1972 Plymouth Valiant 4door

[Lecki6]

Well Hello everyone!
I have just decided to start my first ever restoration project.
A decent deal IMO only 1200 and it doesn't seem to be in terrible shape (so far) that and I got to drive it over 120 miles back to my place :burnout: just a bit of an oil leak and a slight miss I noticed once I got her back. I'm probably putting a 360 in later anyhow.

The catch is that I have no garage ale:

Ordered a portable carport which should suffice (I hope)

Not much love for the 4 doors on the web but for some reason ever since I laid eyes I couldn't get it out of my head so here it is on Day 1. Using the craiglist pics I'll post some more pictures when its a nice day out.

Oh boy where to start!

 

[72Valiant4Door]

Howdy! If you need anything, you are in the right place!

I dig the white top more door, what are your plans?

 

[barbee6043]

whats counts is what makes YOU happy, faster you learn that the better off you will always be! more and more people are doing "more doors". nothing wrong with that at all! looks like great little c ar. and who knows you might learn to love that "hillside hemi".?

 

[ScampMike]

that dash is looking rough and they are hard to find and expensive as heck if/when you do - (to say nothing of the PITA they are to switch out) for now, grab up one of those dash caps and get it on there. I'm thinking it'll save your blood pressure a few points once you get inside the car... 'cause you grab a hold of that dash the way it is right now and you're going to have a thundering mess on your hands..

 

[barbee6043]

yes the dash "cap"is great for d rivers. first thing to do is peel off that vinyl roof and sand the surface rust and treat it with a acid to neutralize the carnage.
in the pics, the body looks really solid, little lower qtr rust like all have, might have some floor rust, but that's easy fix if so.

 

[Darter6]

Nice, That is the year that I wanted but settled for a 68.Nothing wrong with a 4 door. They can do everything that a 2 door can and have a bit more room to do it. www.justmopar.com has all the A and B body 4 door weatherstrip now available. That is a big help for us 4 door owners. Thank goodness that it is not Ma Mopar's famous pee green..(mine is).

 

[krazykuda]

Welcome to FABO... :happy1:

Both of my sons have a 4 door Valiant themselves. The youngest just bought a 68 4 door, and the oldest is working on his 71 4 door... :glasses7:

4 doors are cool, because you can take all of your friends and family out and not have to wait for them to get in your door, everyone gets their own door... :cheers:

 

[swies]

1st.
Where at in WA state?
Yakima here..

2nd.
God loves the More Doors.
Where else can you do 15 second 1/4's and take all your friends with you?

And, no one ever thinks your More Door is anything...till you start it and their heart starts beating in time to the lope of your cam...

 

[Lecki6]

I doubt I'm going to match the original color, the interior I'll keep nice and blue it looks pretty sweet but I just cant do the white-blue exterior... Going for the color in the pic below except no vinyl top just a solid color

Otherwise the plan is just to get as close to original as I can and then pop in a small block. (undecided yet on that plan, either 360 mopar or dare I say a 350 chivvy although for the price it is enticing)

Update brakes, suspension etc... I don't want to get too far ahead of the body work as that is what I hear you have to be the most careful with. Picked up a boatload of stuff; hoist, jack, die grinder, paint gun, sockets, ratchets, drill, wire wheel, safety equipment, the list goes on... Just need to get a nice big bucket of 2 layer epoxy primer, some 2k heavy build up primer, maybe a light spraypaint to go over the top just to ensure I won't get bubbling before I paint..

Ordering a weatherproof set here shortly,
The dash covers/sets seem to be relatively inexpensive maybe I'm missing something.
http://www.partstrain.com/store/details/Plymouth/Valiant/Dashtop/Dash_Cover/1972/Base/6_Cyl_3-dot-7L/DAS903338.html

http://www.partstrain.com/store/details/Plymouth/Valiant/Dashtop/Dash_Cover/1972/Base/6_Cyl_3-dot-7L/DAS90315013.html

I'm in Tacoma.
I really didn't expect that big of a welcome. Thanks everyone!

