Project Valvo - A Tale of Domestic Ambition

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Rectilinear

Who let this guy in here?
Joined
Aug 18, 2014
Messages
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Location
Plano, TX
Not long ago, I purchased a pretty nice '68 Plymouth Valiant Signet. I recieved it with a smooth running 225 c.i. Slant 6 with a 904 trans. The combo is great for a dd but I can't seem to leave anything alone. And yes, this is a gold Plymouth with a blue interior. The PO was a huge Rams fan so there ya go. I plan to rewrap the interior and leave the paint as is. The car is in great shape, but needs a repair to the passenger floor pan. Someone did a shotty repair with sheetmetal and some tek screws. The underside looks like a porcupine. But surprisingly the rest of the car is very solid. I have already installed a Volvo 960 radiator and a 100 amp Bosch alternator (that I am still wiring). Efan is next. The transmission decided to spring a leak at the shift shaft seal right after I got it so I need to fix that so I can drive it until the new driveline is ready to go in.

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Speaking of a new driveline, I picked this car up this weekend. I have been staring at it sitting at a service station for well over a year with the Nivomats sagging. After inquiring, I found that after the timing belt broke on it, the owner abandoned it despite several attempts to have them come pick it up. The station sold the car to me for the labor the customer owed them.

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It's a real shame since this car is in such good shape and has less than 115K miles on it.

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I began thinking of how much of the 960 I could possibly use in the Valiant. Even briefly considering a re-body to utilize the entire undercarriage in the Valiant. But alas, I came to realize I want to drive this car and not just stare at it in pieces in the garage for who knows how long. I have decided to keep the swap very simple and use the B6304 with the attached AW30 trans. I am looking to build a reliable daily driver and do not intend to race it, launch it, drift it, autcross it, rally it or anything other than commute and enjoy it. I plan to use a Volvo 745/945 rear diff converted to leaf mounts to give me disc brakes and a speed sensor. And with any luck and good G80 locker.

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The engine will be repaired out of the vehicle and I hope to find the pistons in good shape after I pull the head to keep time and cost down. My biggest challenge with the swap will be the oil pan/k-member clearance. I hope to use the steering rack and parts of the crossmember from a 240 or the 960 to help mount the rack and provide a good point to mount the engine. Extensive rework on the Plymouth k-member may be the only way to get this part done. Other than that, I Need to figure out how to convert to disc brakes on the front, and hopefully with parts from the 960 or a 240. Cold a/c will be a must, it will be lowered and tinted with a clear film. Outward appearance will be mostly stock except for ride height and wheels that I still need to figure out depending on what bolt pattern I keep.
 
Well I realized after posting this that I am indeed a noob here and you all are likely already conviced I am a nutjob for wanting to spend time and money on this project. Well, you are halfway right, I am not a "Me too" car enthusiast, therefore I refuse to be the guy pulling up at a light next to a car that looks just like mine. I rarely use a catalog to buy parts for my projects, rather, I go to the junkyard and recycle as many parts as I can. This keeps me thinking outside the box and keeps me awake at night thinking of how to make it work.

I currently daily drive a 1981 Volvo 242 with a swapped in 302/T5. I did not intend on daily driving this car, but I sold my other car to buy the Valiant and the Valiant just isn't ready yet. A sbf or sbc swap in a Volvo is nothing new, in fact, they were very common in the past couple of decades due to shops like JTR Industries and Converse Engineering, neither of which I used to complete my swap. I tried to make motor mounts the conventional way but ended up realizing how stupid and big they were so I used the ends of some old Volvo 240 torque rods to make my mounts from. I mean, they were free and you can buy poly bushings for them so why not?
Well before that swap, I put a 4.3 Chevy in a Datsun B210GX. While fun, it was practically undriveable due to the weight distribution so I took it out and dropped in a Nissan KA245DE instead. Both were naturally aspirated as I am not a huge fan of turbos despite my home forum being Turbobricks.
I plan to get the Valiant on the road within the next month and start driving it while I repair the engine and sort through the extra wires that I need to eliminate. Right now the dash is out so I can add in an hvac box out of a '69, paint the dash and possibly repair the floor. I am ready to get the horrible blue seats out of there and swap the carpet over to brown which means I need to order a patch pan from Rockauto and get on it.
I'll post progress as I go, I can't wait to daily this car.... Thanks for having me here!
 
Welcome to FABO!! We like lots of pictures, so please post lots of pics of your car!! Sounds like an interesting project. :burnout:
 
Subscribed. I like interesting engine swaps. Most people go boo, it's your car. I like it.
 
That's gonna be a cool valiant when finished. Im into mopars and have a project 1979 Volvo gt that im installing a B230 squirter block with Megasquirt and a t5. Dustin
 
Are my pics not showing up in the first post? I have 4 there, but since I am a newb to this forum, I may have done it wrong....

Okay, sorry about that, I fixed the pics!!
 
Thanks for the positive comments! I will keep the updates going as they unfold. I need to take pics of it now since I have the dash, seats and windshield out of it.

I appreciate the support in what could seem to be a blasphemous build to some purists!
 
Well, even though I am not going to start the engine swap for a while, I have to make progress any way I can. I ordered a replacement floor pan for the passenger front last week and it should be here late this coming week. In the meantime, I picked up Vintage Air universal Gen II unit this weekend and I started working on the dashboard tonight.
I already had the dash out and got it sanded down and ready for some rattlecan. I have some amazing material that I am going to use for the door panels and seat inserts and I picked out paint colors that match the colors in said material. It is bronze metallic and champagne metallic. The color difference is subtle but I think it will make a nice statement on the dash. The bronze metallic will be used on the top and bottom of the doors on the exposed metal but the champagne will only be used on the dash inset.
Anyway...enough chatter, you want pics:

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This was the black dash that the po had redone. The paint was so crappy I went through half of my sandpaper on just the dash as I was gumming it up like crazy.

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And this is the bronze metallic base coat.

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And with the champagne inset painted. Love it.

The dash pads will be matched as close as I can to the bronze metallic. So far I am happy with how it is coming out. I know it is not perfect, but most of the imperfections will be covered by the dash pads. Overall, I am not building a show car, but a daily driver that is freshened up and comfortable.

Now I have to figure out what to do with the ac and instrument bezels....
 
Floor pan is here! This will be a first for me! Guess I'll be ripping into this thing in the next few days and making a Flinstone car out of it.

Dropping off the seats to my upholstery guy on Monday so they will be out for a few weeks. That should give me time to fix the floor and install the Vintage Air system with those out of the way. And I need to order a carpet set for it, too so it can be on the way to me... I wonder when the last time was that someone ordered a brown carpet set?
 
I've always considered the A-bodies a sort of domestic answer to the Volvo, so this is kind of a cool mash up!
 
Haha, yep. I think that is why I like it so much! It's boxy, like a car should be!
 
Subscribed! I picked up an engine and transmission-less 67 Charger. Have to use what I got on hand so thought about a triple-Webered slant or a Gen 1 392 Hemi to install. Think the Hemi is gonna win out.
 
You said it has a perfectly good and smooth running slant in it now, whats the reason for putting a Volvo drivetrain in it? seems like a lot of fab work to me. Id say just drive the Volvo stock, and the valiant stock.....
 
Salute to a fellow " what the hell you mean it won't work" car guy! Hope that Volvo has a sunroof you can rob too.
 
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