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".
These links are jump-shortcuts to sections below.
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.
Read here (Motor Trend, by Richard Truesdell, 5 Feb 2014) about George Romney's Rambler.
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.
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The old 195.6 OHV engine has an entire section to itself.
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26 apr 2020
These are things written specifically to illuminate some technique or process or problem and how to get past it.
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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. |
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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.
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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. |
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Using Modern Drive Line's AMC/Nash T5 adapter to fit one of MDL's T5z transmissions into an early (pre-1964) Rambler American. |
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Installing a Scarebird disc brake kit to pre-1964 Americans (applies to Nash cans as well). |
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Installing a Ford type Duraspark distributor in an early 232ci six, and using the TFI coil. |
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A how-to of rear axle bearing replacement that applies to all AMC axles all years, in note form, alas no photographs. |
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My experience and notes on installing a Howell throttle body injection (TBI) system, intended for Jeeps, on the 232ci in my 1963 Classic. |
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Some notes on my experience tuning the Howell TBI kit (GM 1227747). |
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Some high points of installing a Vintage Air A/C system in my 1963 Classic wagon, on a 232ci six. |
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Simple trick for removing Rambler glass mounted in those rubber gaskets with the "H" profile. |
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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. |
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.
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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.
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.
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Forensic disassembly of a (ruined) vacuum modulator from a Borg Warner M8 automatic transmission. |
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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. |
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Restomod/custom work on the rusty instrument gauge cluster. |
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Simple hack to feed the carburetor with colder air, the pre-1964 American chassis. |
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Rebuilding the Borg Warner T96 overdrive transmission. |
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Photo sequence for a transmission assembly. |
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Not particularly useful images, just what it looks like installed. ... |
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Fitting a Grant aftermarket steering wheel to the ancient Gemmer steering box in a 1963 Rambler American. |
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Tire and wheel fitment issues on the pre-1964 Rambler American chassis. |
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.
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Soon to be daily driver, a comfortable and probably slow little station wagon. |
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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. |
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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. |
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Restomod work on my 1963 Rambler American 440 Twin Stick hardtop. Many of the early American project pages above refer to pages within. |
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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. |
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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. |
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Restomod project for a 1970 Hornet; 1983 258, Torqueflite, in diary form. |
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I bought this in October 1998 from a small car lot in San Jose Calif. My first and probably only actual restoration. |
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Some notes on the logo and text on the rear ofa 1975 Gremlin X, and a matching typeface found. |
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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. |
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.
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This page is mostly photos of the twin-turbo motor. |
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A quick inventory of the parts bought at the Barney Navarro auction. |
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The Navarro turbo motor mocked up, interesting though. |
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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.... |
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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. |
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Looks surprisingly like my customized 1979 AMC AMX. I did not know of this car when I did that work.) |
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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.... |
...of dubious distinction.
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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. |
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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. |