Re: Resurrecting the Rambler
 

Hang in there, and hopefully they'll all stay together and you'll get that car to make some full runs, so good and solid that the engine will run as if to tell you this was fun, let's do it again!!!! I'm no good with engine work myself, so I thank God for Verle Steven's Enterprises who built my motor back in 1996. The motor was so good that he put together, that I haven't yet had to refreshen it since 1996! I hope all of those parts in your valve train stay together so that you'll have your motor running as it should next time, and everytime thereafter!

Better luck going forward....

Re: Resurrecting the Rambler
 

258's with the bridge style rockers will do this with a Stocker type cam and lifters. ...Especially if the rockers are the newer replacements ,not the OEM's. .... The stock length pushrods are too long due to the amount of material removal on the deck and head to get to the minimums.

....At max lift the pushrod is very near to popping out with a Stocker type lifter with little bleed down .
on Ed Fernandez's Gremlin I used much shorter pushrods with 210 degree tips
The 258 will pull thru 5800-6000 rpm with a Stocker cam and springs
BBD carbs take a little care on adjustment of the metering rod tree and acc. pump but should have very sharp throttle response.
unfortunately the AMX package adds a lot of extra weight on a car that has precious little to remove ,save the seats and factory wiring harness. ....
You can save 15# on the front by using the 4 cyl disc brakes ,but they are hard to find . ......I'm assuming aftermarket brakes are not in the budget .

Re: Resurrecting the Rambler
 

Thanks Tom. Besides adding a new regulator in and getting the fuel pressure back down to 5.5 lbs, I checked into the carb in the areas you mentioned and changed a couple things, and doing that improved the throttle response a lot and allowed me to bring the idle down quite a bit.
As far as the pushrod pop-out issue, I haven't changed any of the block or head geometry from stock yet, pushrods are still the stock length and nothing has been shaved down any on the head or block. I will on the next motor I do though so your advice will work wonders then. The rockers are still the OEM bridged pieces, so I'll just have to watch things and solve it one problem at a time from there. Valve springs might be a touch weak, I didn't go all out on those.

As of right now, the over-weight of the car is somewhat insignificant to me as I'm more interested in getting it to launch and run hard all the way down the track first. Baby steps.