Yeah, I know.... Any way, I've got a '62 Rambler American longroof that witha busted up 196 OHV. That's getting transplanted with a '59 196 OHV. Here's my question - Any body familar with these engines and how to squeeze some ore oomph out of them? I know Offenhauser used to make a 2 nad a 3 carb intake for them but I can't seem to locate one to save my life. Any help is welcome. Thanks Gents!!! ______________________________________ FREE!!! Heck, that's my favorite brand...
I'm not of much help, but the 196 is one heck of a great inline six. Extremely solid. It is by no means a fast engine but man will it run and run and run. I know that I had seen the Offy unit once from PAW. I dont know if they still have access to it or if it is even still offered. The 232 Typhoon replaced the 196 and most performance parts are for that motor. Good Luck, HyFire
HyFire, Nope, last I looked PAW didn't offer it anymore. I was gonna switch to a 232 or 258 but I'd have top cut the firewall to get those to fit and I just want this car as a litle parts chaser and 'round town runner. Thanks for checking in. Anybody else know anything about 196's?
I have two 63's with 196's.. upgrades in Intakes and exhaust, well I have never seen any. Not to say are not out there, but would be very rare and most likely more than the car is worth. Most all upgrades I HAVE heard about with this motor is for turbo-ing. BIG bearings and harder than rock blocks. Yours a 2dr?? FYI, valves need to be re-adjusted every 10K on these motors.. If you PM me I can give you AMC boards I know of.
I've heard very little about upgrades of any kind other than the Offy intake but I too have read about turbo or home brew superchargers being worth the effort. The entire bottom end is forged, crank and rods, so it's a stout little motor. Compression needs to be lowered a bit. Stock is 8.7:1 or so and 8.0:1 is the highest I've heard recommended. I've thought about using a diesel turbo and making a homebuilt centrifugal supercharger and seeing how that does. I don't need to turn 10's in the 1/4 or anything but a few more beans is always nice. Anybody ever built a homebrew centrifugal supercharger set-up?
Ah, the "crackerbox" Rambler! I had a 63 American two door sedan that I drove for 14 years. The 196 OHV is dependable, but it will use a bit of oil like many older engines do, especially at higher rpm. The 2V version is 135 hp from the factory, but I got ~175 hp out of mine. I ran two 1V Carter YFs for a while, but they were no better power wise than the stock Carter WCD 2V. For 175 hp I: 1. Cut the snorkel in the stock breather off and increased it from ~2" in diameter to 4". This made a noticeable difference alone! I used a 4" tin can for a new snorkel. I trimmed one end to match the breather case, and left a tab at the top and bottom of the bigger hole cut in the case. I bent these tabs out and riveted the can to them, then used paintable caulk to seal. After painting it looked factory -- several people asked me where I found a breather with a bigger snorkel that fit! 2. Get rid of that 3', 3 p*** stock muffler and 1.5" tail pipe! The head pipe is 1-7/8" -- fits just inside a 2" pipe. I used a 16" turbo muffler and 2" pipe all the way back, but used the original head pipe. 3. Now the biggie -- get the cam reground. I sent a stock cam to Lunati in TN, but that was about 10 years ago now. They reground it w/ 20 degrees more duration and 0.10" more lift. This added about 20 hp from 1500 rpm and up. That gave it some great cruising and even p***ing power, but didn't do anything for takeoff. There really isn't anything that can be done to make a 3-3/8" bore and 4-1/4" stroke six get up rpms any faster!! Like I said, I had the stock 2V carb. More carb really won't help. The carb is mounted on a plate that bolts to the top of a "trough" made onto the head. The trouble with fitting another carb is room! The carb has to have a narrow base to fit, then you have to monkey with linkage. Using a cable would solve the linkage problem. When I ran dual carbs I made my own plate from 1/2" aluminum and drilled it for the carbs. I drilled and tapped it for flush 1/4" machine screws which were used for carb studs. Something like a Weber would be narrow enough to fit though. Running multi carbs isn't an ideal setup because of the way the intake is made. The runners from that "trough" are swept toward the valves. Valves are arranged like this: I E E I I E E I I E E I. Works great with a central carb, but the center four cylinders use two large ports from the trough that are swept away from the center. Ideal for a single centerd carb, but dual carbs have to be placed opposite the sweep, so it works against the carb. Once you see it you'll know what I mean! The two barrels on a Weber should be close enough together to work though. Or make an oval opening and work a piece of tubing in there, and blow into the tube with a turbo! As mentioned, the bottom end is forged. It only has four main bearings -- but wide ones! The L-head bottom end will fit, and the thing can be bored out about 1/4" (I'd check sidewalls first, but have heard of one being bored that much -- 1/8" is easy though!). The older 184 Nash L-head has the same bottom end and the crank will fit -- has same bore but shorter stroke. That's the only way to get it to pick up quicker!
