1972 Scamp in New Zealand

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Started to pull the VJ valiant brakes apart,

looks like they should bolt straight in,

lower ball joints are different in the steering arm between the Plymouth and Aussie valiant but the bolt pattern is spot on

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Upper ball joints look all good too, I’ve decided that When I get new rotors I’ll get them redrilled to suit the SBP so i can keep the 14” steelies (as long as they fit over the brakes) I measured the rotors and they are 280mm/11 inch, I’m going to knock the studs (bbp) out and sit one inside the factory rim and see how I get on

i gave the car a clean and decided to sit the eagers by it,

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gives a rough idea of the look I’m going for
 
Knocked the studs out of one of the rotors, fitted the calliper and tried to put one of the wheels on, unfortunately the hub on the rotor is too big for the centrebore of the rim, back to the drawing board with the wheel choice
 
You'll be happier with the big bolt pattern opens up a ton of wheel options.
 
Yeah plus once I go to an explorer rear end I’ll have bbp in the back anyway so may aswell make the change now. Was just being tight and hoping to use the steel rims I already had
 
Well I’ve hit a milestone in my life!

the guy who is installing the house came around last week, worked out where the hoist could go, and that he was available this weekend, or sometime in December, so instead of doing the brakes on the Belair (making it more driveable for the wife) I was on a demo mission to make a bit more space in the garage,

yesterday was D-day and I now have a hoist in my garage, it’s like all my Christmas’ have come at once, I’ve dreamed of this for many years but never figured it would happen.

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It’s not yet wired properly, so I’ve rigged a ghetto 10a connection up, today I will start on the front brake upgrade for the Belair (got a CPP kit for it), Once that’s done I can get the scamp on the hoist and get into that.
 
Congratulations!!! I just installed all new brake lines on the Dart with jack stands and I guarantee you will be cleaner than I was at the end! I miss the days when my dad was a vo-tech teacher and I had weekend use of the shop there!
 
Long time no yarns,

haven’t had much chance to work on this as leading up to Xmas I was working on the family caravan so we could go away in it.

Managed to get stuck into it today, started removing parts so I can remove the motor, trans, fuel tank and rear end so that I can continue the process of stripping the underbody so I can have it inspected by a repair certifier before I take it for NZ Entry compliance

had to take on some extra help pulling it apart

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it seems that the previous owner in the US had spent a bit of money to get this back up and running reliably it’s got a rebuilt Carter carb, Pertronix Ignition, with a flamethrower coil, new AC pump and hoses (although it had a bunch of leaks so it had already de-gassed itself)


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am going to build a cradle so I can drop the engine and trans out of the bottom of the car as one,

Will continue the updates over the next couple of days
 
Did some more work on this tonight.

Managed to remove the rear suspension and diff,

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then removed the fuel tank and fuel lines

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now have plenty of room to play


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still need to build a cradle to drop the engine and gearbox onto for easy removal, but first I need to get the torsion bars out which are proving to be very stubborn, there are plans somewhere on this website of how to make a tool to remove them so that maybe the next step
 
Made more progress this weekend, car is basically mechanically stripped now

Made a cradle out of 6x2 building timber, literally slapped it together on some little caster wheels (woefully underrated with a loadrating of 30kg each)

disconnected the last of the wiring, the last of the shift linkage, removed the PS box and it was time to lower the car onto the cradle unbolted the trans x-member, unbolted the K frame and pushed the up button,

such an easy way to remove an engine and trans.

Video:

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Carefully wheeled engine and trans to side of the garage,


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Pulled a rocker cover to see what the inside of the motor looks like,

not the greatest, but that’s not a huge surprise


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Plans have somewhat evolved (read snowballed)

will be taking a bit more time and instead of just doing the minimum to get it through New Zealand’s entry compliance, plans have stretched to running an explorer rear diff, minitubs, move springs inboard so I can fit some nice fat wheels in the back, so it will have to go through what is called Low Volume Vehicle Certification (LLVC) which means it has to get an engineers sign off to say that the work is all up to standard,

So that it’s not all show and no go, the engine will get alloy heads, flat top pistons, headers and a bigger carb than the 500cfm edelbrock that I already have to go with the comp cam and edelbrock inlet manifold


Cheers

Ben
 
Not much to report, have just been working on removing the underseal, lots easier with a hoist, but still not fun.


On the plus side I’m finding lots of nice metal.

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which has left a nice pile of crap on the floor

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Not much to report, have just been working on removing the underseal, lots easier with a hoist, but still not fun.


On the plus side I’m finding lots of nice metal.

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which has left a nice pile of crap on the floor

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Nice operation you've got going there. I too have a 72 Scamp that I've been working on for quite a while. I'm pretty jealous of your hoist. Lol. I'll keep an eye on your progress, looking good so far. My very first car was a 61 chev 4dr like you had on the hoist. Keep up the good work and keep us posted . Thanks Steve
 
Nice operation you've got going there. I too have a 72 Scamp that I've been working on for quite a while. I'm pretty jealous of your hoist. Lol. I'll keep an eye on your progress, looking good so far. My very first car was a 61 chev 4dr like you had on the hoist. Keep up the good work and keep us posted . Thanks Steve

Cheers Steve, yeah it was like all my Christmas’s had come at once when the hoist went up,

The 61 is my wife’s car and it gets a whole lot of attention over here. Most people do up 62/3/4 impalas over here if they are doing an impala. Nothing wrong with a good old 4 door either haha
 
Great looking build man, love that Scamp. Back to the language thing, my boy has watched so much Top Gear he actually uses some of that terminology sometimes. Boot, windscreen etc. Cracks me up. Watching.........
 
