Re: Resurrecting the Rambler
 

I'm humping on this paint job as hard as I can go...I want this thing done!

Driver door is back on the car and all refinished, nice to look at one whole side of the car and see it shine after all these years. Passenger door and some window trim gets the treatment this coming weekend if it doesn't rain, and that should just about finish all the painting. I'll turn my attention back to mechanical stuff after that. (brake system, fuel lines.)

It amazes me how many suppers I can miss and not really care when I get into these frantic work modes every night and weekend when the weather is good. I'm taking weight out of the car on a daily basis purely by working it off! But that's a good thing, I have to stay ahead of those Fords somehow. :)

Re: Resurrecting the Rambler
 

...and the passenger side door gets it's turn. It rained most of last weekend and held up the show some, but this weekend was fabulous.
After this all that's left on paint are the window surround trim front and back. Those get done tomorrow. Finished!!

There are some sub-par areas that I'll eventually re-do, maybe in a couple years, but it's time to turn attention to other things under the car, like brake lines and fuel system, and get this thing to a track. I can get by with it looking like it is for now.

Re: Resurrecting the Rambler
 

Nice job, I love following this build!

Re: Resurrecting the Rambler
 

Paint is DONE. (big sigh of relief). Car is pretty much assembled and painted into the proper AMX model it needed to be to get it into T and is now going back to the auto shop in town for new fuel and brake lines and some finish work underneath. It's getting to be time to make this thing RUN. I truly hope to get some runs on this car this year so I have some data to munch on over the winter.

Been a long haul to this point, but I'm not anywhere close to laying down on this project!

Re: Resurrecting the Rambler
 

I weighed the car today on the way into town.

Extremely close to 2800 lbs at the grain elevator scale, 2795 is what I came up with which includes me, but don't know how exact they get those grain scales. Plus there's a few objects still sitting in the back hatch area to change out or install underneath the car, so they'll affect the weight a little more. Chances are it will lose another 20 lbs when done.

Looks like I can start eating again. Do they allow passengers to ride along? :)
3020 lbs to make T is a long ways off...

Now I have to start figuring out how to add weight into a race car. This will be a real "first" for me!

Re: Resurrecting the Rambler
 

Looks good, keep the updates coming.

Re: Resurrecting the Rambler
 

I love this build! Cool 'Lightning Rod' type shifter too.

What is your NHRA adjusted HP? 3020 seems heavy for that little car.

Kelly

Re: Resurrecting the Rambler
 

That shelf behind the rear seat is a perfect place for weight. When I had the gremlin I had a 150# bar there secured by two 9/16" studs. BTW they have to be tack welded on both ends.

Re: Resurrecting the Rambler
 

Adjusted HP is 150, up from the factory rating of 110 on the 2 bbl engine. Quite a bit for that "wicked" Rambler 258 six with it's lofty 8.2 compression. :)

Somebody must have absolutely wailed on this combo long ago to get it to that rating. I can't see it ever becoming a record-setter because it has to go up in R thru V classes against various proven and well-flogged old-school V8 engine cars that offer more carburetion, camshaft, and in some instances happen to weigh very close to the same amount my car has to, but it should still be a combo good enough to get you into the show just about everywhere but Indy maybe.
I don't feel the need to set records, I just want to play.

Re: Resurrecting the Rambler
 

Appreciate the tip Ed, thanks. Trying to visualize this---are you saying once the weighted bar is set in place behind the rear seat that I need to tack weld the stud heads that would be underneath the car directly to the floor pan and then tack weld the top side stud/nut assembly directly to the bar after bolting it down? That would make it difficult to change.
I guess I need to go back and review the rulebook on 'weight and how to attach'...didn't think I'd be spending much time there.

Re: Resurrecting the Rambler
 

I just read through the entire thread and find this build amazing. I love odd ball combos for Stock Eliminator. In case you haven't already done it, pick the brain of Jim Mantle. His Pacer is amazing to watch. Jim is a very knowledgeable guy, is easy to talk to and his car flies for a 6 cylinder car.

Re: Resurrecting the Rambler
 

Its still there Ed, Tom added a hook to it to use a engine hoist to get it out though. Now that its back at 150, spare tire will go back in I guess.

