So... we'll start with some history on the car, and over the next few postings I will race through the last 22 years of activity, or lack thereof, to bring the story up to today.

 

This SC was bought new at Savage Rambler, in Shillington PA, and has lived its entire life in northern Lancaster Co. PA.  It was driven daily and raced on weekends at Maple Grove raceway.  Running cheater slicks and Dougs headers it turned 13.5s.  in 1976, during a typical daily commute to work, the fan belt flipped off, the engine overheated, and a rod punctured the block.  That was the last day it was on the road.  At 49k+ miles its driving days were over.  By the looks of it, the car sat outside for an undetermined number of years, and passed through a couple hands.  Someon started some restoration work, but thankfully didn't get too far.  A very poor respray of white under the hood only added to the work that needed to be done when I got it.

 

Fast forward to August, 1990:  two years out of college, married, and now helping a friend work on his 1963 American convertible one evening, I stopped at the local grocery store to pick up a half gallon of ice cream.  Walking out with my favorite vice in hand, I scanned the glass front walls for personal ad postings and noticed a small piece of yellow legal notepad paper with a hand written advertisement selling a "1969 AMC SC/Hurst Rambler".  Needless to say, the temptation of my second vice - Ramblers took over, and within a few days I signed for the car below.  Car as seen removed from the storage barn it was rescued from:

 

 

Most folks outside the faithful few diehard AMCers really even knew there was such a car made by AMC in 1990.  Values then were nothing compared to today, and thankfully so.  Over the next couple years, I collected every NOS part I could get my hands on.  I realize today that I should have tried even harder!

 

In late 1990, my wife and I bought a home with a 3 car garage and I had the space to work.  In 1991 teardown started, but we soon found ourselves preparing for our first little one in 1992, as work slowed.  Still I would get a little time to dismantle and start undercoating removal underneath:

 

By this time I had set the goals for the car - I wanted a concours correct car, and first and foremost, I did not want reoccuring rust issues with my SC.  I decided I wanted new panels to replace the rusted sections.  Over a couple years time I had located NOS quarters that would fit, and through early 1996, the left quarter was removed, and the inside panel rust was dealt with:

 

 

At this time, work came to a near standstill.  Looking back, the combination of adding a new son to the family, and then in September 1996 we sold our '65 440 hardtop 6cyl and buying a car I simply fell in love with at first sight - my 1964 990H (the current January 2013 AMCRC calendar car by the way!) moved my attention elsewhere for a while.  The 270 horses of the '64 990H were fun and ready to go at a moments notice, so I spent what little time I had for cars on that and enjoyed it while the kids were growing up.

 

Moving on to 2005, I was getting the itch to get back on the Scrambler.  The kids were getting a little bigger, and I wanted to see it on the road again someday.  But, one more diversion stepped in front.  A neighboring piece of wooded property became available that we decided to buy, and build our dreamhome (and my dream barn!).  Property clearing, planning, house (and shop) designing, permits, contractors, building, whew - you name it until move in day in March 2007.  Keeping priorities straight - the Ambassador was the first item to move into the new property in Feb. 2007 (even before the contractors job johnny left!):

 

The one thing I didn't think about however, was that with a new shop, it was a blank slate - while it looked great on the outside, there was NOTHING inside.  Just enough lighting to pass occupancy inspection the day before the Ambassador arrived.  Also, after having our pockets emptied on all the unexpected extras to get the buildings done, I was on my own to do the work.  So... the Scrambler sat again.  This time I decided, I am working on this shop to get it 100% the way I want it before I start working in it.  Well, that took 3 more years.... I decided to fully set up my AMC memorabila room upstairs, build shelving, run all my electric, paint the shop walls all white, put up lighting, get my air compressor and airlines rerun in the entire shop, set up "shop" and do odds and ends to make it my own.

 

Finally in late 2010, I grabbed my growing son, and said, "it's time".  We went out and started to work at final cleanup of the Scrambler undercarriage.  That night - my son Eric, got dirt in his eye, and had to go in to wash it out, and I got it so bad in the back from laying on the floor I could hardly move the next day.  I quickly realized, I wasn't as young as I was when I started this project, and that I wanted a rotissiere for this car.  Checking out websites, I decided to buy plans and Eric and I cut, drilled, and welded all winter to make the chicken twirler.  Finally in March of 2011, we hooked the car to the rotissiere and were ready to go!

 

For the initial posting I will stop here in the story prelude.  I have titled this thread the "69 SC Journey", as that has what this project has become.  When I first started, I wanted a rare, wild looking screamer to go joy riding in.   Now that I am older, I think that the characteristic of patience has set in a little, and this project is much more about the journey than it is about the destination.  I now want to use this project and the time I have left at home with Eric (who is nearly 17 now), to help show him how to use his hands, fix things and enjoy using tools somewhat.  I have also enjoyed the interaction with others, as I have been searching out those last elusive NOS parts for the car, and the fun of sharing the AMC passion with them.

 

We have been working on that car as much as schedules and time will allow.  It is not a first priority but instead an escape from the daily grind.  In the next couple posts I will run through the progess since getting it hooked up to the twirler.  Hope you enjoy the journey now with us - it will be a couple years more in the making!

 

 

Also, kudos on the grammatical and spelling correctness of your "story."  Too often, people don't care how they write and your piece was refreshingly different!

 

http://scrambler1969.blogspot.com/2011/05/underbody-powerpoint-presentation.html" rel="nofollow - http://scrambler1969.blogspot.com/2011/05/underbody-powerpoint-presentation.html

 

What is clear by looking at the photos is that these cars sat on a dolly with certain contact points and the red was sprayed first, then white; what got onto the dark brown primer was overspray, heavier in some areas, almost non-existent where the dolly shielded it.  Also note by the photos, that the bottom edge of the car had hints of blue metallic - several ideas for it have been floated - what do you think?

 

Eric started stripping and cleaning the floorboards during the summer of 2011, while I focused on fixing the minir rust areas in the lower shifter hump area and gas pedal heal area.  I wanted complete butt welded repair pieces placed in here.  I must say that hand hammering the patch pieces was a bit tough with the contours, and I am no expert at butt welding - thank goodness for the copper paddle and Eric's extra set of hands!

 

Heal area patch above just prior to welding - this was a nice hand bent fit.

 

Eric cleaned both floorboards with a 3M scotchbrite wheel and we wash primed and 2K'd the floors:

 

One big problem we had was that the "LIFT" boxes were crushed in from bottle and floor jacks in the 70s.  Doing a concours restoration has its drawbacks, and this was one - how do you fix that and make it look right?  Well, in every project you make tough decisions.  What I decided to do might seem a bit radical to some, but I decided to cut the floor boards on top like a tin can so that we could get into the backside of the damaged lettering areas, and hammer and dolly out the metal.  Poor Eric got the brunt of it and alll the noise from underneath holding a dolly as I used punches, screwdrivers and whatever else would work to put the metal back in place.  Then I had to make u-shapped backing plates and butt weld the opened areas closed again.  They are under the rear seat, so no harm no foul, and the lift boxes are in much better shape now.  Both sides were done like this:

 

We'll stop here for today.

 

Your finding of the various colored paint/primers underneath may be the same thing that is a very well documented use as performed by another manufacturer - Ford did this on many of its Mustangs in the 69-70 era (and possibly other years). Many Mustangs were primed with red oxide primer (most people use DP (LF)-74 to duplicate this color/look today. Many others were done with what they call 'slop grey' (again very well documented). Other Mustangs had brown, blue, green and yes with mettalic in the paint. Ford, in an effort to save money would sometimes blend what colors were left over at the end of a shift, or just save the straight color paint. These 'leftovers' were served up for/on undercarriages the next day and or shift.

 

I am not sure if that is what may be the case with your car. If there are some some AMC retirees here, they may be able to remember the factory 'ways' and either vindicate or negate this.

