So I got the `63 Valiant and when I start it, the guy who I bought it off of said to give it a few pumps then start it. So I do, he also handed me a clip off of the carb and said it was for the choke and that it came off and he has no idea where it went or how to put it back on, so kinda curious as to where this clip I have goes. But on top of that it will turn over and start but then backfire up through the carb it sounds like and then die. I do this about 5 to 10 times before she fires up and runs correctly. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Joe

The clip is likely the one that holds the choke's thermo spring's rod to the choke "valve" (butterfly) at the top of the carb.
See this article for more choke adjustment info.
DD

http://www.slantsix.org/articles/choke- ... adjust.htm

Well after reading that I went out and took a better look at the carb and all, its got the holley single barrel on it. But anyways the choke is not even hooked up at all, the linkage coming from the intake manifold is just laying there and that clip that I have is for it but I do not see how I am going to get it to stay on. It just like kinda snaps on to the arm on the carb and then the linkage hooks into that any suggestions? Looks like it just might be warn from over the years do I take a pair of pliers and close the clips in more to get it to stay on the carb or what?

Put the eye of the clip over the hole on the choke linkage on the carb so the arm with the "fingers" is oriented up. Now slide the rod from the choke pulloff (the part in the exhaust manifold) through the hole in the clip and the linkage in the carb. Now rotate the clip so the fingers snap around the rod from the exhaust manifold. Voila, your choke works again.

In situations like this, pictures of your carb and the mystery clip are priceless.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

Awesome, appreciate the help on this, I am just curious as well since i am new here and new to these cars; putting a ram-flow intake or a intake that allows for a 4-bbl carb, is it going to make a huge difference on the performance as well as an aftermarket exhaust header for the slant six?

For a stock to near stock engine, a factory "Super Six" 2 bbl set-up is about as big as you want to go.
DD

So is there anyway of getting any juice out of these engines, or would it be easier to just throw a small block v8 in this car?

1. Do a search on this site and youtube and see some of the performance these little beasties put out.
2. Swapping a V* is not like tossing a small block chevy into a Nova. There's a ton of things to change that nickle and dime you to death, and that's money that could be spent waking up the little slant.

What are you looking for? Daily driver, racing, or reliability? Pick two.

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If it was easy, everybody would be doing it.

Wow....what a question.

The slants can be made to produce horsepower...just surf around this forum and you'll see plenty of examples of just that.

A lot of us however, use these cars as daily or semi-daily drivers and try to gain economy and some additional power, and we also enjoy working on this particular historic engine, for multiple reasons.

For a driver, the slants are fabulous....for racing....that's your call. There's a lot of guys on this board who have racing slants and do well with something that's infinitely more interesting and unique than yet another belly button V8.

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1954 Ford, Tudor Mainline
1976 Plymouth Valiant, 4 door


www.automotive-ninja.com

Increase the compression to 9.5 - 10 to 1 range and the engine will really wake up!

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Aggressive Ted

http://cid-32f1e50ddb40a03c.photos.live ... %20Swinger


74 Swinger, 9.5 comp 254/.435 lift cam, 904, ram air, electric fans, 2.5" HP2 & FM70 ex, 1920 Holley#56jet, 2.76 8 3/4 Sure-Grip, 26" tires, 25+MPG

Well I use the car as a daily driver for the moment, but am planning on doing the body up and everything and really making her a nice looker to drive around. I drive only a 1/4 mile to work and back and I just want to liven her up and give her some balls, right now its all stock and its fun to drive and work on but I want something with a little bit of a shake rattle and roll, and I think it would be fun to try and get this out of this car.

You drive 1/4 mile to work? Seriously? If you can, save gas and ride a bike or walk.

However, if you want to keep driving the car as a daily, I would recommend the following:

(1) keep the one barrel carb
(2) upgrade the camshaft to the 71-up stock camshaft
(3) get the head rebuilt to (a) increase dynamic compression and (b) get the ports cleaned up
(4) install 2 1/4 inch exhaust and a free flowing muffler
(5) convert to HEI electronic ignition and spend the time to recurve the timing advance curve

AggressiveTed has done a very nice rebuild of the 225 in his car and has kept the one barrel carburetor. He gets MPG in the 20s and can still smoke the tires. I would follow his modification path for a fun daily driver.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

I like the sounds of that, so I should be able to get everything I need for that fairly easily correct and good websites I can buy a head off of as we as a camshaft? Any links or anything and how bout a link to an hei that I could buy. I would just like to get everything first and then just do it all at one time and get it all knocked out in one shot.

Joe

Welllllll, the best website is this one. You need to do some serious research before you just start buying parts. There is no single formula or parts combination that will work best for your car. Further, buying a bunch of parts and making a bunch of modifications all at once is a poor idea. There will inevitably be problems to troubleshoot when you put everything back together. Modifying only one system at a time makes it much easier to diagnose and fine tune the way your motor runs.

You have a 1963 Valiant. The 63 Valiant uses the rod-style throttle linkage as opposed to most other carbs that use a cable style. This means you must either use rod linkage operated carbs or rebuild the carb you have now. The same goes for your kickdown linkage. Switching your throttle and kickdown linkage to cablestyle linkages will offer you the most options as far as customizing your car.

Spare slant six heads can usually be found very cheaply in the local Craigslist, junkyard, or for sale ads. You need to do the research before you just start throwing money at a cylinder head rebuild. You need to decide what dynamic compression ratio you want, what size valves you want, and how much port work you want before you send the head off to the shop.

Determining dynamic compression ratio requires knowing the current size of the compression chamber on the cylinder head, the size of your pistons and how far down in the block they stop coming up, and your camshaft profile and centerline.

In all honesty, at this point I recommend you get the car running as good as possible in stock form, and then start browsing this site and reading the posts in the stickies at the beginning of each section to get an idea of what modifications people have done in the past, what works, what doesn't work, and then, ultimately, what you want to do with your car.

Seeing as how the car is a 1963 vehicle, I'll bet there is plenty that needs to be done to bring it back up to reliable operating condition to satisfy your car-work bug. I would start by inspecting your front and rear suspensions and seeing what needs to be repaired and/or replaced. Next I would focus on your brakes, tires, and wheels. From there, exhaust and ignition upgrades are cheap and easy. Only once these underlying systems are in good shape would I start worrying about hopping up the motor.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

Sounds good, first thing I really need to before winter is rebuild the carb and do you know where I can get a new one of those choke assemblies that comes off the exhaust manifold?

Joe