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1974 Levi's Gremlin X in the PNW |
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camrock
AMC Apprentice Joined: Nov/11/2015 Location: Portland, OR Status: Offline Points: 32 |
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Posted: Mar/16/2021 at 4:06pm |
Hello to all once again, glad to be back to start a new build thread. https://theamcforum.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=77676&KW=&title=1974-plum-gremlin-304 - My last car had to go too soon, although I was happy to see it contribute to another stellar project close by. Just wish I'd kept the gas cap!
This car was a single-owner Gremlin X that's been garage stored for the last 20 years. Owner just wasn't going to have time for it. He had the seats reupholstered and has a new carpet/insulation ready to go for the interior. He'd removed all of the trim in the hopes of painting it, but lost interest before it could be done, so that's also all included. First things first: the gas cap lock won't budge, any ideas there? Also, looking for a good guide for installing the carpet. |
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LakesideRamblin
AMC Addicted Joined: Dec/21/2015 Location: So. California Status: Offline Points: 2691 |
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Nice car. Welcome back!
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LakesideRamblin
69 Rambler 360 73 Javelin 360 "If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn't sit for a month." T. Roosevelt |
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camrock
AMC Apprentice Joined: Nov/11/2015 Location: Portland, OR Status: Offline Points: 32 |
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Wow, I feel super delinquent in keeping this up to date. The project has been making some slow, but steady pace since I first brought it home.
The car came with several boxes worth of interior pieces, and a tidy, but ultimately unhelpful box of bagged and unlabeled screws/bolts. Those have been "fun" to figure out. Seeing it out in the light of day for the first time was a treat! First step was to thoroughly clean the inside with Simple Green to get all of the crud off the floors. That and the ShopVac took a lot of time, but it darn near sparkled when we were done. I connected with another Gremlin owner in the Corvallis area who was pulling his running, low mileage 258 from his 76 and happily took it off his hands. At the end of last winter, I enlisted a host of folks to help swap the engine with the 232 in mine. It was COLD. But ultimately, the engine made it in, and we even hooked up a few things! Later that summer, was able to get the drive shaft installed as well. Took us way too long to figure out why it wasn't rolling free all of a sudden. Back to neutral, back in business. Rear window, roof rack, and air deflector installed. Still searching for the plastic rub strip pieces, if anyone has some, I'm interested! Me and my little helper started the Kilmat process. Happy with how it turned out! All of my mechanic help dried up, so next steps is getting someone out to finish the last steps from the engine swap, then I'm hoping we're close to in business. I laid out the new carpet before I hibernated the car last fall, so it's nice and flat, and ready for the reupholstered seats. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks! |
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amxdreamer
AMC Addicted Joined: Jul/30/2008 Location: Vancouver, BC Status: Offline Points: 8509 |
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Red with blue interior? Interesting combination.
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Tony
Vancouver, BC 1970 AMX 1972 Badassador AMO#10333 |
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camrock
AMC Apprentice Joined: Nov/11/2015 Location: Portland, OR Status: Offline Points: 32 |
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I know! My last car had all black with white seats, a look I wish I could have seen through to a finish, but yeah, it's kind of wild.
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Fluffy73
AMC Addicted Joined: Nov/21/2007 Location: Castlegar, BC Status: Offline Points: 3059 |
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Years ago, I looked at a '73 or '74 Hornet hatch that was Trans-Am Red, White Painted top and had the Levi's interior. Red, White and Blue! It looks a little weird, but yeah, it was done! Reminds me of other oddball cars like I once saw a blue Dodge Demon with an orange plaid interior. Also, a '70 Judge in Tropical Turquoise, with a dark red interior. |
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I am genetically incapable of being Politically Correct.
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camrock
AMC Apprentice Joined: Nov/11/2015 Location: Portland, OR Status: Offline Points: 32 |
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Fun story to start this update:
I had pulled the car out into the driveway in the late spring to get some breathing room in the garage. I happened to be walking across the street when a neighbor stopped me to ask, "Hey, is that your Gremlin?!" We proceeded to have a lovely chat (their family had a couple of Javelins that are still going today), and he mentioned that his son had an 83 Eagle, and wouldn't you know, he also runs a business working on classic cars from their barn a couple of streets over. A lot of my engine help has dried up, so I was enthusiastic to make the connection! He came out to the house last week to have a gander and put a few things together. At the end of the day, we realized there was enough there to hook up the battery and see if the radio worked. And we have light! Very exciting! First sign of life I've seen from it since I got it a couple of years ago. The radio, so far, not so much. Windshield wipers were turning! One thing we were seeing: I put in a lower-mileage 258 from a 76 Gremlin to replace the 232 in my 74. When we are attempting to attach the throttle cable to the engine, it's putting the cable about 6 inches out of position with the engine/carb (I think that's where it connects, I could be wrong). He seemed to think there was a different bracket for that connection between the one barrel and two barrel carbs. In the Facebook AMC Gremlins group, a very knowledgeable guy there said he looked at his cars and said the bracket was the same in both cars/engines. Any guidance?
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