Will This 383 Swapped 1968 Plymouth Valiant Run And Drive After Sitting For 12 Years?

hi I'm Jamie this is dead Dodge garage and this is the green bean apparently the green bean is a 1968 Plymouth Valiant twoo postcar sedan of course recently purchased by Gary hert it's hiding under a thick layer of dust but as you can probably already tell under that dust super solid metal there are just no holes no crusty spots at all it just seems wrong now there are some interesting touches more on that in a minute if you know anything about Valiants from this time you know they were the smallest cheapest uh Budget Cars Chrysler offered which makes this one even more interesting this might be the fanciest Valiant I've ever seen for one thing it was ordered with air conditioning it was ordered with the Light Group package which gave it things like these Fender top turn signal indicators and even a trunk light obviously it's got this fancy trim down the side and it was even optioned with a the vinyl top although it's since been removed and the roof was painted white instead it was ordered with black interior which is crazy although you can see the headliner is still original with a couple chew marks it does have new seat covers admire the 1968 only dual dash pads this is a great place to pile crap whoever ordered this car made themselves a pretty special Valiant the one spot they kind of left things normal under the hood when they check the box for 225 slant 6 however that's a problem that's easily solved turns out the original owner purchased this car at Monty Peters chry for Plymouth in Santana California he owned it until he moved to Oregon in the mid 80s see great place to pile crap the second owner was right out of high school when he bought this car in 1985 he drove it with the slant 6 for a while eventually he had some other ideas back in the bad old days your key to Performance in a Chrysler product was direct connection a back door right at Chrysler Corporation where you could purchase performance parts and get all kinds of performance tips too as you can see there's all kinds of useful information in here there are tips in here for every engine every car every type of racing that was happening at this time it's just incredible everything including the arrow wow in this book they handed you all of the knowledge you needed to do whatever kind of racing you were into and in their cataloges theyd sell you whatever parts needed to make it happen like this engine swaps and Mopars are not new before we had shoe marer we had this the direct connection K frame this special part mounts a big block right in the car in the correct location pretty easily here you can see the special engine mounts on the direct connection K frame they're a spool type Mount just like the factory mounts starting in 1973 in these cars they're a whole lot better at staying in one piece than those flat biscuit style mounts of previous years mount to that direct connection K frame in this Valiant 383 HP big block no big deal apparently at some point the owner found that direct connection K frame New Old Stock the donor engine removed from a 1969 Plymouth Fury the letters HP right there on the number pad indicate its Factory performance status now of course even with that Special K frame fitment in here is still terrible to make the exhaust work he bought a set of shoe monkers try WI headers very nice you've probably figured out by now that there was no 383 powered Valiant there were 383 powered darts and barracudas both of which quite rare and very special I'm pretty sure this is an aftermarket emblem for a Chevy of some kind that just screams not Mopar to me and it says 383 because of course the 383 stroker is a common thing in Chevyland we don't know exactly what year the swap was done but we do know judging by components like this that fuse holder and this radiator it wasn't too far in the distant past the car was parked in 2010 although the owner did keep it registered through 2012 just looking at these components I'm thinking early mid 2000s oh or you know that I guess would be a good indicator of when this was here's what's amazing about this build all of the air conditioning stuff is still here and intact in fact all they had to do was change the compressor mounting brackets and this lifted right up into the correct position for the big block they didn't have to change hoses at all how cool is that obviously over here we've got mop power electronic ignition I'm sure that'll work fine over here we've got transmission cooling lines that's an interesting setup it's nice they out of the way but it still feels wrong there are some slightly less than ideal things like this you know comes to mind in fact I have reason to believe that this swap never really did very many miles and I'll tell you why a few minutes ago Evan was cleaning the ratard off the engine and found something very interesting that that shouldn't be like that for whatever reason the installer of this thing shoved these two vacuum lines up into the Breather on the air cleaner that's bad one of these would be a full-time vacuum week and the other one would be a second more exciting vacuum week whenever you open the throttle with that fixed if this thing does want to run it's probably going to run better than it ever has notice I say if this engine hasn't been started in years it's not a foregone conclusion that it'll just tee right off but well it's be honest with ourselves it's a Chrysler big block I did take the liberty of reaching down and turning the crank by hand yesterday didn't take too much effort the starter was kicked