Father, Son, and Grand Father project. 1963 Valiant

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Didn't know this thread existed!! Nice to see three generations working all together!! Also glad to see Jason down and dirty and gettin it done old school!! Can't wait to meet you guys at the WPC!!!

I'll be following along here for sure!!
 
Looking forward to meeting you guys also. It should be an epic road trip for sure. 3 generations of dumb asses turned loose on an unsuspecting public. You might read about it in the papers. Lol
 
WOW, it's been a long time since we've posted an update. I was working a lot of hours this summer and we really didn't dig back into jasons car till fall. Grandpas been off work, (knee replacement), he's healing very well, and I took some vacation time and we DUG in hard on the car.

Let's start at the front. We straightened out a "decent" front gravel pan we found. It had a few small dents in it and one crease that came out pretty well and only required a little fill.

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Next we drilled the spot welds out of the original radiator support and removed it.

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Thanks for reading. Eric and Jason.

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Next, since the radiator support was no longer in the way, we decided to test fit the 318/727 combo with our home made dual exhaust Trans x member and "truck" mounts. The pass side slid right in and the driver side only required some minor trimming to fit perfect. The engine sits perfectly level, and has about a 1-2 degree lay back IIRC.

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It required removing the pinch weld completely and re welding the floor, and a some massaging of the tunnel, but the 727 fit…tightly. But it has clearance so we're all good.

Next we removed the engine and Trans and reinstalled the 1965 radiator support. It went ok, I think the drivers side rail was slightly pushed in at some point…so more massaging was required. (Are you seeing a theme here. Lol)

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Next, it was time to start grinding down the……wait for it……FIVE coats of paint this thing was shellacked with. And it's the stinkiest paint I've ever ground off. Yuck. Respirators for everyone. Lol

So to contain the mess we built a "booth". It will come in handy for spraying the car with paint when the time comes.

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Let the grinding begin!!!!!

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Jason, sporting his new "short hair". Moms very happy with his choice. Lol

First day of school pics. I know it's a Camaro…but it's been a tradition since kindergarten.

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Same car, different lighting.

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My little bear is growing up I guess.

Ok…emotional parent moment over. Back to the resto. Lol. Thanks for reading. Eric and Jason.
 
Nudie pics anyone? A valiant doing its best impression of a delorean. Lol.

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We didn't find to many surprises. The drivers side fender had about a gallon of filler in it. So we removed the spot welds from the headlight bucket and gained access to the back side of the big dent. When we were finished it only required a thin slick of fill to get it straight.

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Special thanks on this whole project goes out to my father, ED…the fender mender. His metal working skills are getting razor sharp. Thanks dad/grandpa.

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We also found this poorly done…to thin a gauge, rusted through patch panel on the right rear quarter. I have to order one through laysons restoration, but Rick says it will be around the first of the year before they get more in. (Thanks for everything you do Rick). I've been buying parts from Laysons since I was jasons age. Lol.


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And here's a pic of the finished 8.8 conversion. I still need to measure pinion angle and weld the pirches, but with the 15 x 8 wheels with 245/60/15 tires, it tucks in nicely. We decided against mini tubbing the car for now. It can fit plenty of tire for now and we've already but off more than either one of us have time for. Lol

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Final ride height will be set when we install the new springs we got from COSIG.

I also want to give a big shout out to Cosig. He has helped with the parts sourcing immensely.

Intake manifold
Exhaust manifold
Oil pan
Dash board trim
Leaf springs
And other small parts I'm probably forgetting. A true Mobro. Cosig 4 evaaaaaaaa. Lol

Thanks for reading. Eric and Jason.
 
prorac1 said:
Nudie pics anyone? A valiant doing its best impression of a delorean. Lol.

View attachment 1714996360

We didn't find to many surprises. The drivers side fender had about a gallon of filler in it. So we removed the spot welds from the headlight bucket and gained access to the back side of the big dent. When we were finished it only required a thin slick of fill to get it straight.

View attachment 1714996363

View attachment 1714996364

Special thanks on this whole project goes out to my father, ED…the fender mender. His metal working skills are getting razor sharp. Thanks dad/grandpa.

View attachment 1714996365

We also found this poorly done…to thin a gauge, rusted through patch panel on the right rear quarter. I have to order one through laysons restoration, but Rick says it will be around the first of the year before they get more in. (Thanks for everything you do Rick). I've been buying parts from Laysons since I was jasons age. Lol.


View attachment 1714996366

And here's a pic of the finished 8.8 conversion. I still need to measure pinion angle and weld the pirches, but with the 15 x 8 wheels with 245/60/15 tires, it tucks in nicely. We decided against mini tubbing the car for now. It can fit plenty of tire for now and we've already but off more than either one of us have time for. Lol

View attachment 1714996367

View attachment 1714996368

View attachment 1714996369

Final ride height will be set when we install the new springs we got from COSIG.

