Resurrecting the Rambler

[GarysZ24]

Congrats with what you've done thus far, and good luck with all forthcoming Brian! I look forward to seeing/reading about you and your car being out there having fun on the quarter-mile as soon as possible....all the best from out west!

[Pinballer]

Thank you Gary, appreciate hearing that.

The ol' car is essentially ready to go try as it sits, there will be some more improvements and refinements made before the season starts up around here in April, but the majority of those will be pretty minor ones. What I mainly need is track time to do a whole lot of A-B testing with what I have here now. My pile of spare pieces to try out has grown quite a bit over the winter. Extra correct numbered carburetors, intake, a spare head, some factory aluminum valvetrain pieces. The expensive pieces I really need to quicken the car up will have to come as I can afford them.

On the plus side: A "supposed to be rebuilt by my son in his college auto shop class but untested in a car" AMC 904 transmission I picked up as a throw-in on a Jeep guy's garage clean-out deal, turned out to be an A998 model trans which is just like the regular A904 presently in the race car but it has the lower first gear cluster in it and this particular one has no lock-up converter features to have to worry about like most of them had. They used it in the massively underpowered four and six cylinder AMC's and Dodge's in the real early 80's.
It's exactly what the doctor ordered for my Stocker. Low gear for cheap! (if it works...)

[GarysZ24]

I hear ya Brian with regards to the "lock-up" tranny issue. My engine builder Verle Stevens was asked by Marv Ripes "The Founder" of "A1 Torque Convertors", to have my Turbo125 converted to non-lock-up, so he could build a convertor for it. I'm so glad that happened, and the convertor has been great for my car too....good luck with yours!

[Pinballer]

Originally Posted by Pinballer

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.

Been a long time since I had anything to report, but finally the weather and my work schedule cooperated and I got a Sunday test session in.
As you can see in the above quote, the initial shakedown pass from late last year in cool weather, leaving the car in drive, absolutely blistered the 1/8th mile asphalt with an 11.42 . Sorry to report I didn't better that by an extreme amount this time in testing, but I did learn a whole bunch of things while making a total of 6 runs.
Conditions were way less than ideal. It was sunny and ranged from 65 to 75 degrees over the course of the afternoon, which was the great part, but we were running straight into gusting headwinds of 25-35 mph all day long. I haven't done the math to see what factor that would lower the ET's yet, but at this point it isn't that vital. Keep in mind, the engine and trans are still bone stock, the whole idea here is to line out everything else before putting the expensive stuff in place.

RUN 1: 12 noon, OT= 65 degrees. Water temp-150. Left car in Drive for a shakedown pass. Noticed it still shifted very early into 2nd gear even with the kick down linkage left alone and as removed from other Spirit.
ET-11.65 at 58.67 mph. 60' was 2.59. Line loc has decided to not work for some reason, so not a decent burn out on this run. Hmmm...worked last fall. Checked over for any fluid leaks back in pits, everything good. I can hear the line-loc solenoid clicking when button is pushed in, but isn't holding anything. Oh well, I guess I'll foot brake it some on the burn-outs.

RUN 2: 12:45 OT= 69 degrees. Water temp 165. Manually shifted the car into 2nd this time at 4500 rpm. Same for 3rd. Still getting used to pulling on those levers, but I like it! I feel like Butch Leal with a Lenco in hand. Shifts are a little lazy acting, not surprising since this trans has 100,000 miles on it.
ET-11.55 at 58.36 . 60' was 2.48.

RUN 3: 1:45 OT= 71 degrees. Water temp 185, I wanted to get a run in at a normal road use/long-idle-period operating temp which is how I used to run the blue '80 Spirit long ago. Noticed the bite at the line was better, maybe the "green" track is coming around now, or I'm getting the hang of foot-braking a mild burn-out. Shifted the car at 4000 this time, couldn't tell much difference because the kickdown linkage overrides a too-early shift under full throttle and it winds up into the mid 4's regardless.
ET-11.34 at 60.24 .60' was 2.46.
I guess the stock engine likes it hot.

RUN 4: 2:30 OT=75 degrees. Water temp at 185 again. Decided to play with shift points 200 rpm at a time, so moved up to 4200. This run felt very positive all the way thru compared to the others. Results bear that out.
ET-11.24 at 61.48 . 60' was 2.46 .Next run we'll see if things stabilize any.

RUN 5: 4:00, OT= 73. Long clean-up session caused delay between runs. I let the water get up to the 180+ area again and made shifts at 4500 as I did in Run 2. (If that seems like a low shift point, it's because a stock engine doesn't make any power after that anyway.) Took my factory ram-air ducting off and ran it without the air cleaner assembly.
ET-11.36 at 60.40 . 60' was 2.50 . Allowing for the -.04 difference in 60', I'd have to say that running without the air cleaner and ducting certainly isn't helping my cause. Re-installed for last run.

RUN 6: 4:30, OT=72 . Plenty of headwind out there still. Shifting at 4500. Water temp still at 180, trying not to put too many variables in now.
ET-11.28 at 60.48 mph. 60' 2.50 .

So what did I learn? I need a line-loc that works. The last year's only T.T. session showed a 2.42 on a seasoned track, so there's more to be had there. The ram-air system works. If I factor the 60' about the same, the car tends to run about the same ET's accordingly.

Now all I need to bracket this thing some is seat time, my lights were terrible. I was never a shallow stage-er in the past, so I'm learning a new rhythm method for my light countdown. Can't just leave off the bottom bulb with this car, that gets you about a .750 light. With such a slow leave, I'm trying to leave inbetween the 2nd and 3rd bulbs now.
I also need to start spending some money. I'm only 2.4 seconds away from the index. But the drivetrain is holding up and I've got the shifter rod pulls adjusted right where I like them.

