68 valiant signet

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those impco 425 'carbs' are rated to support up to 325hp so one on a 318 would be plenty. they're adjustable so i can turn them down for tunnel ram duals, or fit 1 or 2 turbos and they'll be just fine. :lol:
 
i just bought a manual steering box from a guy in the mma (mopar muscle association) over here so i probably won't need to ding the stainless headers now.
neil.
 
that's right, from what mopars with power steering i've owned/driven they are very light. my 65 dart had manual steering and a 440 and it was fine. i only got the manual box 'cos i'm too lazy to make mountings for the pump, i've got a second correct one but the pipe fittings are different. plus the manual one won't ever get a p/s fluid leak, lol.
while looking through one of my cupboards in the garage trying to find something else i came across some auto meter sport comp gauges i'd forgotten about. a 5" speedo with cable, a 5" shiftlight tach, a temp gauge and an oil pressure gauge. i hadn't intended to alter the dash but now..........
neil.
 
mygasser said:
we had another good day today. while i repaired the k member butchery i'd carried out fitting the 383 ashley started polishing the slot mags View attachment 1715718129. next i cut out the tunnel ready to fit the manual hump and added reinforcement to the inner wing where the z bar pivot goes as this car was auto before. we then pushed it outside to turn it round to fit the motor (taking pics while outside of course). lastly we bolted on the trans dapt mounts ready to fit the motor. at least we would have if they both fitted my 318. the drivers bracket appears to be for a 360 as i'd need spacers to bolt it to the 318. as luck would have it my box of bits included an original 318 driver's side mount, result. so the motor is now in there.
neil.

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Looks great. I live how you fixed the K frame. A bit of rattle can black, and you would never know.
 
moparmat2000 said:
Looks great. I live how you fixed the K frame. A bit of rattle can black, and you would never know.
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thanks, it's only temporary so didn't need to be perfect. it is black now, i just take any pics of it. the end game is to fit the straight tube axle either this coming winter or more probably next so i can get some time to enjoy it before another strip down. it'll get painted then too so definately a strip down.
neil.
 
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i took the tank sender unit out of the car today to measure empty and full ohms readings. autometer do the matching fuel gauge in 3 different ohms readings.
you know it'll happen don't you?
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neil.
 
ok, so i checked on the summit website and the fuel gauge i need (of the 3 types available) was showing as 'last one' so what was i supposed to do? i mean really. so the fuel gauge, temp' sender and oil pressure gauge pipe and fittings are now on their way
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autometer sport comp dash it is then
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neil.
 
i nearly forgot, the recored big block radiator i bought when i briefly fitted a 383 in the car will need the bottom hose fitting swapping to the other end of the tank. i'm over a mate's place tomorrow (to do some more work on an anglia there) and whadda ya know he's a plumber in a former life so he's going to move the fitting and solder/plate over the redundant hole for me :thumbsup:
neil.
 
mygasser said:
ok, so i checked on the summit website and the fuel gauge i need (of the 3 types available) was showing as 'last one' so what was i supposed to do? i mean really. so the fuel gauge, temp' sender and oil pressure gauge pipe and fittings are now on their way
neil.
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well what else could you do, what with being backed into a corner like that... :rolleyes:

:thumbsup:
 
mygasser said:
i've had a couple over the years mate, both at the time were on my daily drivers too (couldn't afford 2 cars back then). one had 'proper' mechanical secondary tunnel ram carbs, the other had vac' secondary carbs which when you were driving normally was effectively like having a single double pumper as only the primaries got used. it was also better on fuel than the mech' secondaries were. driveability was fine with no bogging or flat spots. eventually i'll fit 2 impco 425 lpg 'carbs' and do away with the petrol system all together. using the fork lift type propane bottles it only costs about 1/4 the price per litre compared to petrol so if the car does 10mpg then for the same cost money wise it's the equivalent of 40mpg. that and lpg is 110 octane so i can run a bit more timing advance without pinking so more power too, win win.
neil.
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I understand propane is very dry, unlike liquid fuel, when it comes to lubricating valves. Do you anticipate any issues in running it in your engine?
 
If you have hardened seats for unleaded fuel, you should have no issues. I'm guessing you're looking at an Impco carb style system, where the intake flows both air and fuel. There are newer systems out with individual injectors at the port for better drivability; though it requires more expensive hardware and electronics (with tuning often), and probably intake manifold modifications.

Issues of running propane usually happen on Diesel engines. They still spray a little diesel fuel into the cylinder to act as a "liquid spark plug". Older systems would try running as much as 70% propane. This caused catastrophic failures, as the vaporizing diesel fuel acted as an internal coolant.

I'm not aware of any issues running propane on gasoline engines. It has excellent octane characteristics, making it good for high compression & boosted applications. Of course, make sure you have a filling station nearby.
 
mpgmike said:
If you have hardened seats for unleaded fuel, you should have no issues. I'm guessing you're looking at an Impco carb style system, where the intake flows both air and fuel. There are newer systems out with individual injectors at the port for better drivability; though it requires more expensive hardware and electronics (with tuning often), and probably intake manifold modifications.

