that's a sexy 4 door!

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"Marilyn" 64 Dart GT & "Stella" 64 Valiant V100 Sedan - 63 Norton Project

Great car, and I'm envious of the Air/steer/auto combo

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Richard (aka Fingers)

very nice car indeed

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Nothing beats a slant six
1987 D150

The saga continues....

I checked the oil yesterday and it looked great...no milkiness. I also noticed that the doober owner prior to me had loosened all of the head bolts and that they were just sitting, loosely in the head.

I pulled the radiator and fan shroud today and put a water hose in the lower radiator hose and turned it on.

It didn't take long for water to come shooting out from between the head and the block, back by the firewall....and out of the spark plug hole in the cylinder closest to the firewall.

What I'm hoping is that said doober owner got the head loose from the block and that the water is simply pouring out of water ports. Of course, the head or block could be cracked, but one would think that the oil in the pan would be milky if that were the case.

So...the next step is to pull the head off and get a good look at the head, the top of the pistons and the block.

The radiator looks to be in very good shape, but the fan shroud is suffering from old age and is very brittle. Does anyone know if replacements are available?

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1954 Ford, Tudor Mainline
1976 Plymouth Valiant, 4 door


www.automotive-ninja.com

That fan shroud is going to be a "go fish" part; they are not available new. Also, the slant-6 shroud isn't the same as the V8 shroud. Direct interchange is '73-'76 A-body (Dart, Valiant, Duster) with slant-6 and the 22"-wide radiator (as opposed to the smaller 19" radiator that came on non-A/C cars and those without heavy-duty cooling.)

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

If it did'nt have water in the oil before,it sure will have now!
If it were mine,I would make sure that engine is stripped down and water removed ASAP.
If not,rust will start its work quite quickly.Then you will have a REAL non-functional engine.

regards,Rod

I hear ya Rod. There was no way I was going to use the current oil, no matter how good it looked....so no big loss there.

I'll get that head off tomorrow, drain the remaining fluids and chase everything with marvel mystery oil.

It'll be a good time to see if I can spin the crank.

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1954 Ford, Tudor Mainline
1976 Plymouth Valiant, 4 door


www.automotive-ninja.com

If you have a 22" HD radiator, you can get those off the early F-body cars (76-77) with the slant six as well... somewhere not long after that the 26" skinny core radiator became available and it's not a good match in the A-body...

-D.Idiot

Thanks for all the info on the fan shroud guys.

As soon as it warms up a bit (it's 35 @#$%@# degrees in Houston this morning!), I'll go get the head pulled off and see what the deal is.

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1954 Ford, Tudor Mainline
1976 Plymouth Valiant, 4 door


www.automotive-ninja.com

It's all the way up to 35°? Well, heck's bells, that's shirt-optional-go-change-the-spark-plugs weather!

(…in Canada)

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Yeah, 35 degrees is shorts and a t-shirt weather, man! Doing aerobic activities like pulling a head warms you up too.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

Yeah...well, maybe for you guys, but this south Texas boy has thin blood.

I spent two years in North Dakota in the service....and dang....I didn't think it could get that cold.

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1954 Ford, Tudor Mainline
1976 Plymouth Valiant, 4 door


www.automotive-ninja.com

Got the head pulled.

The cylinder closest to the firewall (I really need to educate myself on what the proper cylinder numbers are), the one that water came gushing out of yesterday, has some fairly nice rust on the cylinder walls. Not good.

However...I gave the block a very thorough look and I can't find any cracks in it. Looks sorta like she blew a head gasket.

So...I'm leaning towards installing a temp engine and pulling the original. The fact that it doesn't appeared to be cracked, gives me some hope that I can rebuild it.

What do you guys think?

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1954 Ford, Tudor Mainline
1976 Plymouth Valiant, 4 door


www.automotive-ninja.com

Pretty easy (not like trying to figure out which cylinders are numbered what bouncing from Ford to Mopar to Chevy...)...
#1 is near the radiator and #6 is near the firewall...

I'd definately pull the engine and dig into it and see if there's anything else to notice. Find a temp engine to drive it around, and rebuild the original.

You're on the right track!

-D.Idiot

I've found a complete engine/trans combo in the Dallas area...even comes with the carb, power steering pump and an alternator. The guy gaurantees it to be running.

I'll think I'll go grab it and stab in in the Valiant.

I don't like having project cars that are non-runners for long periods of time.

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1954 Ford, Tudor Mainline
1976 Plymouth Valiant, 4 door


www.automotive-ninja.com