Believe it or not, I have freed up many engines by pouring Coke in the cylinders & let it set for 10-20 minutes, then turn it over. Sometimes takes 2 doses.

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Chuck Rivers, Webmaster

I have 3 1976 A body 225 cars:

Feather Duster (bought in 1991 with 21k miles)
Dart Swinger (bought in 2001 with 9k miles)
Dart 4-door (bought in 2008 with 38k miles)

Guess after buying the Feather I figured I'd concentrate on the 76 models so parts for 1 would pretty much be the same for the others.

Big difference in the 76's is the instrument cluster circuit board - the ammeter is powered thru the circuit board instead of having separate wires as in the earlier models. But the big plug still plugs right in. I swapped a 1974 cluster into the Feather, plugged it in and bad things happened. So if you have a 76 and find a spare cluster/PCB, GET IT!

I'm not all slant 6's though - I have a Superbird and a 70 Charger 440-6. Also a 74 Duster 225 which I'm building into a small block hotrod.

Keep up with the BFV updates!

Not too much to update....I've just been driving the snot out of the BFV....it's a great little car.

I constantly get people commenting on it...I guess because it's so clean and original. It's funny though...the thing most people love about it is the fact that it's a plain-jane, brown model, and a lot like the sort of cars that the average family had back when it was new.

I know that was true for my family in 1976.

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1954 Ford, Tudor Mainline
1976 Plymouth Valiant, 4 door


www.automotive-ninja.com

The BFV had a starter issue that kept it out of service for a week while I tracked down the issue.

Many thanks to the guys on this forum who helped with advice. I've owned mainly old Fords in the past and was not familiar with the solenoid and starter relay that this car has.

It turned out to be the starter relay with was a cheap fix....thankfully.

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1954 Ford, Tudor Mainline
1976 Plymouth Valiant, 4 door


www.automotive-ninja.com

The BFV has been a pleasure to drive since I got the valves adjusted and the front suspension rebuilt, and other than the relay issue, it's been dead-on reliable.

I can't say enough good about the little car....I love it.

Yesterday, coming home from work however....I hit a snag....and it turned out to be my fault, and not the car's!

I was on the interstate, one exit away from my exit, and I heard an unusual tapping and then the temp gauge started rising very fast. I immediately took the exit, pulled off into a parking lot and killed the engine.

An engine bay inspection showed that one of the AirConditioner wires (that haven't been hooked up yet....since my compressor hasn't been reinstalled yet) had worked its way over to the alternator pulley and gotten wrapped around it and caused the belt to slip. The connector end of the wire had also been slung around rapidly and chewed a hole in the lower radiator hose.....instant cooling failure.

I let it cool down, taped up the hose with some duct tape and retrieved some water from a nearby stream, and limped it the rest of the way to the house.

After a new lower hose, draining the "river coolant" and refilling with antifreeze/water, it was back on the road with no adverse effects.

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1954 Ford, Tudor Mainline
1976 Plymouth Valiant, 4 door


www.automotive-ninja.com

I'm going to attempt to replace my radio speaker this weekend.

After looking at the Factory Shop Manual, it looks like a bit of a chore on a car with factory AC, like mine.

Any suggestions?

I'm also going to be pulling out the instrument panel and installing a new speedo cable, and while I'm there, I'll remove headlight switch and clean the rheostat so that my dash lights will turn on again.

Again...suggestions welcome.

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1954 Ford, Tudor Mainline
1976 Plymouth Valiant, 4 door


www.automotive-ninja.com

Goes with-out saying but I will say it... be sure to disconnect the battery prior to starting any under-dash work.

Also, if the instrument cluster will be removed, be gentle when pulling the connector(s) off the small pins, on the backside of the printed circuit, those pins can get loosened or pulled-off the PCA easily. (some spray lub helps ease removal)
DD

Doc: This would be a great time to install a green knob battery disconnect switch. Wal-Mart has them for about 7 bucks. These things make it real easy to kill the electrical system for storage, and should something start to smoke. One flick of the wrist, and the current is off in less time than you could call the fire department on speed dial.

This happens to be my LeBaron's battery shut-off:

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67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

Thanks for the suggestions....I'll definitely add that cut-off switch.

I'll post an update after I get the radio and rheostat working.

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1954 Ford, Tudor Mainline
1976 Plymouth Valiant, 4 door


www.automotive-ninja.com

I finally got the exhaust leak stopped at the exhaust flange.

I did so by creating a sort of gasket sandwich with two new gaskets with a small amount of JB Weld in between them....putting it in place while the JB Weld was still wet. I tightened up the flange bolts and it made a very small amount of the two epoxy come out from between the two gaskets.

I don't know how long this fix will last, but for now it is quiet for the first time since I swapped out engines.

If this doesn't last, I'll break down and buy the good gaskets from Remflex....but this does seem to be holding so far....and my total cost out-of-pocket was $3.10

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1954 Ford, Tudor Mainline
1976 Plymouth Valiant, 4 door


www.automotive-ninja.com

The BFV started running progessively more rough over the last week or so until today on the way home from work when it wouldn't hold an idle at all. I'd been working until late in the evening this whole time and hadn't had a chance to investigate it.

It was running worse the warmer the engine was, so I thought maybe I had a choke sticking or a few other possibilities.

So this afternoon I popped the hood and gathered up my tools....you know...got ready to dig into things, and started by cranking it up and removing the air cleaner so I could check the carb, etc.

Much to my suprise, and embarassment, the second I pulled off the air cleaner, the idle smoothed out to near perfection.

You'd think a guy who's been messing with cars for 3 decades would've thought to check for a dirty air filter first.

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1954 Ford, Tudor Mainline
1976 Plymouth Valiant, 4 door


www.automotive-ninja.com

Sometimes, it is the simple things that get over looked. I am just as bad as most for skipping over the basics, looking for something deeper, when you do not need to....

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An officialis Tyrde-Browne Racing membrum

I was running highway speed the other day, on I-45, north of Houston and I had my daughter's ipod with me.

The ipod takes videos, so I thought I'd try shooting a short clip and then try posting it to the forum.

This forum-video is a first try for me, so it's not the most exciting, or best edited video....I'm basically just seeing if I can do it.

Anyway....here it is....my BFV headed north on I-45 near The Woodlands, TX. Again, not exactly riveting video, but if you consider that up until March of this year, this car had been sitting in a garage for almost 3 decades with a seized engine, it's pretty neat to see it keeping up with the flow on one of the busiest stretches of Interstate in Texas.

http://s300.photobucket.com/albums/nn11 ... G_0004.mp4

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1954 Ford, Tudor Mainline
1976 Plymouth Valiant, 4 door


www.automotive-ninja.com

Enjoyed reading of your progress with BFV looks so awsome after its 30yr rest.
Well done.

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Wayne

Thanks for that. I have to say that although this has been, by far, the cheapest old car I've ever owned, it has been one of the most enjoyable.

You just have to love this old slant-powered stuff for it's durability and affordability. Now I'm gonna have to find a slant-powered pickup.

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1954 Ford, Tudor Mainline
1976 Plymouth Valiant, 4 door


www.automotive-ninja.com