 

Anyway, just one theory.    

 

PS, here is one thread on the subject for 'slop grey'. Within the link they talk about green paint being used and there is also photos of the green and the slop grey.

 

http://www.boss302.com/smf/index.php?topic=57226.0" rel="nofollow - http://www.boss302.com/smf/index.php?topic=57226.0

 

 

One thing I failed to mention about work done in the early 90s, was the engine bay and core support work.  It is obvious that this car, like many lived a very hard and short life.  Both the lower and upper core support boxes were crushed in the center - looks like they used them to get leverage to remove the engine at one time or another.  One day in 1992, the local fire department dropped off a green 69 American 4 dr by chance and told me they were going to practice jaws of life on the car, but I could have anything off the front I wanted as long as it was done within 3 days.  I quickly removed the fenders, hood, and used a reciprocating saw to cut off the front aprons and core support.  I would later graft that green core support onto the front after blasting the whole engine bay in 1993:

 

The only problem from 1993 - 2011 was that the priming work was no longer any good, and it was lacquer based, so it had to go, so we restripped in 2011 and worked it back up from wash primer through 2K, and also took care of the dings to the firewall (and the vintage hammered area on the right side for more header clearance I guess):

 

Continuing on, Eric scotch stripped both front fender wells and prepared for priming:

You will notice some filler on the front apron.  We discovered that someone had drilled extra holes in the apron and mounted several things in times past.  Plug welding and light smoothing was necessary.

 

Upon full undercoat removal, we discovered that several spot welds on the left front subframe were broken loose - we would have never discovered them if we had not removed all the undercoating.  Below are photos of the fix.  I ended up drilling plug weld holes in between the original spot welds to preserve the original weld look, then used deep throat c-clamps to close the metal gap and mig welded the two subframe pieces:

A grinder is still my best friend, after putting the mig gun down.  Maybe someday, I'll do plug welds on sheet metal like a pro.... (above all fixed!)

 

 

Did you know that most of your front sheet metal panels have date codes on them?  Can't see most of them until you get the paint off, but here is an example of one on the left front shock tower:

The date above is April 28, 1969.  The latest date code I found so far is 52069 on one of the inside door panels.  It would make sense that most sheet metal would be a month or so in advance of the actual build.  The cowl boxes, door posts, etc also have date codes stamped into them.

 

Well, as we neared the end of 2011, I wanted to get ready to finally place the NOS left rear quarter panel on.  I pulled it down from the wall it had been hanging on, prepped it with the necessary plug weld holes, and weld thru primer on the lips, and masked it off, to apply the first full coat of white topcoat that I got to spray on the car.  As I stated before, I don't want rust EVER again on this car, so before installing the new quarter - I wanted it as protected on the inside as it is on the outside, and since you can't get to all the places after it is installed, I shot the hole inside, later, we will scuff it down in the trunk area when we do the full paint job:

Protected much better than factory that is for sure!

 

The pictures below are of the inside of the original quarter - these photos should strike fear into the heart of every American owner.  The panel doesn't look that bad from the outside, pin holes, and the typical circle spot; most of these areas you really can't get to:

\

 

Well that about gets us to the end of 2011.  Sometime I'll have to go into a little deeper discussion on the problems I found with the NOS quarter panel - nothing is ever easy!

 

Next up, we'll move into this past year of 2012.

 

I started to turn my attention towards doing some work above the beltline early on.  As this story continues you will start to see as I have, that just about every panel will be touched with a welder or replaced or both.  The car lived a hard life at the hands of young adults, and it has plenty of battle scars to prove it.

 

Most everyone that remembers the 70s, remembers placing speakers in the rear deck of the car  -this car was no different.  So, we had to get the welder out and plug weld and smooth all the screw holes in the rear deck from the now long gone speakers:

 

We have all heard different stories about where Scramblers were finished and with which batch, etc.  I won't claim to be an expert on how much or if Hurst was involved with any finish assembly with these cars.  I have talked to some owners who say that the roof stripe on their original car started just slightly above the rear window gasket on the white paint.  That would at least point to the possibility that those cars were decaled after leaving the main assembly line - maybe even at Hurst, but who really knows.  Documented below here is a photo of the rear window channel clearly showing that the stripe was put on while on the main assembly line prior to window installation.  This is the way this car will be presented when restored, as it will be correct for this car:

 

I decided that I needed to document the exact location of the front edge of the decal on the roof before removal.  I used tracing paper to get an exact position. 

 

I scanned this tracing paper and you can download a copy of it at:

 

http://scrambler1969.blogspot.com/2012/03/scrambler-scheme-decal-location.html" rel="nofollow - http://scrambler1969.blogspot.com/2012/03/scrambler-scheme-decal-location.html

 

Getting a tip to use a pinstripe removal disk to remove the roof stripe, I spent several evenings carefully removing the roof decal.  I ended up burning through 1 1/2" disks doing it.  Buy (2) for starters if you have to do the same - that origiinal stripe is baked on!  The last little bit of removal documented for history's sake:

 

Off and on during 2012, I have spent some time working on the roof.  There are a number of shallow dimples, mainly along the crown.  When my dad first saw the car, he laughed and said - "you know why they are probably along the roof edge?  probably because the burnout pits were so loud, a lot of times the crew members would chop the roof to get the driver's attention".  Well, who knows if that is right - but at least it makes for a good war story...

 

Careful stripping of the roof provided information to how they seamed the roof at the c-pillar.  Factory did a solid weld (as seen by the raised line in the photo below), and then covered with a thin layer of light pink body filler - yes, they used some sort of filler in 1969.  There is also a brazed spot at the rear window channel and over filled with lead there.

 

I have discovered a flaw in the roof line on every Scrambler I have looked at since seeing it in mine this spring (probably on the Rogues too, but haven't checked non-69 cars yet).  If you look at the drip rail from the rear of the car, you will see that the right side sucks in just above where you see the weld line in the photo above.  The left side looks much more in line with the rest of the drip line.  This is causing me some trouble getting a nice feather edge on re-application of filler on the c-pillar.  I believe that what I get when done will better looking than the factory job that was done, but there is no way to correct the drip rail body line.

 

First pass filling in the photo below,  end product is just a thin skin over some shallow imperfections.  The left side is about done now, and I hope to do some primer shooting on the roof sometime this next month in 2013:

 

Before signing off for today, I thought I'd show one Scrambler only modification that I never knew about until last year.  I had seen the mangled cowl rib seam in the front wheelwell area, but never really thought much about it.  After getting a copy of the factory document - 3635636, I saw that the mangled section in the wheel well area was a factory modification on SC's only:

 

OK, so let's be honest now, how many SC fans/owners knew that?  Hands up!  I have to admit, I didn't know it until I put the document together with the physical characteristic on the torn down car.  I guess they were worried about front tire clearance?  Seems odd that there would be concern in the front wheel wells...

 

At the factory, the quarter panels were applied to the shell, and then the roof / c-pillar.  As I had stared at the panel and then the body - I knew we were in for some challenges.  How do you get the panel lip up under the c-pillar?  I won't go into details, but it took both me and my friend's experiences and wits to cut the least, and protect the integrity of everything, but that was just the start of the issues.  We found that the fit around the wheel lip and rear tail panel were very tight.  It wouldn't fit over the rolled lip the way it should.  We decided to let it sit and think about it a bit, and picked it back up a week or two later when we had time.  When my friend came back the next time he said - I think we need to jack the body under the rear leaf spring front support area.  So we got the jack, some long boards, and put a couple pumps on the handle - all of the sudden the panel just slid onto the wheel lip.

