Preparing an Imported 1964 US Valiant Racer to be a Street Legal Car in Canada

[Kmrumedy]

I bought an awesome 64 Valiant drag/ street car in West Virginia and decided to see if I could get it imported into Canada and plated for the streets of Quebec.

So......Here she is landed fresh off the truck in Montreal Canada and now have to prepare it to pass an inspection. (More details on the car shortly)

The Goal:

 

[67Dart273]

!!COOL!! Do you think "this" has gotten more or less difficult in the last years?

 

[Kmrumedy]

Which brings us to 6 years later finally listening to the advice of my friend. Be patient. Find a car already done where someone else has poured a boatload of money into it. Buy it for pennies on the dollar. Do a bunch of small things and learn as you go.


And current project.

So here is what I would like to do. I am going to present the car to you to the best of my current ability. Once I have done that if you could help me itemize everything that needs to be done, and I will break them down by priority into three (3) categories.

• Must do to pass inspection
• Will do pre or post inspection (not critical to pass inspection but has to be done)
• Would like to do (nice to have)

Once I have everything listed with your help I will present the projects each week, you guys let me know what I need, I get the parts, research how to do it, and with your help we get her done piece by piece and on the street.

One main thing to note about the car right now is I have not been able to contact the builder of the engine and car so I have very little drive train or build specs.

So here is some general information and then I will take you through a picture tour of everything I found that needs attention and your help.

The car is a 1964 Valiant hardtop originally a drag car purchased from a racer in Michigan and brought to West Virginia as a race car for the owners son. The seller told me he has invested over $27K in the car. Not sure of those numbers but I had a fellow FABO member spend several hours checking out the car for me. (Which reminds me I should a Good Guy Alert thread). He said he didnt know how much was invested but someone spent A LOT of time and money getting the car straight and the frame perfect. I will send the member a note and hopefully he will chime in with more technical information.

The car went to the track couple of times to test and tune but that was it. Car runs 11.2 at ¼ mile but owner believes it is faster now after the engine build. (Again I need to speak with builder).

The car is Orange painted less than two years ago at which time it was put on a rotisserie and any place that even looked weak was repaired or strengthened to make the owner happy and that is hard to do apparently. In places the paint looks older to me than 2 years.

I was told the motor is out of a 1971 Polara and is a built 360 .30 over pushing around 450+horsepower 727 trans by TCI that has a reversed value noise that makes shifting go from normal p,r,n,d,2,1 to p,r,n,1,2,d that I am told is great for racing. Also has stall converter and trans brake topped off with a new Hurst Quarter Stick shifter. The rear is a Ford 9" with the 4:11 posi that is narrowed with fully adjustable coil over shocks. 10 gallon fuel cell and batteries are in the trunk.

The car was originally a 3 speed on the floor as clutch pedal is still there. Seems to have very heavy hardware on transmission. All the floor pans are new or have been changed. Driveshaft loop.

Cage is 6 point. Headliner is torn in back and above passenger side.

This is what we are working with and what she sounds like..

 

[Kmrumedy]

Now for the picture tour from front to back with comments of items that need attention…

EngineBay:

I am trying to measure what size air filter I can get in to replace that triangle one. Apparently they can cause fires if they backfire. The foam is also disintegrating inside the filter. Not good! It is real difficult trying to get exact measurements inside the hood and scoop then positioning that to the centre of the carb. Have to guesstimate. The hole cut into the hood is 12 inches in diameter but not perfectly round. Seems the largest pie filter I can fit is 10 inches with only a 2 inch filter. The carb has a 2 in spacer added so I guess I could replace it with a 1 inch to gain some height room. Carb is a Holley 650 manual choke carb and Holley manifold. Current engine bay pictures. I want to change the air filter soon as I want to get the exhaust replaced in August at a local shop and I don't want the crap from the foam filter getting in there. Also prefer not to cut up the hood anymore but we can discuss that. Current engine bay pics and more comments:

Here is the hole cut in the hood in relation to carb. The flange seems to be parallel with the hole. Aircleaner is 3 inches high and I have about 1 inch before it hits the tops of the hood.

The oil was pitch black and I think I know why.... It was also my first time encountering baffles in the valve covers. Takes a while to do an oil change.

 

[Kmrumedy]

Interior:

Here is where the little stuff matters as it greatly affects the ability for me to pass inspection. I have to have working lights and turn signals. Wipers have to work as well as the horn.

