Trying to tread lightly as a newbie, but,

Having many other makes of cars I do realize that there are a lot of people that are really opposed to putting an off brand motor in their car, For the most part, I am of that mindset,and if I wanted to do that then I will figure it out on my own as I am not looking to ruffle feathers here.

So, with that said, I have a 68 Javelin that has all original motor, 290 2v, tranny is a 4spd 2.43, rear is an open 3.15 and all in rough shape, motor locked up, tranny probably needs to be gone thru and the rear brakes are rusted fast.

I want this car to be a jump in and drive it anywhere, reliably, probably 8 months out of the year in all kinds of temps. Run down the highway at 75mph effortlessly.

SO, what is it going to take to do this reliably, in other words, NOT overheat in 100degree traffic, and idle at cold start up in 30degree weather.

From past exp. what is available for gas, and a carb no longer mix well, boiling points are too low, I just went thru that this past summer with my 69 Firebird 400,so what is available for EFI for the AMC?

How is the stock cooling system, oiling system, basically, give me all the bad stuff and weak links, so I know where to concentrate my funds.

Thanks Stan



Edited by Kansas Transit - Oct/29/2014 at 8:12am

I would go liteweight pistons/rods, no oiling issues with the bottom end?

Also, stock crank good for 300+ hp? Roller cams available? Intakes with inj, bunges?

Are you guys filling the lower half of the blocks? How are the stock main caps? Preferred balancers? Eldelbrock heads?

BDCVG wrote: Find a 360

Why a 360? IOW, if I am going to jump that far why not a 401?

Kansas Transit wrote: BDCVG wrote: Find a 360 Why a 360? IOW, if I am going to jump that far why not a 401?

Mostly because 360's are cheap and easily available. A 401 or 390 is relatively rare and much more expensive to get. A complete rebuildable 401 or 390 core can cost almost $1000 if not more.

Since you have a T10 Manual transmission there won't be nearly as many problems swapping a later gen III engine in place of the gen II.

The biggest problems of reliability you may run in to is the two piece axles in the rear end, and the stock oil pan. Moser makes aftermarket axles for the AMC 20. Canton and Milodon make a road race style extra capacity oil pan.

The bottom end on a AMC V8 is very stout you won't need to worry about block filler unless you are looking to make well over 450 horsepower.
There are roller cams and lifters available, but I would suggest avoiding them for the time being, too many problems involving incorrectly made parts.
Edelbrock makes a muli-point fuel injection system for the AMC V8.


Edited by akimmet - Oct/29/2014 at 12:01pm

I understand what you are saying on the tranny, but that leaves me with a dilemma, which is I either have to run a really tall rear gear, tall tire, and the four speed, or I need to move up to an overdrive tranny.

Just to compare, my 69 Firebird is running .60 400 with a Turbo 400 1:1 high gear, I am running a 2:78 rear gear WITH a 28.5 tall rear tire.

Because of the convertor the car still gets out decently and will cruise at 75mph at only 2200, BUT, not being familiar with AMC's AND it being a stick car (no torque multiplication) I'm not sure that setup would work as well?

Thanks Stan