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'70 AMC Gremlin


hpfiend

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Thanks for the inquiry Clay! Unfortunately, all I have left is the 4.10 front axle...

 

I first separated the 6.0 LQ4 from the truck...

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and then proceeded to use a combination of Craigslist and eBay to sell the rest of it over the next few months. We loaded up the shell and sold it for almost another $200.00 in scrap value.

 

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The van wasn't as cheap as I originally thought after the ridiculous fees were assessed but I still ended up making about $200.00 selling it as is for someone who wanted the engine and transmission.

 

Word to the wise. RUN and DRIVE, does not mean runs and drives.

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

The next order of business was to remove the existing 355 gen 1 sbc.

 

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Not being able to easily maneuver the tractor front loader within the confines of the garage we were in need of a cherry picker.

 

I asked CR if anyone knew where I could rent one and lo and behold Clay was more than generous to offer that I could borrow his as long as I needed. I told him I would buy a load leveler for it that he could keep afterwards...DEAL. Thank you so much Clay!

 

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Yay! Glad it was put to good use! I want a ride when the car is done ;)

 

 

 

You got it bro!

 

Considering the car was setup for a generation one sbc, one would think a set of these would have made the swap simple:

 

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Of course not. After trying every set of holes available (even considering slotting the last set) they were a no go. Next, I considered relocating the transmission and getting another new driveshaft, but then realized I could not as the transmission is already about as rearward as it can go without the bellhousing making contact with the firewall tunnel.

 

After several more days of deliberation, I decided I had to make a new set of mounts. I got a set of these off of eBay and started to work.

 

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Since, I was already keeping the 355 sbc for posterity (no one would pay anything for a turnkey 300+ hp sbc) I decided I would keep the matching swapped crossmember as well. I located another AMC factory cross member and got the cutoff wheel ready.

 

After setting and pulling the engine and or new old crossmember about 20 times, notching, prying, tilting, praying, and countless harassing messages to Tinman Matt on here for advice, I had the engine where I wanted it.

 

I attempted to tack the mounts I had cut and ground using cardboard templates to the bottom section I had cut and ground and welded to meet. Having only a tig setup, hanging over the fenders upside down, it was not a surprise that the rubber in the mounts caught on FIRE and began to melt contaminating my weld area.

 

 

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Finally having a few tacks in place, I pulled the crossmember again and attempted to finish weld it.

 

WTF!!!!!!

 

I was getting desperate here. My father had gotten ill and I was trying to get this thing back on the road before he passed as it was a father son project of sorts.

 

I again reached out to Tinman Matt for advice and he was gracious enough to offer to drive all the way out to the farm where the car is located to help.

 

With the engine supported in place by the cherry picker and half the suspension removed, the project was not going anywhere.

 

Giving up my pride and forfeiting the ability to weld, test, weld, test, I decided to take it to a pro and have them try and fix it for me.

 

He took one look at the nastiness, pulled out his high powered mig welder and buried my issues in beautiful welds. I need a mig setup and lots more practice.

 

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  • 3 months later...

And it is mounted!!!

 

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I recently determined that the reason I was having such unexpected difficulty welding the past few years is that I received improper welding gas from the LWS. It must have been CO2 instead of Argon as I got a fresh tank of Argon and it welded like I remembered years ago, smooth as butter, no discoloration and my tungsten actually could maintain a point for more than a few seconds. The only reason I questioned it is that the brand new argon tank I picked up from the same place to replace the poorly welding now empty tank had less than 100 psi within it yet welded much better only a day after on the same material! I called them up and they exchanged it for me with an actually filled tank. I guess I should have been more confident in my abilities and blamed the equipment instead of beating my head against the wall and being so fastidious with grinding haha. At least it made me a better welder trying to TIG without shield.

 

That said, I still want a MIG haha

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  • 5 months later...
  • 2 months later...

Ok, well the ls1 manifold will fit under the factory hood now but what to do about that alternator?

 

I couldn’t use the preferred f-body low mount setup as that would directly interfere with my turbocharger hotside plumbing. I also didn’t want to invest in an entirely new accessory drive setup so after extensive research I located this bad boy! (I also changed the waterpump to a setup that will not interfere with the drive by cable throttle body when the ls1 manifold is installed that also works with the truck spacing (L99 camaro)

 

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Alright, unfortunately my dad passed away between those last pictures and now. I considered abandoning the project completely but he would have wanted me to finish it. After a BIG delay I managed to start looking at it again.

 

One of our last projects together was relocating a used four post lift I found off craigslist to my home garage. He was sick as a dog with chemotherapy but was a champ and we got it done. That being said with him gone it was only natural to bring it back to my garage from his farm.

 

I planned to use the custom tow bar frame mounts I built again but needed to plug the transmission so that it didn’t spew tranny fluid all the way down the highway as I had pulled the rigid steel lines as they would not work the way they were routed with the new mounts.

