Most of the issues where with the head gasket as Joe says. Once it is done correctly they will last a long time, especially if maintained properly which I'm pretty sure you would. Tom seemed to think the filter on the pump would clear in his car. I'd guess from what I can recall him saying that in the worst case you may have to do some drilling and tapping to fit a couple of hydraulic lines and run a remote filter. That is a guess, so treat it as one. Aluminum engine has hydraulic lifters, due to the different expansion rates of the block they went that way, I assume to allow for the lifter to compensate as mechanicals will not stay in adjustment with the block resizing itself. My 63 Classic lived till over a 110K on it when I killed it in 79 for which I am still sorry! I was 17 and it was just an "old car" my dad made me drive... There was a noticeable loss of power when we dropped the iron engine in after I killed it... I'd bet if done up nice and carefull and the head retorqued annually, it'll last forever, or thereabouts. Should make a nice snappy littl eengine in an American too. -- Mark Price Morgantown, WV 1969 AMC Rambler, 4.0L, EFI, T-5 2004 Grand Cherokee Laredo, 4.7L, Quadratrc II " Chronic Pain Hurts" -------------- Original message ---------------------- From: d stohler <das24rules@xxxxxxxxx> > i found one picture online of the aluminum 196. it looks to be like it... i will > have to take my tools with me one of these days when i go to town and pop the > head off and take a look inside. if it is useable, will it work in my 63 > american? with the filter on the oil pump like it is, will it be in the way or > is there enough room for it? it looks a little taller too. will it fit under the > hood? how much different is the aluminum vs cast? will my cast crank work in it > cause i probably have to swap them. i dont think the flexplate will bolt onto > the manual crank. > > plus, if i got that one, id have the o/d to put in my 62 classic. :-D. > > how much different maintenence is the aluminum? i dont know anything about them. > > dave stohler > my rambler pics@ > http://picasaweb.google.com/das24rules > > > > _______________________________________________ > Amc-list mailing list > Amc-list@xxxxxxxxxxxx > http://splatter.wps.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/amc-list _______________________________________________ Amc-list mailing list Amc-list@xxxxxxxxxxxx http://splatter.wps.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/amc-list