Looks Like I Picked The Wrong Week To Quit Sniffing Glue / '64 Valiant Troubles

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Chuck Valiant

Chuck Valiant

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Feb 17, 2013
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Location
San Diego
1964 Plymouth Valiant Signet convertible 225, push button, no a/c, manual brakes and steering. Everything looks original except for the alternator, shocks and the stuff that I have switched.

My other "dependable car" has been in the shop for 3 days with an evap problem that I need fixed to get it smoged.

[ame="http://youtu.be/VmW-ScmGRMA"]302 Found[/ame]

Yesterday I drove my car Chuck Valiant to work and one of the mechanics noticed that the front passenger tire was angled weird. I propped it up at lunch time, pull the tire and saw that the upper balljoint had popped out upward, the threads looked sheared. I live 6 miles from work so I convinced someone to follow me home as I drove my car 20mph on mostly 45mph roads. That was fun.


Today while waiting for the new balljoint to arrive at the parts store, I did my first compression test ever and I'm pretty sure I did it wrong (I didn't have the throttle wide open, I was using a remote starter.)

The engine was warm and pulling the plugs was burning my hands. I started the test on the sixth cylinder 'cause that seemed the easiest place to start. I was hoping that I would get a hang of it by the time I got to the number one plug. 6, 5, & 4 all read a solid 130 and I was stoked. 3 read 127, not bad. Then I got to 2, it read 113, it made me think I was reading everything wrong so I tested 6 again and it came in a solid 130 again. Went to number 1 and it still took me a while to get the compression tube to screw in and it read 90... bummed.

I completely forgot to put some oil down the spark plug tubes to do a retest on 1 and 2, I was in a hurry to get the compression tester that I had borrowed from a friend back to his shop. Got a ride to the parts store to pick up my balljoint and drooped off the compression tester.

Got home pulled the old balljoint and saw that the threads on the upper control arm were smashed and sheared. I have two junkyards near me that have old mopar parts so I'm sure I can get a new/old upper control arm. Just bummed I have to go through this.

Question: I eventually want to convert to disk brakes in a couple of years. Can I use 1973 upper control arms on my 1964 9" drum brake setup? The way they look on the internet I'll so no.

I was about to buy the complete polygraphite front end from PST next month and I was ready to move it up to this weekend before I did the compression test.

Hopefully tomorrow I can pick up my "dependable car" from the shop, go to the junkyard get my arm and then get my own compression tester from the parts store to redo my test. the only bright spot tonight is they started selling Modelo for $11 a 12pack so I got that going for me. Man I picked a wrong week...
 
Chuck Valiant said:
Question: I eventually want to convert to disk brakes in a couple of years. Can I use 1973 upper control arms on my 1964 9" drum brake setup? The way they look on the internet I'll so no.
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No, won't fit in steering knuckle. Wouldn't worry too much about the compression mismatch, you could probably drive it many miles. Besides, slant sixes are a dime a dozen.
 
I wouldn't do anything based on one compression test. A poor-man's test is to turn the engine over by hand, by pulling & pushing the fan belt. Mark the crank w/ chalk. If you feel 3 strong resistances each revolution, for 2 revs, you know all cylinders are fine. A quick way to test a junkyard engine, and even better than a cranking compression test. You could even find which cylinder is bad that way. Problem is, a slant can still be fairly OK and flunk that test. It will build enough compression at higher rpm and with oil coating the rings. In really good engines, you can hear the cylinder pressure leak off over 10 sec as you turn the crank.

How did the #1 cyl spark plug look? If real clean, like washed with raw gas, the compression might be so low it isn't firing. I had that in my 69 Dart. I recall it read ~70 psi. I jury-rigged it to disable that cylinder by removing the lifters and pushrods, which you can do with the valve cover off. While bragging at my cleverness, a hot-rodding co-worker said I would lose oil pressure with the lifters out, so I made short "pushrods" out of copper tube, with a spring so they held the lifters down, but didn't open the valves. I recently heard that slants (at least solid cam ones) don't have oil passages in the lifter bores, so no problem running without a few. I later put a new long block in my Dart and rebuilt tranny, ran great until stolen 2 months later and never recovered except the license tag.

Most people would just tack weld the upper ball joint back in (common repair), without removing the UCA. Most likely the threads were stripped long ago by a clueless mechanic who thought it was a pressed-in type and the failure was just waiting to happen. There is no up-down force on the upper ball joint, other than the slight resistance from the rubber bushings. It just locates the top of the spindle in a horizontal plane. I suggest you just hold it together temporary (C-clamp or such) and drive it to any small muffler or weld shop, and they might charge $20 to tack it. Maybe a member here near you will help. If you really want a new UCA and can wait, I have at least one for an early-A, but don't recall which side. We go to UCSD every year or two for our son.

There are disk brake kits that work with your 9" drum spindles. I recall Scarebird has an affordable one.

Check for parts in the PST kit. I recall some kits are missing critical parts like the idler arm, which costs ~$40 for your car (Autozone, rockauto).
 
Thanks guys.

The reason I did the compression test was because I was getting a ton of blow by smoke from my breather, this just started happening so I suspected something might be wrong.

The engine seems pretty bulletproof and sometimes when I'm idling at a stoplight it is so quite that I think it had died on me, nope just hit the gas and there she was.

I went ahead and got my own compression tester and redid the test, this time with the throttle opened. Every plug read 130... stoked! Just another newbe lesson for me, if I've never done it before then don't rush it (that's what she said.) Next week I'll do my first valve lashing.

I pulled the UCA and found some tares in the metal near the bushings, I have an appointment tomorrow at a private salvage lot to pull one off a parts car so Chuck should be up and running in a couple of days.

My other car is back, passed smog and registered so I guess next week will be a good time to quit...
 
Chuck Valiant said:
Thanks guys.
...sometimes when I'm idling at a stoplight it is so quite that I think it had died on me, nope just hit the gas and there she was.
...
I went ahead and got my own compression tester and redid the test, this time with the throttle opened. Every plug read 130... stoked!
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Same with my 64 Valiant. The engine died driving it home after purchase (bad wiring) and while jumping it, I hit the starter a few times when the engine was already running because it was so quiet and smooth I thought it was off. I think the air cleaner they used then, with small inlet air gap, muffles intake sounds.

130 psi sounds great. I think you would get the same reading with the throttle closed, but might have to wait for ~6 strokes to reach the max reading. If it comes up in 2-3 strokes, that is a good sign too. The reading depends on what camshaft is installed. Some racing cams may give <100 psi reading, but still work great at high rpm.
 
2manymopars said:
I have some good UCA's you can have. I am about 2 hrs. north of you or just pay the shipping.
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Thanks for the offer 2many, I was able to choose from 4 good condition UCA’s for $20 at the salvage lot. Now I just need the balljoint socket to remove the old balljoints.
I’ll probably be ordering the pro suspension tool kit from American Muscle in a couple of weeks. :clock:
 
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