65 American RestoMod

[IowaEagle]

GREAT!

[ramblinfsj]

I got my carpet kit today from Mac McCoy . I haven't opened the box yet but sometime this weekend I'll open it up and lay the carpet out in the car and see how she fits. Today I ordered 2 rolls of 60" X 36" CoolIt sound deadening self adhesive matt from Summit to put on the floor pans and where ever else. I want the inside of this car to be quite. I'm still having trouble locating a radiator that won't put me in the poor house. I mean poorer house. One company, US Radiator, said they would have to tool up and a replacement radiator would be $290 or $340 for a 3 row. So I'm still looking. I've emailed Blaser Auto to see if they had some but I haven't got a reply yet. I need to email Kennedy American and see what they have too. If the search comes up dry, the rambler may get a postal jeep radiator.

[ramblinfsj]

Alright, I finally got some pics of the things I've done to update the thread.
The first is of my new HEI Distributor from CRT Performance.


Next few pics are of the extensions I had to make from the engine cross member to the motor mounts for the 232. Please no comments on my welding . It was a small space to be welding in.
Passenger Side:


Driver Side (which is just a flat piece of plate)


And here's a pic of the engine with carb, air cleaner, and HEI installed. Basically everything I need to hear it run for short periods of time.

My buddy finally got his Pinto Project back on the ground and driveable so I was able to roll the Rambler outside to wash the dust off and take some better pictures of it with my "new" wheels. Totally different car with those wheels on it.
First we'll do a before Picture of the car when I got it.

Now After






More Engine Shots (dustless)

[ramblinfsj]

I did get some work done after taking the pictures. I spent about an hour and a half laying the CoolIt sound deadening mat to the floor pans of the car. The sound deadener laid down exceptionally easy. I was very pleased with their product and it diffinitely made a difference. I also laid whatever mat was left over where I could. The mat was easy to cut and was able to stretch into the high and low spots and around curves without any problems. I pulled the carpet I got for Mac McCoy out of the box and laid it out in the car. It's going to look great when it's installed as long as I don't screw it up. I picked up another Rambler last week, a 62 Classic 400, that has a locked up engine so I decided to pull the radiator out of it and see if it would fit in the American. It pretty much dropped right in but is just different enough that I would have to do a little modifying to make it work. I had to put the hood on to see if it would clear and luckily it did but it's still undecided what I'll do about the radiator. I'm sure liking the car with the hood on though. I am also going to try to finish weld the motor mount extensions with the engine still in the car sometime this week because I really don't want to go through the hassle of pulling the engine just to weld a couple beads. Well, that's where I at so far. More to come .

[IowaEagle]

Looking better and better.  Kind of funny these days to see the ground in an engine compartment.  Kind of the way it should be though.

[ramblinfsj]

Well I've been shopping around for new radiators for the American. They are priced to the moon but that's what I expected. I don't have the cash for a new one so I grabbed up the radiator that was in the Postal Jeep to see if it would fit. I knew it would fit width wise because it is a very narrow radiator but I was checking to see if it would clear the fan. I slipped it in and sure enough it cleared the fan but bearly. There's maybe a 1/2" space between them. Close enough. I fabbed up some crude looking mounts and bolted the radiator in. It looks at home under the hood but it's for sure temporary. What's cool is the top radiator hose from the Postal Jeep fits perfectly but I couldn't find the lower one to see if it would fit. The other cool thing is that with that radiator in there, I don't have to mount up a transmission cooler but just screw the tranny cooling lines back up. So with some new heater hoses and a lower radiator hose and of course some coolant, I can run the engine for as long as I need to to fine tune the carb and hit the engine with a timing light.

[ramblinfsj]

