Doc's 76 Four Door Valiant

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jjsende

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This site has inspired me to restore my Valiant, I'll be paying as I go, so I know it will take some time and patience. I am thinking I will retain a mostly stock appearance outside but cant decide between using the 400 block I have or to go with a G3 hemi. While I am undecided about the engine/transmission, I am certain that I want an AlterKtion Street-Lynx suspension/disc brakes front and back, and plan on keeping the 8-3/4 rear axle.

I’ll start my post with some background history of the car:

This was the last car my grandparents owned, it had less than 8K miles when it passed into my care. My grandfather was a dentist in Emporia, Kansas, explaining “Doc’s Valiant” (Doc James paid cash for the car along with a trade in, see attached file).

I have owned the car since 1980, except for a momentary lapse of reason when I gave it to my fiancé back in 1982. That relationship cratered spectacularly – we never married – and I ended up paying her to get my Valiant back.

Fast forward to 1983 and I find myself involved with a different girlfriend, with whom I end up settling down. We had three children in 5 years’ time, and that Valiant took us to the hospital for each of them to be delivered. Ten years later, in 1993, I’m single again, but at least I still have my Valiant!

I turned the speedometer over three times since I've owned the car, and attempted a partial restoration in 1994 after marrying for the second time. Things didn't work out and I was single again in 1999. I also had to part with the 383/727 out of the Valiant to survive and it has been sitting since 2000.

If you haven't noticed, I cant seem to stay alone too long and later on in 2000 I found myself at an Irish bar, on a Friday the 13th, with a full moon shining and a Czechoslovakian blue grass band playing. As the “Luck O’ the Irish” would have it, I met a pretty redhead at the bar who would put all my previous spousal units to shame and become my third wife. :prayer:


Thanks for your patience with the history, next up I will post the current state of dissasembly and progress with Doc's Valiant.
 

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  • Valiant At Eagle Lake CO 1983.jpg
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  • Valiant 383 Engine Bay 1995.jpg
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  • Valiant Before Hood Scoop 1995.jpg
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  • Valiant With Hood Scoop 1996.jpg
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  • 1976 Valiant Original Receipt.pdf
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Welcome! Good luck with the resto, you've located a great site with a bunch of guys that really know their stuff. Cool story, and that sales receipt was awesome, thanks for posting!
 
Thanks Harry, hope to have some more progress to post in a few weeks.
 
This is the 400 Ray Barton machined short block and aluminum Indy SR heads that I have, trying to decide on using them for the Valiant or to go with G3 hemi (I am open for y'all's opinions/comments/suggestions).
 

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  • Ray Barton Machined 400 Block Front View.jpg
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  • Ray Barton Machined 400 Block Top Side View.jpg
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  • Ray Barton Machined 400 Block Top View.jpg
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  • Ray Barton Machined 400 Block With Casting Numbers.jpg
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  • Indy SR Heads Top Exhaust View.jpg
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  • Indy SR Heads O Ring Close Up.jpg
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  • Indy SR Heads O Ringed Bottom View.jpg
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  • Indy SR Heads O Ringed Side View.jpg
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  • Indy SR Aluminum Heads.jpg
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  • Indy SR Heads New In Box.jpg
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Damn, I thought I have women problems,,,,,,, I did a 400 block stroked to a 451. One of the best running engines I've ever owned. Easy to slide right into the V over the Gen engine. Now this is thinking about cost factor.If money is not a factor then shoot for the moon.....
 
Thanks for the input Dartr6, cost is a factor, especially if I want to stay out of divorce court!:glasses7:
 
Welcome to another More Door A body guy! It's great that you have such history with that car - and the ends that you went to keep or get it back - amazing! Good luck with the resto!
 
Time to start the tear down process, hope to get it right this time!
 

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  • Rear View 2.jpg
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  • Interior 1.jpg
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  • Interior 3.jpg
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  • Interior 2.jpg
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  • Hood Open.jpg
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  • Front View.jpg
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Started by removing the interior to get going on the take apart process:
 

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  • Back Seat 2.jpg
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  • Interior 1.jpg
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  • Interior 3.jpg
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Removed window trim, inspection/registration stickers are a bit dated:
 

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  • Rear Window Without Trim.jpg
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  • Registration.jpg
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Some obvious rust problems to deal with:
 

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  • Rust Drivers Side Roof Rail.jpg
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  • Rust Passenger Side Roof Rail.jpg
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  • Rust Passenger Side Bottom Of Windshield .jpg
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Removed front fenders and hood, next up is inner fender replacment:
 

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  • Passenger Side Inner Fender Before.jpg
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  • Drivers Side Inner Fender Before.jpg
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  • Drivers Side Front 3.jpg
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Removed front suspension to make some room to work on the inner fenders, welded the upper radiator support back where it belongs:
 

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  • Right Front View.jpg
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  • Radiator Support.jpg
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Preview of new AMD inner fenders sitting in place, time to get serious and drill out a lot of spot welds on the old inner fenders:
 

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  • Drivers Side New Inner Fender Mock Up.jpg
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  • Passenger Side New Inner Fender Mock Up.jpg
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Removing the inner fenders was tedious (not something I want to do for a living), but I did win out in the end. I did not take any photo's of that process, nor of the installation of the replacement AMD sheet metal or the addition of a new lower radiator brace from XV Motorsports:
http://www.xvmotorsports.com/products/detail/index.cfm?nPID=20
But, here are some photos of the aftermath and more dissasembly prior to sending the Valiant out to be media blasted/epoxy primered:
 

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  • Doors Fenders Hood Removed.jpg
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  • Body Panels Removed Ready For Media Blast.jpg
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Rex, Danny and Elvis from Texas Auto Restoration are here to load up the Valiant for the trip to the rotisserie and media blast treatment:
 

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  • Elvis Helping Out.jpg
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  • Ready To Load.jpg
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  • Heading To Media Blasting.jpg
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I was thankful that Elvis was here to help (he's a pretty big guy), the roller wheels I MacGyver'd up on the front were not spaced out wide enough to match up with the loading ramps on their trailer, so Elvis just lifted the front end up there by his own bad self!
 