 

Even though our measurements when we put the car on the rotissiere indicated that we didn't any appreciable body distortion, the center of the car was sagging just a little, and just enough to keep the panel from fitting right.  Boy was I relieved to see that problem go away!  But we still had one more challenge - how to get the rolled lip without distorting the quarter panel.  My friend was braver than I and asked what kind of hammers I had, we decided on an old 2 lb copper hammer that was my grandfathers from way back.  It was just the right tool for the job,  Careful springing of the inner panel with a block of wood and using the copper hammer, we got the wheel lip to look very factory!  Photo below just after the battle was over!:

 

I still today have some welding on the panel to finish so that I can move over the right panel and start removing it, but am hoping to report progress on that in a couple weeks.

 

As mid-summer approached, I was looking forward to taking the July 4th - Boston, MA AMO Nationals weekend off, and had plans to do some large quantity sand blasting efforts before heading north.  I was undecided about whether to try to get the rotissiere outside this year and do the whole bottom of the car, or to work on exterior panels.  I decided for the panels, so that I would have work for months into the future.  First on the agenda, get all the NOS and original panels down out of storage and prepare them for blasting:

 

In all, we decided to work on the left NOS door, right NOS quarter, NOS rear tailpanel, NOS right front fender, and original gravel pan.  If we had time we would try to get to the left fender. We had one week, which I thought was a lot, but if everyone remembers the weekend after the 4th was nearly 100 degrees & 100% humidity.  Yeah - not good for blasting outside, and I knew that I had to get primer down ASAP after blasting.

 

One natural resource we have on-site is trees.  We made good use of them, bailing wire, boards, buckets and a big Harbor Freight tarp to make a cheap but very effective outdoor "blasting box".  And because of the trees - we had shade each day until noon to keep the heat down:

 

We didn't have time to blast the left front fender at this time, we did it later as I'll document next time.

 

What I didn't bargain for was the necessary body work afterwards.   The gravel pan was a bit wavy from dents, etc, the NOS door & right front fender had surface imperfections and dimples from shelf wear, and I found out that the rear tailpanel had a factory spot weld blow through on one of the taillight boxes, AND that it was not exactly correct for 1969.  Did you know that the 1969 panel is different than the '67-68?  Well I didn't until after blasting.  For 67-68, they punched the holes for the rear emblem, and they used thin sheet metal tabs for the wire harness, vs 1969 having resistance welded on "nail heads" - to be used with small black wire hangers.  I'll detail that more at another time, as I haven't figured out what I will do about the harness tab issue yet.  So, we still had some welding, grinding, and smoothing of the panels before painting.  The shop was full, and was kind of fun to move from one panel to the next doing different things for the couple days we had:

 

 

Running out of days, we got the panels hung around the shop first thing Tuesday morning before the AMO Nationals and got ready to wash primer and 2K each panel inside and out - it was close quarters!

 

Five panels in all primed inside and out.  Boy that took a number of trips back the workbench for more paint mixing!  It was a long day, but at least the goal was accomplished, and we could close the door and go enjoy some vacation, AMC flea market and car show for the next couple days.  It was nice having Eric around the whole time too, as he was a big help during the sandblasting process running equipment, and then helping on the panels as we prepped them for painting.

 

After getting back from the AMO Nationals, I still had the outdoor blast area setup, and a left fender that needed to be cleaned up.  First step was undercoating removal.  Eric spent some time with a propane torch and a putty knife to remove all the stuff seen in the photo below:

 

Bit rusty up around the front headlight, actually good to get them off at restoration and repaint underneath, as the undercoat only went as far as the rubber seal to the fender.

 

Fender date codes are stamped on the backside of the lip where it bolts to the apron back near the hood hinges.  Making out the complete date code without taking them off is difficult, you might see the distortion from the top side, but making out all the numbers is doubtful.  After cleaning off the sealers, and paint - the code on the left front fender became clear:

 

Sorry, the photo is upside down.  It reads:  A5  1  69   (May 1, 1969).  Guess the "A" is American?  Again, consistent with other date codes found.

 

Looking around at the front fenders before stripping, I documented some factory imperfections in the paint.  Pebble Beach would be agast if a car drove onto its show field looking like this - but I think it is cool, and may decide to at least replicate the taping error one on the car:

You can see the above, where the red was not fully covered when the white was sprayed.  A small triangular section of red was still showing when the factory masked it off.

 

Below - you can see that the black pin striping, which was supposed to straddle the red-white paint edge, didn't quite do the job as it nears the wheel lip on the right front fender.  I think I'll try to make it straight on the restoration!

The right fender is now retired, and will act as reference material for the restoration, and hang on the wall upstairs as wall art.

 

After blasting the left fender and getting wash and 2K primer on the inside, we were anxious to do a test mounting of both fenders and do some body work on the outside while hard mounted to the car.  Pouring through the many boxes of parts removed back in 1991 (and yess, well tagged) I found every not and bolt but the front fender clips and bolts.  We searched everywhere...  While I still haven't given up, I did want to move on.  Searching the parts books, I found out that the American front clips are the same as the 63-64 Classic/Ambassador, and I knew a friend was parting out one, and he was more than willing to help.  We got the clips in about a week, cleaned them up and used some bolts from other teardown projects.  These clips are getting as rare as hens teeth (take note everyone - make sure you take these off any parts car or junckyard car you find!!!!)

 

The Scrambler finally had four fenders back on and actually looked like a car again, even if only for a short time!

 

Time to get the holes drilled in the new right fender.  Tracing seemed to be the only accurate way to get the positions accurate.  Starting with the original fender:

 

Now move it over to the new fender:

 

Emblem fit?  Check - they haven't been on the car in 2 decades!

 

One last major project exists on the right front fender.  We need to roll the lip like the factory fender.  Probably later in early February, I'll be able to document the completion of that effort.

 

Won't be able to continue the thread until Sunday night.  When we continue, we'll be moving on to the hood and efforts to retire the original hood with another replacement.

 

I am hoping that this thread provides not just a log of work done, but also helps someone else figure out how to get something done on their car, or provide a piece of information that will help you also.  I definitely don't know all that much as compared to others who have restored car after car, but I have spent most of my life learning and doing bodywork.  My dad had a home shop when I was growing up in the 70s, so I got to work on a wide variety of 60s and 70s cars doing bodywork, and near restoration.  Falcons, Novas, Beetles, Mustangs, Olds Cutlass, even a full restoration of a 71 Jeepster were just part of the experiences I was priviledged with growing up.  Hoping now to repeat a little of that for the next generation!

 

After hosting the PA AMC crowd for a fall AMC picnic, we got back to work on the car in November.  I had decided that Eric's winter project was going to be the sanding and prep work on the new hood, but we were going to have to work on all the SC modifications together for him to be able to do the bodywork himself.  The original hood played host to one too many after race parties back in the day, and there is no way to restore it properly.  All the reflections in the photos here are dents!:

 

The story on the replacement for the original hood (which will now become retired wall art upstairs soon), begins many years back.  I got a call from a friend back in the early 90s telling me if I was game to come down to center city Philadelphia with my truck, that he had a lead on a bunch of used 69 American parts.  So we took off for one of the rough neighborhoods of the city and found basically a bunch of panels, and mechanical parts in the basement.  We split up the booty (all free, just to get it out of there), and I got a 69 hood in very good condition.

