Re: [Amc-list] 64-69 Amer/Jav/AMX upper trunnions

[Frank Swygert <farna@xxxxxxx>]

I agree -- it's easily doable. My point is that unless you have a parts car to donate the needed parts cost would be much more than rebuilding a trunnion suspension, especially since the donor suspension would likely need to be rebuilt. I wouldn't do all that work and put old wear parts, like bushings and ball joints, back in! If you have the skills yourself and a parts car (even a Hornet or Concord) it might be a viable option, but would also reduce value of the car as a collectible. Shouldn't harm the value of a modified performance or custom car though, the most likely candidates for such an upgrade. 

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Date: Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:02:04 -0400 (EDT)
From: adh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Sandwich Maker)


" From: Frank Swygert <farna@xxxxxxx>
" 
" Even if the spring tower isn't 100% identical on the 70+
" Javelin/Hornet as the 64-69 American/Javelin/AMX, the "upgrade" to 70
" style suspension can still be done with a bit of careful cutting and
" welding. The main difference is the location of the upper a-arm mounts
" on the body. The mounts are straight across on the older cars, the
" upper arm is angled toward the back on the newer ones to give some
" "anti-dive" effect when braking hard. For normal drivers it's not
" enough of an improvement to be worth all the trouble, and certainly
" takes more time and money than rebuilding the original suspension.
" Maybe for a road racer though. 

parts availability would be an attractive motivation for a daily
driver.  and if your front end already needs extensive rebuilding,
converting might not cost much more, or even less.

" I'm not sure if the upper arm mounting locations are the same distance
" apart on the old and new models or not. If they are, and the A-arm is
" about the same length as the older models, it wouldn't be hard to
" replace the upper trunnion with a ball joint -- just replace the upper
" arm, steering knuckle, and spring. The old model shock can be
" retained, no need to put a shock inside the spring. The spring rates
" are VERY different due to the location of the spring. On the old cars
" it's directly above the steering knuckle, on the newer ones it's moved
" about 3-4" inward. The inward location needs a higher spring rate
" (stronger spring) to give the same feel as the further out location.
" Location had to be changed to clear the ball joint. The angle of the
" spring should be okay in the old style towers, but I haven't tried
" this -- it's all theoretical until someone does! I need a Hornet or
" Gremlin parts car to experiment with... or Javelin...

the a-arm and shock mounts are on the spring tower pressing.  if you
pop-'n-swap this whole panel you get everything.

as far as i could tell from quickly scanning a crash book at a car
show vendor's booth, the '68-9 spring tower pressing is shared across
americans, javelins, and amxes, and on the '69-'70 amx inner fender
-only- the spring tower pressing changed.  so the balljoint panel
-should- fit '64-9 americans.  change this panel and the entire
balljoint 'knee assembly' should bolt into place.

i did not check to see if the '70 amx spring tower pressing was the
same as hornets etc.

-- 
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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