Well here is what I found when I got the car....see something missing?

Yep... the seller snapped off the turn signal lever getting out of the car just before the sale and never told me about it. It wouldn't have stopped me purchasing the car but I think it should have been something to mention.

The good news Cosgig FABO member extraordinaire sent me 2 levers free of charge. I also purchased an original service manual to figure out how to install it. Again....all this is new to me.

Also, I couldn't figure out what those 3 switches did. I played for about 30 minutes until I finally called the original owner's son and he told me they had another engine in it before and the switchs were for fans and stuff for that engine. Any ideas what to do with the switches now?

Next issue....the seats. They are supposed to be original and they are beautiful. No compliants there but.....

....they forgot to include any seatbelts! The original owner had race seats in it and switch the seats just before the sale. He is trying to find the lap belts for me. Here is pic of seat. Not sure how lap belts are attached. I can not pass inspection with out seatbelts!! Suggestions?

On to the next problem with the seats......I have this shifter.

When I was playing around with it the positioning seemed odd. It was leaning towards the seat and I can not get the stick into third gear as the seat is in the way. I didn't know it originally had racing seats. You guessed it. The shifter now has to be relocated as these seats are much wider than the race seats. How hard is that to do?

 

[Kmrumedy]

Exhaust:

You heard the car in the vid. This car will NEVER pass inspection with side exhausts. I am not even sure if they are actual mufflers. They might just be resonators. This car sounds like a full blown drag car. Also, due to the fenderwell headers I have exactly 3 inches of ground clearance from lowest point of header and ground. Should I put on some kind of sheild? Also, my turning radius is limited.

I found a shop to do the exhaust. I was thinking x-pipe with Dynamax Utlra Flo's and dual exhaust out back with down turn pipes. This one is important so I would like some input here please. This is the one thing I have to outsource for sure.

The exhaust looks higher in the picks as the car is on dollies at the moment.

 

[Kmrumedy]

!!COOL!! Do you think "this" has gotten more or less difficult in the last years?

Not sure if it has gotten easier in general. This car is certainly a much easier project than the more ambitious ones I have tried.

Having been away for a while I was surprised how much the cars have come down in selling prices. I bought this car also because I just couldn't walk from the deal that was offered.

 

[Riddler]

No offense but there are Customs guys who know what to do. I'm one of them. I've helped many guys/gals bring there cars to Canada.

Pretty much any car from the USA older than 15 years is fair game.

Riddler

 

[bad440]

wow very cool car you bought.the items you talked about are not too big of a deal to take care of.again great car....

 

[Kmrumedy]

No offense but there are Customs guys who know what to do. I'm one of them. I've helped many guys/gals bring there cars to Canada.

Pretty much any car from the USA older than 15 years is fair game.

Riddler

No offense taken.

Your statement about pretty much any car older than 15 years is fair game is not entirely accurate any more. It used to be but I was surprised by this experience.

The customs agents and brokers I talked to this past June told me the rules have changed due to the flood of cars coming into Canada due to recent storms in the US. Customs is required to look much harder at what is being imported now because of flood damaged cars and follow the rules. For example if you change the center axis of an old muscle car and Canada customs discovers it, they won't let it in the country anymore. Other mods are now being disallowed regardless of the 15 year rule.

It's not like it was a few years ago.

Even transport companies want a lot of information and pictures upfront before they will pick up a modified muscle car and cross the border.

My concern now is the provincial inspection which is a kind of black hole when it comes to knowing what is "officially" allowed and what is not. I had a guy this week tell me an old timer liked his car so he passed it without even looking at it.

How do I find that guy?? :finga:

 

[Kmrumedy]

wow very cool car you bought.the items you talked about are not too big of a deal to take care of.again great car....

Thank you. I like the car a lot and looking forward to learning how to do these fixes. I am glad you didn't see any show stoppers.

 

[Riddler]

No offense taken.

Your statement about pretty much any car older than 15 years is fair game is not entirely accurate any more. It used to be but I was surprised by this experience.

The customs agents and brokers I talked to this past June told me the rules have changed due to the flood of cars coming into Canada due to recent storms in the US. Customs is required to look much harder at what is being imported now because of flood damaged cars and follow the rules. For example if you change the center axis of an old muscle car and Canada customs discovers it, they won't let it in the country anymore. Other mods are now being disallowed regardless of the 15 year rule.