Well I haven't done a whole lot of work in the last few weeks but I have got somethings done. I have the cooling system all buttoned up. It holds its fluids and I ran the engine until it warmed up to operating temperture so I'm good there. The transmission mount bolt hole threads in the transmission housing was striped out so I had to drill and retap the holes for 1/2" bolts. That didn't take long so that's done. Under the hood I mounted up some of the emissions stuff that the postal Jeep had, like the carb canister so the carb will be vented through it. I also mounted up a vacuum canister to assist the vacuum wipers. I haven't tested the vacuum wipers yet because the cable that turns it on is frozen. My buddy called me today right before I started to write this and told me he spent all morning straightening and mutting the Postal Jeep and original Rambler driveshaft together. So in other words, the driveshaft is done! All I need now to drive the car down the road is a shifter. I still have to rewire my alternator and replace the alternator I fried. I wired something wrong and the alternator went up in smoke. I've been putting it off but I still haven't welded in the motor mount extensions. I've also put off installing the carpet until I get the Lokar shifter I want bought and mounted up. Hopefully, when I get my Economic Stimulus Check from Uncle Sam, I can get my seats reupholstered. I got my exhaust figured out but I have to go to a muffler shop and have them bend me a length of pipe and expand the ends so I can slip it over the existing pipe under the car. Weld it in or clamp it together and the exhaust is done. I made a template of the bends I need in the pipe using a wire coat hanger and the muffler shop guy will bend it to match. I'm so close to being done I can taste it. Money is the only thing holding me up. More to come soon.
Oh by the way. It's looking like the Rambler may have to have the trunnions replaced  . You can look at the tires from the front of the car and see the tops of the tires are leaning inwards. You can also look at the assembly and see that the springs and trunnion assembly are not in a straight line with each other. That's probably one of the reasons my tires are hitting the trunnions. If I replace the trunnions and get everything lined back up, my tires might clear. It's going to be an expensive repair but it's got to be done.

[Route 66 Rambler]

Things are really looking up, ramblin!  I love the look of the little Rambler, and things are starting to come together.  The sound deadener is a huge plus for those two lane runs, a lot of the time there's quite a bit of noise from the rough pavement on the old roads.  You can always work on the welds to do any improvements you want later.  At least everything is located and fixed in place where it goes now.

The trunion thing is expensive, but it's a very long-lasting repair, they last the life of the car in a lot of cases, so it is a worthwhile effort.  The trunion front suspension is way tougher than the double ball joint setup in the later cars.

I like this project a lot. 
mike

[ramblinfsj]

Thanks Mike. I wish I was able to move along as fast as you are on your Kammster.

[IowaEagle]

Hey, making any progress on an orphan car from the 60's is good progress.

[Route 66 Rambler]

The main reason I'm doing big chunks fast on that project is a combination of urgency with available funding.  Of course, I'm spending money right now that we took a  long time saving up.  Maybe that's the main lesson.  Have something in the bank ready to go before you start.
mike

[83Eagle!]

Holy Crap.  I have been away from this forum a long time.  I love this car.  I am very jealous.  That American is awesome.  Nice work

[ramblinfsj]

Many Thanks 83Eagle!
It's slow going now. I'm at the point to where I have to spend significant amounts of cash for small parts. Lokar shifter(at least $199), tires, maybe new exhaust (at least $200), rebuilt trunnions  , and so on but I knew all that when I started. Plus I still have to get it legal.

[ramblinfsj]

It's been a while since I have updated things so here goes. Everything under the car is done! This weekend I finished welding in the exhaust. I couldn't afford to take it to a muffler shop so I hit auto zone and picked up some pipe so I could splice all the exhaust back together. The down pipe from the Postal Jeep and from the American were at a bad angle to mate back up to the cars pipe running under the car so I took the one off the parts Eagle I have and it was angled almost perfectly. I slide the auto zone pipe on, got everything where I needed it (or close to), and welded everything in. Then I cranked the car and it's so nice. The engine runs so quite that pretty much all you can hear is the fan whizzing. I love it. I also got all the transmission cooling lines run. When I pulled the motor and trans from the postal jeep, I guess I snagged the return line on something and broke the fitting that's screwed into the housing. The parts Eagle saved me on that as well. While I had the welder out I finished welding in the motor mount extensions I made to fit the 232 in the car. I am almost to the point that I can drive it down the road. All I need to drive it down the road is a throttle cable (which I can get from auto zone for $25), and a floor shifter. The throttle cable is cheap enough but the shifter ....well no so much. I really want a Lokar but I may have to settle for something less expensive. I'm eyeballing an "El Cheapo" shifter from JC Whitney that's $79.99 that will do the job and I'm getting so antsy to drive the car I just might buy it. I also need a kickdown linkage for the car. The radiator or a hose has either sprung a leak or isn't sealed properly but I'll tend to that shortly. It's slow going but each step that is getting done is a huge step to completion. More to come and I'll snap more pictures.

