Friday, November 23, 2007

Another Road Trip


Augie and I went off to Holderness, NH today to Royea's Auto Wrecking. They had a couple of 71+ Javelins. I removed the upper radiator support pictured here and plan to flip it upside down and weld it in place of the missing lower radiator support on the AMX (with a little reinforcement added). It was a nice ride, sunny but cold. All this for something never to be seen, but the added structure will help for my planned wheel stands (wheelies, for you lay people).

The Only Thing I Did This Summer


My first Ebay purchase. Center dash section with AC vent holes.

Monday, April 23, 2007



BEFORE:












AFTER:
Went back to the Wakefield junkyard where I got the Javelin roof. Trying to find a upper radiator support that I can flip over and turn into a lower radiator support (mine is MIA). Here's the Javelin, and Augie and Dipstick the dogs, but no upper radiator support (was wiped out). Dogs had fun. I've already cut a donated lower radiator support from a Toyota truck but it just doesn't feel right.








Alamosa anyone???


Finally, the right color - Alamosa Aqua (used by AMC 68-71). Linda thinks it's a girly color. My spin - anything but Chrysler orange. The motor was the biggest hit of the Easter visitors. I just wish I had pictures of the faces of the family when they saw the car. Apparently they had no idea to say the least.

Tuesday, April 3, 2007

Structural Check

Cut the braces off today and guess what? The doors still shut!!! Yippeeeeee


Weekend Work





A gift from Mr. AMX himself, Steve Richardson, a Borg Warner T-10 4 speed & a bellhousing. Sure 1972 was the 1st year the Torqueflight 727 autotrans would fit an AMC motor, sure my 401 V8 is a '72, sure my left (clutch pedal) knee hurts more than my right, this T-10 could be fun. Just think of the roll start capability alone. Oh yeah, I also finished piecing & welding the left side cowl panel area.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Look What I Found!!

Last Wednesday morning Steve "the K" my salesman from AutoValue in Epping came in with a Craig's List listing with, believe it or not, a totally rebuilt AMC 401 V8. It also had an aluminum intact manifold and a Holley 650 double pumper. And it was only in Wolfeboro, 45 minutes away. Needless to say I called the guy shortly thereafter and somebody had beaten me to it. Bummer. I gave him my number and lo and behold he called me by 5 that night to say the other guy was a no-show. Yippee! I picked up my AMX specialist, the other Steve, and checked it out. Now I own it. I've got to get rid of that Chrysler orange - what's up with that? Three years from now we'll find out if it runs.




Road Trip


Took an awesome ride with buddy Ted and Augie the doggie to Oxford, Maine. There lies an "old school junkyard". First warm sunny day in weeks, snow up to our thighs, found four AMC Magnum rims in good shape, by gummy. Ayuh. Also found some windshield trim and underhood metal pieces and a hood latch. Took the long way home, had a ball.



I actually worked on the car a little, too. I cut the windshield pillars for access so I can weld the center section of the pillar. In the cross-cut section of the pillar there are three distinct pieces of metal that have to be accessed and welded in order to get the structure back in this roof.


Sunday, March 4, 2007

Motor's Out!

Ed & Dave got the job done in short order last Friday. We drained the oil pan while the motor was still on the hoist, hard to believe it was half full of water. For that matter even the fuel pump still had some varnish dripping out of it. The boys were amused that the motor mount nuts were never reinstalled when the 290 replaced the 343. It makes me keep wondering about the history of this rig. Back in the day these muscle cars were rode hard & put away wet. Cars in general were cheap & disposable. If I assume the 1978 Oregon license plate indicates the last year this 1969 car was on the road is fact....it only took 9 years to turn this car into this mess (ya I know when it just sat in who knows what conditions things only got worse). I'll have to do some more research.

Oh Yeah - I welded this weekend. Sitting lotus position inside the car while welding the roof brace. Lots of holes in my pants and my sweatshirt, went home, got a chunk of linoleum to use as an apron. Got the interior sides complete and the exterior rain gutters. Doesn't look too bad.



Monday, February 19, 2007

Finally Welding

Welding finally started this Sunday, this hack job may work afterall. The Javelin roof brace fit pretty good after it's "bow" shape was modified between the weight of the owner and the concrete floor. Welding at the posts isn't very pretty because I'm trying to fill in the gaps between the AMX & Javelins cuts. That's why we have grinders.





February 4, 2007


Thursday, February 1, 2007

3rd Fitting of roof

1/29/07
I've got the roof pretty close now & the windshield fits ok. I've cut the strip plate to weld the 2 roof sections together. I had to bend the Javelin gutter channel up to match the AMX channel, but this allowed the roof panels to line up nicely. Rob Peter to pay Paul. I found some tiny pieces of what might of been the AMC factory window sticker while I was cleaning out the crap at the bottom of the driver's door. It has the old AM logo plus I can read Grant's Pass, Oregon with an sort of unreadable zip code. So the Oregon license plate makes more sense. Nice day today, time to walk Augie.





Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Roof News

The Javelin roofs fit was a question mark a week ago but it looks like it will work ok after last Sunday's "2nd fitting" session. Baby steps. Sure the AMX has a body line above the gutter that the Javelin didn't have, that's what body filler is for. Measuring & cutting a body panel like a roof is a slow process. I have found that the "eyeballing it" method has been helpful with the leap of faith needed before the cuts are made. I'll get some new photos soon.

Monday, January 15, 2007

Progress as of MLK Day '07

To view each picture click on the photo outside of the "click to play" box.



carworks

29 1/2 years ago, I sold my '68 AMX after UNH graduation and took the rest of the year off. (Sure, I also sold my '58 Willy's pickup and lived with my soon-to-be wife in her studio apartment in Newmarket rent free, whatever.) Just before Halloween 2006 same wife was avoiding the traffic at the Lee Circle and happened upon this "Project Car". She called me on her cell phone and I thought she was probably talking about some Javelin AMX or Hornet AMX aberration of the real thing. One of my guys, Shawn, at the shop was just about to test drive his last car of the day and I asked him to test drive past the supposed AMX. He came back to the shop 20 minutes later and said "If you don't buy it I will". I went up that night with my son AJ, my flashlight and the 1978 Oregon license plate said it all. What a piece of shit! But no rust other than the roof (and a few spots I've found since). I dragged a couple of old AMC buddies to the site. As Norman crawled into the locked trunk, Steve said "this doesn't have the rust where it is supposed to have rust!" Thanks to their qualified appraisal I got the go ahead. According to the legend, this car was sitting on a car trailer in Lebanon, Maine for the last 25 years (I can't believe somebody didn't need the car trailer at least once in the last quarter century?). An interesting trip to the wilds of Wakefield, NH with my tire salesman, Roland, and buddy RJ led to the procurement of a Javelin roof which might or might not fit?

The AMX has always been in the back of my mind ever since I divested almost 30 years ago. It's the screen saver on the shop computer, it's the papier mache model my son made me in middle school, it's the model a kid gave me at the Scout Yankee Swap, it's the forever reference to my foray into muscle cars, and it's one of the prettiest profiles of that genre (hard to believe it came from those goofy people at AMC).

This ought to keep me busy. Blame my wife.