I've been reading the thread, but you don't list a location (where you are) so it's probably just some junkyard Valiant you Photoshopped!

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1964 Dart GT

Fixed that, had missed on the first & only pass.

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Thom

Cross-threaded is tighter than Lock-tite

Yours is one of my favorite builds right now. Thanks for the update!

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Thanks.

Next up, I*think* is making the adapter for the wood-rimmed Nardi steering wheel that I paid a junk store $15 dollars for. Tired of the large-ish size of the stock wheel.

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Thom

Cross-threaded is tighter than Lock-tite

It took longer than expected, longer than it was expected to take past when it was expected, if that makes any sense at all. Had to make an adapter from the wheel to the Grant adapter, a horn button, and the button retaining ring. It has std. alloy SHCS in it now, but I've got some SS Low Head Cap Screws on order. A friend posted a link to a tiny email list that I'm on and because of that I now think that this wheel came from a Jaguar XJ 6
One Nardi steering wheel in a Valiant:



I used linen micarta to make the horn button.



Pic of the adapter, not sure what is up with the color mismatch. I shot both the column and the Grant cover with the same can of paint but at different times. Might need to mix it a lot more, dunno....

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Thom

Cross-threaded is tighter than Lock-tite

One should always eschew obfuscation.What's the venturi size on the 2 barrel you're using? I have a selection of Webers I'm not using.
TK

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Got me a '53 Buick
painted that sumbitch green with a broom
like to start it up in the morning
just to hear that motor go vrooom

I forgot to mention- you do nice work, Thom.
TK

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Got me a '53 Buick
painted that sumbitch green with a broom
like to start it up in the morning
just to hear that motor go vrooom

Thank you, Tony. I've had two very good teachers and mentors, you being one of them - Grandad being the other. The whole time that I was working on the wheel adapter parts I had Tweety's steering wheel in the back of my head. I'm afraid that it might have ended up being a near copy.

No idea of the venturi size. It is smaller than the typical Holley Universal application 350 CFM, but by how much is beyond my calibrated eyeball.

I have all of the bits, just needs a major sorting out, to go to a TBI system on this car. Given that a left turn at anything over ~.05G causes the carb to lean out the engine enough to occasionally die I want to try it rather than dry-sumping the carb. Three sensors, essentially a tach signal, and a little wiring. The fuel system will already support the TBI.

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Thom

Cross-threaded is tighter than Lock-tite

very nice build. like someone else said, you do good work. i was wondering if you had any info on the tranny. did you cut the crossmember to get it in there? i saw you listed it as out of an f body. what did you have to do to get the input shaft spacing correct or was it already a good fit?

Matt Haskell did all of the footwork on the trans swap, I'm not privy to all of the details and it's been long enough that I doubt that he remembers every last one of them as well. Might be worth searching here as he may have posted some of those details.The cross-member has been modified a lot. The original bell-housing had pockets milled into it (on TK's old mill), blocks of aluminum welded into those pockets, and then the whole trans face of the b/h was faced flat. No idea how much, if any, that face was "moved" forward towards the block. With the b/h being an aluminum casting I doubt that there was much material there to work with, but no idea. The trans pilot register hole was adjusted to the T5's dim, and then the welded-on blocks were drilled and tapped for the trans mount bolts.

FWIW I wouldn't use this particular application T5 again. The OD ratio is almost non-existent (no tach yet, can't audibly detect an RPM difference between 4th and 5th nor can a couple car-guy friends who've ridden in the car) and the shifter is too far back if you want to keep the bench seat or have short legs and don't want the shifter under your elbow. F-car trans' also mount at an angle, so the cross-member is far from being symmetrical since the trans is mounted in this car 'normally'. I would look for a T5 from an S-10, or better yet search for the page that lists all of the letter code designated ratio variations of the T5 and pick one that looks the best for you. Then cross reference that selection with its input shaft length and spline count as compared to stock. I believe this has a stock pressure plate, but some other application clutch disc (F-car?).

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Thom

Cross-threaded is tighter than Lock-tite

"Obfu"- what????

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vm

USPS just delivered (on a SUNDAY?) and the box has all but the relay base for the H4 Cibie' 55/100 headlight and Hella SuperTone horn upgrades. Hopefully the relay base will get here about the same time as I'm able to put the car up on stands to figure out what's going on with the trans (see: "I'm Baffled (T5 puzzlement)").

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Thom

Cross-threaded is tighter than Lock-tite

Tested the "Super Tones" and found them inferior to the OE horns, so those go into stock for some other project. Working on the headlight relays.

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Thom

Cross-threaded is tighter than Lock-tite

Found out that the T5 that was originally in the car was made up from bits and pieces. As result the the 5th gear ratio was 0.993:1, not much of an OD and no practical way to change it. The cost of the gears doesn't warrant it. For it's price it is a great core/spares or mock-up trans, the latter of which was the subject of a dimly recalled conversation between Matt and myself way back when he was doing the conversion.

Matt found a "Z" ratio set T5 (1352-210) out of a '93 V6 Camaro for $150 on CL and I jumped on it. Unfortunately this is of the vintage when GM had started using the "top-loader" trans to b/h bolt pattern while the original trans is of the "T-10" bolt pattern. The simplest solution is to swap the guts of the -210 trans into the mongrel's main case.

Can see the difference in bolt patterns here:




Had to make a different pilot bearing adapter:

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Thom

Cross-threaded is tighter than Lock-tite

The hybrid trans has been working great, but now that I am able to drop the revs at highway speeds I can hear a noise in the rear diff. Described it to a friend with a LOT of diff experience and his guess was worn diff carrier bearings. So I bought a bearing kit and popped the cover off. It probably does need bearings and will get them along with a solid pinion bearing spacer instead of the crush sleeve, but the spider gear pin is walking around in the bores in the diff case. So the $300 question is replace with a new diff case or opt for some sort of LSD?

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Thom

Cross-threaded is tighter than Lock-tite