Re: [Amc-list] Miles. Low? High? Real? Original? Redone? What???

[Tom Jennings <tomj@xxxxxxx>]

On Tue, 25 Mar 2008, jerijan baldwin wrote:

> You know, I have yet to see with my own eyes the 50's, 60's Rambler hit that
> kind of milage without needing or having had some help.  The rings just got
> kind of old kind of quick.


I dunno -- "low mileage" (on motor) is only part of the
story. If it's been 15 or more years since the motor was
last sealed up (new, rebuilt, whatever) then it's an old
motor. Period. Ring wear or whatever might be low, but chemistry
cooks stuff to walls, acids eat bearings, rubber hardens,
gaskets leak...

Then there's maintenance. With few exceptions (us Car Nuts)
cars were not maintained well. Still aren't! At the risk of
stepping on toes...  choosing motor oil by price alone is
exactly the wrong way to do it. I buy quality first, grumble
on price second. Oil's cheaper'n motors.

I'll take a "high mileage" maintained well motor over an ignored
10K forgotten-in-barn any day.

I'm sure the older motors (195.6's, flat and otherwise) are less
reliable, design-wise. More specifically, they're fine, but the
232 etc is BETTER! Factories learning from past mistakes, etc.

> I must go to Vermont next week and I will likely return here with my '62
> Ambassador (with that 'economical' 327 4V *Sigh*).  But at least it will tow
> the butt off anything else.  I shudder to think of the cost in fuel..hi test
> time 10-13MPG for nigh 700 miles...WAAAAAHHHH!

My 62 Ambassador 400 with 327 got 18, 19 MPG on a run from
massachusetts to Maryland. OK it was in 1975 or so, and the
motor was young(ish). That car had tall tires and a 2.37 axle
(I think it was). I forget the mileage on it, 60K? 80K? I
treated it fairly well, but I popped the transmission doing
W's and donuts with it. Duh. I was 20, so long ago now that
I'm not even embarrassed.

What axle and tires you got?


> Gremlin:  Daughter's belief?  "Gremmie
> Loves Me".  (Obviously true.  But does 'Love' give an engine sufficient
> compression to start at 10 below zero and run even though NOT ONE cylinder
> had 'complete' compression?

Maybe not, but LOVE will make her listen to bad noises and love will get
her to fix it or get you to! Good for her!


> Who has the HIGHEST VERIFIED HI MILAGE RAMBLER STORY??
> (Original Engines only please.

After 40+ years, few can realy know if a motor is
original. Replaced by dealer in 3rd year of ownership?  If the
motor is 0.000" over (plus wear), OK...


The 232 in my '63 Classic was rebuilt by me in 1988.

http://wps.com/AMC/1963-Rambler-Classic-550-Cross-Country/Car-pix/images/1988-engine-ready.jpg
http://wps.com/AMC/1963-Rambler-Classic-550-Cross-Country/Car-pix/images/1988-new-motor.jpg

About 200,000 miles on that build. It's tired now. However,
I cheated; it is LPG only and always synthetic oil with 3000 -
5000 mile change interval. I'm sure I cheated on interval and
non-synth once twice or whatever.


Here's my truism: any motor over 15 years old is living
on borrowed time. At 20 it's a freak. "Starts and runs" is
fairly easy; take it for a long drive in hot weather, that's
a good test.


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