68 valiant signet

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Belated Merry Christmas.

Good call on the 1990 "Shaguar" XJ6 fan clutch. I used one of those with my small block setup. It gave me more room with a thicker aluminum radiator. As an alternate, the ford countour "mondeo" electric fan setup seems to be pretty compact and work well. Theres a thread on Fabo for that.

Remember that on hard acceleration the engine can move forward in its mounts up to 1/2" to 3/4" unless your using polyurethane and or 73 up style spool mounts. Make sure you have adequate clearance here or your fan will eat the radiator. Check your clearance at fan blade tip to radiator at the bottom since the engine is angled down at the back and is closer to the radiator at the bottom.

There is also a really cool thread on Fabo about using electric power steering setup off a Toyota Yaris steering column. The thread entails modding your existing steering column to fit the yaris electric power steering unit under the dash. Then using a smaller manual steering box under the bonnet with a universal joint and shaft, along with a bearing block at the firewall and ditching the pump and hydro lines. This will add some needed room along with moving your battery to the boot.

As far as the A/C goes. You may be able to make your own custom lines to make it work with the 383.

Hope some of this helps you out.
Matt
 
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Hay, mygasser , nice build ! I have a green Valiant also . I also have a 383 in . I also have a 9"ford . I also have a 727 . Wow , this is getting interesting . Oh , my fathers family is from Kent (Feering) . Good luck !
 
moparmat2000 said:
Belated Merry Christmas.

Good call on the 1990 "Shaguar" XJ6 fan clutch. I used one of those with my small block setup. It gave me more room with a thicker aluminum radiator. As an alternate, the ford countour "mondeo" electric fan setup seems to be pretty compact and work well. Theres a thread on Fabo for that.

Remember that on hard acceleration the engine can move forward in its mounts up to 1/2" to 3/4" unless your using polyurethane and or 73 up style spool mounts. Make sure you have adequate clearance here or your fan will eat the radiator. Check your clearance at fan blade tip to radiator at the bottom since the engine is angled down at the back and is closer to the radiator at the bottom.

There is also a really cool thread on Fabo about using electric power steering setup off a Toyota Yaris steering column. The thread entails modding your existing steering column to fit the yaris electric power steering unit under the dash. Then using a smaller manual steering box under the bonnet with a universal joint and shaft, along with a bearing block at the firewall and ditching the pump and hydro lines. This will add some needed room along with moving your battery to the boot.

As far as the A/C goes. You may be able to make your own custom lines to make it work with the 383.

Hope some of this helps you out.
Matt
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hi matt and thanks,
yes there's lots more clearance for the rad' now. about 3/4" from the closest point which is the centre bolt that holds the fan to the adapter. i can add a countersunk allen bolt to increase the gap by another 1/4" if needed. the mounts are from work and are hard rubber compound rally car parts with very little movement. the tie bar is angled slightly forward too which'll help. i'll keep the stock p/steering now, having made brackets and sat the motor where the headers clear by at least 1/4" everywhere. i'll shorten the column and make up an intermediate shaft with uj's and splined shaft (again from work) so combined with header wrap (from work, can you see a pattern emerging?) i shouldn't have any steering/heat issues. i'll get a used (for mockup) modern small sanden a/c compressor and probably mount it on the pass' side out and above the alternator. my dad ran refigerated truck and vans so i have an a/c guy ready to make me custom lines. that pass' side is where i initially mocked up the turbo but i'm leaning more and more to a rear mount setup for that with a dedicated oil system there too. i can get a tank, cooler, pump and lines from...... you guessed it, work and all at very good prices.
cheers, neil.
 
at work i was told today we are going to stock 9" ford helical gear (atb type) lsd's in 28 and 31 spline. so when the first batch arrives my name's on one.
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i dropped the 10" x 15"and 5 1/2" x 15" slot mags to my machinist yesterday to be redrilled to ford/mopar 4 1/2" pcd. the fronts were chevy 4 3/4" and the rears were truck 5 1/2" but they were cheap so....
once i get them back i can get them on the 9" axle so i can do the minitub thing and decide whether to use leaves on the back or just make a diagonal 4 link with coilovers.
 
had a call from my guy about the wheels today. looks like i'll have them back for the weekend :thumbsup:
i can bolt the rears up to the axle to get some accurate measurements for tyre size then.
 
not progress as such but i spoke to my a/c guy at the weekend, first about gassing up my merc daily before summer but most importantly about pressure testing all the parts except the compressor from the valiant. that way i know what if anything i'll need to replace. i'll use a modern sanden type compressor for it's smaller size anyway so won't get the big old iron thing looked at.
neil.
ps still not got the wheels back, i'll have to chase him up.
 
