1966 Valiant Signet Convertible Resto

[daves66valiant]

dave looks great,,,question,,,,arent the A pillars and windshield frame usually chrome or stainless??? did you paint it??

They are bolt on stainless pieces.

 

[Burntorange70]

Looking good Dave. Thats one sweet car you are building. Top turned out realy nice. Keep up the good work.

 

[bamacuda]

That's a thing of beauty!

 

[rlk340]

looking really good Dave, can't wait to go for a ride. I'll make the drive up to your house for a ride in that beauty.

 

[daves66valiant]

Thanks bro. Anytime you're up here once it's done.

 

[65dartcharger]

Your doing a great job Dave. Nice job on the top! Will you be able to drive it this summer?

 

[pettybludart]

Your doing a great job Dave. Nice job on the top! Will you be able to drive it this summer?

I think once Dave gets the drivetrain in,it,ll be work non-stop til it,s back together.I give it no more than 2 months til done.:clock:8)

 

[daves66valiant]

Should have it driving this summer. I want to have it almost complete by the time my Dad comes out to visit the first week of August.

Got the engine bay all buffed out yesterday and got the Hybroboost mocked up. Need to rearrange my brake lines a little bit. Will drop the drivetrain hopefully on Wednesday then fab up the new power steering lines for the Hydroboost. I've never seen this system in an early a-body and my only concern right now is clearing the Tti headers. I'll update when the drivetrain goes in.

 

[Tincup]

Top looks awsome Dave, what are you putting for wheels on that baby? Something shiny would look good with the dark blue.

 

[Johnny Dart]

Looking good Dave.Looks like I have some down time.
Let me know when you need some help.

JD

 

[fstfish66]

dave,,,hydro boost huh,,what turned you on to that ??? cant wait to see this conversion,,,,

 

[daves66valiant]

dave,,,hydro boost huh,,what turned you on to that ??? cant wait to see this conversion,,,,

Sounds weird I know but I saw it on Kenny Wayne Shepard's 70 Duster at the Spring Fling. He raved about it and the much improved stopping power. He said it was one of the best improvements he's made to his car. So I did some reading about it and thought I'd give it a try. The vacuum boosters are bulky and don't work so well with radical cams and the hydroboost runs off my power steering. Will see how I like it. I can always remove it and go back to manual disc brakes.

 

[fstfish66]

wild cams do not produce enough vacuum to operate power brakes,unless you order the cam for power brakes,,,

cant wait to see the plumbing for the hydro boost,,i was thinking about looking in to it for my street rod,,

DAVE YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE AN OVER THE TOP VALAINT,,,

 

[redfastback]

I have installed quite a few hydroboost systems and I can say that they ROCK. The stopping power is incredible.

 

[daves66valiant]

Well I got the Hydroboost almost installed into the Valiant with the motor and headers today. Painted the new FirmFeel Stage 3 power steering gear box and found that my original PS line could work for going to the pump from the Hydroboost. Plumbing for the brakes lines was easy so that was first. Lowered the car onto the motor and found out quickly that this was not going to work easily.

Here is how it looks in the car. I know I'll be able to make it work but I just want to get it on the road soon. I will take some time to figure this one out.

First of all the Master Cylinder is way to close to the valve covers. Second, the return line fitting hits the top of tti header #3. Third, the HB to PS gear box is blocked by header #3.

My possible solutions: I could get a replacement MC (since my 2-bolt mopar one does not fit the HB...dammit) and hunt for right angle fittings for the obstructed ports. Another option is to use an adapter to clock the HB 90*

For now I just installed the 2-hole conversion aluminum MC setup I had saved for the Dart. I'll re-visit the hydroboost system on the Valiant again when I get the chance to work out the R&D.

 

[pettybludart]

Hey Dave,I also had MC issues,I went with the top 2 posts with a 2 post MC.I had to customize a adj. puhrod(go figure)was to long.I got it all to work and then added the shield.Here,s a couple pics.Good luck.

 

[fstfish66]

DAVE,, hard to tell from the pics,, but like you said a standard mopar 2 bolt master will fit,,and stop just as good as that vett master,, a 1988 dakota master is the same bore size as the 15/16 bore from mopar performance,,that has been discontinued,,,thats what i use and its manual,stops great,,

 

[daves66valiant]

Well I was able to make the Hydroboost fit. I had to make some modifications to the HB, make a 90* adapter plate and remove the welded mounting studs from the brake pedal assembly.

