Valkyrie ressurection, GT40-ish kit car

The 40th / project car issue of GRM has inspired me to finally start a build thread here for this car. 

I bought it about a year ago and have been working on it on and off, certainly not the 10 hours per week that was recommended in the magazine.

Anyway, it's a 1970's FiberFab Valkyrie.  Mid engine Chevy small block, tube frame, fiberglass body, looks kinda like a famous race car, what more did I need to know?  I fell in love and bought it.  A few more details:  The frame is made by Fiberfab of 2" x 5" x 0.120" rectangular tubing.  No VW floorpan in sight.  The transaxle and most of the running gear is Corvair.  The car hasn't run in many years, I bought it from the widow of the owner.  Here are some photos.

So of course I started doing research.  Found the GT40s forum where the Valkyrie is kind of a red-headed stepchild, but there are bunch of great and very knowlegable people there.  I started a build thread there, but I'll probably be doing more here.  Right now I need practical low-bucks advice.  That thread is at: https://www.gt40s.com/threads/erikks-valkyrie-rebuild.57507/

I also found several FB groups about Fiberfab, found the original build manual, and etc.  So I've gathered a lot of information.  And as I work on the car I think I am beginning to know the original builder.  He did a pretty good job, except maybe the wiring.  He was a good welder, but steel only.  He liked his 1/4-20 threadforming screws, which are at least better than sheet metal screws, and he knew to use them in shear not tension.  And he was not in the habit of over-tightening fasteners.  A welcome change from many old cars I have worked on!

It's also clear the car has been through a few hands and rounds of revisions.  It was red once, I do wonder why somebody painted it brown. 

So the first thing I did last fall was not on the car at all, but to allow me to store it and work on it indoors.  Those projects are stacking up...!

That's the view from my desk, hopefully it will inspire me.  The Valkyrie is up on casters, that's why it looks so tall.  Normally it is 40" high, true to the original.

It Runs!!

In late February I made an important bit of progress.  I rebuilt the Quadrajet carburetor, that was fun.  And hung a temporary gas tank and fired it up.  Yay!  This helps a lot with keeping me motivated for all the long hours this project will need.  I also drained the coolant and gas, flushed and bled the brakes, and a bit more.  Amazingly the drum brakes :-( are not stuck and the pedal now has reasonable feel.  

My plan is to get the car running as directly as possible.  If I can at least drive it around the block that'll help my motivation immensely.  Then I can start the process of deciding whether I really love the car, and fixing / improving / modifying things.  I don't want this to become another stalled project.  My project goal is to drive it to the Woodward Dream Cruise next summer.  That's a nice low bar - it has to run for 100 miles and it has to look and sound good at 20 feet and 20 mph.  Seems attainable...

The engine is a Chevy 350, probably from a '73 Camaro or truck.  It appears stone stock except for the valve covers. 

This month I wanted to flush and fill the coolant and fuel system so I could maybe drive the car.  Oh yes, and an oil change and bleed the clutch and free up the rusty throttle cable.  So of course I got some surprises:

- The throttle cable turned out to be easy, a little WD40 and working it back and forth.  Somewhere I have a special motorcycle cable oiler dingus, but I didn't even need it.  Good thing as it would probably take hours to find it.

- When I pulled off the radiator hoses I got a green bath.  Turns out the radiator drain cock was clogged, it wasn't empty as I thought.  But at least it was antifreeze not water.

- The fuel tank leaks, which would explain why the fuel system was empty.  I thought maybe the PO had drained the fluids in preparation for winter storage... but no.

- I had been concerned about the lack of access in the front, the front clamshell does not open, there is no frunk lid, it's all one piece.  But it turns out this car is so simple, there are so few parts, that it was not a problem.  four bolts and one wire to remove the radiator, two bolts and one wire to remove the fuel tank.

So after evaluating the situation I decided to install a modern fuel cell and all new rubber lines.  This is not the place to cheap out and it looked like just a little more work than fixing the old tank.  Oh BTW the old tank was not bolted down, just sitting on some flanges rattling around in there.  Maybe it was Corvair, who knows, it's in the dumpster now.  Some removed parts I would save but this is not one of them.

So that brings us up to date.  Then I got a virus and couldn't work on the car for a few weeks.  Hopefully I'll get back to it next week and make some progress.  Smells like a test drive around the block isn't too far out of reach.  I hope...

That has been my #1 favorite kit car, since I fell in love with them in 1982!!! Have loved many kit cars since a neighbor started a Bradly GT ("ugly is only skin deep") in '72, but never pulled the trigger on one. 
Looks like a good start, went to a good home!!!

I will be watching this. Thanks 

Gid i love this. No way my fat behind would fit, but they are just so rad. 

Ill be watching!

Also, please dont do rubber lines the whole way. The new rubber is not nearly as good as old stuff, amd its just nit the best solution. Grab a roll of 5/16 nicopp amd make it mostly hardlined. Also, get the green writing efi rated rubber hose, as thats the stuff that lives the longest these days. 

(1) Ann Arbor?!?! Dude, I'm in Canton, and I'm retired. We should hang out.

