Tom Jennings' AMC/Rambler pages

formerly, world power systems

09 nov 2020

Here are my AMC (American Motors) and Rambler pages all in one place. Most of the information derives from work on my own cars or related research. My interest in Rambler/AMC is the low-end stuff -- AMCs main focus. Emphasis is on 1958 through 1969 AMCs and Ramblers, especially suspension and brakes, six cylinder engines, the transmissions available for the sixes, general chassis, electrical, etc.

All of my cars are long-distance and daily drivers, so my concentration is on problem solving and reliability solutions while keeping them "all AMC".

SECTION INDEX

These links are jump-shortcuts to sections below.

• My Rambler Roadster
• "Print" technical documents
• The Rambler 195.6 OHV engine
• How-to pages
• Suspension work, mostly front
• Documented work not quote How-To
• My cars, now and past
• Barney Navarro's Rambler six Indianapolis 500 engine
• Other car stuff

Other information

Here are some spreadsheets, shared Google Sheets. The parts list are what I have installed on the car and know to work -- sometimes this is hard-won knowledge. Anything speculative is marked as such (and is often useful later when something goes scarce). The other spreadsheets do things like calculate RPM/MPH based upon metric tire size and gear ratios, very handy for doing what-if's on tires and wheels. These open a new page or tab in your browser.

• tomj's parts list
• tomj's spreadsheets

Read here (Motor Trend, by Richard Truesdell, 5 Feb 2014) about George Romney's Rambler.

Technical documents

Recently (2019-2020) the sheer number of print documents here became too overwhelming to put into this list, so they now live in a separate AMC/Rambler and manufacturer print document archive. They are both indexed for online viewing and available for download as large PDFs.

This includes AMC factory Technical Service Manuals, aka TSMs, factory Parts Catalogs, which contain many illustrations, AMC "family photo album", and other AMC documentation. It also includes some critical component-manufacturer data, such as Borg Warner transmissions, radios, and a few old hobbiest pages dedicated to under-documented things like the aluminum six cylinder engine.

	AMC/Rambler and other factory manuals, catalogs, documents This section contains full AMC/Rambler parts catalogs in browsable or downloadable form.
	Technical manuals other than AMC This section contains mostly service manuals in browsable or downloadable form.

Rambler 195.6 OHV engine

The old 195.6 OHV engine has an entire section to itself.

The Rambler 195.6 OHV engine Endurance, reliability, and performance modifications to the Rambler 195.6 ci OHV engine.

How-To's

26 apr 2020

These are things written specifically to illuminate some technique or process or problem and how to get past it.

