Greetings from England!

Hi there, My name is Simon and I live in Surrey, England. I've recently bought a 2001 D22 king cab for 500 quid. Its done 230000 miles and cracked the head so I've replaced the engine and gearbox with a td25 non turbo from a 70000mile D21. I have made new rear brake lines as they were coroded, lifted the tray on 40mm blocks and I am now in the process of fitting new front suspension bushes, balljoints, shocks and the rest of body lift.
I still have some panel work to do then paint.
Next on list is to wind up torsion bars (may need to replace them as they seem a bit soft), fit h/d leaves in the rear with extended shackles, new bushes and shocks, fit tubular bumper and redesign towbar for better departure angle.
Im trying to spend as little money as possible so progress is pretty slow.
I am restoring a 68 VE Valiant which seems to be sucking up any spare cash i have.

I have a few questions about control arms etc so I'll try to post those in the right section.

Will try to post updated photos as I progress

Welcome mate, nice truck

simon said:

I've replaced the engine and gearbox with a td25 non turbo

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How's life in the slow lane?

Welcome mate, good to see a King cab D22 as we didn't get them.

Enjoy the site.

Dave.

Pro-Nav2.7TDi said:

How's life in the slow lane?

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Yeah its quite sluggish. especially since the rear brakes were sticking. Hopefully sorted that now though.
I still have the old engine so might put the tubo on eventually, or better still just buy a newer truck.

Hi Simon, welcome to the forums.

Hi Simon

Where did you find a VE Valiant in England?

Alan

simon said:

Yeah its quite sluggish. especially since the rear brakes were sticking. Hopefully sorted that now though.
I still have the old engine so might put the tubo on eventually, or better still just buy a newer truck.

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find a 3.2 turbo motor out of a terrano.

G'day mate. Welcome to the forum. Will be good to see the pics once the old girl has the life put back in her.

reel-sensation said:

Hi Simon

Where did you find a VE Valiant in England?

Alan

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What Alan said! Keen to know

Bosshog said:

What Alan said! Keen to know

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I found it on ebay. Valiants were available from Uk dealers from 66 to 75, but in that time only 350 were sold. There are still a few around today, mostly chargers. I'm pretty sure mine is the only 4 door VE, and its the vip version too.

tweak'e said:

find a 3.2 turbo motor out of a terrano.

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Not sure if the Uk version has the 3.2 Ive only seen them with Td27.
Not too worried about power at the moment anyway, just want to get it on the road and drive it instead of fixing the bloody thing!

simon said:

I found it on ebay. Valiants were available from Uk dealers from 66 to 75, but in that time only 350 were sold. There are still a few around today, mostly chargers. I'm pretty sure mine is the only 4 door VE, and its the vip version too.

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NOICE

post picks please, I know its a Nissan forum but i sure the powers that be will let this slide

Fouros said:

NOICE

post picks please, I know its a Nissan forum but i sure the powers that be will let this slide

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Ok.
This is how it looked when I bought it.
Its mostly in pieces now.

Hi Simon

thanks for the ve pic. Should do up nice.

Alan

Some more recent pics

Welcome to the forum, my bro has a ve val its done up nice, il post a pic when i take a photo of it, you know just for inspiration.

Hi, Im in yorkshire. how are you finding the engine coping with those tyres on?

jameslibra said:

Hi, Im in yorkshire. how are you finding the engine coping with those tyres on?

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I dont think the tyres have made too much difference.
I seem to have pretty low gear ratios, the box is from a D21.
Engine is non turbo and needs a tune as I've played with the injector pump so its gutless no matter what tyres its on.

SOLID D22 said:

Welcome to the forum, my bro has a ve val its done up nice, il post a pic when i take a photo of it, you know just for inspiration.

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Sorry, I should have posted updates somewhere else instead of the new members thread, I've actually been on this forum longer than you!

My valiant is not high on the priority list at the moment, I'm just picking up various bits when they come up cheap on ebay etc.
I plan to paint it the original alpine white, but with blue sides and retro performance stickers. 60's super stock look, llike sox and martin etc.
The engine is in progress, its a 360 bored and stroked to 408 with forged internals, tunnel ram, edelbrock heads etc. Should be about 550 hp and i might add a wee squirt of nos later on.
Gearbox is 727 with full manual reverse pattern valve body, high stall etc.
Tubbing the rear end and fitting ladder bars on a 8-3/4 axle, not sure yet on locker or spool.
I'm thinking about converting the front end to coil overs and having a fibreglass flip front but not sure yet.
Its going to be road legal over here but it wont be nice to drive. i plan on driving it to santa pod once or twice a year, racing and coming home without breaking anything so its more about reliability than drivability.
At this stage it looks like it will take at least another year to complete.

Sounds tuff, make sure you keep me posted on its progress.