[Amc-list] Breadbox American 440H with Twin-Stick

[Tom Jennings <tomj@xxxxxxx>]

Well after 3 - 4 weeks of Los Angeles freeway commuting in this little tin 
box I can say with no reservation that it kicks ass! Pardone my frrrrench.

L-head with auto trans, now that might be suicide here. But the 440H (2bbl 
carb, the 3.77 axle and OD) is totally fine. It's no V8 but even Orange 
County, with it's zooming cellphone-chatting housewives in blacked-out Land 
Rovers, and iron-shirted stress-monster business mammals in 80mph Lexii, is 
managable.

I "thought" I knew how to drive a manual trans but I was wrong; it was so 
long ago, and this setup is weird enough that I had to basically learn it 
all over again. Now it's second nature and heel-and-toe throttle blip 
double clutching through neutral, while turning, and locking out OD, easy 
enough. (It's very difficult to get ZERO grind on 3 - 2 downshift, revs 
must match exactly, so the synchro must be deceased.)

The 9x2.5" front brakes are fine on this car. I've got 215-65/15 BF 
Goodrichs all around, it tracks square, no steering effort, quiet flat and 
smooth. I've not once experienced brake fade.

No Ford engine will replace this thing. I really like this old Nash motor. 
It's got power at 800rpm! OK not much but to me it's more fun wringing 
quick driving out of this than point-and-squirt HP.

I haven't driven my Hornet in a month. I'm seriously considering selling 
it. The American is so simple, yet well-mannered and comfortable (the 
trashed original American seats are MORE COMFORTABLE than my rebuild '70 
seats!) that I've already begun interior improvements (eg. dash and 
instrument cluster).

23 MPG city+highway, before I even seriously look at tuneup issues, is not 
bad either. It's not once pinged, so I have room for advance. I have the 
Pertronix epoxy coil on my bench to install. When I do the compression 
check I'll regap all the plugs bigger for the new coil.

I suspect that the rings are like-new; there's zero crankcase blowby, the 
oil is still yellow with 800 miles on it. When I had the head off there was 
zero ridge and hone marks were visible.

The only rattles left in the car are in the doors, which I have stripped 
bare inside.

This is the most fun car I've ever driven!

Today I gotta go buy some steel, so I'll take the Classic Wagon, it needs 
some road time. No more new cars (post-64) for me!

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