It's not like it was a few years ago.

Even transport companies want a lot of information and pictures upfront before they will pick up a modified muscle car and cross the border.

My concern now is the provincial inspection which is a kind of black hole when it comes to knowing what is "officially" allowed and what is not. I had a guy this week tell me an old timer liked his car so he passed it without even looking at it.

How do I find that guy?? :finga:

Well I've heard nothing about looking for flood cars. It's buyer beware, but if the vehicle has a salvage title it's not admissable.

The only things we are on the lookout for are kit cars and vehicles with a lift kit. Both are not allowed as per Transport Canada.

I've never heard nayone actually say anything about the center axis of a vehicle. That's a new one. We don't look for it, maybe the Quebec government does but not in Ontario. In fact I've seen a metric ton of cars being imported where I'm at and very few get refused, if they do it's due to paperwork.

You might want to read more about whats allowed and not allowed. www.riv.ca

If you have questions, PM me and I'm sure I could answer it.

Riddler

 

[Kmrumedy]

Thanks Riddler. It would have been nice to speak to you before I started this one as the other agent got me very nervous about the flood vehicles and having closer looks.

I wasnt sure about the cage passing or the narrowed rear and RIV wasn't sure either and told me to call the border.

Thanks again and nice to hear direct from someone who knows the real story. I was getting different information from different agents on the phone.

 

[pettybludart]

Here is my suggestion to you to get the car certified for the road.Get all lights,horn,wipers,brakes and exhaust working properly.You will also need some different rims(anything other than the Weld rims) to pass safety cert.)You can always swap back after certified.Once you have the safety certificate,you can make other changes to the car as time and money allow.If you have any questions,just PM me as I,ve basically done all the same changes to my car,just some different ones.My car is from Alabama and had it certified before making changes.Good luck with the cool Early-A.

 

[Kmrumedy]

Here is my suggestion to you to get the car certified for the road.Get all lights,horn,wipers,brakes and exhaust working properly.You will also need some different rims(anything other than the Weld rims) to pass safety cert.)You can always swap back after certified.Once you have the safety certificate,you can make other changes to the car as time and money allow.If you have any questions,just PM me as I,ve basically done all the same changes to my car,just some different ones.My car is from Alabama and had it certified before making changes.Good luck with the cool Early-A.

Thanks. I was hoping you were going to post. I read your entire build thread. You have one of my favorite cars on the site. Will PM you some questions.

Thanks for the tip on the weld rims. I didn't know that. It looks like I have to get a whole new set of tires too. Both front and back. The fronts are old and the backs have seen too much fun.

Any suggestions for cool looking rims for this car keeping the same brand tire and size tires? Any Canadian vendors you know for MT's and rims? Will post tire sizes later when I get back to the garage.

 

[subcom]

John- love the car. I'm partial to 64/65 Valiants.
What are your driving goals for the car? Street only, street-strip?
Here's some ideas for you;
Oil filter- remote oil filter so you don't have to bend yourself into uncomfortable Yoga positions to change the oil.
Exhaust- consider changing the headers to full under chassis models. TTIs or Doug's are the options for our Early As. Expensive but should tuck under the car a lot neater and provide better ground clearance. That said, those fenderwells you have I believe are the largest avail for our cars.

 

[subcom]

I see what appears to be header flanges sandwiched between the headers and heads. W2 heads maybe?

 

[Kmrumedy]

In preparing to pass provincial inspection to get my 64 Valiant street Legal I discovered the turn signal arm has been snapped off at the base causing additional delays. The original owner snapped it off when his knee hit the signal arm trying to get his legs over the roll bar.

Sellers on EBay wanted $150 for a lever.

I posted a thread about it and within minutes Cosgig responded with not only the fix but offered me 2 levers ( one of each style) free of charge.

Not only that he shipped them to me the same day and paid for the shipping Canada!

I thought I would do a follow up post to let Geof know his generosity was put to good use.

So......first thing I did to prepare for the fix was to purchase an original one of these. It was great suggestion to get one.

Here is the steering with after market GT wheel.

Here are the two levers I received from Cosgig. He was also nice enough to send me a spare screw that holds the canceling cam.

