Glamour Shots.. '62 Valiant Wagon
3/19/24:
The parts arrived that were ordered from Dr. Diff. A bunch of stuff needed to make a swap meet "741" carrier and 3.55 gears work well was sourced, including: Dr. Diff Torsen style differential, pinion bearings, races, seal and carrier bearings. The 3rd member was setup and installed.
The 7.25" axle that is being replaced also had a 3.55:1 ratio in it as this was an original factory "stick car"
The axles were installed without much fuss, and I started to assemble the rear brakes when I realized that there were no parking brake levers in the donor rear brake parts that were acquired for this build. A set of rear parking brake levers were ordered from Dante's MoPar parts and they should arrive this week.
The front upper control arms were installed and the ball joint threads on the LH arm were stripped. The ball joint was just swimming around in there having fun, so I broke out the hot glue gun and welded the ball joint to the upper arm. This fix has been used before and should provide satisfactory service for quite a while. If you have been following the epic saga here, you will recall that about a year ago I rebuilt the upper arms with new bushes and upper ball joints as well as a fresh paint job.
Welded:
Not welded = Good Threads
Lifter valley return "stand offs" were installed as per Doc Dutra's recommendations.
The '62 Block has 6 Lifter Gallery return holes; at Ø25/64" each - some of the later blocks have 5 oil drain holes at a larger maybe Ø1/2", leaving out the return hole above the oil pump arm.
A cheap and easy solution for the oil standoffs can be fashioned out of some valve guides wit some drilling and turning as needed - I Found some SBI engine parts powered metal guides that cut and drill very easily.
Lastly, the camshaft went in for some degree work. The head is still incomplete; waiting on some valve locks. My goal is 101° intake lobe ℄ for this build.
I installed the Rollmaster timing set with a small amount of hand sanding and also a bit of anti-seize on the bottom gear and installed it in at "0" on the crank gear. The cam degreed in at 102.5°℄ and my goal is 101°. so I am going to advance the cam 2° and then I should be very close at 100.5°
More updates to come!