	Re-lining door front rigid window guides Easy inexpensive and very effective method to re-line the rigid window channel, since these parts are not available.
	Early American/Nash modern shock mount, control arm stiffener This bracket allows use of a modern (Gabriel 81270) shock absorber on the front; and a replacement lower control arm stiffener/spacer.
	Adapting the new Carter YFA clones to the Rambler twist-rod throttle Straightforward, but need to make one adapter part, to install a brandy-new carburetor, not a crap rebuilt.
	Changing motor mounts the easy way (AMC 199, 232, 258) This sequence of actions makes the job fairly easy.
	Home-made front suspension toe-setting tool An easy to construct and use tool for setting front suspension, front wheel toe-in.
	Hot-rodding drum brakes Drum brakes have a bad reputation mostly (not completely) based on examples suffering from years of neglect. When 50+ years old they need more than just new shoes and drums. And with inexpensive modifications they can be made to compete with small disc systems in demanding applications. I've run hot-rodded drum brakes for years in Los Angeles freeway commutes and they they give small discs a run for their money.
	Easy, cheap replacement for the windshield washer foot pump check valve Original style replacements don't (aaffordably) exist. If you don't mind this non-standard look this works as well or better, uses common inexpensive parts. A five-minute fix.
	A real fix for your sloppy 1960's column shifter The column mechanism in column-shift cars after 50 years of service wear out. They get sloppy, pop out of gear, in general degrade the pleasure of driving. The problem is that the metal components wear out. Here's a fix for this chronic condition.
	An electronic replacement for instrument panel gauge voltage regulators Instrument panel gauges use an electro-mechanical voltage regulator that is either unobtainable or expensive and hard to find. Here is an all-electronic replacement using a common part.
	Replacing AMC/Rambler Motorola alternators with Delco 10si There's nothing wrong with the older Motorola alternators other than they're old and expensive to replace. Most of the Moto's out there are "rebuilds" missing tag data and other critical information. A new Delco 10si, with warranty, is half the cost of the Motorola voltage regulator alone. The "three wire" Delco can be attached to the AMC wiring harness with no cutting or modification.
	AMC and Rambler dash knob removal Why is it that automotive instrument cluster, knobs, levers, cranks, dials, etc are so weird and strange? The 60's and 70's Rambler and AMC wiper knobs in particular, even with the factory Technical Service Manual it's not easy. Here's photos of the mechanism.
	Automotive LPG Fuel In the late 1980's I converted my 1963 Rambler Classic Cross Country wagon to LPG as a motor fuel, and drove it for 20 years without gasoline. It was great, except for when it was a huge PITA. Here's an electronic copy of the how-to booklet I sold 1200 copies of through the Real Goods Trading Company back then.
	Renovating a rusty gas tank Making a rusted old gas tank as good/better than new qith Caswell's Phenol Novolac fuel-proof epoxy and a lot of work.

NOT QUITE-HOW-TO

These are forensic or post-mortem projects and examinations, that don't quite rise to the already-dubious wuality of the how-to's, but may contain useful information. YMMV.

	Factory radios An unsatisfying and incomplete collection of information on AMC and Rambler factory AM, AM/FM, tape players and CB radios. Information is spotty and sparse, and even the factory parts catalogs are silent.
	T5z transmission in an Early American Using Modern Drive Line's AMC/Nash T5 adapter to fit one of MDL's T5z transmissions into an early (pre-1964) Rambler American.
	Early American "big nut" axle Pre-1964 AMC "small cars" and Nashes have a peculiar method of attaching the rear yoke assembly to the pinion shaft, known as the "big nut" axle. Here's how to work on them.
	Disc brakes on early Rambler Americans Installing a Scarebird disc brake kit to pre-1964 Americans (applies to Nash cans as well).
	Motorcraft Duraspark distributor and TFI upgrade Installing a Ford type Duraspark distributor in an early 232ci six, and using the TFI coil.
	Rear axle bearing replacement A how-to of rear axle bearing replacement that applies to all AMC axles all years, in note form, alas no photographs.
	Fitting a Howell TBI kit into a 1963 Rambler Classic My experience and notes on installing a Howell throttle body injection (TBI) system, intended for Jeeps, on the 232ci in my 1963 Classic.
	Tuning the GM 1227747 ECM Some notes on my experience tuning the Howell TBI kit (GM 1227747).
	Aftermarket A/C installation Some high points of installing a Vintage Air A/C system in my 1963 Classic wagon, on a 232ci six.
	1963 Rambler station wagon rear window remove and replace Simple trick for removing Rambler glass mounted in those rubber gaskets with the "H" profile.
	How and why oil pressure senders fail I had two oil pressure senders fail on the road and at speed, bright red OIL PRESSURE FAILURE lamp scaring the crap out of me. I identified the failure and have a fix that has lasted, so far anyway.

Suspensions

26 apr 2020

Mostly, front. Rears (repair) are easy. The Rambler Roadster, however, I built a wishbone rear from scratch that removed all of the car's understeer. See that section for details.