Here are the pictures what I had to do.

Notched another key slot so I could turn the HB 90* It was not pretty but I just used a drill bit since the cast metal was pretty easy to bore through.

The Mounting Plate from www.tallonhydraulics.com installed with the supplied allen head bolts that were already counter sunk and threaded. The plate now clocks 90* to clear the valve cover and the headers.

Next was removing the mounting stud of the brake pedal assembly. I also had to enlarge the holes to accept the 3/8" bolts of the mounting plate

Mounted on the inside

Here's where it gets interesting. The stud spacing center-to-center for GM master cylinders is 3.4" The stud spacing for Mopar and Ford is 3.2" I made another adapter plate from 1/8" steel plate to mount a Mopar aluminum master cylinder clocked 90* I traced out the outlines of the Mopar MC and the hydroboost unit to get the bracket flush. I'll primer and paint it later.

Hydroboost assembly mounted to the firewall. I'm pretty happy with the way it looks right now and will work on the HB plumbing once I get the motor back in. I'll be using PTFE stainless steel braided hoses and high pressure -AN fittings.

Until next time

 

[fstfish66]

DAVE,, GREAT JOB,,, im wondering if that thin master adapter plate will have any flex when you push the pedal,,,some thing you may want to look at,,,

 

[pettybludart]

Cool job with the HB Dave,more brain food.LOL

 

[daves66valiant]

DAVE,, GREAT JOB,,, im wondering if that thin master adapter plate will have any flex when you push the pedal,,,some thing you may want to look at,,,

Thanks Don and Scott. I thought about that too. You figure the stock MC was mounted to thin gauge metal on the firewall and brake pedal assembly. The adapter I'm using is the same bracket material that was used to hold the HB in most GM cars. 1/8" thick steel should be okay. If I feel it is flexing too much I'll use 3/8" or 1/2" aluminum stock. Another thing to remember is that there will be much less pedal pressure needed to apply the brakes. During a panic stop I bet the plate flexes slightly but no more than the stock manual disc brake setup.

This is still a test piece right now. I need to make a MC push rod for this setup

Been busy painting the dash the last couple days. Should have it cleared tomorrow. My SS lines should be here today so I should have plenty to do this weekend. :cheers:

 

[daves66valiant]

It's been over a year but I got the car on all four wheels yesterday and got the engine installed. :cheers::cheers: Still have to install the passenger side header and thread the torsion bars. Next will be hooking up all the accessories and lines. The HB system fits very snug and will work out great I think. Will plumb the lines tomorrow. Thankfully I can remove the valve covers without interference from the master cylinder and my plug wires are free as well. Now if my hands could shrink this install would go a lot easier. Got love the tight spaces of these early a-bodies.

Sorry no pics at the moment. Didn't get a chance to load them up yet. Tomorrow. :clock:

 

[fstfish66]

:cheers::cheers:

 

[daves66valiant]

Been busy. Finally got the lines all routed for the HB. I took a little while but everything looks clean IMO. I just need to pick up a different tee adapter for the return line from the hydraulic hose shop. No biggy.

Although I ran in to a slight snag with the rebuilt and newly painted power steering pump I picked up at the Fall Fling last year. The pulley offset does not match my original 66 PS pump. Therefore my belts don't line up. The pulley shaft looks different too. I'm hoping to swap the pulley from my 66 onto the new one I have. If that doesn't work then I'll have to get my original rebuilt. Can be done through RockAuto.com for $70. I'll cross that bridge later. I've got plenty of other things to keep me busy.

I went ahead and dropped the carb on the motor just for S&Gs. It's been a while.

I'm hoping to get the torsion bars installed today along with the passenger side header. Maybe the wiring harness and other accessories if I'm lucky.

Back on all 4 again. Still haven't buffed out the quarters yet

Motor

HB all plumbed up

 

[HemiEd]

Beautiful car, love it! The top is striking.

Just curious though, why the Hydroboost?

I have a manual cylinder on mine, with the Disc brake conversion, and it stops great.