1966 Valiant Signet Convertible Resto
Well guys I've been busy at work and have been out of town some the last couple weeks. Last time I posted I was having a fit getting the "perfect fit" with the Keisler tranny and the compounding problem with tti's.
:thumbup: I finally got everything to fit...motor, tranny, headers, torsion bars, suspension and x-pipe exhaust. The most frustrating part was having to continue to modify the rear crossmember. I did weld an addition piece of steel into the gap you see in the previous pictures. It came from the original piece I cut out which was very cool. It turned out pretty good and is very solid now. Excuse the inverted welds...I'm getting better though.
Talk about piece of mine in doing it right the first time before learning the hard way in the future.The other hard part was getting the motor perfectly centered into the stock position so the headers would clear the suspension and steering. I made a big dumbass move that took me a couple times to figure it out......... I was trying to adjust the motor on the K-frame with a leveler but forgot to unbolt the tranny mount. No wonder the engine wouldn't move. :banghead: In order to clear all the suspension I did have to use 1/4" shims and that did the trick. The clearances are incredibly close. We are talking 1/16" in some places. These headers are going to rub somewhere during driving. I don't think there is any way around it. Maybe TTI will come out with a 2nd generation for the early a-bodies that is an improved design. I think the torsion bars are tighter as well because I have 383 bars compared to the plain V8 bars. Thousands of an inch seem to make a big difference.
Managed to prep the engine bay for respray since I put a few scratches in the paint and headers too. :eye: Bound to happen I guess with as many tries as it took. Oh and I plumbed the stainless steel brake lines front to back and mocked up the hydraulic clutch slave cylinder. Damn those SS brake lines are a PITA to double flare but they sure look nice.
BTW I was not completely happy with the paint finish in the engine bay so I wetsanded the hell out of it since it had to be touched up anyways. Way too much orange peel for my liking. Now there is practically zero OP. Butter smooth now without going into the paint. I did the same on the firewall, cowl and drivers quarter. I'll be doing the same on the passenger side as well. My painter came by yesterday and we had fun working on the car and he could tell how meticulous I was on the paint. Oh and critical of it. He now understands that this car is going to a whole new level and will have to match my work quality. I'm a little irritated that I have to do so much more work to get it that way, but at least I know it will be right and I can blame somebody else besides my painter. Plus I get a hand in it and learn more. Bless his heart though. I'm glad he is a good sport about it all and enjoys coming to my house to make it right. He'll be one of the first to get his head snapped back. :burnout:
I'll post some updated pictures soon. The completed rear-end and goes in this weekend hopefully. :hello2:
Well guys I've been busy at work and have been out of town some the last couple weeks. Last time I posted I was having a fit getting the "perfect fit" with the Keisler tranny and the compounding problem with tti's.
:thumbup: I finally got everything to fit...motor, tranny, headers, torsion bars, suspension and x-pipe exhaust. The most frustrating part was having to continue to modify the rear crossmember. I did weld an addition piece of steel into the gap you see in the previous pictures. It came from the original piece I cut out which was very cool. It turned out pretty good and is very solid now. Excuse the inverted welds...I'm getting better though.
Talk about piece of mine in doing it right the first time before learning the hard way in the future.The other hard part was getting the motor perfectly centered into the stock position so the headers would clear the suspension and steering. I made a big dumbass move that took me a couple times to figure it out......... I was trying to adjust the motor on the K-frame with a leveler but forgot to unbolt the tranny mount. No wonder the engine wouldn't move. :banghead: In order to clear all the suspension I did have to use 1/4" shims and that did the trick. The clearances are incredibly close. We are talking 1/16" in some places. These headers are going to rub somewhere during driving. I don't think there is any way around it. Maybe TTI will come out with a 2nd generation for the early a-bodies that is an improved design. I think the torsion bars are tighter as well because I have 383 bars compared to the plain V8 bars. Thousands of an inch seem to make a big difference.
Managed to prep the engine bay for respray since I put a few scratches in the paint and headers too. :eye: Bound to happen I guess with as many tries as it took. Oh and I plumbed the stainless steel brake lines front to back and mocked up the hydraulic clutch slave cylinder. Damn those SS brake lines are a PITA to double flare but they sure look nice.
BTW I was not completely happy with the paint finish in the engine bay so I wetsanded the hell out of it since it had to be touched up anyways. Way too much orange peel for my liking. Now there is practically zero OP. Butter smooth now without going into the paint. I did the same on the firewall, cowl and drivers quarter. I'll be doing the same on the passenger side as well. My painter came by yesterday and we had fun working on the car and he could tell how meticulous I was on the paint. Oh and critical of it. He now understands that this car is going to a whole new level and will have to match my work quality. I'm a little irritated that I have to do so much more work to get it that way, but at least I know it will be right and I can blame somebody else besides my painter. Plus I get a hand in it and learn more. Bless his heart though. I'm glad he is a good sport about it all and enjoys coming to my house to make it right. He'll be one of the first to get his head snapped back. :burnout:
I'll post some updated pictures soon. The completed rear-end and goes in this weekend hopefully. :hello2: