Resurrecting the Rambler

[Pinballer]

Originally Posted by Tom keedle

i'm sure this isn't the ranch you're talking about but....http://www.ramblerranch.com/rr/

Hey Tom,
I was being somewhat facitious when I used those terms, they're ones some of my friends use in conversation, and the picture on here of those nice early Ramblers was -certainly- not my place!
Try to imagine a little ol' country salvage yard with 30 cars out back in the bramble patches, a few decent driver-types lining the driveway on both sides, a big pole building with 2 really nice collector cars hidden inside and 300+ pinball machines blocking them in right now. There is a wife in the 1880's one room schoolhouse we re-fashioned into a country home we like to call "Little Shack on the Prairie", and she wishes ALL of my stuff was gone. There you have my place.

[Tom keedle]

Originally Posted by Pinballer

Hey Tom,
I was being somewhat facitious when I used those terms, they're ones some of my friends use in conversation, and the picture on here of those nice early Ramblers was -certainly- not my place!
Try to imagine a little ol' country salvage yard with 30 cars out back in the bramble patches, a few decent driver-types lining the driveway on both sides, a big pole building with 2 really nice collector cars hidden inside and 300+ pinball machines blocking them in right now. There is a wife in the 1880's one room schoolhouse we re-fashioned into a country home we like to call "Little Shack on the Prairie", and she wishes ALL of my stuff was gone. There you have my place.

it's all good....I've been to the one I've posted, believe me, 30 cars ain't even a dent in what he's got it's really a "must see" for amc guys..he DID get hailed on bad last year and I haven't been down there for a year or 2...

[Pinballer]

(Still in November sometime)
Back to the build, or teardown--whatever the situation demands...

While the auto shop bay was tied up, I focused some attention on planning the next steps to go through on this car. Still need to get the peripheral useless stuff off of it, like wiper pieces, heater box and fan, and various other unneeded weighty pieces not important like body dum dum and interior insulation around the firewall.
Will also need to replace the wood-grained looking dashboard pieces with some brushed aluminum looking pieces like the AMX model would have had. Probably not a big deal, the tech guys most likely would never care, but if it's going to be called an AMX we might as well get it as right as we can.
The other thing was how to proceed with the engine build. For the time being, I'm going to leave the '80 car engine alone and put it into the build car in order to accomplish two things:
1) I need to get this car mobile as soon as I can so as not to be a burden to the shop I'm so graciously allowed to work in.
2) Doing this will allow me to iron out other driveline components while the car can move on its own power. Makes it possible to do some initial testing on track this spring to find out some things too, like what size front tires to run so I can cut a light in this pig! Also gives me the chance to weigh it race ready, and record all the parts changes I make in a gradual manner and determine what helps and what doesn't.
All this will mean pulling another 258 2 bbl engine and automatic from a 4 door 1979 Concord I have out back that will be sent off for some real lovin' while the mule motor is propelling the race car. The Concord was destined for scrap anyway, so nothing good is being destroyed, and it clears out another space back there. Have to wait for the ground to freeze in order to make getting it out easier though.

So, thought I'd give the mule motor a little coat of AMC blue and get things spiffier looking for the re-install.

[Pinballer]

(Thanksgiving weekend)

The heater box assembly is now out of the car-- what an ordeal! Took the better part of a whole afternoon.
Unbelievable amount of screws, dash pieces, steering column drop, etc etc, even some rivets had to get sheared off. I have sympathy for anybody on the auto shop clock working on switching out a heater core in one of these.

Tackled the wiper piece removal too, and continued on stripping out useless weight like the sound deadener, cabling, some wires behind the dash, the speakers, and various other little things in the engine compartment. We're to this point now.

The result picture is showing the dashboard pieces stacked all over the top of the car and a firewall that's getting cleaner all the time. Got a few wires to select and keep, most will go away.

[Pinballer]

(catching up into mid December)

After more engine bay clean-up and some more removal of unnecessary items in there, I washed it all off with prep-sol, touched up some areas that were crying for paint, and got things ready for the re-install of the mule motor. New motor and trans mounts went on, and the cherry picker came out. This is a real shoe-horn process with the trans attached, but if you go slow and keep re-adjusting the angles, it just does slide in.
You'll notice in the pictures that I tried to fabricate a more AMX-ish looking grille, it was a mesh type from the factory, but mine just isn't doing much for me. Nothing like having an original, so I'll keep looking.
After the drivetrain was installed, it kind of perks you up some to keep going harder. However, with the prime season for the pinball business I do, Christmas season, I'll be torn away from this project some for a while playing Santa and delivering some customer machines. When that calms down some it'll be back to build time. Need to get the dashboard all put back together next, and then finish up the front suspension rebuild on the left side.

[Dwight Southerland]

If you have not do so, you need to become a member of these sites:


http://amccars.net
http://theamcforum.com


Both sites have classified forums much like ClassRacer.com where you can post what you are looking for. Also, the AMC enthusiasts seem to be very helpful to their own.

[Steve OB]

Looking good Brian!!!!

[Pinballer]

Originally Posted by Dwight Southerland

If you have not do so, you need to become a member of these sites:


http://amccars.net
http://theamcforum.com


Both sites have classified forums much like ClassRacer.com where you can post what you are looking for. Also, the AMC enthusiasts seem to be very helpful to their own.

Thanks Dwight, I have been to both in my searches for information already. There is another group I used to be part of many years ago, it is the NAMDRA organization which is the AMC racing arm of the hobby. Good place for finding specialty racing pieces geared to AMC's.

(Catching up to present day, Jan 11th 2016)
The dashboard is all back in place and the parts pile on top of the car is shrinking. Part of the dashboard redo involved me trying to put a brushed aluminum applique over the woodgrain plastic. I was trying to cut pieces off a bulk roll and fashion them into the proper size for dash piece, and the end result didn't thrill me a whole lot, but it serves the purpose of making the car more AMX-ish. I have plenty of aluminum decal left, so I may try this again on the spare pieces I have from the parted out car and see if Try #2 goes better.
Currently I'm sorting through the wiring nest in the engine compartment, it's a mystery because I'm retrofitting an older engine into a newer system that used a computer and a whole raft of different componentry, but it will turn out fine. Nothing a pinball guy can't handle, I'm used to seeing about 30 miles worth of wiring in all those ancient machines I fix.
Time to order several pieces now for future installations, the credit card will be taking a post Christmas beating!

The console with gauges cleaned up pretty nice, more interior pictures on the next post when I get them resized...