My buddy Cliff bought this New Zealand new Valiant a few years ago here off a guy who was ready to quit driving. It's a beautiful car with a solid body and relatively low miles on the clock.
Cliff made a small video of the day he picked up the car with another young fella (Ricky) - another friend's son.....and it was a really good score grabbing this car. Since that day the car hasn't done too much - been to a couple of shows, and not much else. The temperature gauge started to hit 3/4 on hot days while under load, so Cliff planned on investigating the cause. Being a mechanic, he did all the usual stuff, but couldn't nail down the cause.
Couple of year later he and I made another video of a 6-cyl engine he found in an old barn - bought it and we fired her up for some fun. Although we were just fooling around, the video picked up on a ticking noise. Cliff was determined to nail that noise, and thought it was just timing chain and tappets etc.
Well, after running the engine up for about 2 hours at 25% throttle, the noise was still there. Pulling the engine apart Cliff found a scab on the cylinder head - so after picking at it....he saw daylight to the water jacket. So he took the plunge and sent it off to an engine rebuilder for further investigation (a man needs to know his limits)......the heads turned out that the head was pretty much toast.
The other engine that we had run up was still in the workshop, so he thought about a mix-n-match of parts.
Long story made short, he now has the original matching numbers block, with the crank, cam, pistons & rods, and oil pump donated from the barn-find engine ready to go back into the car soon. A little bit of sanding and tidy up body work under the hood....and a puff or two of paint, and it can go back in. And with the bigger pistons (90mm diameter) the car will get an additional 15 HP or so...
Here is the first video - collection day.... (I hope you guys don't need a translator...)
Ok, so now here we go back in Cliff's shop some time later ....
Continued.....
Here are some pictures of the car as it sat a year or two ago......
Original owner lathered the underside with rust protectant......making clean up a real mission.
Here is the newly refurbed engine as it sits today. Should be ready to go back in the car in a few days....maybe a week or two. When the paint dries on the engine bay....
Cliff made a small video of the day he picked up the car with another young fella (Ricky) - another friend's son.....and it was a really good score grabbing this car. Since that day the car hasn't done too much - been to a couple of shows, and not much else. The temperature gauge started to hit 3/4 on hot days while under load, so Cliff planned on investigating the cause. Being a mechanic, he did all the usual stuff, but couldn't nail down the cause.
Couple of year later he and I made another video of a 6-cyl engine he found in an old barn - bought it and we fired her up for some fun. Although we were just fooling around, the video picked up on a ticking noise. Cliff was determined to nail that noise, and thought it was just timing chain and tappets etc.
Well, after running the engine up for about 2 hours at 25% throttle, the noise was still there. Pulling the engine apart Cliff found a scab on the cylinder head - so after picking at it....he saw daylight to the water jacket. So he took the plunge and sent it off to an engine rebuilder for further investigation (a man needs to know his limits)......the heads turned out that the head was pretty much toast.
The other engine that we had run up was still in the workshop, so he thought about a mix-n-match of parts.
Long story made short, he now has the original matching numbers block, with the crank, cam, pistons & rods, and oil pump donated from the barn-find engine ready to go back into the car soon. A little bit of sanding and tidy up body work under the hood....and a puff or two of paint, and it can go back in. And with the bigger pistons (90mm diameter) the car will get an additional 15 HP or so...
Here is the first video - collection day.... (I hope you guys don't need a translator...)
Ok, so now here we go back in Cliff's shop some time later ....
Continued.....
Here are some pictures of the car as it sat a year or two ago......
Original owner lathered the underside with rust protectant......making clean up a real mission.
Here is the newly refurbed engine as it sits today. Should be ready to go back in the car in a few days....maybe a week or two. When the paint dries on the engine bay....