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Who knocked it back to 150? Was it the pacer?

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Must have been. Last I checked Jim had made runs and qualified with some -.8's and a -.9 or two out in the Northwest at a couple events, but not sure how altitude or a mineshaft condition might have been factored into that whole scene.

Re: Resurrecting the Rambler
 

Brian....just read your entire thread....love your car...

I have a 81 Spirit with a 87 258 and Clifford intake..long tube header and a holly 390 4bl carb...needs work thurst bearing gone in engine...
Jim

Re: Resurrecting the Rambler
 

Car was just plain too fast, wasn't it? :) Fix it up and try again! It's what we all do.

Hey, sorry for no Stocker updates for a while, I have "old house" problems to cure first and then I'll be back at it. Thought I had those handled already but guess not. Stay tuned.

Re: Resurrecting the Rambler
 

Finally, after some house grief it's back into action on the car. About one week ago, I applied the door decals and earlier this week started experimenting with the hood art layout. I didn't care for the factory offering, so I got some yellow pinstripe tape and started laying out my own pattern on some flames around a "homemade" AMX decal. Not sure I like it, but the pinstriping is easily ripped back off if needed. The AMX decal will stay on the hood though, that one is fairly permanent.

Now, the big news: September 3, 2016... very close to one full year after I started on this whole adventure, I filled up all the fluids, gave everything a final look-over, tug, and re-check, and started the car up after 23.5 years of sitting. Vroom! Oil pressure came up, and nothing melted or caught on fire. Topped everything off after a short run period and then drove it up and down the country road where I live, albeit slowly, (the tires are rotted and horrible), and it shifts into all the gears.
THE CAR LIVES!!!

Let the refinement process begin.

Re: Resurrecting the Rambler
 

Looks great. Bet you are anxious to get it on the track.
Very nice work.
Pete

Re: Resurrecting the Rambler
 

Good job!

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Now, howl is that. The greatest achievement is that you did it yourself.Nothing like giving life to something like that.

Re: Resurrecting the Rambler
 

Thank you all, gentlemen, I feel like I'm *almost* a part of the S/SS club now that I have a running car. Much refinement will have to happen though, and I didn't waste much time---an order went into Jegs last night for some more parts!
I will admit to a couple of things: Yes, I did get a great wave of satisfaction when I started it up and gingerly drove the car out onto the open road to check out the running gear, knowing that even though it has been a lot of hard sweaty work for almost a solid year essentially making three cars into one, it was going to be worth it to me whether this race car ever bombs the index or not. And I will also admit that my wife asked me what the big ****-eating grin on my face was all about when I got back into the house after the maiden voyage.

Bringing things back from the dead seems to be the nature of my whole life. Clear back in '73 when I was 17 years old and in my senior year of high school I started reviving a thoroughly vandalized '67 Corvette convertible I had bought for $800 with my burger flipping money, then later on I got into all sorts of other muscle cars that were usually down and out, then pinballs, and at times various other assorted "treasures" that other people had long given up on. Even our house qualifies for that terminology, it was a mess when we bought it.
And I'm not so naive that I don't realize that a ton more work is on the horizon for this AMX to make it any good. In fact, the vast majority and most costly of the work will begin right now.

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Oops! That was supposed to read How Cool is that! I hate it when the computer corrects me and gets it wrong.

Re: Resurrecting the Rambler
 

Nice car....have you figured what class in Stock Eliminator to run it in (that is if you're going to do such, which would be very cool), because I like to see against the norm race cars, like yours and Norman Warling's '62 Catalina!

Re: Resurrecting the Rambler
 

Gary, this one was specifically built to be a Class car, and the initial thinking was to run it in T/SA, but we'll have to see where the test data leads us. The additional weight I'm forced to put in to make T might kill it so bad I'll have to leave the weight out and move up a class.Too early to predict whether it will end up in R, T or U at this point.

Re: Resurrecting the Rambler
 

The car used to be Q,R, and T. It was a natural R car.

Re: Resurrecting the Rambler
 

Just to clarify for some, at the present time the 79 Spirit 258 2 bbl 6 cylinder car does fall into R naturally. (18.56). As we all know, you can adjust up and down one class.
The 79 AMX model with the same 258 6 cylinder and 2 bbl, based off the same car with the addition of that option package, comes in as a natural T car. (19.38)

Re: Resurrecting the Rambler
 

What's the shipping weight on the two combos? I'm guessing it's at least a 150 lb. difference.