 

About the same time, my dad was clued into the junkyard location of a trashed out Scrambler here in PA.  Turned out the yard owner would sell me the whole car if I wanted, but I wasn't overly interested in transporting a whole car, so we made him a deal for a certain dollar amount (ultra low figure) that he would let us take everything we wanted off the car in an 8 hr day.  With truck, tools and burning torch in hand, 3 of us went at this Scrambler below (RIP...) and took everything of any value.  The hood was even more toasted than mine, but we burned out the flapper box and kept it:

 

To start the new hood project - we drilled out the spot welds from the old hood side on the above salvage SC flapper, and had it ready to use on our hood:

 

First step for working the hood, was getting a fix on the original location.  Eric did the tracings, learning the art of pencil rubbings:

 

During a conversation about how the factory made the 1500 hoods, we were able to imagine an engineer at the plant taking a piece of hood sheetmetal, and making a template to be used on all the hoods, and probably a prep worker cut and drilled the hoods from the template.  Wrong!  While I can't say how they did it - we were able to overlay the one hood cutout (salvage) over the original hood and it is clear that the cutouts from hood to hood do not match (look close, you will see that the salvage hood cutout is much larger than the car's hood):

 

We did our best to make the hole template work well to fit up to the salvage flapper.  After using the original hood scoop and tracings, we had all the holes, including the hood pin holes in a good position to move forward (or so we thought):

 

Eric, finishing the rough edge filing

Factory original scoop in place - fits!

 

Next posting, we'll pick up and finish the major hood metal work done in December and just after the first of the year.

Bob

 

I have always prescribed to the mantra that you shouldn't move forward with your project until you understand everything you have to do, and have everything lined up.  Well, we thought we were lined up to go when we started locating all the SC hood scoop holes.  I was planning on restoring my original hood scoop, which had been upstairs in a box for years.  I knew it wasn't in the greatest shape, but I have to say when I got it out, that the cracks, and breakouts at the fasteners, etc really got me a bit worried.  Add to that the years of age on the fiberglass, and I didn't know if I really wanted to try to fix it, and if I did, would it really hold up well?  We pushed forward with bolt hole placement with the old scoop, but the whole time, I was wondering if there was a new option out there to replace it.  I had already decided that the factory hood would get shined up in original condition and go on the wall upstairs.  I started thinking that maybe the original scoop deserved to be retired with it, and join it.  But what about that concours look I desired....

 

After Thanksgiving, I was bopping around here on the Forum, and found Stephen Stull's advertisement for a brand new scoop, and the photos convinced me I could be very happy to use it on my car.  I started conversation with Stephen, while starting the joining of the flapper box to the new hood:

 

Above:  I decided to glue (3M Panel bond) in the flapper box rather than drill holes and MIG plug weld the flapper box into the hood.  I had seen somewhere that those buying the fiberglass version are doing that, and I liked the idea to minimize panel warp.

 

At the same time, I needed to take care of dried out adhesive caulking on the frame - outerskin bond.  All three hoods I have are showing signs of the adhesive releasing, and I knew that I wanted to get them back together permanently.  The only problem is that you need some pressure on the frame for about 4 hours...  I ended up placing everything dense in the shop I could find on the frame to keep them together while the 2 part epoxy cured.  We tried hard to recreate the ugly looking caulking blobs in between the panels and how it oozed out!  We kept the original hood close for inspiration on the caulking globs - wasn't able to make them quite as ugly as the factory, but we did try!

 

Kind of thought the rig above looked ridiculous, but it got the job done.  The next day, we cleared everything off and flipped it over for a first view of the product:

 

Right around Christmas, we got the new scoop from Stephen Stull, and we were curious to see just how close it was to the original scoop.  Some photos we took:

 

What we found next was a temporary letdown, but it's just one of those things you have to deal with when you change directions in a project - no matter how small of a change.  We found that only (3) of the (8) scoop mounting holes we had just drilled in the new hood were in the location needed for the new scoop.  There is nothing wrong with the bolt location on the new scoop - they just happen to be different from my original (who knows how close each OEM unit was to each other either....)

 

It was clear that we were going to have to do something that kind of struck fear into me - I was going to have to MIG plug weld (5) holes shut right in the middle of my hood, and deal with any warpage that might occur.  We finally got up the courage to spend a complete Saturday afternoon on it on Jan. 5th.  Eric held the copper paddle tight against the inside of the hood, we surrounded the holes with a cool damp rag, and tentatively went at it.

 

Overall, the welding went well.  No appreciable warpage occurred - but we were holding our breath on one outside one.  We made a new hole template tracing for the new scoop, and set and drilled the new holes.  We were very happy to end the day with the new scoop dropping into place on the hood, and no longterm issues to deal with, Whew - dodged a bullet on that one!

 

With the good weather outside that Saturday, Eric also got to spot blast the back corner of the hood where it had some surface rust, and then we boxed up the new hood scoop and put it in safe storage for a little while.  Eric can now focus on stripping and bodywork on the hood.

 

After the nerve racking Saturday, I still had the welder out, and wanted to do something small and fun on the day after, on Sunday.  I had pulled out the old battery box tray and the replacement tray pan a month or so back, and decided I wanted to fab up the restored box.  The replacement tray was bought so long ago that it was getting a little surface rust on it!

 

I had separated the original brackets from the original tray (see below), and mounted up all three pieces to the front fender apron for correct angle / location.  I was then glad to be able to put to use the Hobart spot welder I picked up, nice used, this past year to spot weld the brackets onto the new tray, in the same manner that the factory attached them.

 

Getting everything cleaned up in the blaster, it was hung and shot with some self etching primer for safe keeping:

It was nice to have a small project for once that I could do from start to finish quickly and have just the right tools to do it well.  The right tools make all the difference!

 

Well, there you have it.  Last weekend we traveled to deliver our daughter back to college, and this week is Barret Jackson - looking forward to some couch time and watching the Scramblers cross the block tomorrow night!  (Lot # 499.1, and 500!)

 

Hopefully we'll get some shop time this Saturday.

 

I will be posting a couple other surprises over the next several days that relate to the story, and that followers should enjoy, and hope to report some progress on the actual car during the next weel or so.

 

I promised to through in a few related stories to the main project over the next few posts.  Below is the first one.  Those of us that live in Eastern PA are blest with the proximately of the original and still very active epicenter of the antique car hobby.  The Carlisle events are only 56 miles away, and the Fall Hershey (grand daddy of them all) is only 33 miles for me.  For 25 years Fall Hershey has been my favorite fall destination.  For us diehards, it is what I call our "hunting season" (PA is known for it's avid deerhunters, but us AMC guys know that 80+ acres of car parts with only a handful of AMC parts is a much harder thing to hunt for than a white tail deer!).

 

Each year, I usually find something of an AMC treasure; most years it has been some sort of a memorabilia or dealership item, but parts are still out there too.  Out of good fortune during the 2011 hunting campaign at Fall Hershey I happened upon a license plate that just struck me that I knew from somewhere.  I asked the vendor to tel me about the plate - he proceeded to say it was an NOS AMC dealer plate - I knew something was up with it.  My AMC friend with me at the time said - yeah, that's the plate from the 1969 brochure cars.  Sure enough it was.  So 2011 yielded the front license plate that will go on the Scrambler:

 

In August 2012, the state of Pennsylvania finally approved use of vintage state license plates for antique cars.  I have always loved the purple and white PA antique plates, but for a number of years now, the state has made an ugly plate with the picture of somebody else's old car on it.  I quickly deciced that a vintage 1969 PA plate was on my shopping list for 2012 Fall Hershey.

 

A lot of vendors at Hershey have used PA plates for sale.  A couple have "NOS" plates, and I found one that even had "NOS" registration stickers.  Ultimately I made the decision to get a distinctive low number mint "NOS" plate for the rear, and a set of "NOS" 69 stickers.  While happy with it, if I ever found a similar plate with "390" on it, I would replace this one in a heartbeat, but I think this one will do fine.  So to go along with all the NOS hardware, it will have NOS licence plates to top it off!

 

If anyone knows the answer - lets hear from you!

 

My door tag has the following information:

 

       Body ID:   61668

       Paint: SPECIAL (not that this should help,but since there are so many variants...)

       Body Tag No.:  E101759

 

It's cold out in the shop today, but think I'll try to warm it up as best I can and go do some work on the car

 

Anyway, to help a bit further:  The trunk date code is 51669, and I believe i had one of the interior door panels stamped as late as May 20th (I need to check this fact for sure).

