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Author:	Rick Covalt [ Mon Feb 23, 2026 5:38 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Covalt - "Project 65 Valiant"
Good news! The new 7290 yoke arrived from Dr.Diff this morning. Took it out and slipped it into the transmission and we are golden! All is well and the yoke slid the whole way in to the seal boot. I am all finished sanding and cleaning the inner fenders and firewall. Robbie will be over Wednesday to spray it with Epoxy primer/sealer and then go ahead and paint and clear coat it. I was planning to spray can it but I did have enough paint left in the can for him to use the original paint and do a nice job out of it. I'm sure it will look sweet! Tomorrow I will get it up on stands and then wrap the car in painter's plastic and tape up and cut out the engine bay. Wrap the K frame and the front splash pan area. Then he can go to town. New steering coupler kit cam in and it looks like it came from a factory on a small dusty lane in up scale Bangladesh. Machined pieces appeared to be gnawed out by a rabid pit bull on crack! Awful! The one slide would not even go into the coupler housing. Absolute junk! It is on it's way back to the Pit Bull! New Poly mounts came in and they look nice. After engine compartment is dry , I will set the engine down in and then massage the headers to fit the way I like them. NOTE: Added some pictures to the last 2 pages after getting windows 11 and I phone photos to like each other again.

Author:	slantzilla [ Tue Feb 24, 2026 9:02 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Covalt - "Project 65 Valiant"
Awesome stuff Rick!

Author:	Greg Ondayko [ Tue Feb 24, 2026 9:17 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Covalt - "Project 65 Valiant"
What kind of steering coupler are you using and where did you buy it from? Greg

Author:	Rick Covalt [ Tue Feb 24, 2026 12:39 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Covalt - "Project 65 Valiant"
As I said it was from zingnetti beldingo or something like that. Of course it was straight from China. It was a 2 day delivery and I was in a hurry. So now I have one coming from Brewer's. All my fault but it still was an awful piece. It actually looked like cast iron on the surfaces as far as roughness goes.

Author:	Andrew Shank [ Tue Feb 24, 2026 1:25 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Covalt - "Project 65 Valiant"
Ahhhh Yes, zingnetti beldingo, one of my favorite parts distributors.

Author:	Rick Covalt [ Wed Feb 25, 2026 1:35 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Covalt - "Project 65 Valiant"
All of last weeks sanding , grinding and cleaning paid off. Inner fenders and firewall now matches the car perfectly. Glad that is done. Attachment: IMG_1205.JPG [ 67.43 KiB \| Viewed 1077 times ] Attachment: IMG_1209.JPG [ 57.78 KiB \| Viewed 1077 times ] Now to get that engine and transmission back in without touching the paint. Did Houdini ever do any Mopar work?

Author:	Dart270 [ Wed Feb 25, 2026 2:31 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Covalt - "Project 65 Valiant"
Very inspiring work, Rick. Looks awesome. Lou

Author:	Rick Covalt [ Fri Feb 27, 2026 10:30 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Covalt - "Project 65 Valiant"
New Poly motor mounts with interlocking steel inside. No need for a engine brace with these. Steering coupler rebuild kit should be here tomorrow. Attachment: IMG_1191.png [ 223.75 KiB \| Viewed 1007 times ] I also cut the oil filter apart and it was clean as a whistle. No nothing inside, so I will not be pulling the pan...etc. I began cleaning the outside of the engine off and I will give the paint a little touch up as w well as painting a couple pulleys. Then I'll get some help and try and set it back down in the engine bay.

Author:

Rick Covalt [ Sun Mar 08, 2026 1:56 pm ]

Post subject:

Re: Covalt - "Project 65 Valiant"

Engine and transmission is back in the car for the final time. The placement on the new poly engine mounts definitely moved the headers in the chasis. The front 3 tubes on the Clifford long tubes that go down through the K frame actually have some better clearance. The rear three tubes are laying tight against the torsion bar. I unwrapped the header wrap and bolted them into the car with a new gasket. Then I took the rose bub and heated the header tubes from the head out about 8-10 inches. And with a strap around the collector I slowly pulled them over about 3/4" off the torsion bar. Of course I had laid wet towels all over the new paint and covered it with some sheets of aluminum I had to protect the paint. No damage was done!

Here you can see the clearance between the new bellhousing and the modified firewall.