Re: Resurrecting the Rambler
 

1979 Base Spirit 6 cyl auto 2731 lbs

1979 AMX 6 cyl auto 2980 lbs

Difference of 249 lbs. These were the weights quoted on the automobile catalog shipping weight site.

Re: Resurrecting the Rambler
 

NHRA says 2784 for the base model, 2907 for the AMX.

Re: Resurrecting the Rambler
 

Maybe not part of this build just yet but somewhat related to the cause: a junkyard 10 miles away from me, and by junkyard I'm talking a really "out in the boondocks" rural salvage yard operation with even some 50's cars still out in the back sitting quietly in the weeds, hauls in of all things--a black and gold 1978 AMX V8 car that is not wrecked, but rusted down bad and kind of generally torn up. The '78 model was based on the Concord hatchback car, not the Spirit I'm running, but most of the pieces interchange. I don't know where this car has been sitting at for all these years, because I thought I knew them all around these parts, but at least I found out about it getting to the junkyard from my vast network of spies who alert me to such things.

Being the last living guy in our whole area who would care anything about it, of course I have to go and pick it clean of any useful AMX stuff it still has on it before some other vulture gets to it. This has yielded up amongst other rare goodies, a whole complete set of much nicer fender flares for a later repaint and installation on the race car. A couple of the flares currently on the race car are extremely brittle from sun torture and weathering, one had to be fiberglassed back together even, so this was an important score for me.

The latest work on the race car has been to figure out why the neutral safety switch won't work, and that was solved when I took the top panel off the shifter and saw where a wire had fallen off a switch lug. I recently buttoned up the driveshaft loop and put some new tubes and a used set of 28" slicks on the car, along with checking out the line-loc operation. All appears well there. I've also got a non-computer Carter BBD carburetor off a 1975 258 engine soaking in cleaner to rebuild. Only a couple more minor things to do getting the car ready for testing, hopefully this weekend if the weather stays good.
Session #1's goal will just be a few easy passes to check out all systems. Towards the final run or two, I'll mainly be looking to see what 60' and 330' times it will be doing at full throttle if the computer carb doesn't act up too bad. Not expecting too much on the other end just yet because everything in the motor/trans is OEM bone stock right now. I do however, have some old time slips back from 2002 of the blue 80 Spirit in full factory trim I can compare to to see what the weight changing and 4.56 gearing differences have done for it so far. Baby steps...

Re: Resurrecting the Rambler
 

Looks like the 'baby' is only to the crawling stages so far.

I did get a chance to test last Friday night, or at least showed up at the track anyway. Got through tech at opening bell, and being the newest thing not seen yet in these parts, drew a little attention from some other participants before the racing started. Received several nice comments about the car which was pleasing to hear. Other comments were more of total surprise when they saw the 6 cylinder sitting in the engine bay. Lots of explaining to do...many answers to questions.

Now-- the first run was simply supposed to be taking an easy lap and see if everything worked. Before I could get onto the track surface, a guy on the sidelines came running up and said there was something leaking. Had a fuel fitting underneath that was dripping some, so we aborted that run. Took a little while to repair, but got things back to good again.

By now daylight was fading pretty fast, but got one run in where I could see what I was doing. The easy 8th mile pass leaving at 1000 rpm with a bogging carb, an .080 shallow staged light (need to practice!) and lazy and way too early unassisted shifts, netted me an 11.42 at a lofty 59 mph with a 2.42 60'. Now that your laughter has subsided, it wasn't exactly what was hoped for either, I had dreamed of something in the high 10s on the initial try, but I guess it wasn't time to set the world on fire yet. It was too dark out after this run to try anything without making a couple adjustments to the the carb and kickdown linkage, and I realized I had left the flashlight in the other truck back home, so packed it up and will hope for more next Friday night.
I will say that even on the one and only shakedown pass so far, the car surprised me in one aspect: with the additional rear gearing from stock, it sure pulls decently when it gets into high gear, so maybe there's a ray of hope to build on for the next session.
Gotta chip away on that low end now.

