1964 Rambler Classic post build thread

So I thought you might want to see what has kept my Willys on the back burner up until recently. I put most of the finishing touches on my wife's '64 Rambler 770 Classic this weekend.
It was a nice little driver mostly stock with 196 six, 3 on the tree and torque tube rearend, manual steering and brakes.
It all started with my wife wanting an automatic. Well you know how projects get out of hand. What was going to be a quick trans swap turned into a 3 1/2 year build. When I pulled the dash to fix the wiring, we found that the cowl under the windshield was completely rotted out. This meant taking the front clip off and repairing the rust damage. as long as I was this far I figured what the hell, go for broke. I located a '79 Concord with a rebuilt motor and pirated everything off of it to convert the Rambler.

It now has:

258 AMC six w/ a Clifford intake & late model 4.2 HO exhaust
904 automatic
rearend converted to open driveline w/custom 3 link
power steering
power disc brakes
complete new wiring harness w/one wire alternator
AC
stereo with ipod hookup

Farna, here on the HAMB did an article on the rear suspension in his web AMC magazine a couple years ago.

Here's what we started with:

 

Here's the rebuilt front suspension with the AMC discs.

The AMC steering adapted to the Rambler frame with a Dodge pitman arm and Jeep Cherokee intermediate shaft to adapt it to the Rambler column.

The AMC power brake booster and pedal was a direct bolt on to the firewall.

 

The 258 is longer than the stock 196, so while I was repairing the firewall I reworked the trans tunnel to make the motor fit. With a couple of 2" spacers under the motor mounts it all sits level in the engine bay.



Then the tough part came. Reworking the rear suspension to convert from torque tube. I reused the Rambler coils and panhard bar and built the rest from scratch to use the AMC rearend which was exactly the right width. Had to do a bunch of reinforcing to support the 3 link.

 

After being almost done and having to go deeper to fix the rust here's the final product. My wife drove it today and it's a trip to exhaust shop away from finally being done (except for maybe new interior next year!)





So that's the Paul Harvey version. Now I can focus on the Willys for awhile.

 

Nice job

 

Nice work, subtle ride. But you never answered the most important question: Is your wife pleased with it?

 

Yes, she was smiling when she was driving it. PS, PB, auto, AC, stereo- it's nicer than my stuff. But she does let me have my toys so she deserves it.

 

Maybe it's the angle, but it looks like the rear-end needs to slide back a few inches.

 

very cool and different

 

Nice work, you can be proud of that.

 

Rear wheels are in the stock location. They look closer to front of the wheel opening because of the 15" wheels and bigger tires. I wanted to move the rearend back a little bit but the upper coil pockets are not movable without a ton of work.

Thanks to everyone for the nice comments.

 

Love it! I converted my '63 classic wagon rear suspension to a four link setup. I think that the shape of the rear wheel openings make it appear that the wheel is too far forward, I thought the same thing when I mounted my wheels back on the rear for the first time. But like you said, the spring pockets aren't going anywhere, so it is what it is....

 

Great job!
Rt

 

It's the shape of the wheel wells that make the tires look a bit forward. The curve of the wells follow the curve of the tire on the front half then sweeps toward the back in the rear.

You've done a fantastic job! What AC unit did you use on the inside? I'm thinking about trashing the original evaporator in mine and going with a more modern unit -- Vintage Air or something. Just don't like the way the controls work on the original -- and they are somewhat stiff.

 

Love the rear suspension.

 

That is a sweet lil car. If you wasn't in OR, I was going to call my step grandpa and ask if he sold his. He's has an all original one with the 196 3 on the tree. I'm looking forward to following your build. Good luck with it.

 

Thanks Frank. I used the Vintage Air Mini kit with the vacuum controls. It was actually a new unit that I scored at the local swap meet. The firewall was filled and smoothed when the rust was repaired. I put the the fan switch and heat control in the stock location using the stock knob and lever and the A/C switch in a small panel underneath the dash using an original Rambler knob (the knobs that come with the kit are ugly).

 

That is a gorgeous car! And the mirror image of one I snapped a B/W picture of many years ago. It was that color combo, and I guessed it had a 287 V8 and auto, with open chrome reverse wheels.
I've never forgotten how cool that car was, and I've got to say you did it right! Does the Mrs. have any thoughts about the interior?

 

very nice job , car looks great !

 

Great Job, as always with your stuff. Lee is a lucky girl!!

Blake

 

Too cool! My first car was a 4-door '64 Ambassador. Glad to see some Rambler love on here.....

 

Your hardtop is my all time favorite AMC. I drove a blue w/white Classic hard top '64 in college in the early '70's. My mom had bought it new in spring of '64, and I still remember the new car smell and how tight and crisp the handling was on my first solo ride (I was 16). It was a 287/FMX with add on air, and one of the most comfortable cars I've owned. It was t-boned in '71 while I was towing a trailer with a Jasper 216 for a '48 Chev sedan delivery. The remains went to a trade school shop class. Nice car-I'm jealous!

 

Thanks for the compliment. She's thinking that she wants maroon and cream tuck and roll to match the paint. I already did new black carpet and the rear package tray is done in cream tuck and roll now.

 

I was wondering how much clearance you have between the brake booster and the side rails/shock towers? I ordered a booster, but it's a 10" unit, and i'm wondering if its going to fit... It's hard to tell from your pictures.
Thanks!
Graham

 

I have an 8" booster in my 63 (63-66 Classics and 63-64 Ambos are the same under the hood, 65-66 Ambo is lengthened in front of the firewall). There is room for a 10" booster on the inner fenderwell side -- you will have at least 1/2" of clearance. The problem will be the engine side. With a six a 10" booster would hit the intake. Not sure about the V-8, but it may hit the valve cover.

I have an early 90s Ford Ranger booster and master cylinder, but modified the booster pushrod to fit the original Rambler bracket. The bracket moves the booster up 2-3" and away from the firewall about the same. There is a bell crank in the middle of the bracket to transfer the pedal action to the booster.

You could mount a 7" or 8" booster directly to the firewall and it should clear, but definitely not a 10". That would require modifying the pushrod from the pedal to booster though.

 

Didn t the original pitman fit ? Nor the one from the Concord ?

 

Sorry for the late reply, been occupied on my OT '71 Road Runner. There is plenty of clearance between the Concorde booster and the shock tower. The only tight part was the rear brakeline on the master but it cleared with a little gentle tweaking. On the pitman arm, the '64 pitman splines didn't match up to the late power box and the tierod taper on the late arm didn't match the '64 tierod and the steering linkage parts were not interchangeable. The Dodge Dart arm had the correct splines, drop and taper to combine the parts.

 

Where's the post?

 

Go back a page.

 

Hmmm... a post of mine got lost, or I posted in the wrong Rambler thread....

So what year Dart pitman arm did you use? I'm assuming it was a last generation, 67-76?