 

I bought some Fragola 6an to 1/4 nps adapters and removed the inverted flare inserts from the th350 that had been previously leaking anyhow.

 

WELL THATS WHERE THE GOODNESS LEFT THE GARAGE.

 

The first adapter fitting I tried would thread in only partially before getting super tight. I knew I had to go further as the aluminum crush washer was still free spinning. I installed it with a 3/8 ratchet cautiously and no dice, I backed it out and used the crush washer from the other fitting to double up. Still no dice. Reluctantly I moved up to a 1/2 inch ratchet. Closer closer, nope still spinning. Gave it a little more —- ffffffffaaaawwwwwwkkkk me, I snapped the fitting off flush with the transmission!!!!!!

 

My 7 year old son was helping me and I did everything in my power to remain calm but he knew I was irate. Fortunately I didn’t say anything totally inappropriate. He said maybe we should call mom haha. I smiled and said you know what bud maybe you are right. We called mom and went and got a milkshake for lunch and an appropriately sized sheet metal screw and inverted flare cap for the other outlet from the hardware store.

 

The sheet metal screw bit into the aluminum fitting perfectly and after capping the other outlet we were back in business. We hooked up the tow bar and towed it home.

 

 

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After getting it home I tried a spiral EZ OUT on the broken fitting. We all know there is rarely anything easy about those things. Well this time was no exception. I used the hand tap tool in counterclockwise fashion until my hands were raw. I then upgraded to putting plastic pipe on the handle until that started to bend. I discovered that a 3/8 13mm 12 point socket fit the ez out amazingly well. Well, let’s just reduce that to well. I put a ratchet on there and gave it some love. Nope. Added plastic pipe to ratchet handle. Nope. Upgraded to 1/2 ratchet with reducer. Nope. Breaker bar tried with light cautious force, cmon baby break loose, cmon cmon... SNAP- I thought I had it. Nope the socket had cracked. Rather than being sad about the socket I was thrilled to death it wasn’t the ez out.

 

I figured I should consider myself lucky and get it out while I still could. Of course I had no other 12 pt 13mm sockets. I had four or five 6 point sockets as I make a habit not to buy the 12 PT as they often strip. I did have a 10mm 12 point I tried in the reverse direction and of course stripped it out almost instantly.

 

I had just added a set of Irwin bolt extractor sockets to my Amazon wish list after reading that they bailed another fellow out on his project. They weren’t cheap but pulling the transmission and or trying to drill it out and helicoil on the car wasn’t a favored option. BTW If I didn’t have my lift I would be going nuts at this point on my back in the dirt in the middle of winter. Been there done that...

 

I took a step back, ordered the extractors and went to buy a new socket.....

 

I will just leave this with a picture of the results and let you know that I now sleep with these things under my pillow every night!!

 

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And here we are today test fitting the reduced harness and planning how to tie it into the existing electrical system. (I did wash the windows for towing but kept my dad’s ‘41 birth year shoe polish number from the last drag outing for now)

 

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great writeup.

 

do you have a link to the amazon site for those bolt extractors?

 

 

 

Thanks! Hell yes I do- I got them in one day for free somehow as well on a Sunday. Enjoy!

 

Irwin Tools Hanson 53227 Hex Head... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002SRG66?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

 

 

 

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Agreed, sorry to hear about your dad, Andrew - love the updates to the Gremlin!

 

The header clearance looks like it ain't gonna work...any thoughts on different exhaust routing/options or are you going to have to clearance things?

 

 

 

Thanks to you as well Clay!

 

I clearanced it a bit from the top with an angle grinder. Once I take the engine out the final time to change the oil pan (see below) I will be able to make some more room.

 

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Well this must have been quite the rodent party!!

 

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It looks worse in that picture than it is as the flange is nowhere near the frame. It is kissing it where you cannot see light but won’t require much more for clearance- I don’t know if it will rock and knock but we will cross that bridge another day as I already had to move it over from the other side and tilt slightly when I designed the mounts to clear the steering shaft/box (see below).

 

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I have another set of manifolds without EGR/ so I won’t have to weld a cap on those. These are for practicing the v band welding on and to hold the space to set the engine and rough plan out the hot side to order materials.

 

I plan to run it NA with the truck manifold and factory injectors to make sure everything is ok still and at least the fire will be directed forward to not catch the coil wiring on fire or the suspension bushings again.

 

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I knew the sump was too low but thought I could get away with the cross member clearance I created. I already bought that ridiculously expensive Holley oil pan anyhow ahead of time. At least I found a good deal from a guy that used it for mock-up only.

 

 

 

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  • 11 months later...

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I found a nice split grommet to run pass the bulky pcm connectors through without unpinning every wire shown here.

 

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Then I managed to mount the pcm, fuel pump and pcm batt relays and fuses as well as the obdii port and temp check engine light.

 

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