Issues of running propane usually happen on Diesel engines. They still spray a little diesel fuel into the cylinder to act as a "liquid spark plug". Older systems would try running as much as 70% propane. This caused catastrophic failures, as the vaporizing diesel fuel acted as an internal coolant.

I'm not aware of any issues running propane on gasoline engines. It has excellent octane characteristics, making it good for high compression & boosted applications. Of course, make sure you have a filling station nearby.
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yes the impco 425 type that bolt directly to a holley carb's base plate. re a filling station, my plan is to have a smaller 'donut' tank in the spare wheel well as a spare with the filler as per normal to use filling stations but the 'main' tank will be the orange propane tanks as used on home cooking/heating setups. i can get these from a tool hire shop down the road from me at roughly 1/3 the cost of filling stations and 1/6 the cost of petrol. it'll make the car very cheap to run with the option to switch to the refillable tank if on a long journey. i ran a '78 chevy blazer as my daily that had the really old ring over the carb lpg conversion for almost 2 years, i never used petrol ever and £ for £ (compared to petrol) it achieved 27mpg and that was buying lpg from the filling stations.
neil.
 
today it was 2 steps forward and 1 step back. to get sensible access to change the steering box i needed to undo the engine mounts (again) and drop the headers which were just hung in place luckily. so with the power box removed and some heat and a puller applied to remove the pitman arm i bolted up the manual box. next issue the column's too short. i was quite happy cutting and extending the column but i though i'd check here first to see if the collapsible bit would slide out the 3" ish required. the general concensus was 1, a manual column 2, a mancini coupler (longer i assume) or 3, extend the power column. then i remembered my manual box had come with a coupler attached, so i measured it and at 3" it would give me what i wanted once i'd welded the 2 couplers i had together. all done now and next i'll be refitting the headers (again) and bolting the engine mounts down (again). as i said 2 steps forward...............
neil.

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mygasser said:
today it was 2 steps forward and 1 step back. to get sensible access to change the steering box i needed to undo the engine mounts (again) and drop the headers which were just hung in place luckily. so with the power box removed and some heat and a puller applied to remove the pitman arm i bolted up the manual box. next issue the column's too short. i was quite happy cutting and extending the column but i though i'd check here first to see if the collapsible bit would slide out the 3" ish required. the general concensus was 1, a manual column 2, a mancini coupler (longer i assume) or 3, extend the power column. then i remembered my manual box had come with a coupler attached, so i measured it and at 3" it would give me what i wanted once i'd welded the 2 couplers i had together. all done now and next i'll be refitting the headers (again) and bolting the engine mounts down (again). as i said 2 steps forward...............
neil.

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Yeah, I've welded two couplers together to make things work!
 
today has been quite productive for a change. this morning i rehung the headers, refitted the engine mounts and bolted the centre link back in place. now i was back to where i was before deciding to swap to manual steering :BangHead:
this afternoon i fitted the flywheel and clutch, sorted through my box of bolts and bolted the bellhousing onto the block. next was gearbox bolts, i didn't have any. so after another dig in the bolt stash i came up with 4 small block chevy head bolts which were too long but the right size. so out with the tap and die set and ran the thread almost all of the way down then cut them to length. same again for the starter bolts and i made up a stepped sleeve for the top one to centralise the starter bolt hole over the bolt. i think i remember there being a special stud/bolt to do that job but i don't have it so.....
the starter is now in place and i called it a day.
next job, fit the gearbox, shifter etc etc.
neil.
edit, i forgot i made a quick n dirty clutch alignment tool too. i turned the end or a length of tube to fit the spigot bush and wrapped a section with electrical tape to fit the clutch plate. much easier than eye balling the alignment.
 
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this afternoon i sorted the shifter, rods and levers to set up the hurst shifter i bought a while back. i had a mix of stock and aftermarket levers, rods that were all too long (B body maybe) and the hurst shifter. ''best get this done before it's in the car'' i thought to myself and i'm glad i did as it took me about 4 hours of cutting the rods, clamping the overlapped pieces together, checking the movement etc etc. finally with the overlapped rods tacked and working i removed them one by one and cut them to be butt welded for good. i now have a smooth shift in all gears even with my short makeshift alternator bracket shift handle, lol.

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today i got the trans' bolted in place and the shifter fitted up. i had to add more curve to the reverse rod which meant sleeving it but it's all done now and with my short temporary lever it shifts nice and light through all the gears. :thumbsup:
neil.

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not much done today, i just got the 4 speed hump bolted down. i installed small nutserts all round the opening, a lick of black paint on the new panel and some stainless cap heads and washers to hold it down. another job done :thumbsup:
neil.

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