Hot Rods 1964 Rambler American engine swap

Hi everyone just joined the forum. I have a question to ask about a 1964 rambler american I am getting one as a first car and I want to do an engine swap. My question is would a 440 work in it or would a have to choose a different engine? thanks

 

Anything will fit,but you may have to do some suspension & steering modifications,the only way you will know is to get the engine out and drop in the 440. HRP

 

thanks

 

Remember that every modification generates three more modifications. As HRP mentioned, it can be done, but there might be more practical choices. Of course, we once cut a huge hole in the firewall of my 1940 Ford coupe to put a 390 FE motor in, so practical might not be the only thing we value around here.

 

If you're new to this, don't jump in over your head. I appreciate your enthusiasm but take this slow, think it through and get some help and advice from guys who are more experienced. If you don't do this, you WILL end up with a pile of parts, a ruined car, or a cobbled together piece of crap. Please take this advice. It sounds like you are new to this and we would all like to see you be successful and not end up broke and discouraged.

It's not likely that anyone here has done this particular swap so it will take a lot of measuring to see if it will work and it could involve a lot of fabrication, building mounts, changing the firewall profile, moving steering box, etc. Who knows? You won't know until you get in there. The best thing to do is get the 440 hung in the engine compartment and see what fits and what doesn't. Like I said, get help from someone who knows what they're doing. That's how you'll learn.

If you're asking because you happen to have a good 440 hanging around, don't forget that just because you already have something doesn't make it the best choice. If during your research you find out that something else would work better you could always sell the 440 or trade for what you need. I don't know squat about Ramblers, but aren't there some AMC V8's that will swap in? I'm assuming you have the 6 cylinder at present?

The Rambler guys might be able to offer you more specific advice. There are a few of them on here it seems. Keep in mind that a Rambler will never be a traditional hotrod but for a first car it might be an affordable foot in the door with regard to building skills and the whole concept of hot rodding, engine swapping, etc. In any case, this site is filled with people who have amazing skills and knowledge that might be willing to help you get where you want to go with this.

 

thank you for the help

 

Thank you

 

Use the 290-390 V8 that they came with.

 

In my teens a friend was given a 64 Rambler and my grandparents had a old caddy with a 500 cubic inch engine,somehow we managed to shoe horn it in with minimal modifications,they were not pretty and they lacked any real knowledge of what we were doing,yet we took it to the drag strip and ran pretty well. HRP

 

If you are stuffing a B/RB in a '64 rambler you are making a blivit. If that is what you got to work with you are going to need a big shoehorn. LOL

The tall deck blocks are a little harder to work with than the low decks and you will have to work around your oil filter, probably a remote oil filter will be your best bet. So width and oil filter are going to be your biggest headaches.

When you out a B/RB in an A body MOPAR is it offset 2" toward the passenger that is something that you should keep in mind. I have a 9" axle housing set up that way already if you decide to go that route let me know I can set you a housing up or maybe you can land this one if I don't use it.

Your front suspension is not going to hold the weight, so heavier springs or something to help the old ones is probably a good idea.

You are no doubt going to end up building or modifying a set of headers. If you are a novice fenderwell headers are the easiest to build. Anyway you slice it you will probably end up with a bunch of snakes.

Listen to @HOTRODPRIMER shove the beast in there and see what you have to do to git er done. take pics and ask when you hit a bump in the road.

A lot depends too on if you are using this '64 rambler



or this one

 

Somewhere, buried deep in the dark recesses of the search button, is a 440 Rambler swap.
My CRS does not allow me to recall the when or who parts......
Hopefully, someone else will offer the thread.

.

 

This one? http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/1964-770-rambler-gasser.573292/

 

Well, a gasser circumvents a lot of steering and exhaust issues that go with the swap.

 

small block Chevy fit VERY nicely in my old Javelin...just sayin'

 

440 is too big.

The 64 was made before Rambler made the big change over to new engines so a later model Rambler motor won't even fit.

The only bolt in swap would be an American Motors 287 or 327 from before 1966. Who wants one of those, or can find one.

If you HAVE to do an engine swap the good old Chev small block 305 or 350 would be about the easiest and cheapest.

Better solution might be to sell the car and buy one with a V8 if that is what you want.

Best solution of all might be to clean up the old Rambler, tune it up and drive it. A V8 might be twice as good as a 6 cylinder but a 6 cylinder is 10 times as good as no car at all.

Drive it around for a couple of months THEN decide what you want to do about the engine.

 

Boring....

 

You just want to drop a 440 in it because it is a "440" trim-level American, don't you? Admit it.

 

Aren't you glad its not a Dodge 880 lol.

 

I have seen a 440 in a Gremlin and the spring towers and front end are very similar to a '64 and newer American. I had a '66 American and went with an AMC 360. The crossmember needs to be changed to use factory parts for mounts. I've seen other Americans with small block Chevys and Fords and they fit pretty good.