First order of business was cleaning up the arms. I used a rust spray and Evaporust. Sanded so primer and paint would stick. I used some "Faux" chrome spray paint and it turned out quite nice.

Here is finished product all ready for install.

As for changing the lever out, as most of you know you have to remove the steering wheel with a wheel puller, then you will see a screw that holds on the canceling cam. That screw is about 2 1/2" long and holds on the signal lever also. Just unscrew it, wiggle the lever tang out of the hole and insert the new lever and run the screw back in. The lever has a raised ledge on the mounting end to locate it and actuate the canceling cam. It is supposed to take 10 minutes.....took me a lot longer! Lol

On to part 2 and removing steering wheel and install

 

[Kmrumedy]

First I popped the cap off the steering and was exposed to this.

Disconnected the wire and removed center screw and screws to remove the steering. At first I thought I would have to undo all the Allen screws. Stupid newbie! Everything came off fine.

I was happy to see the column looks new. Next I had to attach the wheel puller and this where it was discovered I had purchased the wrong size screws to insert back in the column to use the puller. :banghead: It was also night time by now and the parts store was closed. :banghead: Well.....time to break out the tap and die set I have never used and make my own screws. I was lucky enough to have my friend visiting from the US that helped me with all this.

Ok...perfect fit and now I could attach the puller.

It came off quite easily.

Rest was very easy. Just loosen the screw and wiggle out the broken arm and install new arm. Viola!

I know this seems incredibly basic to most of you but to a newbie like me it is just plain old fun and exciting to do stuff on a car!

Thanks again to Cosgig for his help!

John

 

[Kmrumedy]

I see what appears to be header flanges sandwiched between the headers and heads. W2 heads maybe?

You are correct. Removed the valve covers to discover this... Yes. I am replacing the gaskets. I still have not heard back from the engine builder so specs are still a bit of a mystery at this point.

 

[Kmrumedy]

John- love the car. I'm partial to 64/65 Valiants.
What are your driving goals for the car? Street only, street-strip?
Here's some ideas for you;
Oil filter- remote oil filter so you don't have to bend yourself into uncomfortable Yoga positions to change the oil.
Exhaust- consider changing the headers to full under chassis models. TTIs or Doug's are the options for our Early As. Expensive but should tuck under the car a lot neater and provide better ground clearance. That said, those fenderwells you have I believe are the largest avail for our cars.

Sorry I missed this. I would like to say my goal is street strip but if I am going to be honest with myself I would say it will only be a street car. I don't own a truck or trailer to travel to the nearest strip. The only time I would take it was if a racing buddy would like to drive it and see what it can do.

Oil filter - I have read opposing threads about relocating the oil filter. Some have good experiences but many do not. I am going to think on that one and it is a good suggestion.

Exhaust - hmmm.... Gone back and forth on this. I am going to leave the fenderwells as is for now. I am only driving this car locally with 10 miles of my place on roads that I know well so I don't bottom out. I will see how it goes. If not, yes I would like to change the headers. I am running 727 so I don't think Doug's will work. Not sure about TTI'S?

Subcom - do you know which model of Hedmans these are? I was trying to find them on their site but could not find the model.

 

[waggin]

there is actually a marking that will discard at 9.60 for 9" or 10.60 for 10" brakes stamped into the outside of the brake drum I think on the face of the drum where the wheelstuds are

 

[waggin]

looks like reher morison flange adaptors check out the 3 bolt center tubes and funny bolt pattern on the front tubes, them aint just run of the mill headers lookin like w-2 stuff from here and them offset rockers...Hmmmmm some goodies up in there

I see what appears to be header flanges sandwiched between the headers and heads. W2 heads maybe?

 

[waggin]

don't ask them too many questions just get the known stuff fixed and quiet the car down for the initial inspection..they may just sign off ....

Thanks Riddler. It would have been nice to speak to you before I started this one as the other agent got me very nervous about the flood vehicles and having closer looks.

I wasnt sure about the cage passing or the narrowed rear and RIV wasn't sure either and told me to call the border.

Thanks again and nice to hear direct from someone who knows the real story. I was getting different information from different agents on the phone.

 

[Kmrumedy]

there is actually a marking that will discard at 9.60 for 9" or 10.60 for 10" brakes stamped into the outside of the brake drum I think on the face of the drum where the wheelstuds are

Thank you. I appreciate that!