Hot Rods '63 Rambler Classic 550

We have an 8” already, this build is super low budget so he’s going to use what we have.

 

My brother had a 63 Ambassador 990 2 door with the 327 and the floor shift (console) Twin-Stick 3 speed overdrive manual transmisssion. That was very cool car. Black with a sort of gold vinyl (if I recall right) interior. Speedy little car, kind of a sleeper. His wife loved it!

 

Looking forward to watching this one come together! Sleeper is right!

 

That sounds amazing! I'd love to do a full restore on a car eventually, but this build wont be that. Gonna keep that patina beater look

 

So my Papa came up with an idea for the rambler the other day, inspired by the Ford Thunderbolt he thought we could replace the inner headlights with direct to carb air flow ports, or ram air I think its called. At first I was apprehensive about the idea, but the more I think about it, the more I love it. The only concern I have about doing this is having proper air filtration. I don't want bugs, dirt, and other random road crap in my carb. I'm sure ill figure it out eventually. Let me know what y'all think. -BVP p.s. its gonna be called RAMBOLT!

 

Greenblade, the filter is in the air cleaner box on top of the carburetor. That 2 carburetor setup looks like it requires a high dollar air cleaner assembly.

1/4 inch hardware cloth at the inlet (where the head light bulbs were) will keep out the mice and rocks.

There are a couple of drawbacks to using this type of cold air intake on the street.
1. Carburetor icing - In cold damp weather, ice forms on the throttle blade(s). In September, I drove a cold, rainy run thru the Texas panhandle, engine started running like crap - Disconnected the cold air hose from the carb, the warmer air under the hood solved the carb icing problem.
2. The cold air intake can take in water. Saw a bent connecting rod in a Toyota pickup. The owner was running through big water puddles, sending water everywhere. Including into the stock Toyota air intake - water does not compress...

Consider building your own air cleaner. The following pictures are something I built for my 4 cylinder.


Air cleaner from the scrap pile at a friends welding shop. No idea what car (or truck) it came from, takes an air filter for late 1950' - 1960's Dodge, lots of Jeeps, etc. Cut off the snorkel, leaving enough material to pop-rivet on a hose adapter.


Crude, but, effective. The air cleaner assembly was free, air filter was available in the shelf at Autozone, hose adapters are on the shelf at Home Depot / Lowe's. I spent more time cleaning decades of grime and rust than I spent on fabrication.

Russ

 

This will be fun. By the way your rust problem is a mere annoyance compared to some of the stuff I've worked on and seen on this forum... Enjoy!

 

I actually dig these cars, cool and different. Have fun with the build and learn as much as possible. "Every day is a school day" says Gene Winfield.

 

Thanks, that really helped actually. I think I'll go down a similar route with that air filter style. I don't plan on driving the rambler in cold or wet conditions, so im not worried about ice buildup or water getting in the engine. Thanks -BVP

 

As a 16 year old in the summer of 1965 I came across a practically new condition '61 Rambler Classic, only problem was the rare die-cast aluminum 6 had self-destructed.
I bought me an almost new car for 150 bucks, local used car dealer/ circle track sprint car racer shop in Marion Michigan sold me a Chev 283 Power Glide & '56 rear axle, and they did the entire installation including building traction bars, over the weekend for another 100 bucks. Monday afternoon I was able to drive my first licensed car home.
Now it turned out everything was not perfect. And I was on my own to work out the rest of the problems as best I could. The engine had a bad miss which I traced down to a worn out camshaft with a missing lobe. Told Ken, the shop owner and he offered me one of his sprint car cams for $75, think it was for FI '62 Vette 327.
Went home and installed it with a culled selection of used lifters. In installing the cam I noticed a distinct CLUNK as I rotated the crank back and forth. Was advised by my mentors to drop the pan and check the bearings. Yep, one rod was loose enough to rattle by hand, but had not yet spun. One of the mechanics dug around a bit in his old tool box and came up with a rod bearing set. Picked up a new timing gear and chain and reassembled everything. Fired her up and RUMP da RUMP da RUMP! There was NO doubt about it having a racing cam.
Slapped some big 'ol Powered by Chevy decals on the quarter windows and cruised the streets Rumpada Rumpada. My ride had the sounds, and soon developed a sleeper reputation. Put that powerful 'ol fear of embarrassment in 'em, and was never challenged.
Drove it many thousands of miles that summer with nary another problem.
Fall of '65, school started and I sold it to buy a Olds Rocket powered '46 Hudson coupe.
But that's a story for another day. Get it built.