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Offset master cylinder mount

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Everything fits Ok

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New energy suspension transmission mount showed up. I honestly did not know that it was "slanted" to the rear to take account of the way everything sits in the car. I just thought they were flat, but it kind of makes sense.

Headers were repainted and wrap was put back on. So maybe Monday I will get them back into the car permanently. I did notice there is some pitting in the metal so I am not sure how many years these will last. They don't have a hard life like many cars so hopefully they will be Ok for another 5 years. At that time I'll have to do something because none of the existing headers fit the Webers without serious modification. More to come

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Author:	slantzilla [ Sun Mar 08, 2026 6:16 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Covalt - "Project 65 Valiant"
Awesome progress rick! Thanks for keeping us updated.

Author:	Rick Covalt [ Wed Mar 11, 2026 2:03 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Covalt - "Project 65 Valiant"
Forgot to mention that the new steering coupler came in from Brewers. It looked like it should! Nice and smooth slides. One small problem was that the spring they send along with the kit does not fit the slide pieces. It is way to narrow. I couldn't even force it into place. I will call them and let them know, but I just reused the original one. All is good.

Author:	Rick Covalt [ Mon Mar 23, 2026 11:04 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Covalt - "Project 65 Valiant"
Done about a hundred little things! Should be ready to start it up here shortly. Here is the new bracket I made for the clutch master cylinder to fasten it to the inner fender well. Attachment: IMG_1265.png [ 209.14 KiB \| Viewed 602 times ] Attachment: IMG_1266.png [ 206.05 KiB \| Viewed 602 times ] Headers were unwrapped, installed after new motor mounts, heated, bent, removed, painted and then re-wrapped and finally installed. Attachment: IMG_1279.JPG [ 77.81 KiB \| Viewed 602 times ] Engine gets a lot of stuff put around it! Attachment: IMG_1282.JPG [ 80.19 KiB \| Viewed 602 times ] Cut the shifter hole a bit larger. Then welded stops on the shifter since it had none. Then installed into car with new boot. I will test drive before I do the final carpet and seat installs. Attachment: IMG_1297.JPG [ 61.39 KiB \| Viewed 602 times ]

Author:	Greg Ondayko [ Mon Mar 23, 2026 2:29 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Covalt - "Project 65 Valiant"
Nice work! Should be sweet on street, slower on track. What rear gear ratio are you using now?

Author:	Rick Covalt [ Mon Mar 23, 2026 2:59 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Covalt - "Project 65 Valiant"
Right now it has the 4.56 clutch type sure grip in it. I will run it like this and see what it does. I have 4.86, 4.56, 4.30, 3.91 ,3.55 & 3.23 gears so I can try almost anything I want. Likely the 4.56 will be really deep for launches with a 3.09 transmission 1st gear. But I'm anxious to see how it really runs. Put in some little touches that I wanted. Always dropping the bolt for the distributor hold down? Not anymore. Rubber hardware store sink washer does the trick! Attachment: IMG_1299.JPG [ 41.69 KiB \| Viewed 592 times ] Also installed a new top secret dual ignition system. These are prototype MSD system that are not on the market yet. But they do provide a neat sneaky ignition setup. Also gives a use for all those MSD 6 series ignition modules that have been crapping out! Two new GM HEI modules tuck in neatly and the whole housing is a thick aluminum heat sink. Attachment: IMG_1300.JPG [ 65.92 KiB \| Viewed 592 times ] Attachment: IMG_1301.JPG [ 61.05 KiB \| Viewed 592 times ]

Author:	Rick Covalt [ Fri Mar 27, 2026 9:59 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Covalt - "Project 65 Valiant"
I completed all the wiring under the stealth MSD. I used all the existing holes from the real wires to run my HEI system in and out. Thanks to Matt for sending me this "junk" MSD. Attachment: IMG_1308.JPG [ 63.55 KiB \| Viewed 489 times ] Once installed it looks almost like an MSD ignition system! Attachment: IMG_1311.JPG [ 64.76 KiB \| Viewed 489 times ] Moved the fuel filter location a bit and installed a new AN line. Passenger side is almost as open as it can be. Everything is pretty easy to get to. I may get it fired up tomorrow if the stars all align. I hope everything works as it should with my hydraulic clutch. It actually pushes a little harder than I expected with a diaphragm pressure plate.

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