Gary

 

The 64-65 Rambler AMERICAN never came with a V-8 because as Rusty said, AMC hadn't switched from the old 287/327 (Gen1) to the newer, smaller and lighter 290-390 models (Gen2, and 304-401 Gen3). Even the Gen 1 AMC V-8 would be a tight fit, it's dimensionally similar to a big block. Now Bill Kraft Rambler out west shoehorned a built 327 (bored and stroked to just over 400 inches) in one for a drag car though. In 66 AMC dropped the new 290 in the American. The suspension and main chassis is pretty much the same in the American from 64-69, so you an get the crossmember from a 66-69 V-8 American along with the engine and engine mount side plates that bolt to the blcok, and drop one right in. The plates and crossmember from a 1970-1979 V-8 Hornet, Gremlin, Concord, or Spirit will fit also. All the bigger car have a different crossmember and side plates. The bigger car plates are about an inch further out from the block than the small car plates. Big car plates can be shortened though. A company called BullTear (www.bulltear.com) makes a conversion mount to put an AMC V-8 onto a six cylinder crossmember for the AMC small cars though. That's the way to go. I believe they could be slightly modified to fit other small blocks, but will require some welding and drilling (the engine side plate).

You can squeeze a big block in an American, but if this is your first swap I'd stick with a small block. The bigger Ramblers (made for the Gen1, or even later models) can take a big block with a lot less trouble. The Javelin and 68-74 AMX were based on the small cars, but are a bit wider in the engine bay (and use a wider crossmember). They are only a couple inches wider, but that makes a huge difference in a swap situation.

The only other issue you will have is finding a narrow enough rear axle. 90-92 Ranger axles are about the right size, as are Ford Maverick. The early Ranger 8.8" and Maverick 9" are hard to find though. Your American has a 7-9/16" ring gear, about the same strength as the Ford 8" or later 7.5". It has an odd driveshaft though. If it were me I'd consider using a Ranger 7.5". It's strong enough for a small block cruiser occasionally tromped on, especially if you keep with street tires that fit the wheel wells (I'd run 215 width tires on 7" wheels, but I think 8" wheels with 225 or 235 will just barely fit). The tires will break loose with lots of power, not the rear axle. 93+ Rangers have an axle 1.5" wider, and the 8.8" is easy to find in those. You can run deeper offset wheels and be fine. The early Explorer 8.8" is 1.5" wider than the late Ranger (3" wider than early Ranger). Explorer axles have the diff offset 3-4" to one side. The fix for a narrow 8.8" is to take an Explorer axle and get a spare short side axle shaft. Shorten the long side tueb to accept the short side axle and you have a 3" narrower axle that fits the American, and rear disc brakes.

 

Only if you find rambler tail lights to be boring.

Back when I was still young, before the advent of street rodders with lawn chairs, cry baby dolls, and crate motors but after fuzzy dice were in vogue and people still had some idea what they represented. We used to build 327 Chevies to stuff into sleepy Ramblers, it didn't take a lot of fab work to make one fit and we often pretended that our 327 was just a stock Rambler American 327 with glass packs. I have seen more then one B/B get its ass handed to it by gramma's old Rambler. There is absolutely nothing boring about a rambler with a built small block.

One thing that everyone needs to keep I mind is that we are not street rodders with lawn chairs and cry baby dolls and when the little chevy that could took the world by storm it was the engine to have, traditionally speaking that is.

 

Still boring to see SBC in everything....

 

Spoken like someone who was not there. We are not a street rod site so I would think that you would overlook the mainstreamers. hell on this site we could literally say the same for flatheads couldn't we.

by the way what's that whale in your avatar run? I would think that anything slower then 13 would be pretty boring.

 

'55 Chr 331

 

I know I'll probably catch shit for this , but I'd put an AMC engine in it to keep it true to the bloodlines . Putting Chevy engines into Fords , Fords into Chevies , and Chrysler engines into whatever rubs me the wrong way . I think the chassis / body determines what kind of engine tranny combo you should choose . Each manufacturer has plenty of options to choose from if you want an upgrade or a fast car . The exception is if you are building a drag car or gasser for racing only but that is a different deal altogether . I'd build an AMC Rambler sleeper and kick some ass .

 

Here's my old 65 with 350/400 and braced 9"...

 

Being an AMC/Rambler guy you'd think I'd ju.mp on the "keep it AMC" bandwagon, but I also consider myself a hot rodder and don't. The biggest hurdle with using an AMC V-8 is getting an AMC 2WD trans. Of course you can use a GM trans adapter. But that's an added cost, so why not use the GM engine? Finding AMC V-8s isn't too hard, depending on the part of the country you're in. 360s are the most common, mostly found in old Grand Wagoneers these days (made through 1991). They used TF727 Chrysler trannys since about 1980, but it's an AMC bolt pattern trans to the end -- other Chrysler trannys won't bolt up, but everything EXCEPT the bolt pattern to engine is the same as other Chryslers (well, the flexplate is different). Old big Jeeps aren't easy to find anymore. Easiest AMC engien to find is the ubiquitous AMC 258 six. Well, the 4.0L itteration is probably easiest to find now. I have a hopped up 4.0L in my wagon (my avatar). It's as strong as a stock 360, so it's no slouch, and would be better in the lighter American.

 

How boring is it?

 

Didn't HRM have a Rambler project going a few years back? Seem to recall them dropping a 340/360 Mopar in by replacing the K member with a bone yard part. Went pretty smooth as I remember it. Might be worth a little research time.