59 Rambler American SW rebuild

Had to machine off the EGR to get the intake narrow enough to fit. now I have about an inch of clearance. As for the disc it's in pieces. Had to buy a whole distributor for a chevy V8 off of Ebay just to get a Reluctor, Found that GM calls it a Timer Core and looks to be the only part not sold seperatly. I may make some extras if it works out. There is a company that makes a hei/dui for the 2.5 but it's out of my budget at around 400.00.

Here is a few more pics. I did have a concern with the starters hitting the Flexplate gear, so I had to pull engine and make a shim/spacer that I installed between the crank flang and flexplate. Also found that the Motorcraft starter was poo and had to use the GM style Permanent mag type out of a S10. seams to be working fine now and she is again running.  Did make a crossmember to connect the engine mounts tabs together giving the front end a bit more rigidity, It will also serve as a mounting point for the Rack and Pinion. Ground clearance looks good and even installed the original crossbrace fromthe lower control arm mounts. it has been a good day. tomorrow I might start on the transmission crossmember.

Looking good! Tying the engine mounts together with a brace that doesn't move is great! Those cars do spread in the center over the years and miles. They weren't intended to last 50+ years!! The K-brace that bolts to the lower arm mounts helps, but not enough for so many years. Plus it is moved every time the front end is aligned.

Original cars get an increasingly tall stack of shims on the inside as the rails slowly spread. Like I said, the car was intended to last 100K/10 years, so you can't complain that 50 years later it has spread some. I've welded and extension to the lower edge of the thick suspension mounting plate on each side then cut a piece of 3/4" pipe to bring the rails to the factory measurement that will mount between those extensions. Then a length of hardened 3/8" threaded rod is used to pull and hold the rails in. I do it that way rather than weld something in so it can be removed to drop the oil pan or engine from the bottom (the way AMC intended the engine to be removed/installed).

Me again. Well after making my own mounting brackets for the engine and for the body and attaching them together with Jeep Cherokee mounts and being happy with the outcome I ditched it all, Went to my playground the other day and spotted a Jeep Postal vehicle. Not a jeep that someone went postal on. It was a 85 model or so with the same 2.5 engine that I'm using in my American. Had an odd but very simple crossmember with hockey puck style mounts and looked about the correct width, so I bought it and yanked everything out of my American and started over. Hear is the mock up pics for now, tomorrow if my smashed finger feels better I may finish it up. engine is centered better and moved back about an inch. I did modify the crossmember by taking an inch out of the sides because there was two inches of room between the engine pan and the lower part of the crossmember. looks like this will give me more room for the rack and pinion also

Looks like some nice fabrication work there.