out so I Heard It Go clunk and it turned just fine I don't know what's going on with this electrical system stuff and frankly I don't want to hopefully it all works as mentioned there was some debris left behind by Critters and there are also chew marks on a lot of stuff so that's not the most ideal but the oil looks like that the coolant looks like that a little low anyway and the fuel tank doesn't smell like death we've actually added a few gallons just to be safe but whatever was in there before still smelled vaguely like fuel so I feel pretty good about it as you may have noticed already a battery relocation was part of this engine swap I'm sure everything related to that is just going to work great wow Gary actually thanked the seller of this car for storing it inside all these years as you can see it saved it it's so solid and it's so nice there's a bit of a smell inside but it could be worse it usually is worse in fact ready for fire and that's a good sign yeah I'm feeling good about my chances here despite the electrical system modifications the M gauge still works the fuel gauge works and the oil warning light oral winst is your solution okay um I guess we'll watch this added oil gauge and just see what happens hear the weak cylinder when it's cranking over we're not going to worry about that just yet but I'd like to see some oil pressure few different quick cranking sessions no oil pressure I'm going to do something I never do pull the distributor and prime it cuz I really don't want to hurt this engine I have a theory it's going to be a good one this is relatively easy to do on a big block because the distributor is right in the front it's only slightly annoying record the location direction that the vacuum advance pod is pointing and record the rotor position which in this case is pointing straight down you can only put it back in in two positions the right one or the wrong one so aim for that first option I always take a picture make sure I can get the alignment roughly back where it was of course the vacuum advance on this car not connected to anything that saves me some time having electronic ignition is nice too just unplug that connector and as long as I can get it by all the hoses and crap oh come on out it comes kind of liked it in there the distributor is one thing but the oil pump Drive the intermediate shaft slightly different story you can put it back in all kinds of wrong record it position as well and be aware that the slot is not in line with the rotor like you might think it's pointing slightly downward that way now I'll get a big humongous flathead screwdriver spin that thing out of there then I'll grab it with a magnet or something with that done our good friend the Mopar priming tool is inserted here locked into the pump then we got to get a drill to it somehow now remember this is a big block so the distributor counterclockwise that means after tightening the drill on the tool you need to spin it backwards listen for the drill loading down just like that now we've got pressure Evan took a quick look at the oil gauge and it's reading 75 PSI so that's great news intermediate shafts back in I think it's even pointed the right way before we attempt to fire it we're going to go ahead and close the door so we don't get mouse turds all over the a that would be bad hold on let's do some priming that's gasoline with some Marvel Mystery Oil in it the Fan's really close to the radiator but personally I think it's going to be fine it's also not my radiator so that's good there's a really good chance I got the timing wrong so Fireballs ready BN ready [Music] on more Advance yeah ow stabby contact more Fireballs that's a b it was only slightly on fire your valve stuck possibly don't do that don't do that yeah distributor is totally totally wrong like insanely wrong oh ow so about those rat turds um [Music] yeah [Music] so what you're saying is Everything is Awesome everything's awesome except for the lack of idling it's a runner honestly a pretty strong Runner which I was hoping it would be we've currently got no idle circuits that is a bit of an issue the good news is the edel Brock Carter AFB AVS family is the easiest type of carburetor there is to work on just about so I could probably fix everything wrong with it in like 5 minutes let's give that a shot brakes this seems okay it's got brake forood that means it's going to do breake things now currently this thing doesn't have a functioning accelerator pump which is a problem we'll deal with that in a bit here first I'd really just like to get it to continue running that would be great my usual technique hold the idle mixture screws and blow through them with an air nozzle in a perfect world you get a nice perfect Free Will esque spray of gas from right here yeah like that that might just do it then of course we Baseline the idle mixture settings by lightly burying these screws in the carburetor then backing them out about two turns half one half two that'll do good morning hey what do you know eight idles now as I'm sure you heard when crank there it's got a little too much timing again it was a total gas so just starting to get a baseline here remember when I said I thought this might be a really good engine well I think this might be a really good engine almost 75 lb of oil pressure cold idle and a cam that sounds like it really wants the party the charge gauge is kind of sticking to high so we may well have a bad regulator there maybe it really is charging the battery that much at this time I did crank it a fair bit trying to get oil pressure obviously we've got some stuff