1959 Rambler American Build

I've been lurking for years and finally decided to start a build thread on my Rambler. Hopefully looking for some ideas and insight that ya'll have!

Car had a good running flathead with a three speed but plan on this being my daily driver so needed a little more reliability and HP never hurts!

plans are...unless you have better ideas...

stock front end
brakes and shocks are new might need bushing and trunions
2.3 turbo from 86 svo
world class t-5
svo rear 3.73 gears shortened to 57"
stock steelies and dog dish caps
stock mustang tank..cheap and it has the high pressure pump already


not sure yet on...
brake master tilton?
wiring rebel wire?

Couldn't sleep the other morning so flathead came out and turbo went in. Sorry dont know how to rotate the pic.

Cut the inner well out and left the outer alone. Heater box might not go back in without a little mod. Oil pan fits great over the cross member.

Working out how to post better pics.

 

love old two door wagons, and ramblers, so you got a real cool rod going there, keep us updated

 

I am putting a 374 Packard V8 in a 55 Nash Rambler Country club. Would like to keep informed as to what you have to do to get the new engine in there. My only concern would be the front suspension, but I am leaning toward a Mustang II unit.

 

Rebuilding the stock suspension is way expensive. I got a price of 2k but that included all four trunions. Which I probably don't need all four. The bushing I'm sure cam be mic'ed and found for cheaper. Remember the stock flathead is really heavy. That front end can take a lot. I've seen a 59 wagon with a mustang ii in it. Looks like a lot of work then you have to run a huge offset wheel. Boyd's...Yule!


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Yuck not Yule. Damn auto correct.


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Inner fenderwells


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Just got done looking at a 53 Rambler thread that is a few years old, but I had told the dude about a Corvair suspension. He really thought that might be the trick. Think I will try and find some Corvair Hambers and get some measurements. Yeah that Flathead 6 is heavy, maybe a 100 lbs lighter than the Packard 374, but I really think I can shoe horn that V8 into my 55. The other dude's post has measurements of the frame and it looks like 21" between frame rails, which is not big, not small, do able though. (I tucked a 60 degree Ford V6 in a 74 Courier with an 18 inch frame and got it to work quite well)

So we shall see. I might be doing some measurements of my own this weekend and see what I am up against. Let you know.

 

The Corvair suspension is going to be a bit wide, but it does bolt out. Try a Chevette -- I think it's similar to the Corvair, but might be welded in. The Fiero used the Chevette front suspension. I had a Chevette with a 1.8L Isuzu diesel engine from the factory, 84 model. Don't know how hard the diesel components would be to get now, but the springs are definitely stiffer to hold that little diesel up! Car actually handled REAL good, if it had only had decent power to match the handling it would have been real fun!

The trunnions for the Rambler have gone out of site recently, especially the upper ones. The lowers generally can be disassembled, cleaned, the put back together though. The big wear issue is in the vertical part. If the thing wasn't maintained (greased!) for the last 5-10 years of its driving life the threads can wear enough that the vertical pin will pull out. Don't want that to happen, just like breaking off a lower ball joint! I always reassemble with anti-seize, tack weld the horizontal bushing to the arm (just a single tack that can be struck off with a chisel, just enough to keep it from vibrating loose and turning in the arm), then grease.

The upper trunnion is actually easy to repair, only you have to take it to a machine shop and use a carbide bit ti drill the stuck hardened horizontal pin out. After that it's easy! See the AMC/Rambler stuff under 63 American at www.wps.com. Don't let him scare you about the front suspension being hard to assemble though. It's easy! Tom (site owner) is just a stickler for precise assembly, and that front suspension is anything BUT precise! The lower trunnion moves up to 1/8" forward and back (1/16" forward, 1/16" backward) as the suspension moves through full travel! It's not precise, just put it together so nothing binds and it's good to go.

 

When you say trunnion, are you talking about control arm bushings or king pin pivot assemblies?

Also there is a guy at a nearby Walmart that has a Chevette. I think I will go over there and do some picture taking.

 

Nash developed a joint to replace king pins a few years before ball joints were developed. They called them "trunnion joints". So I guess it's the kingpin pivot assemblies. They are similar to a universal joint but with only three "caps". The "caps" on the control arms look like big acorn nuts and screw onto threaded studs and into the control arm at the same time. The "king pin" (steering knuckle) is threaded on the bottom and screws into the lower trunnion. The whole lower assembly rides on 5/8" standard threads. The upper trunnion on the big cars and 50-53 Nash Rambler are similar to the lower, except that there is a hole with a bushing or needle bearings (early were all needle, 63+ were plain bushing for sixes, needle for V-8s) that the steering knuckle passes through instead of a threaded hole. On the 54-55 Nash Rambler and 58-63 American the upper trunnion is different -- it's a solid casting with a vertical hole with needle bearings (never a bushing on the small Americans/Nash Ramblers) and a threaded cross pin that goes through the casting and into the arms.

