Re: New Member, New Car...

[farna@xxxxxxx]

Unfortunately there are no ready made performance parts for the AMC 327. you can have a cam reground by any cam grinder -- I had one ground by Lunati quite a few years ago. Crane will custom grind one as well, at least they used to. You can send them a used cam as long as it isn't worn out. 

You've already heard the smooth running/reliability virtues of this engine, and the strength of the block. The crank and rods are both forged. In fact, the same crank and rods are used in the entire GEN-1 family (250/287/327). It was cheaper for AMC to cast the blocks with different bores rather than change the stroke of the forged crank. This makes the engine incredibly strong (with the thick block) for its size. 

The valves are a little on the small side and can't be enlarged much due to placement in the head, but that can be overcome with forced induction or NOS. The engine will take a 100-125 hp shot of NOS or 10-15 psi boost stock. If you run it hard a lot I'd suggest rebuilding with forged pistons. Then it will take a 300 hp shot of NOS and 20+ psi of boost. A couple people have run them with turbos with fantastic results. One fellow ran 12s on 10-12 psi boost with a couple broke rockers and bent push rods -- only six cylinders were running, two were just being dragged around! 

--
Frank Swygert
Publisher, "American Independent 
Magazine" (AIM)
*Elite* publication for those 
interested in all 
aspects of AMC 
history,performance,restoration,etc
. 
(AMC,Rambler,Nash,Hudson,Jeep,etc.)
http:farna.home.att.net/AIM.html
(free download available!)