1959 Rambler American Build

i look at it all the time! haven't touched it in almost a year. when the money is all there and i find a window of time... it's on. thinking about late summer. thanks for keeping up farna

 

Farna, I've got the itch! ordered my custom axles for the rear end today. cleaning up a new work area and hopefully get on it again real soon.

 

Great!! I've been thinking hard about whether to make a roadster out of the 62 American two door sedan I have in back of the shop or get an MGB and put my 2.3L turbo Merkur XR4ti motor in. A buddy is building a roadster as well. Slightly different ideas than I was planning, but his is actually an easier build -- I may go his way instead. I was thinking about sectioning the body 3-4", but that would be a lot of work. Lowering the car makes it look short enough, I think. See his roadster at http://sensitiveresearch.com/1961-Rambler-Roadster/.
Click on "chassis work" to see most of what he's done -- body and chassis. Remember, he has the exact same chassis (suspension and such) as you do!

 

good lord...if i even had half that skill, i'd be done by now.
while gathering all my parts back together, looks like in all my wisdom i throw away my rear leaf springs...
any idea what i can use new or used in place?

 

Hmm... did you throw out the front spring mounts too? They bolt on. I don't know off hand what fits, maybe Mustang II/Pinto rear leafs? I don't have the measurements of the originals. Push come to shove I can measure a set from a 63 American. The 58-63 is basically the same chassis, only a few differences, but the suspension on both ends is the same. Only the 58-63 American springs will bolt in with no mods at all, others may need some work.

 

I can't believe I would throw them away. Maybe one of the guys at my shop disposed of them for me. Going to keep cleaning and looking. I know better then that! There's no way I did it on purpose. I'll let you
Know what I find. Thanks for the help.


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I just went out and measured the spring. It's 21" from eye to center, front to back (42" overall). I could be off a little, but that's about right. I measured from the center of the eye on each end to the center of the axle. I was expecting the rear part to be a bit longer than the front, but they are the same!

 

found them!

 

picked up another wagon without Swiss cheese holes in the roof. Working hard to get to paint before spring

 

Wow!! Lucky to find another.. Keep us posted.. Cool project...

 

How bad is the roof? Mostly pin holes or small (1/8" or less) holes? Fiberglass over the whole roof and go. Could give it some texture and make it look like vinyl! I saw a roof that looked like vinyl on a car down here but upon closer look it was truck bed lining! If he'd have sanded it just a bit before painting you'd never have known. The roofs were often painted white, especially in hot climates, to make the car a bit cooler in the summer. No AC in them back then!

 

Where do you guys find your window gaskets, seals--side, rear and slider windows?

 

Check with Peter Stathes -- www.amcrambler.com. He has Rambler seals, and can get some he doesn't have on the website. The pre 65 cars used a fabric welting for the side window seals on the inside and out. 65 or so and later used a rubber squeegee style on the outside. Peter made the rubber style up for my 63 Classic wagon. I wanted tose as mine was going to be a driver, not a restoration.

 

So, does anyone have any advice on how to mount the engine and trans mounts for an s-10 4.3 and auto trans? I'm sticking with the trunnion front end. I found a universal sbc/v6 mount, but now sure how to mount it to the stock front end.

Thanks!

 

I've used a tubular universal mount before. I cut the ends and made inverted L ends so that it dropped between the rails with the leg of the L on top, then drilled and bolted from the top through the sills ("frame" rail). Don't recall any fitment issues, but that was a long time ago. I suspect you will have some, as the suspension is in that same area. Don't recall if I used one or two bolts in the L leg, or where exactly they ended up.

 

The trans crossmember I made from angle iron. It was bolted to the bottom of the sills (again, the "frame" rails of a unit body) through the floor. I used 3/8" carriage bolts. The rounded heads didn't show through the carpet above. With a bit of padding removed right above the head a regular bolt wouldn't show through either though, and would be easier to remove later.

 

Thanks Farna! I figured I can buy this engine mount set up for less than I can fab one for the time/cost to make. As to the trans, I have no carpet yet, so that will work. Do you recall how long those carriage bolts had to be?
Finally... on the trunion front end, If they are frozen from sitting for 20+ years, can they be lubed up and moved through the suspension range to be ok again, or are they done for?

 

Can't recall how long the crossmember bolts were... 4-5"?

The trunnions should be disassembled, cleaned, then reassembled. I always use anti-seize on the threads when assembling, then grease. There are some things you can do to help it lube better. I'm going to give you a link, but note that the guy writing is an electrical engineer and really likes things to be very precise. The trunnion front suspension doesn't have to be exact -- he wants it to be. With that in mind, he made things more difficult than they should be because he wants/expects it to be exact. Just bear that in mind when he says things are difficult to get just right...
http://worldpowersystems.com/AMC/1963-Rambler-American/Suspension/index.html

You can use a threaded stud for the cross pin instead of threading a rod. Industrial fastener supply places (like Fastenal, or try Grainger) will have fully threaded studs. I remember using them in chemical plants to join flanges. If you find the upper trunnion pin has frozen and worn the upper arms, all is not lost! Finding good arms is difficult. You can grind the remaining lip off the upper arms and use thin jam nuts welded to the arms. I did one this way. I put the jam nuts on the outside of the arms. Assemble the suspension out of the car with the jam nuts. Make sure the nuts are tight against the outside of the arm and to the end (the holes will wear toward the inside), then weld. Welding will melt the thick o-ring, so you may have to pull it all apart once welded. Won't hurt to leave the o-rings out for a seldom driven car, just remember to grease occasionally. It will be more difficult to get everything lined up with the threaded jam nuts, but you can. I had to take mine apart later, I think I did it to inspect when I put new springs in.

The shallow threads of the trunnion "caps" (technically called bushings) run easily into the holes in the lower arms. In fact, they run in so easy that you need to do something about that! The bushing thread that goes in the arm is VERY shallow. Not much of a thread at all. If your arms are good you need to use a hammer to slightly tighten the hole (bend the lips of the hole in slightly -- very slightly!), and/or tack weld the bushing in. I usually put a tack to the outside where I could get to it with a chisel to knock off. You don't need much of a tack, just enough to keep the bushing from turning under normal suspension vibration. I lost one a few months after a rebuild -- not fun! Just cause steering to be very erratic and loose, but I bet continued driving would have led to loosing the other one. I drove a few miles to a shop and parked it until I could get the part and get back. Took a week back in 1990. Paid the shop a storage fee, put bushing in, drove home, tack welded. Problem solved. If the lower arms are really bad you can assemble then weld the bushing in, but look for lower arms. Keep the lowers greased and you probably won't ever need to replace the lower trunnion and arms, but once welded you can't get the suspension apart again. Luckily the whole suspension assembly easily comes out with four bolts once the spring has been removed.