burning off I'm going to have to come around and snug up these valve cover bolts that's not at all uncommon wow judging by the occasional Fireballs we might have an intermittent valve sealing problem obviously I'm still not 100% on the timing and we have no pump shot so that's not ideal it's a self fixing Plymouth are you impressed I'm impressed let's get it off the trailer I didn't even test the brakes just perfect [Music] this car is just magical I'm going to get greedy and try and make the accelerator pump work we'll take it for a spin around the yard and then I think we got to knock the dust off it weird I know okay you're not going to believe this the compressor kicked on and is cycling and the line is actually getting slightly cold pretty sure the pressure is low so it needs to be charged but what are the chances of that it's even equipped with an idol solenoid and it works too it is actually cold no way let's see if we can get the blower motor to work real real fast sometimes I impress even myself if you're not hipped to the Power Probe it's absolutely the best tool for electrical diagnosis and Repair on any car like this I have two or three of them as I was saying the Power Probe single best tool it's just got a blown fuse which same as the last fuse I replaced looks perfectly fine I went ahead and fixed the trunk light real fast which again way too fancy for a valiant now I'm not going to sit here and lie to you and tell you it's ice cold but it is cool wow just wow okay you can't make this up I was just starting to pull the carburetor apart so that I could replace the accelerator pump diaphragm it fixed itself admire this crazy Contraption this carb is actually equipped with the Chrysler throttle adapter bracket and then this extra bracket it's an old old school low car typee kit converting from a linkage to a kick down cable I'm going to assume it works until proven otherwise as usual this is just too easy it's not always too easy to get these things running but it usually is trunk batteries are kind of a pain for some things but well I've got a backup plan I know by the way that it starts that the timing is really close oh yeah I flooded the crap out of it with the accelerator pump that works now but I want to check it with the light and make sure also as you may have noticed the idle speed has come up a good bit now that it's running for a while I think all the crudes are falling out of the carburetor it's getting happier and happier as it runs whoa that thing's flying low don't ask me how I did this cuz I don't know but by ear I put it at exactly 10° base looks like a stock curve in the distributor that's good going to be really close and it sounds pretty happy so I think I'll leave it there I think it could take just a touch more but nah let's stay conservative for now I did reconnect the vacuum advance so far so great biggest issue so far really annoying Creek in this corner which is ironic because the Llama Barn Valiant does exactly the same thing did I mention I own one of these things Valiant this car is just like Gary's Valiant and every single way yeah this one's just a little nicer than mine number two the starter spins down for like a really really long time I don't view that as a major problem but it's a little weird hell you wouldn't even know that if the exhaust wasn't so quiet inside the car speaking of which look at this crazy setup it's 2 and 1/2 in and they ran it way outboard to where the pipes normally go that kind of makes sense because 2 and 1/2 in is a real squeeze in there also naturally it's been upgraded to an 8 and 3/4 axle which is just great oh yeah admire the mud wasp action that's special we don't usually see that around here it was also treated to a dis spray conversion kit probably a good idea and admire the later control arms and sway bar that sway bar mounts inside that direct connection K frame just like the 73 and up cars yeah only the finest of equipment I'm going to go ahead and service the transmission real [Music] fast it's a little thirsty it was only 2 and 1/2 quarts low not like that surprising it did sit for like ever ATF tends to leak out when they do that we're going to have to tighten this up somehow that's just unacceptable reverse lights wow now we're not totally sure but we're pretty sure the Valiant will do a [Music] burnout I don't know about you guys but I really like that nose High stance it just looks like it's ready to [Music] party [Music] well yeah it'll do one but just the one tire unfortunately good Lord yeah that's not enough smoke we're going to have to fix that no the shop is not on fire every everything's fine we used to do burnouts like that at my old shop and people would routinely stop to ask you look proud of yourself hey the brakes are not happy now hey watch it on the bumps would you did you know I do all my own [Music] stunts why did did you ruin the brakes I don't know for Glory in video worth it totally the creaky suspension is not ideal but it is normal for these at least that's my understanding well at Le with poly bushings yeah you know a tire smell may be with us for a long long time they're worst things in this world I really like this car I think I just figured out the brake dragging issue pretty sure it's the one we uh got very warm I kind of let go when I moved it there I'm going to do something I never do on a de like this and watch the car I don't know why it just looks like it deserves it seems weird for me to say but let's knock off all the barn find dust oh wow look at the dust just running off of there disgusting oh yeah the satisfication level very high just