	1950 through 1963 Rambler American/Nash Rambler front suspension The 1958 through 1963 American (and 1950 to 1956 Nash Rambler) suspension can be daunting to work on. I've solved many of it's problems and have worked out solutions to reliability and replacement parts. This work applies to the 1950 up Nash double-wishbone suspensions.
	High performance 1950 through 1963 Rambler American/Nash Rambler front suspension This early Rambler American/Nashcan suspension is amenable to some serious tuning. In this document I show how to dial in or eliminate understeer with "Shelby drop", and fabricate better than stock bushings.
	1950 through 1963 American steering gear (Gemmer) Pre-1964 Rambler Americans, and probably a lot of Nash cars, use this tiny little Gemmer worm and sector steering box. Needless to say after 60 years it's worn, sloppy, and probably out of lubricant. They are surprisingly easy to rebuild. It's a decent design, and a tight steering box makes driving a pleasure.
	1962 through 1967 Classic/Ambassador front suspension trickery 1960's Rambler "big cars" (Classic, Ambassador, etc) front suspensions are excellent designs in spite of their reputation for difficulty. They are subtle, and easy to assemble right if you follow this general procedure.
	1962 through 1967 strut bushing fabrication The strut bushings for 1962 to 1967 Classics and Ambassadors are not available and later parts look similar but do not fit. Here is a solution to fabricating a replacement that's suitable for daily-driver use.
	Modern (1970-up) AMC strut bushings There are quality and installation issues with two-piece strut rod bushings. Here's a look at the various designs available.
	John Elle's 1970-up AMC front spring perch fix The front suspension on 1970-up AMC cars has a coil spring perch containing rubber bushings that wear and fail, and have historically been very difficult to find. John Elle worked out a replacement using inexpensive and generic urethane bushings. It assumes the metal parts are OK, but they usually are.
	Home-made front suspension toe-setting tool An easy to construct and use tool for setting front suspension, front wheel toe-in.
	Home-made 1970-up AMC spring compressor As you'll find out when you go to do the job, it's difficult to find a spring compressor that actually fits 70-up front springs. They're 6.5" diameter, about an inch larger than most. Here's how I made one from scrap.

Projects

Documentation of work done on a car or project that doesn't rise to the level of "How-To" but might contain useful hints. These are arranged as note-to-self.

Early Rambler-American-specific projects

I've spent a decade doing decidedly non-stock things to this chassis and engine, on two different cars: a 1963 440 Twin Stick, and a 1961 base model. It's a tough car to drive daily; though of very high quality of manufacture, it embodies very old engineering, and in stock form the demands of modern driving stress it to failure, and parts are hard to find. So I ended up doing a lot of one-off repairs and customizations that eventually led to the Rambler Roadster. The work below precedes the Roadster work. Most of it is one-off customizations to the '63, one step at a time. Later work will therefore contradict earlier statements, etc. I've tried to sequence these pages in a way that reveals the progression.

	Interior Interior design and construction of my '63 American hardtop; a hybrid of Mobius and Japanese anime, and Taiyo Matsumoto's work (Tekkonkinkreet), a Japanese anime artist who spent time in France with Mobius' cohort.
	Dashboard and instrument cluster Restomod/custom work on the rusty instrument gauge cluster.
	Cold air intake Simple hack to feed the carburetor with colder air, the pre-1964 American chassis.
	Borg Warner T-96 T96 transmission overhaul Rebuilding the Borg Warner T96 overdrive transmission.
	T-96 with R10 overdrive assembly Photo sequence for a transmission assembly.
	Transmission installed Not particularly useful images, just what it looks like installed. ...
	Early American steering wheel (Gemmer box) Fitting a Grant aftermarket steering wheel to the ancient Gemmer steering box in a 1963 Rambler American.
	Wheel and Tire fit issues Tire and wheel fitment issues on the pre-1964 Rambler American chassis.

Cars

Cars I've owned and worked on or built. Many of the project pages above refer to documents within the 1963 Rambler American page below.