Here are some shots from Texas Auto Restoration working on removing the old paint/bondo/undercoating.
 

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  • Rotisserie Work Begins 6.jpg
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  • Rotisserie Work Begins 2.jpg
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  • Rotisserie Work Begins 3.jpg
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  • Rotisserie Work Begins 1.jpg
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  • Thick Layer Of Bondo Uncovered.jpg
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  • Removing Spray On Bondo By Hand.jpg
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Down to bare metal:
 

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  • Underneath Blasted 4.jpg
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  • Underneath Blasted 3.jpg
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  • Underneath Blasted 2.jpg
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  • Underneath Blasted 1.jpg
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  • Outside Firewall Blasted.jpg
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  • Inside Firewall Blasted.jpg
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  • Blasting Completed.jpg
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Epoxy primer applied:
 

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  • Back On Trailer 1.jpg
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The Valiant is back home from http://texasautorestoration.com/ , but "Houston, we have a problem", or rather we have more work to deal with:

Front floor pans are rusted through and need replacement

Trunk/spare tire floor pan are rusted through and need replacement

Firewall has multiple areas that need to be patched/welded

Passenger side rear fender has been repaired previously and will need body/sheet metal work

The frame has a spot that looks like it is bent from a low speed collision that happened just before the 'divorce sale' back in 1999. Texas Auto Restoration is stongly advising me to take the Valaint to a frame repair shop for evaluation/repair

I will add some photo's of the damaged areas, but for now here is a shot of the passengers side front frame rail that looks bent/damaged.
 

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  • Pass Side Front Damged Area .jpg
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Here's an email exchange with Bill Reilly asking for his input about the frame damage:
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From: Bill Reilly [mailto:bill@reillymotorsports.com]
Sent: Friday, August 03, 2012 5:11 PM
To: Jeff Sendelbach
Subject: Re: K member question

Interesting kink you have there. Well, the k frame holes on an Abody are symmetrical, so if its a perfect rectangle you're gin. It is also a flat plane, don't forget to check for that.

Bill Reilly
Reilly MotorSports, Inc.

Sent from Verizon Wireless 4GLTE smartphone
----- Reply message -----
From: "Jeff Sendelbach" <JeffS@PennWell.com>
To: "bill@reillymotorsports.com" <bill@reillymotorsports.com>
Subject: K member question
Date: Fri, Aug 3, 2012 5:15 pm

Hello Bill,
I am working on a 1976 Plymouth Valiant and plan to purchase/use your Alterkation setups front and rear. I just had the body media blasted and primered on a rotisserie, and now I find that there is some slight damage to the frame up front and am concerned that I may have problems with bolting up the new K member kit. I still have the original K member, but am not sure if it is bent/damaged in a way that is not obvious/visible to me.

This weekend I will take measurements of the four bolt holes under the frame that the K member bolts to and see if they are equally spaced or not. Short of that, I was wondering if you have any advice for me?

Thanks!
 
Texas Auto Restoration recommended a local frame shop that I contacted, here is reply from the frame shop:
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From: Excel Frame & Front End [mailto:excelframe@att.net]
Sent: Friday, August 10, 2012 11:13 AM
To: Jeff Sendelbach
Subject: Re: FW: K member question
Looking at the pictures that you sent the unibody can be damaged and the K-memeber can be ok. What we can do is repair the unibody and fit the K-memeber for you.
Steven Capuozzo
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My concern is that I intend to go with the Alterktion setup, can anyone advise me as to whether or not to send the Valiant to the frame shop with the original K frame, or should it go with the Alterktion K frame instead? I dont want to make a tactical error at this point in the process that could impact everything else lining up down the road! Here is the advise from the guys at Texas Auto Restoration after informing them that the K frame bolt holes are all equal distance apart:

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"as long as the bolt holes in the frame are equal distance apart then I do not need to have the frame straightened..." - i knew the correct answer, however, i did run this by danny. both danny and i are in total agreement that the appropriate procedure to avoid headaches down the road w/ body panel alignment, drivetrain alignment, and wheel alignment would be to get the K-frame and take the chassis and the frame to a reputable frame shop. no if's, and's, or but's.

So, to all ya'll's out there in restoration land, should I send the Valiant to the frame shop with the stock K frame or with the Alterktion frame? Or, does it need to go to the frame shop at all since the K frame holes are all equal distance apart?
 
Picking up where I left off, I decided against going to the frame shop since the K frame bolts are all equal distance apart. Since then, I purchased a 5.7 hemi/545rfe out of a 2008 Dodge Ram 1500, ordered an Alterktion K frame and Street Lynx rear suspension, had my 8 3/4 center section rebuilt, bought a set of leather seats out of a late model Charger and started on a building a rotisserie. Lots of welding, metal cutting, grinding dust everywhere since then, but I still have a long way to go.
 
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