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Moby- The White One

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pacerman View Drop Down
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    Posted: May/15/2018 at 2:56pm
I am starting a short (hopefully short) project thread on Moby my white 64 Classic that I got in a trade for Stella the turquoise 64 Classic.  A fellow club member had been driving this car and I took pity on it because of its significant rear main seal leak, and the sorry state of the paint (especially on the roof where he had begun sanding) as well as the decrepit interior. 

I have sprayed the roof in epoxy primer and plan to two-tone the car with a light blue roof in the near future.  The car is mostly rust free, having been a northern California car, for much if not all of its life.  

There is the dreaded cowl rust which I am repairing.  Pictures below.  I bought the cowl patch panel from Peter Stathes (although many of the Rambler vendors mark it up and sell the same panel which Peter has produced).  The patch panel really helps with the fix but of course it is a universal panel and sometimes as in Moby's case, is not quite big enough to fill in for all the rust you must cut out.  This is the second such panel I have replaced and I caution any 63 or 64 Classic or Ambo owner to check the cowl above the heater core for corrosion.  Many if not most cars have at least some corrosion in this area.  The first such repair I made by pop riveting the panel from below and using expandable foam to fill any gaps.  I traded the car off before really testing that the repair was water tight.  I doubt that it was but it was far better than nothing.  This time I used a combination of sheet metal screws and since I have access to a welder I cut the top of the cowling in two areas hidden by the fender and the cowl grille and worked both from above and below.  It was so much easier to get access.  I used a combination of Eastwood internal frame spray primer as well as POR-15 epoxy putty and POR-15 paint to seal up the area.  That was in addition to the welding and sheet metal screws used to fasten the patch panel in place.  

If you are doing this, and intend to use the Peter Stathes panel, read and understand the directions for positioning the panel properly.   Using the panel will save hours of fabrication or fussing with patch materials like fiiberglass.  

Pictures below.  Note: this is a utilitarian repair.  it is not a show car, but the car deserves the attention paid 



Moby is not too photogenic right now.  Inexpensive seat covers and new carpet have been installed.  The cut and sewn carpet bit better than any other carpet kit I have installed thus far.



The left side of the patch panel in place.  The panel was too short lengthwise to really cover all the rust I had to cut out.  I use POR-15 epoxy putty to fill the gap.  



The seam between the A-pillar "tunnel" and the lip of the patch panel was welded and then covered with epoxy putty later coated with POR-15 paint.









Edited by pacerman - May/15/2018 at 3:03pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Ollie Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May/15/2018 at 6:34pm
Looks good. You doing all with epoxy glue?

That's the way they say you fix these modern cars.

Having AMC Fun,
Ollie
1966 American Convertible -- "The Rambler"..SOLD
1974 Postal Jeep -- "Rapid Delivery"...SOLD
1969 Rambler 220 post car--"Road Warrior"
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote pacerman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jun/12/2018 at 4:13pm
Body work continues on Moby.  I am ready for the first round of block sanding on the deck lid today.  The lid is almost tabletop smooth (with character lines of course).  I am using PPG K36 High build primer over PPG DPLF epoxy primer.  K36 is great.  It builds well with two coats and sands very easy without clogging the paper even when dry sanding.  Matter of fact I rarely wet sand cars because if you break through to bare metal there is IMHO an increased change of rust because you have breached the epoxy layer.  After block sanding, the parts get one coat of DPLF with some reducer added as a sealer, followed by final paint.  I am applying three coats of Frost White single stage acrylic enamel on Moby.  There is some orange peel in the final paint, but it's an old Rambler and I probably won't try to wet sand and buff it out. 



Ready for the first round of block sanding.



Fenders are done (in final paint).



Hood is done.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Shannock Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jun/12/2018 at 4:22pm
Looks great, Joe. Are you going to keep the color combination? That car looks great in white with the blue top. Thumbs Up
Tom Davies
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote pacerman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jan/22/2019 at 6:57pm
Moby is painted now. Pictures soon.  I pulled the engine a few weeks ago and we are replacing the leaky rear main (rope) seal with a Best Gaskets teflon rope seal.  For the first time I followed the BG instructions and installed a 1/16 inch diameter pin in the rear main cap oil seal channel to retain the rope seal.  I never noticed that instruction before.  Also, i noted that, although main bearings and rod bearings are supposedly installed "tang-to-tang" my main caps were machined so that they only fit with the bearing tangs on the opposite sides.  There is no arrow on the main caps but the casting numbers all read from the same direction and the caps only fit in the way I described.  There is nothing concerning this anomoly in the 1964 TSM.   Also, because the rear main journal was badly scored, and it was already machined .030 undersize, I had my machine shop guy check to see if it would clean up at .040 undersize, which was the largest bearings I could find (and then only from Kanter's).   Well it would not clean up, so I scrapped it.  I thankfully had another crankshaft already machined and polished at .020 undersize and was able to get main bearings to fit.  Pics soon.  Joe



Edited by pacerman - Jan/22/2019 at 6:59pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote pacerman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Aug/11/2019 at 12:42am
Okay, it is just about the end of the road for this project.  I will drive Moby for a while and put him up for sale.  

To recap, i painted him here at home in my tent garage.  We worked the engine over with a new crankshaft, main bearings and rear main seal. I installed a new aftermarket trunnion pad at the head of the torque tube.  New tires, alternator, speedo cable, some interior paint including the dashboard, carpet, windlace and new inexpensive seat covers.  He drives pretty good.  Still needs a little brake work.   The grille couple of bad places had to be repaired in the grille with hammer and dolly and some body filler.  I don't think even an anodizing shop could have made invisible repairs there.  The result is it was painted silver.  The hubcaps are Ford because a previous owner installed Ford wheels with a 10-inch hub center.  The Rambler hubcaps don't fit and I do not care for the AMC wheel covers of that era.  



 



Edited by pacerman - Aug/11/2019 at 12:46am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Lucas660 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Aug/11/2019 at 5:10am
That's absolutely beautiful. Very nice work indeed.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote gtoman_us Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Aug/11/2019 at 6:22am
thanks Joe another 64 back on the road.
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Used to collect trophies, now I collect gas receipts and put on miles

1964 Rambler Ambassador Cross Country Wagon
1965 GTO
1931 Model A original survivor
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote farna Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Aug/13/2019 at 7:28am
"Also, i noted that, although main bearings and rod bearings are supposedly installed "tang-to-tang" my main caps were machined so that they only fit with the bearing tangs on the opposite sides.  There is no arrow on the main caps but the casting numbers all read from the same direction and the caps only fit in the way I described.  There is nothing concerning this anomoly in the 1964 TSM."

There is a note in the TSM stating that the "identification knob" on the rod is to the front. That's a cast in raised "dot" on the rod, on the straight part nearer the big end. There should be a matching "dot" on the front of the rod cap. Also, the numbers identifying rod location should be stamped on the same side of the rod and cap. It seems that I recall the tangs being opposite as you describe also. Many of the older engines were like that, prevents spun bearings better. 

Car is looking good!!
Frank Swygert
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