 

Got some buckets for the Rambler today. They came out of a '90 Mazda MX-6. They fit pretty well, just need to be set a little higher.

 

Looks like a great project. Nice to see people building "Brand X" hotrods.

 

Those seats look like a nice fit.

 

I got a Mexican blanket for the torn up back seat. I also got a pair of curb whiskers for the front, I know a lot of people don't like curb whiskers but I do.

 

Hate to sound like a turd but.............I would put the head rests back on the new buckets. One rear end from a "distracted" driver and you are ruined for life. Head rests help prevent whiplash.
Jus say'in!
6sally6

 

Have the headrest in the trunk just in case. However I think being hit anywhere in this vehicle will result in some sort of injury or death, but hey, that's a risk im willing to take driving a classic.

 

Those buckets look like they were born there.

 

A millions miles ago I worked with this poor guy that everyone picked on; the other fellas at the shop never let up. He drove a baby blue '63 Rambler 4dr. I befriended him and we chatted one day about his car. When I found out it had a V8 under the hood my opinion of him and the car moved up a few notches! Anyway, this is the perfect way to get into a 60's "Detroit" 2dr on the cheap.

 

I finally got the NOS ambassador taillights I've been wanting so badly. I think they look beautiful and add a lot more character to the car.

 

Don't throw away the old ones as they can be polished back up and look good. It's nice to have spares.

 

Definitely. Im actually keeping the old ones on until the things running.

 

The rusted passenger floor is probably due to the heater, but not the core. The cowl floor just above the heater has an opening for drawing fresh air in. The opening has a raised lip around it. As the car ages and trash gets in the cowl vents and collects around that lip, the lip rusts out. When that happens rain that gets in the vents runs right down into the heater box and on the floor. There is a patch panel made for it, or you can make your own. Early Mustangs have the same issue. Some of those owners just get a piece of magnetic sign and cut to fit over the cowl vents when it rain. Cheap and effective, just cuts the fresh air intake. Fix the cowl floor write-up: https://theamcforum.com/forum/6366-cowl-floor-repair-above-heater_topic77220.html

 

Tanks, Inc. makes a nice seat riser bracket. It is adjustable 2-3". You will need two for each seat. Very well made.

 

Shouldn't be hard to make a set of spacers to go between the floor and seat rails. From elegant fabrication to rat-rod style (block of wood... but use pressure treated pine, and maybe paint black or cover with carpet). It's a custom car, so a custom solution works! I have 1990 Eagle Premier seats in mine. The front brackets were right, just had to drill new holes for one side. The rear were too tall, had to cut, flatten, and drill.

If the head rests are squared off and not too high I'd put them back in. The Premier seats have squarish head rests but are hollow in the middle. They still look nice in the car, though obviously a bit more modern. But so is the power adjustments...

 

Thanks for the info on the vent. I’m sure we can make something to get it fixed. I just bought a bead roller so we can make a new floor pan.
We are hoping to get the car to my shop Saturday so actual work can get started. To this point Brooks and I’s schedule‘s has not meshed together.

 

In the link I posted I show the home made piece that I used in my car. The car I photographed was one that I did for someone else, and they bought the ready-made patch panel.

 

The seat spacers are definitely going to be home made. And definitely NOT rat rod style. Knowing my Dad, we're gonna make something really nice looking with stuff that's just laying around. Maybe i can talk him into throwing some chrome trim in it somewhere. I love chrome.

 

Very first night of working on the Rambler. Brooks got busy cutting the old leaf spring mounts off the 8”.

 

Dad and I started working on the ford rear end. We removed the old ford mounts and made new mounts for the chevy truck arms. We also put the 327 up on a stand but unfortunately the cracks in the block look too serious to fix, so we're tracking down a local 327 to donate it's block to the almighty Rambolt. hard to see in the picture but theres like 3, maybe 4, cracks in this side. More on the other side too.
While that was a bit of a downer, I was still very excited about making progress on the build. Thanks for all the help Dad!

 

I am going to save this picture for the next time I get told : "That will buff out"