 

[Lecki6]

I take that back, the white is starting to grow on me

 

[Lecki6]

What do you think it would take to hit 12 second 1/4? Eventually that's my minimum goal pace... Gotta beat the stock STIs you know:glasses7:

 

[ScampMike]

that planned 360 swap is a good start - that car with a stock V8 was probably good for 14's - and that would have been a 318 - there are plenty of ways to get into the 12's - I suggest a good Mopar performance book or two - do some homework - you'll get so many opinions and options here your head will spin - no, I mean literally.. LOL

 

[goldfish65]

I take that back, the white is starting to grow on me

Welcome, yours is just the kind of Valiant I'd like to find.

A white painted top stays cooler in the hot sun, and it also makes the car more visible to other motorists, adding a bit of peace of mind that someone would be less likely to pull out in front of you, or not see you...

 

[JulianMopar]

Welcome, I will follow your updates, hope to restore my 1970 dart 4dr some time...

 

[Lecki6]

Welcome, I will follow your updates, hope to restore my 1970 dart 4dr some time...

I'll keep the updates coming, the "tent" garage I got is a bear to assemble without a team of people and my help is fairly limited... Should be all done up Thursday so that's when the real work begins. It's laid out on grass so I'm going to put down some sand and 1" ply or osb for a platform.. Got a few 4' t12 light fixtures just need to run a bit of conduit for the lighting and 220 for welding. Much to my regret and knowing that it's probably a bad idea but I saw a steal of a deal on a potential future project so I'll find out if that's going to be sitting out back in s couple weeks :cheers:

 

[Serj22]

No worries, A pop up garage is better than none. I built most of my car in a driveway and that was a pain, but it worked out ok. I used to live in WA, up in Bremerton, 30 minutes or so north of you on the peninsula - and I could say when I had a garage there that was the only time I could work on cars - if you didn't have one it was mighty cold, and/or drizzling, and one or two days a year - snowing.

But anyway. Cool 4 door project. I'll subscribe.

 

[451Cuda]

Clean car to start with.

 

[Lecki6]

Well, I've got my engine/tranny out, should have been a 4 hour job but I ended up messing around with things and getting familiar for an entire saturday.. Not to mention the giant pool of tranny fluid in the driveway.

Garage is going good, power has yet to be ran but I have some lights up, OSB down on the floor. Still going to use 1" plywood for jack supports, even though its on dirt/compacted sand I just don't trust it.

Good/bad weather slowing me down
Slow and steady wins the race!

I just have to find a way to keep my job, I found myself 29 pages into the small block section clicking on everything that had 360 in the title... F O C U S damnit.

 

[Lecki6]

Pulling trim is more of a PITA then I anticipated... I've put a small bump in 2 spots... Guess I'm learning the hard way,aluminum tape works ok

I'm hoping that's a factory seam

Phone won't seem to let me upload my pics.. Strange

 

[cdnEHbody]

Nice 4 door. Although I'm kinda partial to them....ha

I have a green 71

 

[dennday67]

Nice start. My first car was a 69 four door dodge dart. I miss that car sometimes.

 

[4spdcuda66]

Yep. That's a factory seam.

 

[barbee6043]

I use a big wire CUP on my right angle grinder. mainly cleaning floors, it will work well to clean ou that roof seam. factory leaded such, but... cean it real good, treat with a rust killer like Osho, sealed with epoxy primer, ,, its what you will cover the car with after DA ing it, you will simply seal that with a good body filler. unless you want to learn how to use lead!

yes jack stands on the plywood, NOT dirt, is way to go!

 

[Sedanman]

I like the same blue your after. If you figure out the paint code let me know. I restored 90% of my car in the driveway

 

[Lecki6]

I use a big wire CUP on my right angle grinder. mainly cleaning floors, it will work well to clean ou that roof seam. factory leaded such, but... cean it real good, treat with a rust killer like Osho, sealed with epoxy primer, ,, its what you will cover the car with after DA ing it, you will simply seal that with a good body filler. unless you want to learn how to use lead!

yes jack stands on the plywood, NOT dirt, is way to go!

It can't be that hard to use lead, I'm not entirely sure what you mean but I'm thinking it's like solder? The main thing that has my head spinning right now is the inside hard to reach areas.. Backside of panels, inside the roof.. I'll probably just have to spray a rust converter in the unreachable areas with surface rust?