 

Doing a little math off your information above, depending on the actual number of days they worked that week, and assuming that the body numbers represented a sequential build, would predictably put an assembly day of 5/20 or 5/21.

 

Thanks for your help!

 

I had decided that I wanted to wrap back around and work on the front core support.  If you recall earlier in the storyline, I had to take the original core support off and replace it with a donor unit.  Many may wonder why I have so many panels to replace. Well to do the work I had to do today, I pulled the original core support down from upstairs to use as a template and documented the following damage from its war time tour of duty:

Lower box, front side above

Lower box, back side below

Yeah, that bad....

 

 

But we're not done yet, top box here below:

 

The above is a testament to how this car in particular, and how many more like it were just abused, all in the name of going fast!  There was no way I was going to try to fix that...

 

The donor core support was welded on back in the mid-90s, but I had left one portion of the change-over undone for years - taking care of the SC/Rambler unique right hood plate pin addition:

 

Today was going to be the day to fabricate the new plate for the donor core support.  After evaluating the attachment of the original, I decided to not try removing the original due to spot weld melt, and I also wanted to redrill the hole fresh through all pieces.  So we started with a gauge thickness check:

The steel on this plate is thicker than the panel sheet metal, so I wanted to make sure.  0.060 equates to 16gage mild steel, and I just happened to have a box of scrap metal from a project back in the 80s with pieces of 16gage - I was in luck today!

 

Next step, create a paper template from an index card.  Just for history, and to help anyone else out with the correct sizing of this SC special peice, I put the dimensions right on the template:

Time to cut metal, grind and double check to the template:

 

Metal cleaned up, sprayed with weldthru primer, and clamped in place with location marks.

 

Time to get the spot welder out!  In this case, the Hobart HSW15 hand spot welder wasn't 100% up to the task.  It is made to do up to 1/8" total thickness - in this case with (2) 19gage and (1) 16gage, we were over the max, and it showed.  Took quite a bit of heating to get to a decent weld, and a look close to the factory, but I think it turned out to be a reasonable copy of the original:

 

 

A quick shot of etch primer to prep it for the next time the 2K primer gun comes out, and I was finished with this project until the hood is mounted and we can double check the hood pin hole location together and then drill the holes in the core support.

 

LOL , worked over 4 hours on a 1 5/8" x 3 3/16" piece of metal!  I said this was about the journey!  Don't ever ask me how many hours I have into the car when it is done - I never kept track, and by seeing all the more I got done today, I can only image what the final total will be.  But it was fun today, and that's all that matters.  Air tools, bench grinders, welders, paper templates, micrometers, scrap metal, and some paint - what else could you ask for on a winter Saturday?

 

After tonight - the panel is definitely married to the SC/Rambler.  Started welding on the inside along the window felt sweep lip.  Panel was prepared with plug holes here:

I still need to improve on my plug welds.  Thank goodness for the ability to grind and smooth.  I am finding welding on the NOS panel to be a bit nerve racking - you just don't want to screw it up...

 

I'll be moving down the door edge at the next chance, using the spot welder on that area.

 

I want to throw out a longshot trade opportunity to anyone in the northeast - mid Atlantic region (or within reasonable driving distance).  After finishing the welding on the left quarter, I will be turning attention to the right quarter panel.  The NOS panel I have media blasted, and primed and ready is a convertible quarter.  Should anyone out there be planning on putting an NOS right hardtop panel on a convertible, and would like to trade - let me know.  Yes, I realize that's probably a million to 1 odds, but stranger things have happened.  I know what I have to do to use the convertible quarter, and I'm prepared to do so, but it would be great to get the correct panels into the right hands to do the work on both cars.  My panel is ready to lay on a car, so if you have one with factory primer - you'd make out on the deal.

 

I believe 13 SC/Ramblers converged on the show field that day, another record up to that day in 1994.  What very few knew however, was that #14, was still sitting in pieces just 2 miles away.  I had hoped to finish the car for the event, I guess now looking back, that was just a dream.  Being the chapter chairman for Appalachian Trail Chapter AMCRC, and co-chair for the multi-club mega-event, pretty much took two years of our lives to execute.

 

Anyway - enjoy the photos of the SC's from the '94 Nationals.  Sad part was, I was so busy with the event that the only time I got with the SC/Ramblers was what time it took me to shoot these photos!  If you were here with one, you might see yours below:

 

 

Hopefully these photos warm you a little if you are stuck in the frozen north tonight!

A little while back I promised to wrap back around at some point and show some of the issues with using NOS sheet metal. This post will followup on that topic.

Ever since I can remember from working with dad in his shop, NOS replacement sheetmetal never came with perfection - there was always some dimple, lesser fit quality, or something. Even when the cars were only a few years old. Today, none of us expect the NOS sheetmetal to be dent free, but what I've found with the panels for this car, are verging on ridiculous.

NOS left rear quarter panel: The rear of the panel wraps around and the top is spot welded to an extra piece in the corner where the trunck comes down - spot weld was a cold weld - had to punch a hole and plug weld it back together. (Sorry - no photos of that one). On the other end, one night I was studying both the old and the new panel together and realized that a whole bracket was missing on the new fender, and that several holes were missing on the post metal - see if you can pick up all the missing issues below:

 

I have to say, that's a first for me.  Dents, etc, yea - but missing parts and a total of (3) missing holes?  Somebody was sleeping that day - reject! send it to the replacement warehouse!

 

Below are a couple shots of the repairs needed.  I had to spot weld drill off the old bracket from the old panel and weld to the new one...

Guess nothing is supposed to be easy...

 

Moving on, this past summer we got the new right front fender, and just before blasting, we found the whole front headlight bucket to be flapping:

 

All the factory spot welds were cold welds once again, and never held.  Drilling a few more holes in between the factory welds and plug welding resolved this one too, but makes you wonder how many factory spot welds on your car actually do anything, huh?

 

One last item before signing off.  Thought you might like to see something I found when we stripped the left inner apron panel.  Stamped from the inside is the word  "DENCO" very near the brake line bracket.  Anybody know why?  Just one of those interesting but useless pieces of trivia:

You can see that there is a second line of welds out near the door edge.  I've always wondered how the factory was able to blind spot weld areas like this and also the (2) welds along the rocker edge.  You can't get pinchers in from both sides, and a spot weld needs heat from both sides to melt together...

 

Anyway, some welds I can do with the spot welder, others I have to do with the mig as hole plug welds.

Clamping the lip edge, and starting down the seam with spot welds:

Took a little work to draw in the rounded section, but patience is the rule when working with a material like unobtainium

 

Anything around the shop can help when trying to apply some specific pressure, even a chisel and a clamp!

Plug welding the outer edges and grinding, pretty much has this area finished up.  A couple areas to do some fine detail work on but otherwise, not bad.

Next time, I'll move onto the bottom edges, again a mixture of spot and plug, but as many plug welds as we can to give that factory look.

 

I did notice a few things today, one while working with some bolts and another below that I saw by being upside down looking up at the doors.

 

First for some trivial trivia - Eric was working on the hood, and I saw that the hood hinge bolts were still threaded in.  Took them out and cleaned and tapped the threads on both the hood and the bolts.  Then I threw the bolts in the bead blaster to clean the heads, put a light coat of primer on and bag and tag them for latter.  Just before putting them in the bag, I noticed - the "P" marking on the head are two different sizes.  Bolts were all painted the same from the factory, so they are all same vintage, but they looked a little different:

1 & 3 are smaller than 2 & 4.  I know, who cares, just thought it was interesting.

