(Photos and captions by Jon Clark) – Yesterday we showed you one half of the dynamic duo we’ll be following this year on PowerTour. Matt Graves of American Powertrain is powering north to Detroit in a 1959 Edsel with a 302 small block backed by a Tremec 5-speed. We told you he was going to be meeting up with his pal Jon Clark, who has recently completed (like minutes ago) a bad ass Valiant that is powered by a 640hp 528ci Mopar wedge engine. We’ve not heard from Graves today, so we’re going to give you the skinny on the second half of the story with a quick profile, in photos and captions from Jon Clark, the owner of the Mopar. Jon will be driving his supremely bitchin’ Dodge A100 van and for whatever reason, most likely through some awful means of blackmail, he’s giving the keys for the Valiant to Graves. He is a brave, brave man.
Dig the photos and the quick story of this Valiant (that’s soon to appear in a copy of Popular Hot Rodding near you!)
Not very BangShift to field a 680hp Mopar on Power Tour with drum brakes on the rear. Here we have driveway action - installing Willwoods on the 8 3/4 Mopar axle
This is a public service announcement from Matt Graves and Jon Clark: ToughStuff is an amazing product that can be used to rebuild rusty floors on Mopars, but when it gets knocked off a high shelf in the garage and explodes on the floor - and all over your precious hot rods... Then, it's a product capable of great evil. Keep those cans of expanding foam sealer safely housed in a closed cabinet.
My 6-month old keeps me company while I get all the foam sealer off the freshly-painted bumpers on the Valiant.
Popular Hot Rodding's Robert McGaffin affixes a boom to the Valiant which will make PHR readers think I'm doing 120mph through the ghetto. Abandoned Continental Engines foundry and dyno buildings in background
Rear tires may rub a little as we try different sway bar sizes on the rear. Rielly Motor Sports loaned me these slightly-smaller Nittos just in case.
That's right. I tried to bang shifts on the Tremec 6060 with a 'found' shifter. Trouble was, the offset on the shifter put it right into my leg (overly-long brake actuator rod didn't help). Almost rear-ended somebody during the shakedown runs Matt Graves insists never happened. They sent me a bitchin shifter and their shift plate for Tremecs. It's like butter now!
The Flat Bastard Valiant has air conditioning, like any race-inspired Mopar. Unfortunately, horsepower makes heat. Gotta keep that stuff outta the passenger compartment or you good BangShift surfers will not hear the end of it. Several pics of driveway-installed insulation
Drilling out harness ends to fit shoulders on A-body seat belt bolts. Using paper to create templates for firewall insulation. Moved Holley EFI ECU to behind glove box.
that will be a holly ,grab on , hill dilly , of a ride 🙂
I like !
Even though right now I’m a chevy man.
You put a big mopar to the ground LOOK OUT
Cheers !!!!!!
You got me beat !
Awesome ride, hope to see it in Arlington.