Has anyone rodded a 62 Rambler?

With enough money you can make anything haul butt! All it takes is money how fast do you want to go?

 

The understeer is caused by two things: really soft springs and bias ply tires. In the late 60s there were still few roads where high speed travel was viable. Some of the interstates had been built, but most of the country was still using roads where you were lucky if there was a five mile stretch you could travel at 60 mph or better safely, without driving like you were on a road race course. Many dirt roads and rougher secondary roads too. Cars were generally spring softly to soak up the rough roads. By the mid 60s cars were spring a bit tighter, and handled much better. The 62 Rambler was still spring like a 50s car.

Most people first think of a sway bar to help handling, but the Ramblers don't respond well to one. The bars work, but only for really hard turns. Put a 10-15% stronger spring in the front and you notice the difference immediately! I ordered 12% stronger springs for my little 63 American (no longer have that one) years ago from www.coilsprings.com. They only make progressive rate springs, but go from the "striaght rate" specs of the old springs to compute a new progressive. The progressives stay soft at low speeds where the suspension doesn't move much, "tighten up" as the suspension travels. Made a world of difference in high speed handling while the ride at low speeds was only slightly stiffer. The rear springs could be a little stiffer, but they aren't that noticeable. The Americans have leaf springs, so I just used one of those bolt on half leaf "helper" springs to stiffen the rear. That little thing handled like a roller skate on rails! If I'd only done an engine swap to match the handling... Instead, I pepped up the old 196 OHV, but not much can be done with that.