1966 Factory V8 Valiant Signet Restoration For My Other Daughter

[Dartfreak75]

You are truly an artist. The amount of detail and quality of work and the speed in which you do it is absolutely astonishing. Iv followed your last 3 builds and you have finished 2 and more than half way on the 3rd before im 3/4 of the way on my one! Lol great work Jim I always love your work

 

[Jim Kueneman]

Think I will experiment on this dash first... can't mess it up much more!

 

[memike]

Creativity to you Jim.

 

[Jim Kueneman]

Not 100% accurate but it will do. Will clean up the ends after it dries over night.

 

[pauly]

What density foam did you use?

 

[Jim Kueneman]

What density foam did you use?

I am struggling to find where I bought it. I bought 2 different densities and the one was not dense enough.

 

[memike]

Wow !! Yes !! I would say that will do
Looks better then stoked to my eyes

 

[Jim Kueneman]

What density foam did you use?

4lb 1/8”

Polyethylene Roll Stock, Closed Cell Foam, Padding, Sheet Foam Rubber, Poker Table Foam

 

[Jim Kueneman]

Tidied up the ends. Done.

 

[memike]

Excellent sir

 

[Jim Kueneman]

My friends came to help again. Need self adhesive hoof sanding disks. Yea I say it every time but this time I am very happy with the blocking. It is flat. Suppose to be a perfect weekend so with any luck it will be that much closer to paint week from today. I FINALLY have the body shadow lines almost perfect on this side now. I’m happy.

 

[Jim Kueneman]

And the other side is flat with great shadow lines.

 

[pauly]

Looks great! I like the “high speed beef” walking around in the background!!

 

[4.7Light]

And the other side is flat with great shadow lines.

View attachment 1715857937View attachment 1715857938View attachment 1715857940

I plan to cheat Jim my painter came by today. They will finish me up into primer finish my lines. 2000 plus materials. Will bring it home for engine bay and trunk and jams. Then send it back to them for finish. Allows me to do front end/rear end and engine while it's there. I got a guy in Coffeyville Kansas for the builder. I could save money doing myself but I wanna get on the road and enjoy it!

 

[Jim Kueneman]

Fellow '66 owner sold me his M&H dash and forward harness since M&H is struggling to make any orders to Year One. All in. I am using a much cheaper '67-'70 AC switch so it needs a couple mods. There was an external switch in earlier years to bypass one of the blower resistors so the fan spins faster in AC mode. In '67 they hired a real electrical engineer and they figured out how that could be done via the switch itself. All we need to do is to short the two end pins together and hook up the tan wire. The vacuum lines need one set of hoses reversed but we will get to that later.. Still need to wire in the Out Of Site Bluetooth receiver as well.

 

[Jim Kueneman]

"Knock, knock knocking on basecoats door....". I love when I get to wetsanding and all the hard work and effort starts to show... There are a couple areas that still need a little work but it is so close....

 

[Jim Kueneman]

Went for a haircut this morning then stopped off that a car show with the youngest... Picked up the blasted seats and dropped of the valve covers for the powder coating yesterday. The seat backs were getting a bit thin. The other set I have are already holy. Set the car on stands so I could get the rear end sanded. I hope it is warm enough tomorrow for epoxy. Today was perfect but I did not capitalize on it.

 

[Jim Kueneman]

Stick a fork in it. 400 wet and time to blow apart, put the Signet trim holes back in and paint it….. after I get under the hood done and the firewall adapted for the factory AC.

 

[Jim Kueneman]

Flexed a few of the 15 hours I worked last Thursday and had some time today to get a few parts cleaned up and painted. Bead blasted the seat tracks and got them freed up and working smooth as silk. Got a little filler work on the seat back panel.

 

[Jim Kueneman]

Lot of multitasking today... mostly working on getting the firewall option X51 factory AC compliant but did a few other things.... Use SEM Carbofill to deal with the weak metal in the seat backs. This is not bodywork and in the car so this is not keeping me up at night vs replacing the metal.

 

[Jim Kueneman]

The template, drill aid and 6" hole saw will be on their way to the next user this week.... Tight fit for the bulkhead connector... will need to get that in before bolting in the AC box completely.

 

[Jim Kueneman]

What is this hole for? With the AC box it is blocked... @GTX JOHN brought a mint early timing cover for a small block down from Vegas since he was racing at Tucson Dragway. Thanks John, great meeting you and this was a great part for a great price.

 

[4.7Light]

Getting there I see. I get why you would add AC hotter than Oklahoma in your neck of the woods. I'm not messing with for now though I may regret later.

 

[Jim Kueneman]

Getting there I see. I get why you would add AC hotter than Oklahoma in your neck of the woods. I'm not messing with for now though I may regret later.

No better time when it is blown apart.

 

[4.7Light]

No better time when it is blown apart.

I thought about seeing once all done rebuilt. I know that I should but cost is an issue and factory were horrible power robbers. Classic air I like and I bet wife I'm sure at some point will say she wants air LMAO. I want on road while the family wants me to drag it out. I tend to OCD and will do it quickly then go nah and do it again. Your daughter is going to love this car Valiant 360 should be fun.