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What to check/ fix for a daily driver

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First_Gear View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote First_Gear Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Oct/23/2021 at 12:56pm
Originally posted by Beyer13 Beyer13 wrote:

So I need to double check the transmission. Appears to be a t96 maybe? 

As far as the rust it is very minimal the passenger floor pan had the worst with about a 3 inch hole. Underside still looks good pretty dang dirty.... makes me wish that car washes had lifts or ramps! 

I daily a 1963 chevy nova. I know this is an AMC forum but the chevy is so much easier to get parts for and my rambler is not done yet lol..

I would check the brake hoses and flush the brake system, check brake shoes. Take a hose to the backing plate to wash off all the brake dust. Remove the automatic adjusters, clean and lubricate them and a drop of oil on each of the pivot points where the springs are wouldn't hurt. Clean and lubricate the little pads the shoes ride on with chassis grease. I would remove the wheel bearings wash and repack them and grease the suspension. Look for damaged or torn suspension bushings. Look for evidence of excessive leakage from the engine trans brakes rear diff radiator. Check all hoses (including fuel line and filler neck) replace any that appear damaged or worn. Top up fluids in the differential and transmission if you haven't already. Check the air cleaner, PVC valve, clean and gap the points check your timing and finally adjust idle. I would consider getting a new or rebuilt fuel pump if it isn't compliant with modern fuels. I would also go around and put a drop of oil on everything that moves, hinges, linkages etc. Also I would disassemble and lubricate the wiper motor. Check that the heater works and flush it if necessary. Oh yeah check the charging system. With the key in off disconnect the negative battery and connect an ammeter in series with it. There should be 0 MA no current flowing unless you have a clock. Reconnect, start the car and with a volt meter attached rev the engine. Should have around 14 volts. It should not climb much when you rev the engine. If your battery is super old I would just replace it. 
Now you mentioned there is a hole in the floor. It must be repaired. Either patch it temporarily or better yet cut the rust out and weld in a permanent patch. I would also remove the carpet or any rubber matts etc. You cant have carpet until it doesn't leak into the interior when it rains. You will have to eliminate the leaks one at a time or just leave the carpet out. Pour a glass of water into the cowl and see if its water tight. If not you might have to patch it.

I would think if you did all this that you won't have any major problems. These old cars are reliable but require more maintenance.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Beyer13 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Oct/23/2021 at 7:56pm
So a good majority of this has been done waiting on bushings to show up. I did run her up the mountain pass and back. That's the route to work it's a 25 mile round trip and she crossed the pass at 67mph which completely blew my expectations out of the water!! I even passed two cars lol!! 
I'm pretty confident that I can drive her to and from work while also repairing the last few things. 

Also the holes in the floorboard were wire brushed sealed and covered, not conventionally but it is new mexico. Not too worried about the heater our coldest temps aren't that bad. Shocks need to be replaced but the leafs should probably also be replaced. Wiper motor seems happy so far but I will start working my way through all the components and fix or replace where necessary. 

Daily driving a nova would be awesome, my daily was a 2000 f250 powerstroke, which is great but any part for that thing is going to cost an arm and a leg!! I think for the cost of my 250 transmission I could rebuild the entire amc motor, tranny and all the suspension lmao!!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote First_Gear Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Oct/28/2021 at 12:36am
I have a relatively short commute. In the 10 years I've been driving. I have put 90,000 miles on the old nova. Its held up reasonably well. It looks nearly as it did when I bought it. The suspension is SQUEAKY and the handling is terrible. Its my only transportation so when I get the ol' rambler up and running I'll be able to go through the suspension and steering gear to get it to drive like it should.

Good luck with your car. When I bought my rambler I thought it looked pretty nice. Straight little visible rust. Now 5? + years later I have had to rebuild nearly everything on the car. Its funny. Every time I tore something apart I expected it to be a kind of clean it up relube it and put it back together scenario and every time I was baffled at how bad it was. You would think I would learn.

Lets see.. The cowl, firewall and floor and lower inner and outer quarters had holes in it. Also the passenger side wheel arch. All the interior paint was ruined by some kind of solvent when someone decided to paint the interior lime green and then changed their mind.  Someone lost much of the original hardware and jammed whatever they had handy into it.. The engine had spun bearings and had been rebuilt so many times the cylinders would have had to be sleeved.. I found another core and rebuilt that., the steering gear was horribly pitted and had to be completely redone with all new parts. The transmission was absolutely grenaded and it took me over a year to find enough parts to rebuild and I had to find a second used one. The rear axle shaft was bent (I bent it back with a 20 ton ram), The carrier bearings in the diff looked like the surface of the moon. The gas tank had a hole in it. Hmm.. What else.. Oh yeah all the seats had rats nests in them and all the upholstery and foam was completely trashed. I did all the work myself except setting up the ring and pinion in the rear diff after changing bearings. I felt like I was damaging it taking it apart and putting it together again a million times to try to get a good pattern. I still need to paint the exterior (all body work completed) install carpet dashboard put the engine in stuff like that. She's like 80% there. Most people would have junked such a car as its a 4door rambler classic but I wanted to learn how to do this stuff and I've learned so much. Can't wait to drive my "new" car when its all done.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote tomj Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Oct/28/2021 at 10:28pm
Wow First_Gear, that's a lot! A lot of people would have abandoned a car with that many troubles. Congratulations on persistence. Doing all that investigative and repair work sure gains you a lot of knowledge.
1960 Rambler Super two-door wagon, OHV auto
1961 Roadster American, 195.6 OHV, T5
http://www.ramblerLore.com