a bit of a color difference oh yeah that stripe is not a decal it's painted on the car it's also uh obviously not correct for this body style and not really correct for any body style but it's close to a factory stripe what happened to your hair it's so big mad scientist wow clean not yet clean just a little different we'll try and keep the water spots to a minimum although on a day like today it's going to be challenging going around it with a microfiber and mopping up the water left behind is a good way to do that now I'm no car wash professional but man that looks great so much shiny the bumpers are the only real let down especially the rear one with that dent a little polish you get the bumper and other Chrome pie piece is looking even better but frankly it's not that kind of show I guess I could at least knock down the cobwebs in here this car is just incredible not bad not bad at [Music] all at this point there's really just one question left what's it like to drive so far squeaky the car actually came with a New Old Stock valve body for the transmission because apparently the previous owner did not like the shift kit that's been installed here we haven't gotten it out of first gear yet so I'm curious what that means now these are 17-year-old tires obviously that's not the most ideal of things shift's fine light vibration from the tires admittedly not the most ideal of things but not bad so far the brakes are working fine I think Tom just toasted the rear left with his little display there and that's why that one started grabbing Let's test the power didn't even break traction which is interesting you really don't want to run tires that are any older than 10 oh hotron truck it chirped going into second at 4500 RPM all right sure my stock 383 power 66 charger did that but it's just really fun in something this small and unassuming I really like that the lock isn't digging into my arm like the later charger I just drove across the country this is cool I'm not really digging the smells there's a critter smell in here that's not great but uh mostly it's the burning tire smell engine's good and warm 60 lbs of oil pressure cruising around 2,000 RPM what a cool car the vacuum controls for the AC doors even work correctly L that's crazy I've never seen those work correctly not [Music] once oh yeah the air is being conditioned my life is going to start getting really really expensive if I just fall in love with every single mopi I Lay My Hands on it's becoming a problem I'm already out of inside parking spaces well I could get more drive on lifts and stack them vertically have you you seen those double stack drive on lifts or the ones that are two cars wide that could work of course I already own one of these cars the 67 llama Barn Valiant and it's very cool in its own way it has that ratty Survivor thing going on plus all the handling parts that really helps the case there but this 68 green bean here man it's just got something it's just cool I have have to say I don't like the stripe it's the style of the 68 Charger bumblebee stripe but they put it at an angle presumably because they wanted it to hit the side marker and the tail light was in the way so it kind of starts looking like a 70 swinger stripe but the angle's wrong everything else about the look I love especially the red stripe still some rat house stuff in there that needs to be vacuumed Rockford Illinois I was just there going to need some glue for this that's important you know if you've watched this channel for any amount of time you already know not to bet against one of these Chrysler engines it's a rare day that they don't want to run usually when they SE solid or trying to become SE solid other than that yeah it's not very hard now I don't know about you but there are quite a few things in here I would change immediately I actually own a really nice set of big block Mopar performance fin Val covers and matching air cleaner so that would be a nice thought I'm glad this fell is still hanging on need to apply some tape in there that's worked for me in the past the radiator fitment is just awful that overflow tank is gross so there are definitely some changes that could be made here for the better but it all works it all works really well in fact obviously I didn't touch under the hood with the cleaning that can be a Gary problem and I am not detailing the interior I'm just kind of not about that in life the smells aren't ideal but I'll live with it I don't know about you but this may be one of my favorite Revival projects of all time it's just awesome oo the mountain is out kudos to the guy that put this together I mean I would have made a few different decisions and obviously it needed some tuning help but it's dang good now it does not get a whole lot cooler than a hot rodded twood door Valiant from the late 60s it's just awesome and that's all I have to say about that okay that's funny that's an ebody under hood pad clip uh which car is missing one okay obviously it's not perfect don't look at that now I just have to hope it makes it back to the shop what's the worst that could happen oh my God I finally found a car that can turn around here the hood blinkers even work it's [Music] ridiculous wow beautiful day hey thank you very much for watching I really appreciate that and remember always eat your green beans they're good for you I'm going to have to fight Gary for it aren't I

Channel: Dead Dodge Garage

Views: 79,521

Keywords: Mopar, Muscle Car, Classic Car, Revival, Mechanic

Id: Eqcuw8vnX58

Length: 31min 47sec (1907 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 07 2023