I also want to give a big shout out to Cosig. He has helped with the parts sourcing immensely.

Intake manifold
Exhaust manifold
Oil pan
Dash board trim
Leaf springs
And other small parts I'm probably forgetting. A true Mobro. Cosig 4 evaaaaaaaa. Lol

Thanks for reading. Eric and Jason.
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the kid definitely looks better w/ the hair cut. he gonna be one smart guy when he`s grown ! my son never wanted to help me w/ mine, just wanted to take a spin in them after they were done.
 
Jason was in school today, so me and grandpa worked on getting door and fender alignment nailed down. It came out really good for the derby of life this car seems to have been through.

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We also got the front gravel pan straightened out and aligned with the front fenders.

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All and all a pretty productive day. Tomorrow we plan on turning our attention towards the trunk and rear pan. Both have been bent and tweaked pretty bad…so metal bending will be required. It would be easier to list off the places on this car that HAVENT been hit or bumped. Lol. Thanks for reading. Eric and Jason.
 
Dam it's nice to see the family working together on the car, and the kid can learn some real good skills from grandpa.

Great progress too!
 
Keith Mopar said:
Dam it's nice to see the family working together on the car, and the kid can learn some real good skills from grandpa.

Great progress too!
Click to expand...

Thanks Keith. It's been a good time for all 3 of us. It feels good to get some real progress after sitting dormant for so long. Between work and racing my car, (ran a new best of 10.80), and drove the heck out of the car back and forth to work.) but it's good to get back to working on this car again.

It took a little work to learn how to work closely with my father again. After 20 years we had two different working styles. We have worked together off and on in the past, just not for this long. It was interesting to learn to combine our talents and working styles, and teach them to Jason.

It feels right. I can't think of a better way to put it. It just feels right.
 
Snow day today for Jason. So the driveway is snowblowed, and we're going to get some more work done on the car.

I have my original hood in the back of the truck to bring over there.

Here's our list of things to do today.

Strip top and bottom of hood
Strip bottom of deck lid
Grind trunk floor and sand
Test fit hood and deck lid
Start straightening tail light panel and gravel pan.

I'll post what we actually get done when I get home tonite. Lol. Thanks for reading. Eric and Jason.
 
Well…the hood fought us on alignment. So we didn't get all of our list done, but we got a lot of stuff done.

We got the hood striped down. Both sides. It was messy. Lol.

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The hood is the original hood from my 63 valiant. It's rust free and straight as an arrow. The gaps are pretty close. The car had been in an accident, and it appears the front shifted over a smidge. The gaps are acceptable with a little fender shimming so we're good.

The latch adjusted pretty well. Pops like new. Overall a good day. We all had a good time. Thanks for reading. Eric and Jason.
 
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Another day, and a little more progress. Not a lot of photos today, but work got done.

We stripped both sides of the deck lid and got it on the car. As always…when it came to alignment we were riding the struggle bus. Lol.

So we defaulted to the service manual and got it pretty close. I believe the torsion bar mounting positions are cocking the deck lid upon closing. One side is set tighter than the other putting more preload on the drivers side causing the lid to sit slightly crooked.

We're going to sleep on it tonight and attack it again tomorrow. Thanks for reading. Eric and Jason.
 
From measuring, it appears that the deck lid opening is wider at the top (front) and narrower at the bottom.

Makes me wonder if one of the previous "accidents", tweaked the trunk opening? The deck lid measures square, which explains why we're finding it physically impossible to get the lid centered in the hole.

We're going to research a little and try again Wednesday.

Thanks for reading. Eric and Jason.
 
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We got some more work done on the car today. Got the trunk stripped down, and did some straightening on the tail light panel and rear pan. It's a twisted mess. Lots of hammer and dolly work. Eric and Jason.
 
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A little more progress today.

We got the small pin holes on the quarter panel lip welded up and slicked.

The patch panel for the right rear quarter behind the wheel is ordered.

Not a lot, but baby steps in the right direction. Thanks for reading. Eric and Jason.
 
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Some more progress today. We got the rear quarter finished up today. It turned out great. Baby steps. Thanks for reading. Eric and Jason.
 
A lot of fun to read. My dad who is 70. My self 47. My two boys 16 and 12. We have resto mod a 67 fb barracuda and are working on a 65 valiant. My dad was a Chrysler mechanic from 68 to 06. I am the one with a four car garage. Needles to say it's a blast to work together. My dad lives 8 miles away. My 16 year old has my dad and I busy aquiring and learning about deisel pickups. Yes he is my little red neck son but I love him a ton. Enjoy and have fun.
 
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