got the wheels back today, woohoo!. i'll get some lugnuts from work tomorrow and get them bolted to the 9" axle so i can finally see how much more tyre will fit under there (the wheels have 295/50's on for mockup). i'm also trying to negotiate a deal on a tunnel ram for the 383, so i can use 2 impco 425 mixers to get enough lpg down it's throat.
 
i got the wheel nuts from work but wasn't happy with the washers, i thought they were a bit loose on the 3/4" shank of the nut. to be fair all the lug nuts i've ever had have been the same but i can make the fit better so i got washers for 11/16" shank nuts and opened them out to suit on my lathe, 'cos i can. they are now a nice sliding fit so with a dab of copperslip i'll be happy. the shank is a bit long for the thickness of the front wheels but they won't take long to turn down. i've really missed having a lathe so i'm enjoying getting to use it :thumbsup:
 
i got the wheels mounted to the axle and i've got some measurements of overall width which is 67" and distance between the tyres at 42". i can add a little once there's a disc each side between the halfshaft and wheel but only about 3/16" per side. the valiant's outside under it's new cover as i've got that anglia back in for exhaust, gauges and a couple of other jobs. these jobs all pay for my car so....
anyway, pics.

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those will look nice tucked under the valiant. no pics of the anglia? :(
 
i don't know if you've seen my thread about altering a 440 tunnel ram to fit my 383 but i've gone and bought it. i'll collect it late may as i'll be in the area (family holiday) and i'm too tight to pay shipping, lol.
i'm not sure yet if i'll cut a section out of the middle to narrow it or take a bit out of the runners each side parallel to the gasket face and drop the centre back down into the middle? either way it's only metal so it's doable.
cheers, neil.
 
so the latest purchase for the valiant is a tunnel ram...... yes another one
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. i mentioned on the MMA forum i'd bought a 440 one to cut up and dave billadeau said i've got one for a 383 you can buy. so i thought it would be rude not to and did. :lol:
 
the tunnel ram arrived today (the 2nd, correct one) so it's be rude not to sit it on the motor for some pics. the plenum looks to have been port matched to the base which'll save some work. i'll replace the hex head bolts with nice rounded button head allen bolts too. :thumbsup:

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so i decided to make a start on the straight tube axle for the valiant today. i got the mk2 ford transit axle ends complete some time ago. they're from a twin wheel mk2 but other than solid discs and 2 pot calipers they are the same as earlier mk3 transit too (they had vented discs and 4 pot calipers). what i needed to do was cut the twin wheel mounting 'bell' bit off of the hubs and turn the face flat, then countersink the bolt holes for the disc mounting bolts and drill the pcd i want in between them on the face. i cut through about 3/4 of the way on the lathe then used a slitting disc for the last bit. i also cut the ribs off with the grinder before using the lathe to flatten the face properly. i've measured and marked the face to drill the stud holes but i've got to get studs so i can drill the holes the right size.
next i need 2 bosses to weld to the tube i have, so i cut the end off of the axle 'stump' with the grinder and welded the cotter pin hole before i turned it down 'til it was all the same size. i'll strip the other side apart tomorrow and get the machining done.

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this afternoon dawn (the wife) was tidying cupboards in the loft and found some old photos. i had a look and here's some of the 74 challenger and the 65 dart i had.
the challenger was i guess an old race car when i got it, very 70's with radiused rear arches and jacked up all round. i used mk2 escort estate front arches on the rear, made lower 1/4's from sheet and cut a mk1 cortina sill for the rear valance. i lowered it stupid low and had to fit a 1/4" skid plate under the driver side header as it was only 1 3/4" off the ground (skid plate reduced that to 1 1/4" but it was sacrificial). the 14" wheels didn't help either. i carpeted all the inside as it only had the 2 front seats. it was a 318 car with some tuning bits, 340 heads, cam, victor inlet, double pumper holley, headers and a full gold moroso dress up (it was the 80's). it had the full gauge cluster, was a console bucket seat car with factory ratchet shifter (slap stick?) and lsd and the vented hood. again, it was the 80's so excuse me the heartbeat graphic stripes i painted on it in cellulose as was the orange itself (lots of flatting and buffing by hand
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next the 65 dart, originally a /six car i fitted a 440/727 and went for a super stock vibe. i spent 3 days making the fenderwell headers which had 36" long 1 3/4" primaries. the rrear axle was from a dodge diplomat and the rear arches were from a 90's transit. the body was very rusty so we spent weeks after work replacing the rot before i gave it an off white paint job and burgundy stripes with gold lace over them. not forgetting the name, a race car's gotta have a name right? i had the bench seats retrimmed, i made new door cards and fitted all new door/boot rubbers which made it a lot quieter.
i don't know about scanning pics so took pics of my pics so excuse the grainy quality
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