Swaps 101

Swaps 101

Josh Watson, Addison, NY, 1964 Plymouth valiant V200 , 225

I have a 64 Valiant V-200 with the original 225 slant with the push button auto, I’m working on an engine swap, which is a 273 with slight mods which include a mild cam, complete aluminum roller rocker arms,double roller timing chain, performance electronic ignition, 570 cfm carb mounted on a Edelbrock intake and headers. As I’m slowly working on this I believe I’m coming into a problem which I need to resolve fast: the Valiant currently has the small 4″ bolt pattern but I already bought the wheels that I really want to put on the car. Do you think I should put the 8-3/4 rear in as well as disc brakes on the front? I’m not working on a huge budget and really don’t have time going through the scrap yards looking for parts either. I’m not sure what to do. The car is a huge project in my life it was my fathers and my project car and he passed away just after we started it.I’m only 23 and don’t have a whole lot of knowledge, so any help would be awesome.

Josh, here’s the simplest, best plan by far:

Find a V-8 73-76 A-body with the 8.25″ rear axle. Swap the front disc and the rear axle into the 64, incl. the 73-up upper control arms. It all bolts in; it will give you near-contemporary brakes and the desirable 4.5″ bolt circle. You can even use the rear leafs, torsion bars, etc., pretty much everything exc. the sway bar.

Rick