pulley on the remanufactured alternators.
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2/27/23:
I will still be looking for a Functioning Low Horn (it's the driver's Side Horn - I Think it's a Low tone)
I spiffed it up, looks nice, but does not work :-( The Horn contacts between the steering wheel and the little brass contact wheel on the turn signal switch need cleaned.. it beeps only in certain areas of steering angle - hafta get that solved.

I ordered the proper Distributor Upper and Lower Gaskets / O Rings. the Distributor had no o ring up top and the 61 year square cut ring in the lower cavity. As a temporary solution I cut down this sort of unknown gasket from my supplies... It fit the bottom of the distributor, but does not fit the gasket register correctly in the block... it's temporary.
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I am not sure what these gaskets are for, but I have a number of them in my pile of slant 6 engine gasket sets.
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The ID fits the Distributor well, but the OD needed cut down.
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Here are the NOS 1982 Spark plug wires:
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Might get dinked at the Concours show circuit but that's okay.

Replaced this failing molded wiring mess with a non stock crimp on ring connector.
It was for the coil power... sort of important to be functional.
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Right side Engine mostly spiffed (especially if you don't look at the grease and grime on the side of the block below the head!)
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Some time in the future .. Clean up the ugly half baked Aluminum intake, Get A proper Air Filter Housing - I am thinking the 1962-1965 B engine unsilenced type, to replaced the 14" JC whitney / Ebay special that is on there now. Detail the Headers / JEt Hot coating / Clean up Detail the Starter, clean up the Ballast Resisitor Mount, Case for the Horn Relay, Starter Relay and the Back side of the voltage regulator. Basically all of the stuff that was factory cadmium plated. Maybe I will get those disc brakes on there this summer too.
 
Check with member Halifaxhops for Slant 6 distributor o rings and gaskets.
He had some posted not long ago.
 
Check with member Halifaxhops for Slant 6 distributor o rings and gaskets.
He had some posted not long ago.
Thanks, I guess I should have thought of that before buying my own lifetime supply.
I have seen that he has a lot of distributor parts, never thought to ask about the gaskets.
 
3/30/23:

A while back I did another Oil Change, and serviced the Oil Pressure relief valve. The valve was surprisingly clean. I had a little over 1000 miles since the last oil change and it uses a lot of oil and blows blue smoke like a 2 cycle lawn boy from the '70's It will need rebuilt sometime. The drain oil is quite dirty too.

I bought a set of All season tires in a 215-70R-14 Size and mounted them up. Nice to have 4 tires of the same size/ aspect and diameter now. The fronts were worn with maybe 200-500 miles as the alignment when I got the car had such an amazing amount of positive camber.... reminded me of the old racing bugattis'.

4 New 215-70-14's installed. The largest 14" size I can fit without cutting the front fenders.
They are larger than the 205's and 195's that were on the car from the previous owner.
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Main Reason to purchase new tires was to replace the burned out 195's from the faulty alignment.
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Installed some short valve stems as well.
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Got to use some of my favorite shop tools up in the loft. - Need to Swap a set of tires / wheels at 11PM - .... No Problem.
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A little different look than before - no white walls and Filling up the wheel wells a bit more.
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I have yet to do the disc brake swap yet.
Hopefully this fall / winter. I have been crusing it around on the sketchy 9" drums and have left a lot of following room to the traffic in front of me.

Last weekend, we loaded up to go to a local community day festival. My Daughter was selling her jewelry.
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My Daughter made the local paper too:

Then Off to a car cruise and dinner later that night.
Sunday we went to the local amusement park - we had the only ' 62 valiant there.
 
As you know your Daughter and my Grand daughter are the same age.
Daisy makes and sells the same jewelry along with some 3D printer stuff.
Now if I only can get her to 3D print car parts....
 
As you know your Daughter and my Grand daughter are the same age.
Daisy makes and sells the same jewelry along with some 3D printer stuff.
Now if I only can get her to 3D print car parts....
Got it.

I bet she prints the 3d stuff off thingiverse.. lots of knickknacky doodads there, and useful things too I am sure.

I would challenge her to make a radio knob or window crank as a reverse engineering project then she can sell it to old farts like you and me!:)
 
Yeah at 11 years old she is just using programs that came with the printer.
Maybe with more time and Grandma's help they might be able to come up with their own program.
We will see.
 
10/6/23:
Last nite, we drove to Buttermilk Falls for a nice October drive into the mountains...
I could not resist taking some pictures.
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If you look carefully there is a silly-faced kid in there ;-)
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It is also a rare time when both '62's share the same garage bay at home:)
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Till next time.
 
10/6/23:
Last nite, we drove to Buttermilk Falls for a nice October drive into the mountains...
I could not resist taking some pictures.
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If you look carefully there is a silly-faced kid in there ;-)
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It is also a rare time when both '62's share the same garage bay at home:)
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Till next time.
Never been a big fan of early Valiants but that wagon is gorgeous!
 
Still lookin' for a clean F body....:mad::lol:
I saw a new one around here recently Maroon 4 door. It might be new to the area. I have not yet spoken to the owner.
I have seen it 2x on the road. Looks clean and 20 ft.
 
There was one on Autotrader in Jennette 1980 2 door with 9K on it
Pretty basic. I may have to see if it is still there.
 
There was one on Autotrader in Jennette 1980 2 door with 9K on it
Pretty basic. I may have to see if it is still there.
Dont know about that one. My shop is in jeannette. Seems like a lot of car guys have facilities near me too.
 
10/21/23:

Getting started on some winter projects.

I am beginning the Disc Brake install which will also coincide with an engine rebuild as well as a good engine bay / K frame detailing and possible transmission swap.
It's easy for these things to snowball quickly so, who knows what else will come along while I have all of these big parts out. I will probably drop the engine/transmission and k Frame out of the bottom whilst it is on the lift.

Getting Started:
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Bye bye marginally good rolling paperweights:
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