 

Now for something more important.  While laying on my back under the left quarter, I looked up to the open left door, and noticed that the taping for the charcoal paint didn't wrap around to the doorseal rubber.  Then looking at the back edge, where the interior door panel ends, I noticed the same thing - it has factory white verses the charcoal.  Walking around to the right door, I see for the most part it was masked off around the bottom to the seal, and the back edge is charcoal - extending the color from the door panel to the doorseal rubber - a much nicer look.  See photos below.  I have combined photos so you get a direct comparison within the same photo:

 

Bottom of doors:

 

Rear edge of doors:

 

OK......  well we know the same guy didn't do both sides...  I guess what do you expect for less than 3 grand, right?

 

So...  I'm interested in hearing from other all original paint SC owners - what does yours look like?  I am going to take a while to decide how I might do the repainting.  Factory "correct" or over restored on this detail, hmmm.  What do you think?

 

 

Below I am including some photos of the rear inner lips.  Several Scrambler owners currently working on cars here on the forum have asked for me to post them.  The first one is the right inside shot of the factory roll (rust and all), and the lower one is the left one currently as ready to finish mig plug welding with the new panel.

 

Right inner:

 

New Left inner:

 

For those asking questions about the front fenders - the link below shows some great shots, from another Scrambler owner.  Also - above here on my post is a copy of the factory sheet detailing the specs. for the rolling.  Basically it runs body line to body line with a gradual tapering off.

 

http://scrambler1969.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2011-01-01T00:00:00-05:00&updated-max=2012-01-01T00:00:00-05:00&max-results=12" rel="nofollow - http://scrambler1969.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2011-01-01T00:00:00-05:00&updated-max=2012-01-01T00:00:00-05:00&max-results=12

 

I've been doing welding on the left quarter over the past week.  Trying to get it buttoned up so that we can start to move onto the right quarter removal soon.  I also want to get the roof under primer in the coming week or two, and get the right front wheel lip rolled.  But first, I got to get past the nerve racking welding around the edges of the quarter.

 

Got the shop warmed up over night.  Here in PA, we missed the big Blizzard and got just a coating on the ground, but it was still windy and cold outside.  Shop was comfortable.  No shoveling was good

 

Before getting started today, I wanted to inspect and checkout the latest goodies to arrive for the Scrambler.  An antenna from Georgia, a PCV hose from Texas, and a complete 4spd trans snap ring kit from my friend Bruce in the next town over.  I wish I had kept track of where every part I've bought for the car came from.  It would have been cool to click off the states (and even countries - I have one part from Australia!).  I have recently added a column on my purchase list to track it, but I don't remember more than 20% of the total list.

The Scrambler should be pretty much a NOS new car when finally put back together.  I think the chase of the parts for our "non-catalog" cars is what makes our hobby so much more fun than just a "muscle car build".  It's easy to break out a credit card and order all the parts at once and throw them on the car.  AMC owners get to experience the hobby the way it should be, and why all of us can stand back and marvel at the quality of a fresh AMC restoration regardless of the model, knowing just how hard it was to accomplish.

 

Time to get some work done.  Spot welds going along the bottom of the rear quarter behind the wheel - these turned out looking really good - plenty good enough to pass as factory:

Once those were done, I moved to the ones along the trunk lip.  The channel needed some extra persuasion to get into position - making it a tight working area to get the spot welder into:

 

Eric caught me fitting the welder in between the clamps, and starting the row of welds:

That welder is about 40 lbs of dead weight.  You have to get it in position, squeeze the tongs together, then move a little momentary switch lever under the handle, and then watch the heated area closely for the weld to occur, as this particular model does not have a timer (timer units were just too pricey for me for a home shop; if I had a body shop I'd definitely invest in a more idiot proof version, but I'll just have to settle for being a careful idiot!)

 

Trunk lip area all finished:

 

I had spot welded the rear bottom of the wheel lip earlier in the week.  Before calling it a day, I cleaned up the welds and touched up the self etching primer, just to see how the welds look under paint.  Thought they looked good, and should pass for factory:

 

If this car was a Rogue, I would have been able to do about 80% of the wheel lip with the spot welder.  But because it's a Scrambler, and the wheel lip is rolled, I have to plug weld the rest of the wheel lip unfortunately.  Can't get into the backside with the tongs.  Even on the frontside lower wheel lip, it is too close to the inner wheelwell to get the tongs in.  I am hoping to do a little special grinding though to bring the spot weld look to those areas.  We'll see how that turns out later.

 

 

This afternoon, I had a some time to play, and some more welding to do.  I decided to experiment in the area covered by the rear bumper.  Using the dremel, after plug welding and grinding the area smooth, I wanted to see how closely I could replicate a factory spot weld.  My bit of choice was a Dremel D455 - chainsaw blade sharpener:

 

Although not easy, and the chances of "rolling" off the spot is real, I went flat tip end in with both hands, starting hard on one side and then push in on the other side to even it out.  I found it to be quite quick, and as long as you're very careful, you can make a great looking fake spot weld.  Can you tell which one(s) below are done with Dremel vs. spot welder; how about after a quick shot of primer?

The fourth one (very bottom) is real.  The others were Dremel created.  I think I'm ready to move the process to the more visible areas after this trial run.

 

I decided to guide coat sand and block the rear deck panel, so I could shoot a second coat on at the same time.  The weld and fill work from the speaker holes is smoothing out well:

 

Final prep on the roof and the sequence of laying down the primer.  I am using SW vinyl wash (self etch) with a top coat of PPG 2k.  I like the older wash primer as it still has a little zinc chromate in it for extra bite.  Takes a while to mix everything up, shoot, clean the gun and do it over again in the window if time to do it without scuffing in between, but all worth it.

 

I have always avoided paint work when I can during the winter due to room exhausting and the makeup heat needed to keep room temperature.  While I have floor heating, it is not even close to being adequate to make up the volume of heat lost when running an exhaust fan at full blast.  So, I devised a plan to run a torpedo heater in one door opening, and the exhaust fan out the other.  Blocked off some of the rest of the open space with some cardboard.  Worked really well, temps outside were near 30 I think, inside stayed about 70.  The heater was well away from the paint zone and air circulation was good in the room with quick clearing.  I think it's a plan I'll use again.

 

 

Has any SC owners taken a look at the door charcoal paint masking on their cars and compared to my early post on the subject?  Would love to hear from you!

 

 

So, how did it do?  Well, it got the job done.  I don't think there is any cheap viable alternative to this tool.  However, it is not easy, and it is not perfect.  I would say the finished product will pass as original, but I think I could tell where it is not 100%.  It does protect the outer lip well, but unless you have bearclaws for hands, it is a real workout on your hands.  Patience is mandatory.  Plan on spending a solid hour or two doing the job.  You can tell that the tool is made for modern, thinner sheet metal, not the 19gage stuff on our Ramblers.  It will not do the rear lips on a Scrambler.  We had to retain the inner rolled lip on this car, and then copper hammer the outer panel lip over it.  Would I recommend the tool? - yes.  Just realize the limitations, and that nothing is easy or perfect, but for Scrambler owners faced with replacing a Scrambler front fender with another used one - go for it.

 

The finished product (hard to see):

Front side:

 

Rear side:

 

Now that I have accomplished this task, this tool is no longer needed.  I have no plans to do another SC to this level or need again, nor do I plan on modifying any future car with 22" wheels...

So, if someone out there could used this very lighty used tool for their project car, send me a PM and we can work something out.  I would just as soon reinvest back into the car if I can, rather than hold onto it and let it collect dust.

 

On the checklist for today was re-adjusting the car on the rotisserie for proper center of mass and rotation, removing the left door now that the left panel is installed and looking good for fit, and getting the car rotated so I can finish wheellip welding on the new panel.  Now that the door is removed, the car doesn't look like a Scrambler anymore .  Guess I need to keep moving and get that new paint job on it!

 

Send you a PM about the fender tool.