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote madams Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Oct/29/2021 at 5:31am
I have been resurrecting a 68 AMX that had been "rebuilt" and sat for around 15 yrs.  A couple of the more interesting mechanical "fixes"
   1) one of the floats was upside down in the factory carb (actually still worked)
   2) the caliper pistons were in backwards on only one half of a caliper
   3) no shims whatsoever on the calipers
   4) no head locating dowels (caused overheating problems)
   5) Oil slinger on backwards (timing chain was chewing it up)
   6) Silicone sealer "worms" everywhere.  even used it on both sides of the oil-pump cover gasket with plenty of ooze into the oil passageways (disaster waiting to happen).
   7) The T-10 was assembled with a spacer washer on the wrong side of the rear bearing (catastrophic bearing failure)
   8) 290 flywheel on a 390 engine
I could go on, these are just some of the more memorable ones.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote First_Gear Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Oct/29/2021 at 11:30am
"Shadetree" mechanics should be banned from working on cars.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote tomj Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Oct/29/2021 at 8:26pm
Originally posted by madams madams wrote:

I have been resurrecting a 68 AMX that had been "rebuilt" and sat for around 15 yrs.  A couple of the more interesting mechanical "fixes"...

As they say...

SMH!

1960 Rambler Super two-door wagon, OHV auto
1961 Roadster American, 195.6 OHV, T5
http://www.ramblerLore.com

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote farna Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Nov/01/2021 at 5:23am
Well, we were all "shade tree" mechanics at one time, eh??  I know it took me a few mistakes to learn...

Anyway, you shouldn't have a lot of problems since you've been running it a few days/weeks now. The noise form the engine is probably weak lifters, but it may not be getting enough oil up top if it's a rocker shaft engine. See this: https://www.mattsoldcars.com/RestoreAmerican/boltmod.shtml

Trunnions seem weird to people who have only dealt with ball joints -- which have been used since about 1954, and almost universally since 58 or so. AMC and Studebaker used a trunnion type joint after that -- Studebaker until the end, I think (late 60s Lark/Avanti platform may have switched to ball joints around 63-64 -- last Stude was 66), AMC through 1969 (upper trunnion only, lower changed to ball joint in 62 for big cars, 64 for American).

The 64-69 American/Javelin/AMX uses a different upper trunnion than all other AMCs. They use a large rubber bushing inside the upper housing that the steering knuckle (upright) goes through. That bushing turns inside the housing. When the bushing gets old and hard it sometimes sticks in the aluminum housing (a little corrosion helps it stick too!), then the knuckle turns inside the bushing. That wears the bushing and can cause the spring (which sits on top of the housing) to tilt. So if the springs look like they are sitting at an odd angle and not more or less straight, the big bushings are worn. There is also a horizontal bolt going through a bushing that links the two upper arms and hold them to the upper housing. That bushing can wear and cause the bolt to wear into the housing. Prothane makes urethane bushings to replace both. Those are the only urethane bushings I'd use -- use stock type rubber for the inner arm bushings. The big inner bushing just doesn't get torqued down like the stock rubber does. Just snug the nut until there is some resistance to twisting and use lock-tite on it. Urethane doesn't "give" like the rubber did!

Of course your bushings might be fine, at least the big inside bushing. Replacing the inner bushing is a one day job if you have the parts in hand and are familiar with mechanics (as you appear to be). Don't get me wrong -- replacing both is an all day job, and probably a good 8 hours work, but can be done in a day. Main things you need are a way to press out the arm and horizontal housing bushings and "holders" for the spring. The springs are easy enough with the holders. See this page for a great 64-69 small car trunnion rebuild tutorial, and plans for the spring holders: http://www.ramblerdan.com/amc/trunnion.htm


Edited by farna - Nov/01/2021 at 5:28am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Beyer13 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Nov/01/2021 at 7:30am
That is good info! 
I believe the top end is getting good oil, I removed the valve cover to check torque on the head bolts. When I did this I found the previous owner had siliconed the valve cover. After breaking the seal and running it on another drive it pooled oil everywhere on the top end, around the carburetor and was running down the back of the block. So I think she's getting oil but wether or not it's enough oil I suppose time will tell. Ordered valve cover gasket which came in a kit with pretty much every gasket for the 232. 
I plan on changing all the bushings. I know for sure the shock bushings are completely gone and one of the springs is sitting at a funny angle so I assume the big bushing you speak of is worn out. 
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