[IowaEagle]

Gotta love AMC!  Eagle parts that are nearly direct replacement parts for a Rambler!  At AMC, if it ain't broke don't reinvent it.

[ramblinfsj]

I'm just waiting for some cash now to buy a floor shifter and a throttle cable kit and once they are installed it will be time to drive the Rambler  . I can't hardly wait. In the meantime I snapped some pictures.
Here's a pic of the engine compartment with everything installed except a few vacuum lines. I changed out the fried alternator (10SI) with the alternator off my parts Eagle (12SI). Apparently I did have the alternator wired correctly, the first alternator was junk to begin with.


Here's a pic of the crude looking bracket I made to mount up the narrower Postal Jeep radiator into the Rambler. The other side looks the same so no need for another picture.


I layed out the carpet I got from Mac McCoy so it can kinda take the shape of the floor pans. I'm waiting to install a shifter before I put the carpet in permanently. The first pic is how it should sorta look when the carpet finally gets installed.

I pulled the carpet back some to show off the CoolIt sound deadening mat I stuck to the floor pan. I stuck the stuff down any place I could. I need to buy more but what a difference this stuff makes. Every spot under the carpet is covered with the CoolIt mat.

[IowaEagle]

You are soooooooo close.  A few vacuum lines, nothing like was on your Eagle, though.

[ramblinfsj]

You are soooooooo close.  A few vacuum lines, nothing like was on your Eagle, though.

Oh Lord No! I just have to run vac lines from the vacuum source to the vac. ball and then to the wiper motor. Then a hose from the carb vent to the charcoal canister. Nothing difficult like an Eagle.

[ramblinfsj]

Ok, now I'm rollin' again. I got my stimulus check and I bought me some parts. I went to auto zone and got their throttle cable kit and I called up JC Whitney and bought their "El Cheapo" floor shifter. Well the shifter took some time to get here so in the meantime I installed the throttle kit. It went on without a hitch and works great. While waiting a few days for the shifter to come in I just couldn't take it anymore so I had to at least drive it around the property. I slide under the car and put it into drive and then got in a cranked her up. I putted around the place for a few minutes and only got it into second gear plus my brakes aren't that good so I parked it. Oh yeah, I had to put the front factory wheels on because the tires I had on there are way to big and hit the fender when I turned. No problem though, I have some smaller, skinnier tires I can put on my blingin' wheels. Two days later the FedEx man showed up with my new shifter. Last night, I got the tools out and put my bench seat back in the car. I figured out where I wanted the shifter and commensed to cutting and drilling. It was a fairly easy install. I'm not quite done with the install yet because it got dark outside (I have to work outside in the dirt because my Wagoneer is in the shop getting new axle gears and my buddy's Pinto can't be rolled outside because it's sanded down to bare metal).  The shifter stuff under the car is installed except for the shift rod from the shifter the tranny arm. The rod supplied in the kit is about an inch and a half to long so I have to cut some material out of the middle and weld it back together. No big deal. Hopefully I can get that done today and drive it some more. Once the shifter is in, it's time to lay some carpet. I checked the master cylinder reservoir before I drove the car and it was bone dry so I figure I have a leak in one of the wheel cylinder. I'll bleed all the brakes and see if they get better. I'm sure they will.
On a totally unrelated topic but I have to share because this has never happened to me before and I hope it never does again. I was working on changing a valve stem on a tire for my S-10 Blazer in the shop. I got the valve stem in and I got the air hose on it to air it up. The bead of the tire popped on and all I had to do was air it up to 32 psi. While bent over airing the tire up, something hits me square in the middle of my back. I raise straight up and turn around to see what it was. It's about a three foot snake. And if you know me, you know I really, really, really hate nasty, filthy, dirty freakin' snakes. I gathered my composure and realized the nasty creature was up on the rafters of the shop eating baby birds in their nest and I guess he saw me there bent over and figured hey there's an easy quick way for me to get down from here. Filthy reptiles. I figured that would happen to me some day but I figured it would be at the lake while I'm fishing near some trees but not in my shop.

[Route 66 Rambler]

Hooo boy.  Hopin it wasn't a rattler...  Just saw a big king snake in my yard the other day, I put him out carefully by the canal, they eat the rattlesnakes, you know.

[AMX]

Some reptiles are friendly. I've had Michael here for 5 years now. Snakes over about a foot long creep me out though.