Rally Dash in a 67 Valiant

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Princess Valiant

Princess Valiant

A.K.A. Rainy Day Auto
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So I am going to Rally dash swap my 67 Valiant. I have a 67 Barracuda dash from a 67 barracuda that I helped part out over a decade ago. I know it's pretty straight forward, at least in 67 I don't have to worry about moving the vin tag.

I got to thinking that some 67 Valiants had a rally dash from the factory due to a parts shortage and a labor strike, but I vaguely remember the details and if 67 was the only year??..

Anyone remember the details of that?

Has any one has rally dash swapped your valiant?
 
68, Here is the Bulletin, dated 3-20-68...
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Alam
 
hanging out in a barn gathering parts is a lot more difficult than I thought on a day that is 8 degrees with wind chill of -1

So far I found the Dash Frame and a 67 gauge housing. Also I found a 68 bezel with the radio hole cut out.

The dash has a cluster in it from a 71 which I have no idea why I put that there but I didn't want to stand there in the cold and take it apart so I just brought the whole thing in the house.

It's good to take inventory because I guess I don't have a 67 bezel.

Now to start piecing it all together, I still have more parts digging to do but it's going slow right now because the cold. I still have to dig through the wiring harness pile and find the right harness, If it's even still there. Things walk around when they are in storage for 10+ years

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I also took a pic of the victim (the car) (yes, it's a 4 door) and the dash the current dash in it.

You might see right away why I want to do this swap, Had the radio hole not been hacked I would probably not be trying to fix something that is isn't broken.

I am thinking a lot of hardware from the original dash and wiper switch can be carried over to the new dash?

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I found some OLD pics of the car that gave it's life for today's project.

67 Notchback, was a 273 HP car. It was wrecked (the K frame was bent) My cousin had bought this around 2003 and we gutted it out a couple years later.

I was a teenager when this happened and I remember handing him tools and organizing parts.

I really don't know what happened to a lot the dash hardware in the pic, this wasn't mine then and this was a long time ago.

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Wow....some good stuff that you dug out of the stash there! Valiant looks to be in really nice shape overall. Shame somebody used a bush axe to cut the dash for a radio though. :( Are you gonna leave it a 3 on the tree, or put in a hump and make it a 4 speed? Hope your feet are warming back up....lol.

:thumbsup:
 
JDMopar said:
Wow....some good stuff that you dug out of the stash there! Valiant looks to be in really nice shape overall. Shame somebody used a bush axe to cut the dash for a radio though. :( Are you gonna leave it a 3 on the tree, or put in a hump and make it a 4 speed? Hope your feet are warming back up....lol.

:thumbsup:
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It's staying a slant six because it runs just fine. But the three on the tree (top loader trans) is going to be replaced with a 230 3 speed and moved to floor shift. In fact, the hump I am going to use is from that barracuda, not sure if you can tell in the pic, that barracuda was a 4 speed. Not sure what my cousin ever did with the 4 speed trans (long gone) but the hump is still hanging on the barn wall.
 
It's good to be able to have some parts cars like that. I'm sure you'll do a great job on it.
 
It's easy to do with the windshield out, but can be done without removing it. It takes cutting the u-nuts and bolts so that you can remove the dash frame. New u-nuts on the new dash frame with some shorter bolts going in from the bottom will work. Use the '67 Barracuda dash harness and change your oil pressure sending unit out for a gauge sending unit. Bulkhead pinouts are the same. One other note of caution. 1967 not only had a one-year only plastic bezel, the pot metal backing is also one year only. I don't have a good '67 bezel, but I have lots of backings.
 
