Thread: 1968 Plymouth Valiant 1st Gen HEMI

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Been a week of collecting parts and information.

My friend at the machine shop and I went halves on a 55 331 Hemi a while back figuring we would probably turn it and make a few bucks. We pulled the heads to verify bore size (it’s standard) and set it aside till a buyer comes along. Note to self……. “storing” parts at a machine shop is not necessarily the best solution.

Parts Pile by M Patterson, on Flickr


Anyway he got it on a stand for me, and I’ll finish the teardown next week and just bring the bare block and a couple of heads over to my shop for mock up.


MU 331 by M Patterson, on Flickr

I’ll also be borrowing a 46 RH/RE case and Overdrive housing from a friend at the transmission shop sometime next week.

At some point I’m going to want a stock hood, heater, maybe a trunk lid (rather than repairing the hole for the power cut off switch) and probably other miscellaneous pieces. I went and looked at another 68 Valiant I’d passed on earlier and decided it would be handy to have around so I bought it. There’s no motor or transmission and a couple of front replacement floor pans are just screwed in but overall it’s solid and pretty straight. Added plus it has a clear title which I transferred this Friday. The only real difference between the 2 cars when they were new is the Green car came out of Detroit and the red car was assembled in the LA plant. Another plus is I found both cars within 5 miles from where I live.


1968 PC by M Patterson, on Flickr


The seller had originally intended to build it as a race car, but ended up finding a Nova instead so this one went up for sale. At least I saved it from a SB Chevy swap. It’s a small bolt pattern car but comes with the pieces to convert the front to 5 on 4 ½ disc brakes and a few other odds and ends like the bumpers grills and trim..

Now that I have this car, I’m seriously thinking that I’ll use it for the mockup instead of taking the BB Valiant apart for now. Once I get everything sorted out I’ll transfer the stuff to the Green car, which should at that point turn into a pretty straight forward swap.

Still looking for an original 392 HEMI/354 Poly passenger car oil pan. They’re center sump. It shouldn’t be too bad to build one if I have to, but would prefer not to.

I’ve got some ideas on the exhaust but that will have to wait until I have the engine at least partially in the car.



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