[GarysZ24]

If you haven't done it already, I'd strongly recommend your recording your run data in a log book (such as the ones you can get from either Jeg's, or Summit). Although this years log book doesn't allow two pages per race like the older ones did (from Jeg's that is which was better, because they allowed you to record the number of runs on your engine, the oil, and one or two other things), they are great barometers for comparing runs and weather conditions, along with tire pressure, shift points, stahl speed and most importantly wind speed/direction. Moreover, the older ones allowed you to record your actual weight (which can vary from one run to the next), and record notes like you mentioned here. Most importantly for points chaser's (like me), you can (could) note how many points you earned from the race being logged on those pages, and also sum up your total points below it (since points are counted in the NHRA in three ways for sportsman racers. It would be nice if next years log book would not only go back to 2pgs per race, but also leave the lower right of pg. 2 include space for points summaries for divisional, the Jeg's All-Stars, and the Lucas Oil National points as well. I made a request (for part) of this in a voice message to Jeg's, and I hope it will make it's way into next years log book????

Otherwise it sounds like you're headed in the right direction, and once your car is done, it should join the long list of stockers that out-run my Z24 Cavalier (9's in the 1/8th, and 15's in the 1/4, at altitudes of 2600ft and below). Continued success with your Rambler's development, and WELCOME TO STOCK ELIMINATOR DRAG RACING BRIAN!

[Pinballer]

"Once your car is done..."

I like the sound of that! At least the adventure of quickening things up can start now that I know my build work appears to hold together.

[Pinballer]

Test session #2 is complete now at the Coles County 8th mile. Had ideal weather conditions, even a slight tailwind of 5-10 mph when I started out. What a change from last time with the massive headwinds.
Leaving the shift points at 4500, the only change I elected to make from the last session was to set the timing different and adjust the fuel mixture. I actually retarded the timing a little because I was told it might be too far advanced where I had it. OK, we'll try it out.

Run1: Right at 70 degrees outside, car water temp was at 165, a little sluggish off the line and since it was a single pass, I thought I heard the tires scrunch some on the leave.
Remember that I'd already found out the engine needs to be fairly hot to do well, being in it's factory stock state, so I drove it around some in the pits to get things flowing before going up to the line, but it wasn't quite up to it's good old operating temps.
11.05 @ 63.21 60'= 2.44
Already way ahead of the best run it had made before by 2 tenths. What would some of you give to gain 2 tenths ? Lucky for me, it cost nothing. I'm sure that will change from now on.

Run 2: 68 degrees out, car temp up to 180. No changes to anything else.
10.98 @ 63.37 60' = 2.44
Ye-haw! We've cracked the 10's now! The sobering fact is that there's only 1.94 seconds of improvement needed to hit the 8th mile index for T/SA.

Run 3: 67 degrees, sun going down now. Wind calming. Practically hot-lapped the car, only gave it about a 10 minute rest before heading back up. Really felt like I had a good burnout this time, and it bears out on the time slip.
10.98 @ 63.36 60' = 2.39 Definitely a little harder leave, I could feel it in the seat of the pants. I don't think there was any spin at all on this one.

Run 4: 64 degrees, twilight, car at the usual 180 temp. No other changes at all.
The main thing I noticed being different during these runs was that it seemed to be pulling harder in high gear than the previous test session. Weather conditions? Timing change before this session?
10.97 @ 63.36 60' = 2.43
Best ET so far. We'll build from that.

Man, this thing is a real consistent bracket beast if you throw out the first run every time you go to the track! MPH stays the same, and it's within 1 hundredth on three straight runs. Reminds me of the old glory days with one of my other deadly consistent AMC cars.
I'd like to get this AMX to the 1/4 mile now at St. Louis or Indy and get some real-world data from that, but it will have to wait for a couple weeks. Stay tuned.

[Pinballer]

Been a long time coming, but my 1/4 mile session finally happened with the powertrain still in it's factory stock condition. When I say stock, I mean stock: stock torque converter, engine driven fuel pump, and even the bulky 75 lbs worth of cast iron exhaust manifold and catalytic converter are still hanging under there.

Without reporting all the nuances of the 1/4 mile test session up at US 41 in northern Indiana, the initial run--which up to now has always been useless to gauge anything from--was a 17.48, and was eventually honed down by launch style, engine temp, timing, and shift point changes to a 17.20. Other than 4.56 gears and slicks and the addition of enough weight to get it right for T/SA, there has been nothing else changed as far as performance pieces whatsoever. I could drive this car to work every day right now if I wanted to!

So, this ends what I call 'Stage 1', which was to get the car constructed and go up and down the track(s) to get some baseline data. It didn't hurt to get ME used to doing this drag racing stuff again, it had been a long 15 years since I'd been up and down the track with any regularity. I'm tuning into the tree a little better now.

Stage 2 will begin now. I'll be taking the engine/trans out of the car and adding a converter and low geared trans to the mix. The engine will now get the redone head that's been waiting, a big dose of stocker camshaft, a fuel system, and the addition of headers. I'll return and update again here when the car is ready to go try.

I only need about 3 seconds of ET reduction to get into the show. (wow)

[pfordamx]

it seems to me like big gains at those speeds are easier to come by takes less hp to make a big difference. with what you suggested i could see it picking up alot, just from experience tinkering with stockish amcs on a drag strip i'd suggest a good electronic ignition msd would be preferred they make a huge difference.

[Pinballer]

The mid-year "rebuild" is going pretty good. The stocker cam is in, the freshened correct numbered head and intake is on, the headers are installed, motor is back in the bay, and all that's holding things up is some more transmission work.

While waiting for parts I had some downtime, so I put it to use painting my balls.