I don’t know anything about the Ramblers. Mostly the T-86/R10 or T-85/R11 used in the Fords. I do know there was a T-89/R11 that may have been in the larger V8 Ramblers. Either way, I doubt you can adapt one of those cheaper than you can find the Ford combos. If they’re really cheap, pick them up just for the solenoids, governors, relay, and whatever switches and harnesses they’ll let you pull. On those off topic engines, you can probably get the matching 5 speed from the junkyard way cheaper than any machine work. They’ll have ratios designed for the engine and vehicle weight. Please tell me that’s not in the future for the Ranchero.
I drive a slammed rusty school bus with a U-Haul front end and a rusty c40. Building a slammed rusty step van and a rusty 56 wagon. Drove a beater 57 f100 to school only because the family wouldn’t let me drive the homemade log trucks and skidders to school. wished my local scrapyard would get a nice looking rambler like the one you posted. It’s dang near perfect
Thank you Anthony As to your original post, if you can find a way to make it work cheap, I’d be all for it. I’m a fan of the Ford units I’ve had, all mid 50’s.
My first Rambler was a 1962 model .... was pretty cool because the front seat folded down to a bed meeting the rear seat ... pretty cool stuff for a 15 year old kid. I paid $65 for it from a client on my paper route ..... The clutch was gone just non existent. What a pita to replace the clutch on that for a 15 year old kid. .... Has a enclosed driveline and had to drop the rear end to get the transmission out. ..... I did get it all done and back on the road with no help from elders. ..... Then I sold it quickly for a profit ..... $175??? It ran and drove. Just saying they are cool cars ..... enclosed drive lines sure turned me off of them.
Way, way back in a previous century, my girlfriend’s brother had one of those, about the same color as the one you posted! Of course at the time he hated it and folks kinda made fun of it. But…I always thought it had appeal and thought…if we dropped a V-8 in that car???? But he traded it off for an unmentionable, here. Thanks for the reminder…of that car! ( and my old girlfriend) lol Bones
The 195.6 (commonly called a 196... the actual inches was a Nash thing from before AMC...) use a little T-96 trans. No synchro on first, so you DO NOT down-shift into first on the move -- chips teeth! The Twin-Stick is more or less a gimmick. It shifts FIVE forward gears, but you don't use the second stick. The right stick just locks overdrive in or out. The old Borg-Warner OD units (all the OD units behind three speeds were built by Borg-Warner -- everybody used them) have a free-wheeling clutch (one way clutch) to prevent the OD unit from over revving the engine when going down hill. If the rear wheels turn faster than the trans there is no engine braking. So in the mountains where you needed engine braking, or when trying to push start the car, you pushed the OD lever forward. That locks OD out. That should only be done with the car not in motion. If OD is engaged and you try to lock it out it could damage the trans. The lever can be pulled back into the "IN" position at any time though, so you could use engine braking going down a hill then engage OD. It CAN be locked out while moving, but OD MUST be disengaged, and it's not recommended. So how do you get five forward speeds out of a three speed trans with OD? First, you build a special trans. If you shift it with OD locked out the thing will fall flat on it's face when you do a normal speed shift from 2nd to 3rd. There is a big jump in gear ratios! It would be like driving a four speed and skipping 3rd, just going straight from 2nd to 4th. So what you do is start in 1st gear, shift to 2nd, then (with OD in) left off the gas pedal. OD will automatically shift in, giving you 3rd gear. Note the button on top of the left shifter (3 speed shifter). When you shift from 2nd actual (which is 3rd... 2+OD) you press that button. That's the OD kick-down button. So what you're doing is kicking out of OD AS YOU SHIFT into actual 3rd. That give you 4th gear. Once in gear and up to speed you let off the gas pedal again and you get 5th gear (3+OD). There are some mechanical and vacuum switches involved in this whole mess, but it works. At least going forward. You can see that it would be hard to down-shift some gears. From 5th to 4th you just hit the button on the shifter. Can't down-shift to 3rd (2+OD) though. If you're in 3rd you can down-shift to 2nd by pressing the button. You can rig a normal OD to work like this electrically. There really is no point though, 2+OD on a normal OD trans is about the same as 3rd gear. It's a bit complicated to make it work automatically without the clutch though. Most OD units have a kick-down switch on the accelerator linkage somewhere so that when you floor it OD kicks out and it down-shifts. When it kicks down (button on T-S or normal OD) the ignition is interrupted (shorts out coil) for a few revs. You can't have the engine putting pressure on the trans when OD kicks out. If you have ti straight wired (toggle switch on the solenoid) you have to use the clutch when you kick it down. That's why the wiring shorts the coil, killing the engine for a few revs. If you don't use the clutch or kill the engine it overloads the little shafts on the planetary gears in the OD unit and one or more will eventually snap, jamming inside the big drum gear and ruining the OD unit. the trans won't explode or anything, but the planetaries jam in place. Has the same affect as locking out OD -- just permanently. Do you really need to know how I know this?? You won't notice the engine being killed -- it's really just a few revs! Feels like a slight hesitation if you feel it at all. You usually don't feel it over the down-shift. The kick-down relay in the T-S and the kicks-down switch on a normal OD cut the engine off then immediately back on, it's only off for like half a second.
The T-96 trans was supposedly used in early Falcons with the 144/170/200. I don't know about the input shaft length, but bolt pattern to bell is supposedly the same. So it might be possible to use one of those Ford engines with it. The little T-96 trans is just adequate for the 196 and Ford 200. It will take a little more power, but not a lot. AMC used it behind a 232 in the bargain basement Gremlin in 70 and 71, but they had a heavier duty version made. It was barely adequate for a stock 232. The weak point (once you get over the non-synchro first gear) is the synchro. No speed shifting! Normal driving with a small engine and it's fine. Start horsing around and driving it hard and you'll break the synchro. It usually jams in gear (2nd or 3rd) when one of the little dog clutches in the synchro break off and jams things up. Well, the first one or two usually break out and get ground up, the last one (and sometime two) jam.
This '63 wagon that was at SEMA in '17 is bitchin https://www.hagerty.com/media/people/suzy-bauter-amc-rambler-wagon/
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