 

John

 

From all of us SC/Rambler owners/lovers, thank you for saving a car that some might have considered a candidate for the bone yard.

 

In the shop, dad picked some hand sanding on Eric's hood while we was away for the day.  Caught him doing a little hand sanding in the corners.  He didn't want to be on camera, but I thought it was kind of cool to know three generations worked on the Scrambler's new hood!

 

I decided to see how much panel ripple I had in the new quarter panel, so I layed out some guide dust on the protective wash primer and blocked the panel.  I knew there was some "shelf" bumps and bruises on the panel, and that there were stamping ripples around the wheel lip, but I wasn't expecting the panel to turn into a Dalmation!

I'm not sure if the blasting to clean off the original factory primer / light surface rust caused some warpage or not.  I was careful to keep the gun moving constantly, back when I did it, and I didn't have any trouble with the left front fender that had full paint on it and some inside surface rust that I hit much harder, but...  guide dust doesn't lie.  Instead of just some spot filling to catch the dimples I knew were there, I decided the best thing to do was skim coat the whole quarter.  I ended Saturday with mixing up several batches of filler.

 

Tonight after work, I got some time in with the airboard, and got a decent first pass across the panel.  Boy, airboards were made for panels like these.  Airboarding the slight curvature along a long panel like this was smooth working.  Still got some refill, and a lot of hand finish blocking to do, but I think it will turn out pretty good.  I think I'm starting to understand why I see a lot of guys skim coat a whole new panel now.  They are just not as straight as you would like them to be.

The background surrounding the cars is fairly accurate, with the exception of the billboards (I don't know what was on the back retaining wall back then, so I thought up cool stuff I liked that was Day 1 or Day 2 stuff for the Scrambler) and the one overhead walkway sign had Marshall Chevrolet on it in real life (there was no way I was going to have a bowtie in my mural - so I replaced it with the local AMC dealer, Savage Ramber, and coincidentally the dealer the Scrambler was bought new at).

 

The general theme of the mural is the passing of the Rambler speed torch from the first Rambler hotrod ('57 Rebel) to the last Rambler hotrod (SC/Rambler), hence Alpha & Omega.  It is fun to look at and dream about this ultimate match up.  Of course, the '57 would have the magical electronic fuel injection to help even it up a little bit.  But even more, I get to enjoy some of my daughter's talent each time I walk in the shop.

 

 

Thought I had remembered the trunk was dated 5-16-69, but instead it was 5-6-69.  So much for my memory:

Since this is the only section different from the replacement trunk, I cut it out for later grafting to the replacement unit.  Found a little surprise inside:

After inspection of the original trunk lid, I was glad that I chose to replace.  Outside and inside, several rust areas, and body damage.  This rust on the one side had been the clincher years ago for me when I sourced another unit:

The rust has taken over the complete corner, and also on the outside skin in this area.

 

After some elbow grease on the outside to clean off the oxidation and make it look presentable, the hood and trunk lid now rest peacefully on the wall in the memorabilia section upstairs with the help of several family members this weekend.  The wear and tear, and patina on both pieces will now help present the Scrambler in its prior life form, and is great to be able to preserve as part of its history, even when now not part of the car.  I love the new wall art!

 

Over the past week or so, I've been messing around with the replacement trunk lid and the metalwork to get it Scrambler worthy.  A separate posting on that at a later time.

 

Goals for the next week or so it to finish the edges on the quarter panel, including the door jamb, strip and smooth the rocker panel, and get a first coat of primer on the inside of the hood that Eric has been working on most of the winter.  Would also like to get another primer coat on the left quarter before rolling it over for right quarter removal.

 

So, tonight after a little yard work, I got back to those important finishing touches on the left quarter edges.  I still had the simulated spot welds to complete in the areas that the spot welder wouldn't go.  The bottom front of the wheel lip needed the most careful effort.  I was very happy with the look.  The Dremel and some patience was all that was needed:

 

The key is to not make them all look the same.  The factory wasn't consistent, so simulated spot welds shouldn't be either to sell the look.  A coat of primer will be the final verdict.

 

Are you going to pour in some rust treatment & shake it around before the primer goes on? I think you had a picture of a deck lid with rust in side. Also after pulling mine apart I am happy I did to get the rust taken care of before I put them back together again.

Dave ----

 

Today I shot the inside of the hood and the left rocker / rear quarter with vinyl wash and 2k primer:

 

I'm pretty happy with the quarter edge detailing, and I think we are about ready to flip the car over the other direction to finally start the assault on the last big hurdle on the metalwork - the right rear quarter.  After a little break for Spring Carlisle and some spring yardwork, we should be ready to do that.  With some effort, I am hoping to finish the right rear quarter and do the blasting, subframe straightening, priming on the undercarriage by fall.

 

Took a number of my clips and hardware along for matching.  Finding that AMC really used some oddball stuff.  Had some luck, but I think I'm going to have to lean on some AMC only vendors to look through their stash for some of this oddball stuff.  Found that even the American bumper bolts aren't readily out there.  GM used a similar version, but length was different.  I may have to give a little on that one if they can at least get the nut on.  I did find a vendor that had the rear fuel line clips that have a scissor type attachment to body hole.  (I think this is the Grp. 4.152  P/N 47272).  Outside of that, not much AMC parts were found this time (maybe another forum member got it before me!).  Did score some Wittek radiator hose clamps for $1.00/pc with nice plating - stocked up on those!

 

We use early Mustange bumper bolts that have a slightly larger head but are nearly impossible to tell the difference when installed unless you hold an original bumper bolt next to the Mustang ones.

 

Dan - thanks for the tip, I am going to stop in at the Mustang suppliers tents next time around and compare them.  I did a quick check on-line for photos and came up with this one from Superior Mustang Parts:

 

I'm not sure if the bottom one has a different "concours profile" or not, but the upper one looks to have a more rounded head vs. the AMC.  I'll do a more thorough comparison this fall and report back.

 

On a different note, yesterday I picked up a 16" long DuraBlock sanding block.  I had been testing my preferences on new sanding blocks and really liked the 11" version I had.  I had thought it was doing an awesome job, and it does, but, when I laid the 16" block on the rear panel with guide dust and started re-blocking, I was surprised to see how many new minor imperfections appeared.  Glad I got the 16" version.  I don't think a longer one would help a whole lot more, maybe a little just down to the wheel lip.  The 16" version looks like a good compromise for the working space on the panel.  Note to everyone else - invest in some longer blocks, you'll see it do a better job on getting those final small imperfections sanded out.

 

I am looking into the same internal frame coating for my rockers, A posts and the rear lid. I am not taking the rear lid apart like the hood, one was enough!

 

I am not looking to be spot on like you are doing with yours, I am going crazy enough as it is  but I can admire what you and other can and have done to your cars.

Keep the posts coming.

Dave ----

 

Factory paint masking at the door jam (remember the red was laid down first, then masked off to paint white)

Still considering if I should try to make mine look this bad on re-paint....

 

How about some more popped factory spot welds evne before I get started (at least it's two less I have to drill out)

(Hard to tell from the photo above - but the quarter panel is gap'd outward over a 1/4" from the rocker panel).  On the one below - easy to see the popped factory spot weld.

 

Also note above and in the next photo the caulking dabs in the seams.  This location is at the seam of the quarter and tailpanel in the trunk jam.  Almost looks like the guys on the line were encouraged to chew Juicy Fruit gum and stick it on the seam gaps...

The above is the dab of caulk (or Juicy Fruit? ) at the corner of the trunk jam.

 

How about that factory body seam / body work just above the taillights?  I don't think they would be taken too kindly at Pebble Beach

This picture above is very important to me, as it shows the gap between the quarter and the tailpanel is wider at the trunk then it is at the corner shown in the photo below.  Since I am replacing all three rear pieces, it will help it fitment at the end.  I have already seen with the left quarter, it doesn't want to go flat and this side shows the factory had trouble too.