Re: Resurrecting the Rambler
 

Just don't get discouraged! It will probably take quite some time to "figure" this combo out unless someone that knows the combo would step in and help you out.

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First time out with a new car? One leak? You did awesome!

You did the whole car over and yet;
it didn't stop charging,
the brakes didn't suddenly become spongy,
the shifter linkage didn't slip/fall off,
it didn't have a bad miss once you actually launched and had it under load on the track,
you didn't turn the key and....nothing....

Avoiding "gremlins" on your first outing, I'd call that a win.

Re: Resurrecting the Rambler
 

Amen!

Re: Resurrecting the Rambler
 

(Laugh)...Yeah, at least I made it down the track finally. I did not see a Gremlin anywhere in the place either. :)
We're OK here---the fuel is staying in the lines, the brakes work, belt stayed on the motor, the starter was tested several times trying to keep the car going with the carb troubles, and it still has the drivetrain pieces all intact!
I will need to go back through the shifter cable adjustment again, first gear is not staying engaged, as it shifts into second on its own even with lever 1 held back, so apparently I don't quite have that right yet.
I also know that I need to move the tach upward more into my field of vision, so will be fabricating a new mounting bracket to make that happen.


No discouragement here, I realize it takes a long time to work the bugs out from doing prior cars, just some sadness realizing that there will not be a whole lot I can do about getting several more time slips to look over until next year. The local track is done for the year with their Friday night testing, so weather permitting there might be a couple more Sunday races for the chance to get more runs in before they close for winter. Right now I need testing laps more than a competition atmosphere.

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Heading into winter, it looks like it's time to turn my energy towards locating some parts and building an engine that will have all the correct NHRA numbers on it they need.
I was fortunate to score a whole '79 258 Jeep engine that has the correct head in place, (but not the right intake), and also had a friend who picked up an intake with the right numbers on it and is saving it for me out in Ohio, so I've now got enough pieces located to start constructing one correct engine. I'd like to get another set of parts to build a backup engine later on, so I'm still searching for one more head with the right number on it. Got plenty of blocks and cranks and rods, so it's just a matter of getting all the important "romance" pieces bought and put into it and a ton of machine work done.
I see money leaving right now at a furious pace...:)

Re: Resurrecting the Rambler
 

Hang in there Brain....I would pick Jim's and
Ed's brain on the engine build.....

I have watched Jim's Pacer run many times here at the local track....
Firebird Raceway....for the opening Div 6 race....

Re: Resurrecting the Rambler
 

The systematic build continues...I'm still accumulating pieces for the future Stocker engine build.

Feast your eyes on this jewel that's just dripping with rust, a lovely 1980 AMC Concord 4 door I bought for $100 back in about 1993 and drove home (with no brakes) that is now being dismantled so it can donate the only correct and useful pieces to me that it has left to offer: it's 258 block and crank. Somewhere under that pile of air conditioning pieces and emission hoses there's an engine. We're booked in at the machine shop early January for hot tanking, sonic check, then line boring and cylinder boring if all looks good.

You know how you sometimes find unexpected "treasures" when parting out an old car?
Found two sets of old tire chains that fit 14" tires in the trunk. Whoo-hoo!

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...and here is the ugly result of the scrap-out. The short block of the engine is all that really mattered to me. However, another unexpected plus was found while underneath the car getting things unbolted--the 904 transmission has a rebuild shop name paint-stenciled onto the pan, so I guess it at least has the benefit of probably being better off than most stuff I have. I'll use it in a future street car.

Of course I like to make things much more complicated by taking the front wheels and disc brake system pieces off before trying to load a car on a trailer. No way would I want something to wench right up on a trailer able to steer on some rolling wheels, as you have seen from previous part-outs on this thread.
Those brake and mounting pieces were sold off to a fellow AMC'er to allow him to put disc brakes on a 70 Hornet project he had.

Next step is to tear down this latest 6 cylinder and get the block to the machine shop for a good check-up and see what we have to work with.

Re: Resurrecting the Rambler
 

i generally get the car on the trailer and THEN pull the brakes and suspension stuff


uhhh your buddy doen't have a 73 rear bumper,does he?