[AMC-List] 63 Rambler - Runs

[JOE FULTON <piper_pa20@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I have been having some fun with the 63 Rambler
American hardtop this weekend.  I need to get the car
running so it is easy to move in and out of my
driveway and would not be blocking other cars.  In a
perfect world, this car can be a replacement daily
driver to replace the 1980 Spirit that I finally sold
last week.

I was intially surprised that the car ran when I
brought it home.  The last license sticker was 1990
but that sticker was on new CA replacement plates
(which I found in the trunk) so I don't know if the
car was actually on the road in 1990.  There appeared
to be fresh oil in the crankcase (amber color, not
black) and it had a new air cleaner element and new
tires all the way around.  It ran but there was a
coolant leak in the "crossover" pipe which runs under
the exhaust manifold back to the heater core inlet on
the firewall.  I had to block off that opening for
now, until I have time to remove the obstructions and
replace that pipe. 

After getting it running, I found that the carb needs
a rebuild because of the faulty accelerator pump. 
Friday I gave up on the existing WCD carburetor and
decided to use another spare WCD which was in the
trunk of the car, along with several other spare
parts.  I had a little trouble removing the old carb
because the manifold studs were left almost too long
and getting access to the nuts was difficult on one
side.  After degreasing the exterior of the
replacement carb yesterday and installing it, the car
started and ran better and most importantly it didn't
stall on acceleration like it did with the old carb. 
I had ruined the carb to manifold gasket when I
installed the new carb so I made a new one out of
rather thin gasket paper.  I could tell I had some
vacuum leaks at the end of the day, which prevented a
good smooth idle.

Today, I used some RTV around the base of the carb as
a temporary measure until I could make a better gasket
and I reset the idle mixture to account for the better
vacuum. The result was a factory smooth steady idle.  
Next step was to try to feed gas from the gas tank
instead of an auxilliary can.  I put a few gallons of
gas in the tank along with some carb cleaner and found
out the fuel pump would not deliver fuel from the
tank.  So I emptied the gas tank of the old gas and
dropped it down to have a look. Lots of varnish but
not much rust, from what I can see.  The sender unit
was all gunked up and had no sock filter on the end,
allowing the suction pipe to be full of old varnish
and dirt.  I have a replacement sender unit (also from
the trunk of that car) and plan to put it in tomorrow
after cleaning the tank.  Hope to be on the road by
tomorrow at noon.

I always enjoy waking one of these old cars from the
dead, and this one has been fun so far to work with. 

I did spot some corrosion in the unibody structure
almost directly underneath the front suspension.  I
think the area can be patched fairly easily.  If I get
it running dependably tomorrow I'll start cleaning the
interior and other appearance items.

Joe Fulton
Salinas CA  
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