(2) yep, that was a stock Corvair fuel tank.

In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :

(3) it needs 180* headers

4) It needs to not be brown

Following intently! 

Aw yeah, I've always wanted to take one of these wile fiberglass cars and see if it was possible to make it capable of suriving a track day. 

Thanks for the supportive comments!

Yeah the biggest reason I might not fall in love with the car is how cramped the cockpit is.  I'm thinking a shorter steering column and maybe a removable wheel might be high on my to-do list.  

AngryCorvair, definitely we should meet sometime soon.  Sadly I am not retired.  Did you see the beautiful Fiberfab GT15 recently on BringaTrailer?  Corvair motor and tube frame like the Valkyrie.  That one looked like it had a lot more room in the cockpit. 

No, I'm not doing rubber fuel lines all the way.  What I meant to say is that I am replacing all the rubber pieces.  Re-using the hard lines.  I'm using modern EFI rated hose even though this is a low pressure system, just because.

Yeah I'm not a fan of the brown.  But I didn't hate it enough to not buy the car.  :-)  Once the car is running I think I'll put two wide white stripe decals down the middle, and GT40 logo stripes under the doors.  That should be good enough for the dream cruise.  If I keep the car long term I'd definitely repaint it, but I have not settled on a color scheme.  Maybe the Gulf blue and orange, although that has been overdone maybe.  I'd definitely not go the whole race sticker thing, just a basic one or two color scheme.

I'm not sure this would ever make a good track day car, it's got no occupant protection at all.  Even the Lotus Europa would be better.  I have seen some nice roll bars in Valkyries, triangulated to the rear.  My vision of using the car so far is occasional street use, cruises and cars and coffee type events.  We'll see...

I was finally well enough to get in some garage therapy.  So I finished installing the new fuel cell and the rest of the fuel system.  Before and after photos below.  And I re-installed the (now flushed) radiator and filled the cooling system with water to find the leaks (yes of course there is at least one). And changed the engine oil and bled the clutch.  So I hoped I was very close to a test drive...

Before.  I don't know about you but a glass sediment bowl makes me think of 1950's agricultural equipment, not modern high performance cars.  And of course the drain cock was plugged.

This sure looks like 1970s Detroit steel but I don't think it is Corvair. :-)  Anyway it is now cleaned and re-installed.  Among the hundreds of things I would change is replacing this with a more modern aluminum swirl pot.  But I am sticking to my goal of an around-the-block test drive this month, and the dream cruise next year.  No detours yet!  KISS and replace or upgrade only what really needs it.  While making sure that everything I do to the car moves it forward into modern and safe an good looking, no steps backward.

Cool car!

Tell me about the Europa .....

Fuel, check.  Water, check.  Brakes bled, check.  Clutch bled, check.  Oil changed, check.  Throttle linkage freed up, and one of the two springs re-installed, check.  Fresh battery installed, check.  I thought an around-the-block test drive was so close, I could almost smell it.

But no... 

First the alternator wire fell off.  Note with amusement that it already had one wire nut on it, as well as being stiff house THHN wire which I would never recommend on a car.  Remember I said that wiring was not the PO's strong suit. 

Then the starter did not work from the key.  I thought it worked when I started it last winter...?  Although maybe I used the screwdriver across the terminals, I don't remember.

So no test drive today.  It's probably just as well, I was running out of energy and starting to make mistakes.  In my experience this is when you break something or get hurt.  And indeed I did, the wind caught the rear clamshell and blew it down, it hit my head.  Not fun.  Gotta move a prop rod to the top of the list.

But with the help of my lovely assistant (long suffering and still supportive partner, yay!) we at least started the engine.  Warmed it up a bit, checked for leaks and smoke (not too many) and checked if the gauges work (mostly no).  So let's count that as a lot of progress for one Sunday and go take some Ibuprofin.

In reply to TurboFource :

The Europa is a 1970 S2 (Renault engine).  It has 36k miles on it and I bought it from the original owner.  He parked it in 1976, for a water leak he said.  It has been stored indoors and not driven since.  So it is complete, original, and un-molested.  But it needs everything rubber replaced and a lot of TLC.  The engine was siezed and my son and I got it freed up a few years ago.  Sadly he wasn't really into working on cars with me so the project languished. 

Too many projects, too little time.  I don't know why but somehow getting the Europa back on the road seems daunting while getting the Valkyrie running seems more attainable.  I dunno.... cars are emotional purchases.

I definitely have a sweet spot for mid engine sports cars.  I've owned a Fiat X1/9 and a Toyota MR2.  The Europa was the car I lusted after long ago when I was bombing around in the X1/9.  Or the Mosler a few years later...  A while back I was drooling over a Lancia Scorpion on BaT and my son said "Dad - just fix the Europa."  

Very cool and thanks for sharing with the rest of the class. 

This is awesome. I love your purposeful and realistic approach to the project...I could learn a thing a two about not immediately starting plans for a performance engine rebuild, bodywork and a repaint, etc. Good on you for focusing on getting it running first! I'll enjoy following along. 😁