Jim Lusk said:
It's easy to do with the windshield out, but can be done without removing it. It takes cutting the u-nuts and bolts so that you can remove the dash frame. New u-nuts on the new dash frame with some shorter bolts going in from the bottom will work. Use the '67 Barracuda dash harness and change your oil pressure sending unit out for a gauge sending unit. Bulkhead pinouts are the same. One other note of caution. 1967 not only had a one-year only plastic bezel, the pot metal backing is also one year only. I don't have a good '67 bezel, but I have lots of backings.
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Best brain storm post ever. I had not even thought of leaving the windshield in the car. I was starting to get turned off with the project because removing the windshield was going to be a pain. With your idea, I can do this swap expeditiously and cost effective. I was souring with the thought of possibly breaking a good windshield plus I'd need a new gasket and then I am running into the 67 only lack of stainless trim problem.

I will just leave the windshield alone until the time comes to paint the car and for now move along with the dash swap so that the car is one piece with all its final pieces.

Thanks
 
Didn't have very much daylight today because I got started kinda late.
I started stripping the dash apart because I decided to go the route of removing the dash without pulling the windshield. The windshield is good and there's no reason to mess with it now until I go through to paint the car which I am NOT trying to get involved with right now.

I got the steering column out, real easy and discovered the hardware holding the steering in place was totally hodge podge and unacceptable.

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The dash is stripped enough that I can see the points that require a grinder but of course I am working on the car in the middle of a field so when I have more time, I have to pull the Generator out there and get these bolts and clips terminated.

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This is why you NEVER trust an old original car without going through it first.

You never truly know a car until you have had it apart and go through everything yourself and NEVER trust "I was told by the guy I bought it from"

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Those bolts holding the dash are gonna be fun to get out! :eek: The amp gauge wires were a fire waiting to happen, and the connection at the gauge on the black wire looks suspect too.
 
Do you currently have any cordless tools? Milwaukee, dewalt, etc? If so (and even if you don’t) do yourself a huge favor and go buy a cordless grinder now. Not only will it make this particular job much easier, but you’ll use the heck out of it in the future.
 
75slant6 said:
Do you currently have any cordless tools? Milwaukee, dewalt, etc? If so (and even if you don’t) do yourself a huge favor and go buy a cordless grinder now. Not only will it make this particular job much easier, but you’ll use the heck out of it in the future.
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Nah, I don't trust battery operated tools. They will all be in the dead tesla pile ten years from now.
It's not a big deal for me to run the generator out there, I built me a service truck with a utility box that goes everywhere and the generator is mounted in there. So I just drive it out there and power up. Today I just ran out of daylight and I had some other things to get done.

How are you doing back at the ranch, still driving your duster and working on your valaint, I hope :)
 
Princess Valiant said:
Nah, I don't trust battery operated tools. They will all be in the dead tesla pile ten years from now.
It's not a big deal for me to run the generator out there, I built me a service truck with a utility box that goes everywhere and the generator is mounted in there. So I just drive it out there and power up. Today I just ran out of daylight and I had some other things to get done.

How are you doing back at the ranch, still driving your duster and working on your valaint, I hope :)
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I have one that I've had for over ten years and it's been a dang goodun. It's a Hitachi 1/4" driver drill/impact driver. The first two original batteries died on it about two years after I bought it new. I contacted the Hitachi service center in Georgia and was told to send them there. About two weeks later, I received two brand new batteries free of charge. Caint beat service like that and I've been using it ever since.
 
Princess Valiant said:
This is why you NEVER trust an old original car without going through it first.

You never truly know a car until you have had it apart and go through everything yourself and NEVER trust "I was told by the guy I bought it from"

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I'm real glad you didn't discover those amp gauge wires the hard way.
 
Eh, I’ve used dewalt tools almost daily for the past 5 years and rarely had a battery go bad, but sounds like you’ve got a handle on it with the service truck.

As for what I’ve been doing, we’ve had crap weather the last while so it’s been a bit since I’ve driven the Duster. As far as the valiant goes… you may have missed it but we sold the farm and moved 18 months ago. We down sized to 4 acres with no shop, so my car projects have all been on hold until I get my shop built.
I’m doing a YouTube shop build series if you’d like to follow along.
 
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