My Valiant Effort - Road Trip Thursday, ready or not.

["J. O." <JJO1967@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Here's an update on my Valiant;
 
I have (nearly) all of the front suspension off of the car, and a table full of goodies from the nice folks at ESPO Springs and Things waiting to go on. I am painting parts and fixing surface rust on the frame
 
What's holding me up is the passenger side upper control arm. That booger is hard to get to, given the brake line and hose, and the shape of the surrounding sheet metal.
I have been drenching it with penetrating oil aver the last week, and I plan to hit it with the torch tomorrow, as I expect it to be as difficult to unbolt as the driver side was. Those bolts were bonded to the bushing sleeves and put up a hell of a fight before I finally got them to back out.
 
Next, I found that the passenger side strut rod is bent. I'll try to replace it with a straight one, if I can find one, but I wonder if I have bending on the frame (K member or LCA?)
 
My approach to the lower ball joint bolts is that if they haven't failed in over 100k miles, they're not gonna fail now. Back in they go (on the new ball joints.)
 
Anyway this weekend is make or break time for the car, since I have a road trip (was 500 miles total last year) to see my "Pontiac friends" and visit the Trans Am Nationals in Dayton. I like driving the only Mopar in our group, and you can't beat an early Mopar A-Body as a conversation starter, especially in a yard full of F-Bodies.
 
Thanks to all of you for the information and support, and I will probably post some progress pics in the next few days.
 
Jim Ozolins
'64 Valiant Signet 200
 
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