Use a Carter/Weber. This one is for a 83 Ford ******. The adapter is available for $15.00. Its a 2 bbl progressive carb that will work right out of the box without jet changes. Stovebolt has them new along with the adapters. Heres a pic of one with the adapter and it next to my Carter 1bbl b&b carb off my 230 ci L head Plymouth motor.
I don't think that carb will fit the old Rambler 196. Like I said, it sits VERY close to the valve cover. Barrels are front to rear, not side to side on the stock Carter WCD. Plenty room all around on a flat head! One more thing -- if you want a more modern engine that's easier to find parts for and will fit without cuttingthe firewall, look at a Ford 200 or 250 from the mid 80s. The one with the intake manifold cast into the head is short and narrow enough to fit. That's the only other in-line six I know of that will and is substantially better than the old 196. I measured a Chevy 250, Nissan, and Toyota in-line sixes -- all to big. I don't like that cast in intake, so didn't bother looking at the Ford, plus I didn't know the 250 was on the same block as the 200. Wasn't enough power difference betwen the 200 and 196 to be worth the trouble of swapping. A four will fit the 50-55 Nash Rambler and 58-63 Rambler American (all those are almost the same car -- minor differences!), but it has to have a close-in intake maifold to keep from cutting. I've mounted a mid 70s Pinto 2300 in one without cutting the sides, but most modern (especially EFI) fours use a long runner intake that sticks to far to the side.
I'm not familiar with the OH 196 but the adapter is 1-3/4" and may give you enought room to run the Carter/Weber. Heres a picture of the adapter.
Don't think that thought hasn't run through my head. I'd have to cut into the spring towers to get it to fit and I just don't want to get into that level of modification. It is just a '63 Rambler American after all. I got less than $800 in the whole deal so far and my New Year's resolution was to stop losing money on cars. Right, like that'll happen.....
Now the biggie -- get the cam reground. I sent a stock cam to Lunati in TN, but that was about 10 years ago now. They reground it w/ 20 degrees more duration and 0.10" more lift. This added about 20 hp from 1500 rpm and up. That gave it some great cruising and even p***ing power, but didn't do anything for takeoff. There really isn't anything that can be done to make a 3-3/8" bore and 4-1/4" stroke six get up rpms any faster!! Running multi carbs isn't an ideal setup because of the way the intake is made. ---- The two barrels on a Weber should be close enough together to work though. Or make an oval opening and work a piece of tubing in there, and blow into the tube with a turbo! Thnaks for the input, especially the carb stuff. The head is a real limiting factor woth the valve arrangement and all of them feeding off a trough. I know that off the line it'll never be a goer with that bore/stroke combo, but some more power to p*** and cruise with would be nice. I'll check w/ Lunati about the cam. Off course I could replace the 196 with a 2.3 Ford turbo motor. I've seen a few of those things put out some good numbers and still be streetable. The car only weighs 2850 lbs. and the 2.3 would make it a pretty peppy package. I don't need to run 9's or anything with it but putting the spank on some kid in a stickered up Honda would put an evil grin on my face. The usual exhaust mods are in the works with 2" all the way back. I may fab up a header for it if I get ambitious.
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