[Amc-list] 195.6 and 58-63 American hop-ups

[Frank Swygert <farna@xxxxxxx>]

I ran a 63 American 440 sedan for 14 years, and it would *almost* make a 
rally car! Splitting the exhaust is tough because there are only three 
ports -- one for each pair of cylinders. Dual carbs don't work well 
because there are four inlet ports -- one for each end cylinder and two 
siamesed port for the center four. The intake ports are angled for best 
flow from the center. The carbs need to be right at the point where the 
center ports start, so the flow from the closest carb has to take a 130 
degree or so bend. I ran dual Carter YF carbs, which had much more flow 
potential than the ~200 cfm WCD 2V carb (factory). They didn't run any 
better, so I switched back to a WCD.

I had a camshaft reground with 0.10" more lift and 20 degrees more 
duration. That was the single most impressive thing I did to the engine! 
It didn't help low end power one bit (but didn't hurt it). What it did 
do was give it about 20 hp in the mid range. Just keep the car running 
over 40 mph and it had good power and throttle response, fall to 40 and 
it took a few seconds to get back up to speed. I also ran a 2" exhaust 
all the way to the back. The factory head pipe is 1-7/8", which fits 
perfectly inside a piece of 2" exhaust pipe -- I used the factory head 
pipe and cut it just as it leveled under the floor, running it 2" the 
rest of the way through a turbo muffler. The only other mod was to the 
air breather. The factory breather had a little 2" snorkel on it. I 
removed that and opened the hole up so I could take a 4" can and squash 
it to an oval. When I cut the bigger opening I cut two tabs that could 
be bent out to rivet the can to. Then I just trimmed the end of the can 
to fit the curve of the breather, and used paintable silicone caulk to 
seal around the opening. After painting factory semi-gloss black it 
looked factory due to the nice rolled edge of the can. Add factory 
stickers and no one noticed, but the engine sure did! It idled much 
smoother after opening up that breather.

All told I figured it had 170-175 hp (gross), compared to the stock 135 
hp (2V model). A friend punched it all in Desktop Dyno and got 175, so 
that should be about right. It's also about as much as you can do 
without major machine work. The intake design and port layout just 
doesn't lend itself well to modifications -- and machine work would be 
troublesome and laborious, making any possible benefit very costly. A 
small turbo with 4-6 psi boost would be the best bet if you just had to 
have more power, but you'd still have poor throttle response under 40 
mph. The problem is the long stroke and small bore -- it just takes time 
to get moving! There's plenty of low speed torque. I had to keep my foot 
on the brake with an auto and 3.31 gears (the factory "performance" 
gearing), even on a slight incline! If not it would creep out into the 
intersection. A stick shift model is the only stick my ex wife could 
drive! She'd jerk my old four speed Chevette badly, sometimes even on a 
level road! The old Rambler just chugged a bit and slowly took off, even 
on an incline. She just couldn't coordinate the gas and clutch, but the 
Rambler didn't mind no gas when the clutch was let out.

Handling is the big surprise in these cars! I had front springs wound 
15% stiffer than stock. I also modified a 79 Spirit sway bar to fit (had 
to straighten the arms in a hydraulic press -- never use heat on a sway 
bar!). The sway bar really didn't help at all except at high speeds. The 
spring-on-top-of-upper-arm setup is inherently roll resistant, that's 
why most Ramblers didn't use a bar, and even the V-8s only used a small 
bar. The stiffer springs kept the car on an even keel more than anything 
else! I stiffened the rear ones by using bolt on half leaves, the ones 
that bolt to the long part of the spring behind the axle. All I needed 
was aluminum (or poly) bushings in the front of the leaf springs. Even 
with the old rubber bushings that thing would corner like a roller skate 
on rails! I just never dropped below 45 mph on the back roads all around 
Warner Robins, GA! A 30 mph marked curve was a piece of cake at 45 with 
the suspension mods. It held the road as good or better than a friend's 
Trans-Am! It almost always surprised him, he'd suddenly hang on when I 
hit a 30 mph or so curve without slowing much! I told him once that he 
should know the car by now, that it holds the road great. His reply: 
"but it's not supposed to!" I also ran 7" cast aluminum slot wheels with 
195/65R15 tires (usually Bridgestones). Got used ones. People would burn 
the rubber down on one then get a new set all the way around, with over 
1/2 the rubber left on the other three.  Since I only put 5-7K a year on 
it I didn't mind, and the tires were never more than three years old 
when I got them. I got four for the price of two easily, and didn't mind 
changing every 2-3 years.

-- 
Frank Swygert
Publisher, "American Motors Cars" 
Magazine (AMC)
For all AMC enthusiasts
http://farna.home.att.net/AMC.html
(free download available!)

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