Cheers Steve, yeah it was like all my Christmas’s had come at once when the hoist went up,

The 61 is my wife’s car and it gets a whole lot of attention over here. Most people do up 62/3/4 impalas over here if they are doing an impala. Nothing wrong with a good old 4 door either haha
Yeah I like the uniqueness of a four-door. Yours looks pretty Sharp!
 
Great looking build man, love that Scamp. Back to the language thing, my boy has watched so much Top Gear he actually uses some of that terminology sometimes. Boot, windscreen etc. Cracks me up. Watching.........
Wait if you don’t call it a windscreen what do you call it haha
Cheers though mate, can’t wait to get past this tedious stage and into some cutting and welding

Yeah I like the uniqueness of a four-door. Yours looks pretty Sharp!
Cheers man, it’s a 10 foot fox though. Has had a very average respray in the states before it was shipped over, but we like it that way, not afraid to park it anywhere or get too worried when the kids put their little fingers all over it haha
 
Work on the scamp has been on the back burner a little bit lately. However a chap in my Hot rod club was in need of some 318 engine parts, so I removed the factory 2 barrel intel manifold and rebuilt carb, I could’ve stopped there but I was at a loose end so I decided to pull a head.

Looks like it’s had a pretty poor service history it’s fairly black and gunky inside

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nothing seems overly worn however

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Pistons have no markings to indicate being oversized

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It has a small ring ridge which it to be expected, but a quick vernier of the bore (albeit on the ring ridge) shows 3.89”, stock bore should be 3.91” so looks to be stock bore

heads are standard open chamber heads. Factory sized valves 1.78” in 1.5” exh.

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Obviously until I get it on the engine stand and drop the pants off there maybe a different story but at this point it looks like a good base to start a build with.
 
If you can, look into EQ monster magnum heads. They make them with LA style intake pattern, or magnum intake pattern. Cast iron, closed chamber, nice heads on a budget.
 
If you can, look into EQ monster magnum heads. They make them with LA style intake pattern, or magnum intake pattern. Cast iron, closed chamber, nice heads on a budget.
Cheers for the heads up, I’m looking into a set of Edelbrock Aluminium heads as there is a supplier in NZ that stocks them for a reasonable price
 
So Easter Friday the Missus went out an left me at home with the kids (who are on no screen time for Easter) so while they played outside I played in the garage,

found another great use for the hoist

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separated the trans and motor then used the hoist to lift the engine off the k frame an trolley I built so I could get it on the engine stand.

Dropped the sump to have a quick Nosey inside, which further confirmed my lack of service history there’s a reasonable amount of sludge, there was also a random small washer

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pulled a big end cap off crank and bearings look good

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all in all pretty happy with the condition. Should make for a good build

to finish the day I returned to stripping underseal

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pretty happy with the lack of rust I’ve found
 
Scored some garage time to work on this cream puff,

Decided to take a break from the underseal removal.

started on Saturday by pulling the engine further to pieces,

timing chain has seen better days

Not an issue as I already have a replacement double row chain that I got with my Cam kit. Proceeded to remove the cam to check the cam bearings. Unfortunately they’re goosed.

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so I’ll speak to my machinist and organise to get the motor down to him to have them replaced. I’ve got the heads ready to drop to him anyway to have them machined to take the double valve springs. I’ll give the ports a tickle up when I get them back from him.
 
Sunday I decided that I was sick of taking things apart so I decided to do a smaller job that I could finish up in the same day.

I got my Aussie VJ Valiant disc brake conversion parts out of the shed. Broke it all down until I was left with the spindle, backing plate and hub.

Made a makeshift petro-bath (using a petrol/diesel mix that we drained from a customers car) that plus a wire brush and all the grime was gone.

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Degreased everything and got it all etch primed. (Another great use for the hoist)

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Got it all painted black, fitted the new rotors (which have a black protective paint on them) to the hubs. Installed new wheel bearings and assembled everything to the spindle (ball joints are just sitting there temp for the picture)

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New piston and seal kits have been ordered for the Callipers, as has a new disc brake master cylinder (from Rockauto)

Also ordered these.

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4 1/4 star rating over 27 reviews so figured they were worth the punt. Plus at that price if I have to modify them then it’s not the end of the world. Summit wanted over $300usd to ship to New Zealand, so I had them free shipped to the guy I bought the car from (L.A Wellington Shipping on trademe) who will put them in a container and ship them over for less.

Still haven’t been to get the explorer diff from U pick parts yard yet. Hopefully can make it in the next couple of weekends (if it’s even still there haha)
 
If i can recommend rock auto for a timing chain tensioner. Check 1994 dodge dakota pickup with 3.9L V6. Its essentially a V8 block w 2 cylinders missing. They list a timing chain tensioner for the V6 only, however mopar performance lists them for use on V8s. I think i payed $24 apiece for them made by Cloyes about a year ago for both engines. Basically a cam thrust plate with tensioner and oil drip tab built in. It will keep the slop out of the chain. Heres a screen shot.

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