1965 Valiant 200

[Orionsax7]

Starting this thread to help me keep a timeline of what I've done. Pretty clean AZ Valiant I purchased and had shipped. Upon arrival, was pleasantly surprised that it was just as good as it appeared in pictures. Very solid car. Lots of electrical issues that I repaired over a weekend to make it driveable. All these pics were upon delivery.

 

[Orionsax7]

One of the first things I did(not pictured) was I came across 1965 lower control arms with sway bar assembly on craigslist so I swapped that out. Such a difference! Now that the electrical was good to go and I was driving around a bit, noticed that the rear end was howling at any speed above 35mph. Original 7.25 was trashed. Was also overheating and the speedo was way off. Not being prepared for full upgrade rear just yet, FABO found me a 7.25 rear that had already been upgraded to big bolt pattern, and the seller had a set of mags to go along with them.

Swapped the rear out and it drove so much nicer! Also flushed coolant and installed thermostat(previous owner removed it). Drove great on the way home. No more howling from the rear gears, ride was smooth, speedometer was accurate once again, etc. Got home and took another car to drop off a UPS package. Came home and noticed some dripping under the Valiant as I pulled up. Went to check it out and found an external crack in the cylinder head. Didn't bother me too much since I was not planning on keeping the engine/trans anyway but I was looking forward to driving it as-is for a while......oh well. I guess that speeds up the rest of the plans!
Picked up this freshly rebuilt 5.9L magnum short block from someone that was moving out of state and sold cheap. Even threw in all the new parts he has been collecting for it. Comp Cam, Mopar Performance valve spring retainers, Mopar Performance magnum valve covers, double roller chain, oil pump. Some of these part that I am not using, I have already sold to help fund the build. I'll finish putting this together and throw it in along with this 904 trans.

Decided to play it safe and, even though this short block was already assembled, decided to get it checked out before full reassembly. Took it apart and dropped off with IMM Engines for full inspection and may decide to let them build it up. They also offer some aluminum heads I may go with. It'll be a couple weeks before they can get to it.

In the meantime, I've got front big bolt pattern disc brake setup ready to go and am going to rewire the whole vehicle. Hope to start these two projects in the coming weeks.

 

[Super-Cuda]

Nice project!

You will want to start searching for at least an 8.25 rear end for your car once you install a warmed over 360 in it. The 7.25 will not play well with a 300 Hp small block unless you plan to drive very carefully!!

 

[rdunnam]

The harmonic balancer appears to be one for the LA360, just an observation. Magnum 5.9 is different in weight offset and appearance.

 

[Orionsax7]

Nice project!

You will want to start searching for at least an 8.25 rear end for your car once you install a warmed over 360 in it. The 7.25 will not play well with a 300 Hp small block unless you plan to drive very carefully!!

Agreed!

The harmonic balancer appears to be one for the LA360, just an observation. Magnum 5.9 is different in weight offset and appearance.

Yessir. The shortblock is a 2000 magnum 5.9. The guy I purchased the shortblock and all the related parts from was planning on running an LA front cover and all LA accessories. However, I plan on using all the magnum serpentine setup stuff. Are you sure this is an LA balancer or can it be the early Magnum balancer with separate pulley? Either way, I am waiting to hear from the machine shop since the seller was adamant that the rotating assembly had been internally balanced. From my own inspection, crank did not appear to have any weight added to it. So once the machine shop tells me if it's internal or external balance, I can plan out my balancer/flexplate situation. They have the balancer also so I figure if it can't be used, they will let me know.

 

[Keith Mopar]

Great looking ride. Those wheels look pretty good on her!

Defiantly a Magnum T cover on it, my magnum 5.9 has a balancer like that motor.

 

[Orionsax7]

Great looking ride. Those wheels look pretty good on her!

Defiantly a Magnum T cover on it, my magnum 5.9 has a balancer like that motor.

Thanks! Good to know this is the same balancer. The wheels in the picture are actually the 15 x 6 wheels that will go on the front once I do the disc upgrade in a couple weeks. I have two other 15 x 8 matching wheels for the rear. I couldn't install the bigger ones at the time because the tires that they came with were way too tall. I've since put some shorter tires on them and will be rotating them to their proper positions after the front disc upgrade. I just hope the rears will fit. From researching the forums I think they will.

 

[Stephen Mulkey]

Looks like your building a sweet little Valiant. Nice wheel choice. I’m going to keep an eye on the combo when you get them all on, they are going to look great.
It looks like Big boy 68 is selling a center link you may need when you get ready to change to the V8.

 

[kursplat]

nice. that interior is awesome..
hey, just noticed those wheel looked familiar
looks good
hey @Darter6, finally get to see these things mounted

 

[dibbons]

I see you are really making it your own. My first car (circa 1973) was a four-door '65 Valiant so I already know these cars inside and out. Obviously, you know what you're doing and it seems you won't need all that much help from the rest of us. But here we are anyhow, at your service.

