Hot Rods '63 Rambler Classic 550

Such a cool project! I can relate quite a bit having a couple teenage boys that I am working with on projects as well. Will be following along. You don’t know how excited some of us guys are knowing that some younger guys are continuing on with this old junk. Thanks for sharing the journey with us!

 

I did see that ebay listing the other day. I put it on my watch list for now. Just in case I can find something more local.

 

It is encouraging to me that some younger people are getting out of the house and into the driveway or garage.
God knows we will need someone able to fix things in the future.
BTW in my youth that Rambler would have been a sleeper and money maker.

 

This car is pretty neat! Go man go!

 

You might want to double check your brakes. I t looks like you have the shoes reversed on the left side ( short shoe should be on the front ) and the return springs are upside down on the right side. At least it looks that way in the photos.

 

Damn it you are correct! Thanks for spotting that. I even told Brooks that the shoes go on in a specific way and then I put the damn things on wrong!

 

WE put it on wrong, not just you. we were both working on them, I should've noticed it as well.

 

Thanks! Hopefully I'll be Ramblin around in my Rambler next year when the snow clears

 

It's fun working on old stuff, I wish I knew more people around my age that did this sort of thing as well, though I'm much happier talking to the old-timers. They have more fun stories and better advice.

 

It's been alot of fun working on a classic, especially one that isn't mainstream. Ramblers are weird.
Do your kids have accounts on the Hamb? I'd love to follow along on any build threads they may have

 

They really were. Hell, all of it was a painintheass. And a pain in the fingers, the springs shot back a couple times hit my Dad's fingers.

 

My oldest son is on here and I have a few threads about the stuff they are working on. I’ll send you a message with that info to not get your thread off track.

 

Old sign of mine. Got it for a birthday or Christmas when I was a kid. Back then I used to look through Dad's old hot rod magazines and cut out cars I thought looked cool and hang them up under the bunkbed. That was my "hot rod club" I also really loved pinstripes back then, still do. But pinstripes don't really fit on the Rambler.

Just wanted to share it with you all

 

I forgot about your hot rod club sign. I had a guy make that for you for Christmas. You were probably 7-8 years old.

 

There is an order to doing drum brakes, I always start with the rear shoe first. Do the hold-down spring first which frees up your hands for the rest.

Things to watch for as you found out, mixing up the shoes. I have seen customer cars come in with them mixed, or short shoe on one side, long on the other. I have seen every iteration and interpretation of what spring goes where. In the early 1970's, there was some pretzel logic going on that lead to removing the self-adjusters, as it was supposed to aid fuel economy.

Make sure the shoes are free before putting the drums on, pull on the star wheel and let it snap back. I rock the shoes back and forth, hit them up top with my hands a few times. Look to make sure the equalizer bar is free, could indicate a hung-up e-brake cable or improper assembly.

 

Tires Tires Tires got the new tires mounted on the front wheels. Dad put it on the car and took the pictures.

 

Those cars had a unibody construction. Be sure to carefully inspect the rocker panels and anywhere a suspension/steering components mount for rust. They had a wishy washy suspension and good stiff sway bars and shocks are a must. I used to have to deal with these when they were new. My father built the first American with an overhead valve engine, which the factory said would not fit. Blueprinted, fitted with an overdrive transmission and 4.11 gears and other things I can't remember and some factory changes to the parts books to make it legal, it won the first stock production road race for compact domestic cars at Castle Rock, CO in 1960. Got to the race a lap down and won by a half lap on borrowed wheels and tires. That was the advent of the Falcon, the Corvair, etc. Winning that, it was off to Daytona. It timed in at 138 MPH but a sand pocket in a cylinder wall let loose and put it out of action. Very disappointing.
Owned and driven by Johnny Mauro of some kind of Indy fame and owner of Mauro Motors in Denver.

 

If you read the whole thread you would see how solid the car is and what has been done to it.

 

We did patch the only serious rust that we know of earlier on.
Cool story about the American. I wonder where that car is today, I hope it wasn't scrapped

 

That car has come a long way, looking really sharp. My buddy years ago had one, also a '63, but a 4-door with the 6. It ran well and he had it painted at Earl Sheib's... that basic green color.

 

Nice build. Can't wait to see the first drive.

Don't get too hung up on specific rambler parts and overpay. Things like dome light are pretty standard on 60's cars, an early mustang or similar will probably fit and are readily available

 

I did get a dome light cover from a guy on Facebook awhile back. Still looking for a nice front bumper.
And a hamb guy messaged me about an under the dash tissue box. So i might get one of those soon.
I remember my Dad said something about tissue boxes being for old granny cars, but I think it'll look cool, especially if I can tuck it a bit deeper under the dash.

 

I've been having in hard time trying to find a sheet of decorative metal to use for the center console. The original center consoles had a lined chrome sheet going down the length of the console. I'd like to match it as close to original as possible but am totally willing to use something different if it looks cool.
wanted to put this out there in case someone had some old metal laying around they don't need.

 

I would look to buy a piece of stainless steel and engine turn it, that gives a good look!

 

Got a scrapyard close by? Find a stainless refrigerator door. It will just be a thin layer piece of stainless over a molded plastic door. Many different finishes possible, brushed, polished, engine turned.

 

Pet screen,< what is used for screen doors to keep[ pets from braking through screen. Is often in patterns of a number of shapes that could look good on top of a smooth sheet

 

My Dad suggested that awhile back when we were first working on the console. I like the idea and that's most likely what it's going to be. Just wanted to see if anything else was out there before committing to something

 

We have a car scrapyard that's pretty picked through but I'll take another look somewhere there's no snow.
There's also a metal scrapyard/recycling place but I'm sure they wouldn't let me in for safety reasons.
I'll probably just do engine turned stainless.

 

"Be sure to carefully inspect the rocker panels and anywhere a suspension/steering components mount for rust. They had a wishy washy suspension and good stiff sway bars and shocks are a must."

The suspension is just a pre-ball joint design. It came out in 50 on the Nash Rambler, 52 on the big Nash cars -- ball joints came out on Fords in 54, not sure when the others switched but all but Studebaker and AMC did in the mid 50s. Ball joints are so ubiquitous now that if it doesn't have them it's odd! Works well, much better than king pins! AMC put what little engineering money they had into other, more important things. The trunnion suspension worked well if maintained (greased!).

The issue with body roll is more readily resolved with stiffer springs. Up until the late 50s there weren't many good high speed roads. Most roads were a bit rougher than expected today. As a result the cars had to be spring softer to soak up bumps on those rougher roads and ride good. That and the fact that they had stiffer bias ply tires. Run softer sidewall radials and the car gets REALLY soft! The high mounted spring suspension is actually pretty roll resistant, but the soft springs will make you wonder how! Get new springs at least 10% stiffer than stock, though 12% stiffer seems to be the sweet spot with radial tires. With 10% you'll notice a reduction in roll but hardly any difference in ride, with 12% you can tell it's stiffer, but not too much so. Factory HD springs were intended for hauling heavy loads and are 15-18% stiffer than stock. They ride like an old HD pickup -- VERY hard!! www,coilsprings.com will make them however you want.

 

Very useful when dating!!
Don't ask how I know this!
Jus say'in
6sally6