It's actually an elegantly simple joint. Much better than a king pin style joint, not quite as flexible as a ball joint. The only disadvantage is that you can only get about three degrees of caster before the vertical joints start to bind, but three is usually enough.

I love simple engineering vs. overly complicated things. There is an elegance in simplicity! The ball joint is rather simple in concept, but not in manufacturing. Nash came out with the trunnion in 1950, ball joints (which were more expensive to manufacture) came out in 1953 or 54, first in some Ford products IIRC. By 55-56 everyone but AMC and Studebaker was using ball joints. I don't think they weren't developed by the auto manufacturers, but by some outside engineering firm. I haven't researched who, just when.

 

Farna,
I want to put a wider wheel in the back. Any ideas which steelie to use that will match the stock front wheel?

Also, what was the name of the place you can order springs from?

 

a MII frt end can be narrowed 2" and still use a stock rack....this is the right width and allows for at least 7" frt rims with orig sheet metal an S 10 2wd rear is perfect width and allows 8" wheels.....

 

A 7" wheel is about all that will fit. I've run 205's with not problems, and a 215 should fit, but I wouldn't go any bigger than that. You may be able to use an 8" wheel with 215s, I'm not sure. I'd run 7" wheels on the front too, those little 6" stock wheels are narrow! 195s fit the stock wheels, but 7" wheels with 195s or 205s would be better.

Coil Spring Specialties will make springs for you, takes 4-6 weeks for custom orders. www.coilsprings.com.

 

There was a Rambler Wagon for sale on Hot Rod Hot Line a while back. The body was put on an S-10 chassis. It ran a sbc and auto. The paint scheme came from a '56 Chevy Nomad. White/Blue. The '56 side and tailgate trim was painted on. It looked like a little Nomad. I sold my '32 and offered to buy the Rambler but never heard from the guy. Years later, I saw it was for sale but now it's gone.

 

Sounds like Cool build. Tune up the stock front end and it will be fine,M2 doesn't really ride that well for the money. Don't be afraid to narrow up something to fit.

 

I saw a pic of that car somewhere. It's a shame they stuck an S-10 chassis under it. The old Rambler unit body has rails from bumper to bumper, it's VERY MUCH stiffer than modern unit bodies -- the short wheelbase Rambler is one of the stiffest unit bodies out there! Tune up the stock front end is really all you need to do, don't be afraid of different like so many people are! Even if everything had to be replaced at around $2K you're still ahead of the game, as M2 components would cost about the same then still have to be installed. If you can do it yourself you're just out a couple days work, but paying someone could cost another $2K. The old Rambler has better steering geometry and a better ride than M2 as well.

 

Just picked up an NOS bumper on Craigslist for 80 bucks!


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More than likely a couple hundred and rebuilt trunnions and I'm good. I was told that the front stock replacments need to be the exact recoil and rebound length as stock. Didn't know that and a pair of Monroe's that are close. Maybe the experts can tell me. Almost have the front engine mount done. Should have pics in the morning.


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The shocks just need to be close. You can get gas charged replacements from Kanter (www.kanter.com) or from Galvin's Rambler Parts (www.ramblerparts.com).

 

Did you look for a Ford Aerostar van front end? I believe they are a 6 or 8 bolt in out unit with everything carried on the X member. Same bolt pattern wheels. might be wide at 62 inches.

 

Motor mount done.


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Front track on the little Rambler is 55", 56" on the 64-69. On the big 56-66 Ramblers it's 59", 67-78 is 60" (rounded to nearest whole numbers). You can squeeze another inch under any of them, to go more than that will probably require deeper offset wheels. You could use FWD or modern 4x4 deep offset wheels front and rear to use the Aerostar front end under a big Rambler, then use spacers on the back to bring the rear track up or change to a Ford Ranger or Explorer axle and use the deep wheels there too, but it's still too wide for the little Rambler.

 

Neat the way you mounted the engine. Are you using mounts on the bell housing or are you making a rear trans crossmember and mount? I mounted an early 2.3L Pinto engine in a 54 or 55 Nash Rambler years ago -- used the original crossmember with mounts similar to what you did on the engine. Drilled the bell and made brackets to use the stock rear mounts, but put a light trans crossmember in too. Didn't trust the trans case to hang back there like the old cast iron one did...

 

Cool project,,subscribed. HRP

 

I've been working on the wiring. Pain In The Ass! Rebel wire inside (easy). 1986 Svo diagrams horrible! Wiring is done. Waiting to add a pick up on original tank from donor Svo. Fuel lines and battery and ready to fire. Farna, tranny crossmember is basically a round tube welded to plates and attached to the bottom of the frame ur uh the body...pics to follow.


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Check www.turboford.org for a wealth of 2.3T info!

 

Neat project! Those 2.3's were cool motors. The T3 turbos are amongst the bigger turbos found on production cars.

 

Any progress???

 

bought a boat and restored that...looking to get started again...

 

Hmm... it's been a while!! Done anything more?