 

[Orionsax7]

Thanks, all! Kursplat supplied the rear and tires!

Stephen, I do have a V8 centerlink ready to go but thanks for the heads up. I'm looking forward to this. It's not gonna be a full-on restoration but gonna be built to be a fun, nice-looking driver, for sure.

 

[rdunnam]

Agreed!



Yessir. The shortblock is a 2000 magnum 5.9. The guy I purchased the shortblock and all the related parts from was planning on running an LA front cover and all LA accessories. However, I plan on using all the magnum serpentine setup stuff. Are you sure this is an LA balancer or can it be the early Magnum balancer with separate pulley? Either way, I am waiting to hear from the machine shop since the seller was adamant that the rotating assembly had been internally balanced. From my own inspection, crank did not appear to have any weight added to it. So once the machine shop tells me if it's internal or external balance, I can plan out my balancer/flexplate situation. They have the balancer also so I figure if it can't be used, they will let me know.

This is what the 5.9 Magnum balancers look like.

 

[rdunnam]

This is what the 5.9 Magnum balancers look like.
View attachment 1715615143

P5007187AB

 

[rdunnam]

P5007187AB

This is what the LA360 balancer looks like. Like yours. I noticed yours has some holes drilled in the channel, maybe somebody on here can explain, that would increase the offset (weighted portion).

 

[Orionsax7]

Sure does look like the one I have is an LA balancer. From researching other posts/forums, it looks like weight CAN be removed from an LA balancer for a Magnum application and maybe thats what the previous machine shop did...I don't know. I guess I'll see what my shop says when they get around to checkin out my rotating assembly. I'll get the a different balancer if needed.

 

[RustyRatRod]

Cool four door! I like the kursplat touch, too!

 

[kursplat]

Cool four door! I like the kursplat touch, too!

i got those wheels from Darter6 with the valiant, and sad to say, never got around to using them. they look great on that 65' though

 

[RustyRatRod]

i got those wheels from Darter6 with the valiant, and sad to say, never got around to using them. they look great on that 65' though

Yes they do look good. I think it's pretty cool how parts kinda make the rounds between members.

 

[Orionsax7]

Started up on the re-wiring of the Valiant. Ripped the old wiring out last night and started routing the new kit today. A little bit of patience and things start to settle in where they belong. Round 2 tomorrow and I'll grab some more pics near completion. For those interested, its a 21 circuit Painless kit. Hardest part is the planning and mounting of the box. Everything else has been pretty easy so far, just takes time.

 

[Orionsax7]

Was able to finish up the Painless Kit install and added wire loom to all the permanent sections of wiring. There are some sections of the engine bay that will change soon when I put the magnum in so I didn't cut any of those. I just wrapped them up and taped the excess out of the way for now.

 

[Orionsax7]

In-process and final under-hood pics. Also installed a battery cable kit from ebay and relays for high and low beam headlights. Third relay will eventually go to fuel pump. Working and an auto electrician, I salvage tons of the little harness pins(last pic) off old harnesses and used them for routing my harness.

Only one issue with the install and can be found here. Ignition switch/starter relay/ballast wiring help- Painless Kit - FIXED

 

[Orionsax7]

Some more parts purchased for the build. 1993 Dakota driver's side exhaust manifold and 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee passenger side exhaust manifold. These are the ones with the larger exhaust ports. Part numbers 53006619 and 53009376. Pictures as purchased and then after sand-blasting and painting with VHT paint. I still may have to grind some of the casting numbers and such off when it comes to installing them but that's okay. I can give it another coat of paint before final assembly. Will not be curing the paint until it's on the car, anyway.

 

[Orionsax7]

Finished up the front disc brake swap using 15/16 master cylinder and lines from Dr Diff. Calipers are for '76 large bore size. At the same time, I removed the power steering unit and installed a manual box and column shaft from a 65 Valiant. Did a complete front end suspension rebuilt with all new bushings, V8 torsion bars, and installed the V8 steering center link. Also replaced the sagging rear springs with 5 leaf, 1" taller than stock springs from ESPO. Note the sidewall rubbing markings on the rear tire sidewalls from before I swapped the springs out. All clearance is good now. Haven't adjusted the front torsion bars yet so sitting slightly high but I'm not going to adjust until after the 5.9 goes in.

Up next: taking out the 170/trans and power wash the engine compartment to see if I can remove those other two layers of flaking paint to get back down to the original color.

 

[pishta]

Man that would have taken me 5 years! Trick wing nut on your MC! Question: the placement of your fender tag. is everyone else's there too? Mines been off for so long that I forgot where it came from. I thought my 65 Barracuda was on the passenger inner fender?

 

[Orionsax7]

Ha! That master cylinder and wingnut have been replaced with the dual reservoir one for disc brakes.

The fender tag. I haven't moved it so, as far as i know, it is stock location.