Tell me what all you know please!

Getting ready to buy a 66 V100 wagon with a slant and manual 9" brakes with a master cylinder the size of a Testors Paint Jar

Want to get some 11" discs all around and make the thing handle decently when I add the w2 headed 440" stroker small block which will be (despite temptation) be limiter to around 525 hp and 525 lb/ft.

I plan for a low gear 904 with a mid 3 set of gears in an 8 3/4 rear end. 340 springs in the rear.

Help me out guys, list the part numbers for every brake system and suspension part you can think of!!

Thanks

73-76 A disc spindles with stock 10.87" rotors/horshoe adapters for those rotors. Or 76-78 B body 11&3/4" rotors/horseshoe brackets on the 73-76 A disc spindles. both will use the 76 A calipers which have a larger bore (2.75") as opposed to the 2.6" bore on the 73-75 A calipers. Doc sells a spacer so you can use your original UCA's or use 73-76 A disc UCA's & not sure if 73-76 drum UCA's also use the larger UBJ which is what you are after. 78 volare brake hoses. Addco front sway bar. The 11&3/4 rotors require 15" wheels and for a 15" tire to fit those wheelwells they must be very low profile. both disc setups are BBP. Good reports on ESPO springs with 1" addit'l height & JR spring (JC Whitney). Many choices for a dual bowl MC conversion (get the right bore dia). EDIT 67-69 C body disc app MC will work OK.

Very cool info, thanks!

Yeah I already have a set of 15" x 8" cop wheels, just got to match that 'British racing yellow' paint

I was gonna buy that yellow beast if it had factory AC. That was me that posted on FABO asking if it did & he replied that it did not. Your lucky EDIT A sway bar will require the calipers to be rear hung (swap the spindles side for side which switches the caliper to the rear) & I had to bend the hard line part of the 78 volare hoses to fit em. An FMJ caliper may have a different hose mounting point & MAY be a better choice for you & reportedly Andy covers that subject very well in his B body brake handbook

Thanks!

I'm looking forward to making just a cool cruiser out of it, big torque Low RPM motor with decent handling should make for a fun time cruising with the buds.


@RapidRobert;

Ac would be nice if you could see the custom interior in this thing it swung the deal for me....interior restoration (like body work) has gone through the roof...I can always add vintage air A/C to it....The fact that this is a V100 and not the V200 (with all the chrome) really was a big seller for me, it just looks cooler without all the trim

I just want to have respectable handling, I like the fact the early A body Plymouths have the shorter 106" wb, in fact overall it's a couple inches shorter than Chris's beautiful Limelight 71 Twister! Also the wagon should have much better F/R weight distribution than the coupes with a v8, it's gonna be cool having 440" of small block in it all in such a light weight package. I know the W2's are heavier than aluminum heads but it's going to be a nostalgic Nod to my mopar history to have them on there.

Now....what to do for headers, I've been on FABO all morning researching options. One thing for certain is once the Slanty motor is out I'm gonna be grinding away little bits of the perimeter of the K frame and steering box to give me a little extra wiggle room.

Was thinking about a 4 speed but The Z bar is a clearance obstacle I just don't want to deal with, a nice low gear 904 should be just fine.

A guy once used the OE SB 273 early A V8 4 sp iron bell/steel 'wheel & had a clutch shop make him a killer pressure plate/disc & with the small dia of the OE stuff it was a very easy shifting setup & it let him use OE bellcrank/linkage etc. If you are OK with fenderwells there are the Hooker 5208 super comp equal length headers (I have a set/not yet installed). As you likely found on FABO someone is reproducing Harolds under chassis design. For handling I'd for sure check into a sway bar. I have one of Addco's for an early A & it's a stout piece, #451 iirc. EDIT Let me know what you want for it & I can fly down tomorrow & pick it up. MORE EDIT What areas are you thinking of putting the grinder to

That is such a sweet car, I don't think I could bring myself to do all of the to it. I love the yellow.

@RR,


Nothing that would show, just any protruding edges or rolled ridges that might ease swapping the motor in and out, (including the corners of the W2 cylinder heads, lol). It would be done so subtley that no one would ever notice.

Any time I consider a swap I closely study pictures of every one I can find that was done before. I like things to go in (and come back out) as easily as possible, that's all.

@71Bird...do you mean leave it 100% original?

If I did the mods it would look pretty much like a factory V8 install, might even put the 273 Hi-po valve covers on it for shows. I've had slant 6's and love them but this is too cool of a car not to 'factory enhance'. It won't be butchered, in fact my goal is to not change the appearance of the car one Iota beyond body colored 15" cop wheels to house the bigger disc brakes.

My buddy is getting ready to dyno his ~565 horse 442" AMC motor using my 1000HP Pro-systems carb verses the new MSD fuel injection, if the FI works out well I may put it on the 440 W2 motor, how cool would that be?

I would definitely be adding subframe connectors and some gussets, no worries there. I would also be running a very mild stall behind the motor and smallish tires so as not to 'twist it up' too harshly. I don't want to tear it up

lots of info here about abodies including your brake parts and some suspension part numbers. http://www.bigblockdart.com/techpages/techindex.shtml

biggest problem with a big block in an early is the headers. no one that i know have produce them. you would need custom ones made. other then thats its a bolt in deal for the most part.


a few pics of the 440 64 valiant i put together years ago..

Joe,

That is Freakin' Awesome!!!

The thing is (with mine) is I'm planning a 440" SMALL Block (360 4.06" bore with a BPE 4.25" stroke) using W2 heads.

From reliable sources (herb mcCandless) the hooker super comp BB 67-76 A body headers 5205 (1&7/8) and 5215 (2) will fit in the early A body & I believe you need to relocate 2 primary tubes on the pass side that hit the shock tower & you must run a small dia tire. Speedway motors (& others) sell 1&7/8 tubing scraps for cheap. The headers are $500 + uncoated which'd be a necessity since you are modding several tubes

I am running Harolds Spit Fires. My motor just came off the dyno at Shady Dell last Friday and the 408 made 498 HP and 520 TQ. We were going to dyno the engine with the Spit Fires but had clearance issues on the dyno. Ryan J thought they wouldn't hurt the torque much but will affect the HP number. As far as the rest of the build yours is very similar to my early A. Mine is built to look kinda stock.....almost like a guy transferred a 340 into it when the car was only a couple years old. A body disc brakes. 8 3/4 with 3.91 gears. Low gear set in the 904 etc. Let me know if you have questions.

Keep in mind you will need a gas pedal set up out of a V8 car and a V8 center link.

For Inspiration

Very cool!!

I'll be in touch with questions, especially brake MC and bolt on hardware, RapidRobs already helped a bunch with that but I want to try to get this up and running as quick as I can so I'll be looking for help!!

Thanks!

BTW, it looks to me like it would be very easy to modify the Spitfires into a true 4-2-1 1 5/8-2 1/2 - 3" collector header with a few easy modifications. just flange the pairs and mate them up underneath the car with a 2 1/2- 3" Flowmaster Y pipe

Probably pick up the torque and power without making it any more difficult to install (since it would all mate up below the T-bars)