Yup - this is factory lead body work.  The quarter panel was stamped, but there was place in the corner that couldn't be formed 100%, and had to be spot welded together, and then they leaded over it.  Here the lead was wiped into the seam and looked very poor.  On my new left quarter - the spot welds (you guessed it) cold welded and had popped - I ended up mig welding that seam solid - much better in the end.

The rest of the seam looks decent.  If I was leaving it on the car, I would want to completely remove the original caulk and re-seal.  With the new quarter/tailpanel we'll start fresh on this one.

 

Swiss cheese anyone?

Rather large affected circle spot on this side verses the left - you can see the continuation of pin hole rust all along the bottom.  I expect we will see it looking pretty bad on the backside after it is removed in this area.

 

Wheel lip rust looks about the same as the left side, however this side had body damage fixed on the front edge of the wheel lip, so it looks like the paint bubbled after the work was done. You will see the damage to the inner wheel well that must be fixed once removed.

 

Now the process of carefully removing the spot welds will begin.  I am using a convertible quarter on this side, so I must leave the door post and across the top of the original quarter in place and have to join the metal together in the best locations.  Still deciding exactly where the cuts/joint will be located.

 

Below is a photo, continuing the earlier discussion on bumper bolts.  After stopping by my friend's house today, he gave me some NOS bolts he found in his stash.  These are the factory bolts - two different lengths - with a very shallow head.  He had 3 of the 1" and 1 of the 1.25"  If anybody has more NOS out there - I can use them.

 

And lastly, it was a good week for the Scrambler even though it didn't get much physical attention.  First, my dad found a small stash of 70-30 lead sticks, and I scored a great local Craigslist find for a dent stud welder kit! (Magna Spot 1500)  I had wanted one of these to help pull out the crushed areas of the subframe rails, but didn't want to pay the prices for new.  This will be a great help, and then coupled with the body lead, will help me do the subframes right for this car.  This will be a fun part of the project later this summer (I hope on both accounts...).  We will also solve the problem of the new tail panel with the 67 - 68 wire harness tabs vs. the 69 weld studs / plastic ties.  This unit has the rivet head attachment, and an un-opened bag of rivet heads!  Two problems solved for one price!

 

Car flipped over to do right quarter spot welds.  Eric was stripping the top of the hood.  It was a noisey and dirty night in the shop! (= fun):

 

I was drilling spot welds across the bottom lip.  With every beating of the putty knife through the weld area to break loose, the 40+ year old dirt made it's way onto my lap / floor (no wonder these things rust out!):

 

I will be continuing panel removal efforts through the long holiday weekend, and probably getting the Ambassador out of mothballs for the summer.  Weather is supposed to be nice!

 

A last look at the original panel (barely hangin on!):

 

And then with one last application of the hammer and putty knife to separate the last spot weld, it was gone!

 

For many, the goal of the restoration is to retain as many of the original components as possible, and that is a very noble goal.  I have 2 of those such cars.  But for me, for this car, that wasn't going to be realistic, so my goal from the start, was to make sure this car is rust free, 25, 50 years into the future.  No worrying about when the next pinhole spot was going to pop out of the screen door thin outer sheetmetal.  I wanted to guarantee myself and any future (longterm future...) owners that there were none of those worries.  The photos below are a reminder of what lurks behind those fresh outer paint jobs; unless you can remove pieces, it still remains for a future owner to deal with to some degree...

The inside of the wheel lip wasn't as bad as the left - but was pinholing - left was open holes.

 

The infamous American circle spot - is actually just the start of major problems for the future.  It rusts all along the lower brace area.  The bigger problem is the amount of dust, loose caulking/seamsealer, and rust flakes that came pouring out of the lower quarters as I opened it up.  Everyone needs to know what they need to deal with rust wise, and that is why I posted the above - you can't really see this, but it's happening at some level to all our 40 something year old cars.  When restoring an American - the first step is getting all the debri out of these areas, "wash" down the surface somehow, and then get rust preventer materials down into the bottom.  You will see future posts of me painting the inside of the new quarter to the same level as the outside to put protection between the panels.  I will also redesign the below brace like I did on the left side to eliminate this problem forever on my Scrambler.

I'd like to post a Mr. Yuck sticker here with this photo - the cause of the toxic circle spot on the Americans.  This will get "re-engineered" soon.

 

A friend stopped by last night, and said the damage to the inner wheelhousing was done with a panel puller when the damage "repair" was done back in the 70s.  He pointed out the tell tale round circle spots where they grabbed the panel and yanked it out.  The lip on this side is screwed up and needs welding work to fix some rust, but more so the torn metal on the lip and also the place where the repair tool actually did more damage then good..  (see the round metal distortions and torn metal at the arrows below)

 

I took the below photo to document the factory gap between the wheel housing and lower rear panel, and also the factory seam sealer globs!  A view that most everyone never gets to see.

 

Ultimately I will be glad I pulled the quarter and took care of the rust lurking behind, no worries at that point.  The worries are getting the new one on and welded perfectly.  I have to piece in this quarter due to it being a convertible quarter.  Last call for a trade - fully prepped NOS right rear convertible quarter for an NOS right rear hardtop quarter?

 

 

So after an early morning start to yard work and quitting by 9:30am I retired to the shop, where with it closed up, I can keep it in the low 70s.  Decided to get the rust off the rocker and finish hand making the new bottom to the quarter vertical brace.  A long time ago (1994?), I had made a new bottom for the left side, and it worked great.  The goal is to keep the rigidity of the brace, but keep it away from the outer panel.  The original came down and was spot welded somehow to the quarter panel at the very bottom.  It was held far too close to the panel as a result.

 

With the new design, I cut off the rusted bottom as far as needed to get into good metal, and then recreated it to weld directly to the rocker panel.  This gives about a 1/4" clearance to the outer quarter panel.

 

There is something so satisfying about handforming a piece of metal.  You feel like you have actually made something!  Photos below from final fit / tack to ground and ready for paint.  At least in this case - better than factory - no more circle spot problems!

I didn't weld it all the way across at the bottom, and I left a drain opening on both unwelded sections as you can see that it sits just above a drain area on the rocker and also for the outer quarter.

 

Guess I will start the small area of inner rocker (just opposite of this area) rust next.  It will be hard to get the old metal out as it is very tight and hard to get cutting tools into...

 

Back in the day when I helped my dad with a lot of 60s and 70s cars rot, we always noticed that the right side of the car was rusted worse.  Probably due to the extra road salt and debri migrating to the side of the road.

 

That seems to be the case here.  The left side is super clean, but here, just in front of the right rear wheel, moisture and what appears an extra dose of road salt got the best of the inner rocker metal - rotting from the inside out.  If I had not stripped the undercoating off, I would not have seen this.  The undercoating was still covering over the hole at the time I stripped it.

 

This area is a real pain to get into.  I needed a small head angled die grinder I think, and didn't have one of those (put it on the wish list now).  First photo of condition before starting, the second one after clearing out the bad stuff and trying to get a straight enough edge to handmake a replacement piece.

 

There is a fair amount of festering rust down the rocker.  The rocker is a three piece construction, the inner and outer shell, and an internal baffle with big 2" holes every 5" or so.  I scraped the inside as best I could and blew it out, then got a good coat of Rustmort all over the inside.  Will probably check for any reapplication needs and then get the Eastwood internal frame coating sprayed down the rocker as far as I can before making the new weld in piece.  Looking down inside the rocker, the first foot here appears to be the worst.

 

I would recommend American owners to get into the rockers through the 1.25" access hole in the wheelwell and blow out and try to get rust stabilizers as far down in as you can.  There is also a front access hole in the front wheelwell behind the removable panel.  A couple hour Saturday job could make a difference in your car's rust condition.