	1960 Rambler American two-door wagon tbd
	Rambler Roadster A roadster made from a 1961 Rambler American; light weight open car (2250 lbs), custom wishbone rear suspension, home made front suspension, heavily modified engine, five speed transmission, four wheel disc brakes. This is the true sports car AMC could have made.
	1968 Rambler American Sport Sedan This is my daily driver. Innocuous and forgettable when new in the 1968 market, but today a shining examle of excellent engineering, frugal but comfortable design, and a semi-timeless style, meaning it's not larded up with non-functional stylistical gunk. The smallest six, three speed column shift, bench seat. 22 MPG with 210,000 original miles verified, engine never apart. Wonderfully reliable.
	1963 Rambler American hardtop Restomod work on my 1963 Rambler American 440 Twin Stick hardtop. Many of the early American project pages above refer to pages within.
	My 1963 Rambler Classic 550 Cross Country Station Wagon I drove this car for 21 years, best car I ever had probably. I put 350,000 miles on it, one engine and two or maybe three full transmission teardowns. Never failed me on the road.
	1963 Rambler Classic 550 Cross Country, detail pictures, March 2011 I took a bunch of detail pictures of my wagon before I sold it. One of the few car regrets I have was selling this wagon, though it was driving me crazy at the time.
	My 1970 AMC Hornet Restomod project for a 1970 Hornet; 1983 258, Torqueflite, in diary form.
	My 1975 AMC Levi's Gremlin X I bought this in October 1998 from a small car lot in San Jose Calif. My first and probably only actual restoration.
	AMC's 1970's typography Some notes on the logo and text on the rear ofa 1975 Gremlin X, and a matching typeface found.
	My 1979 AMC AMX (aka Spirit V8) My third-favorite car of all time is this '79 AMX, which I couldn't really call my "AMX", so I called it a Spirit V8, which is what it was. It had quick steering, 304-V8, a torqueflite (later a 4-speed). I bought it in Massachusetts, and took it with me when I moved to San Francisco in November 1983.

Navarro Rambler six

On 14 July 2005 the remaining contents of Navarro Engineering's (Barney Navarro) shop in Los Angeles was auctioned, mostly shop equipment. I went to ogle the twin-turbo Indianapolis 500 engine, ended up buying a load of exotic Rambler Indy-engine test-mule engine parts. I later sold them to some turbo guy up in the Seattle area who had embarked on a project to re-create Navarro's car #50, but he and his shop seem to have disappeared, so I don't know what became of all the stuff.

	Barney Navarro's 700hp 199ci six sold at auction This page is mostly photos of the twin-turbo motor.
	Barney Navarro Rambler turbo six parts bought at auction A quick inventory of the parts bought at the Barney Navarro auction.
	Navarro turbo setup in a Hornet The Navarro turbo motor mocked up, interesting though.
	Barney Navarro-built Rambler turbo Indy motor
	Turbo mock-up. Note this is mocked up with a TE06, not a T04, which the flange was meant for. The TE06 flange is about an inch wider....

Other car stuff

	Cars in Budapest, Hungary, March 2007 Photos from trip to Budapest. No AMC content here! Lots of cool ex-Eastern Bloc (sic) cars though. That's Simon Penny modelling some of the photos.
	VAM (Mexican American Motors) 1981 Rally GT Looks surprisingly like my customized 1979 AMC AMX. I did not know of this car when I did that work.)
	Nate's Fast Metropolitan Ignore these photos. It's not possible for Nash Metropolitans to be driven at speed. Everyone knows that. It is most definitely not going 60 mph in a Mulholland Highway turn. Nope. Beep beep....

Collected data

...of dubious distinction.

	AMC/Rambler brake database A compilation of disc and drum brake data taken from AMC factory Technical Service Manuals, arranged into one large table, cross-referenced. Now with Bendix, Wagner, Raybestos, UPB, Aimco parts numbers cross reference.
	AMC/Rambler bellhousings A weak attempt to document AMC six cylinder bell housings. If you have one not shown here please contact me, I'd love to add data on it to this page.