The AMC Forum forum

Author: litninrod Subject: 1961 American Convertable Posted: Sep/16/2026 at 5:30pm Well I was going for even height rather than improved ride, and thought I might have a better one in the parts car. But since you've volunteered as the spring expert , I do have some questions. First, there were a pair of springs loose that came with the car. They are 18 1/2 inches long relaxed. The one in the car is about 12 1/2" long, depending on how much is tucked up in that top cup. Here's a pic of the loose spring stood next to the installed spring. Is there really 6 inches of load on that spring or are these loose springs not right for this car? Second question is removal/install procedure. I know I need to get the spring tool loan from Oreillys, and take out the shock. But would you remove the upper A-arm bolts at the fender (A), remove bolts (B) or (C) where the upper A-arm meets the spring bottom work on the lower A-arm where I marked it "stuff behind here"? Or is it possible to just collapse the spring and pull it out without removing any of that stuff?

Author: farna Subject: 1961 American Convertable Posted: Sep/16/2026 at 4:53pm I wouldn't bother with springs from a parts car. Old springs are old springs! Order a new front set from www.coilsprings.com . Do yourself a favor and order them 12% stiffer than stock. At that rate you will just barely notice a harder ride, but will DEFINITELY notice the handling improvement! High mount spring suspensions are very roll resistant, but early 60s cars are sprung soft as roads were rougher and there were few high speed roads. As that change spring rates came up. I ordered 12% stiffer for my 63 American two door sedan and it made a world of difference! More than 12% starts to ride hard, less doesn't do as much for handling. If you like the cushy ride still order them 10% stiffer. Won't affect height, they make them to stock ride height. They have all the factory specs. To complete the handling improvement get a set of leaf spring "helpers" that clamp on the rear half of the spring (link below). Stiffens it a little, but not too much. I did that instead of replacing the rear leafs. My little 63 handled very well! A friend with a 76 Trans-Am was impressed -- I could take back road curves better than his big car could. If I'd had some power to go with it... Oh, I also have a "Shelby drop" bolt-in kit for the front. Reduces diving when braking hard. I plan on doing the same with my 61 convert. I'm going to wait and see how it sits after losing ~400 pounds on the front though. That's roughl

Author: 3250man Subject: Heater box rebuild instructions Posted: Sep/16/2026 at 4:20pm Wreckster, Apologies for hijacking your post, but I have some updated information on some above replies. Pulled my non-AC '74 AMX heater box and found some interesting things: -Got a 73, 74 heater box resto kit from AMC Lives (Detroit Muscle kit) and the instructions said there were peel-type and solid rivets included - but they aren't. Called AMC Lives and they referred me to Detroit Muscle. I emailed them and below is their response to my questions: "I don’t have rivets. I haven’t included rivets in any of the AMC kits for years. Those boxes weren’t assembled with “pop rivets”. They need special rivets and special tooling. P.S. I never had a 73-74 Jav box to use to make instructions. I just had the gaskets and a few parts to duplicate. The instructions were old instructions from the 71-72 box. Those old 71-72 instructions were better than nothing. I'm gonna stop selling all AMC stuff. I sell a coupe things a years. I don't even sell to American Performance anymore." First, I'm not disassembling this box until I have some form of instructions. The instructions state to separate the "box and the other half," but don't show which rivets to drill out to separate the two halves. Kit's got all the foam pieces, and I could probably source some peel-type rivets. I've viewed dozens of other make/model heater boxes videos but not a non-AC Javelin heater box. If someone's accomplished this feat, ple

Author: tufcj Subject: Dip stick tube Posted: Sep/16/2026 at 2:04pm What car and transmission? I think you were working on an AMX. The AMX (w/M-12 trans) had a bracket that bolted to the rear manifold bolt. Most were deleted when headers were added. Bob tufcj

Author: The Corvette Kid Subject: Dip stick tube Posted: Sep/16/2026 at 1:06pm should my transmission dip stick tube have some kind of a bracket on it. I unscrewed it from the transmission and it fell right out. Am I missing something. Thanks,Bob

Author: chris989 Subject: piston for a 401 and edelbrock 60119 head Posted: Sep/16/2026 at 12:51pm I get that,, just sort of surprised Diamond/Racetec etc do not have a file from a previous build or something? There are only two heads on the market? Indy and Edelbrock and both closely share the same chamber Chris, I did an overlay of the Wiseco using sketchup and it is real close so for a 10.3 i think i will be ok

Author: Jeff Lee Subject: piston for a 401 and edelbrock 60119 head Posted: Sep/16/2026 at 12:31pm Pour a mold of the chamber and send it to your favorite piston maker.

Author: bikerfox Subject: Seat identification help Posted: Sep/15/2026 at 10:19pm scott wrote: Yes, those are 1971 Javelin seats. The same seat was used in the AMX & Javelin 1970-72. Different upholstery, same seat frame, foam & back. You may want to consider covers from Lseat.com. The 1970 AMX covers are what is correct for your seats, the ones shown for the Javelin look like 1973-74 covers to me. I haven't personally used them, but I've heard from enough people that have that I wouldn't hesitate to use Lseat. Here's a link to the 1970 AMX covers: https://www.lseat.com/products/1970-amc-amx-custom-real-leather-seat-covers-front.html nice find! wish they made vinyl covers as well.

Author: bikerfox Subject: Control Freak Suspension Summer Sale Posted: Sep/15/2026 at 10:16pm this post was moved to the "for sale" section.

Author: litninrod Subject: 1961 American Convertable Posted: Sep/15/2026 at 9:48pm I guess I never updated my generator status. I bench tested my 2 spare generators, and neither passed. But one of them had a broken wire on the brushes. So I took the better brushes out of the other failed generator and swapped them. After that, it bench tested well. So I swapped it with the one in the car, and presto! the generator light goes off now and the battery is charging. It's not quite at new factory spec voltage, but it was over 13volts, so pretty good for a 65 yr old generator. The one I pulled out of the car also failed a bench test, so it would probably take new coils to restore the 2 bad ones. And I was told to jump two terminals of the voltage regulator after replacing it to reset everything, which is what I think you mean by polarize. Since the car has now been driven to town and back for the car show, I think things have settled in a little. So I want to pull all the drums and check to see if the brakes need some adjusting. I think they do. I also had a bit of occasional hesitation when maintaining a steady speed, so I need to check the timing and carb adjustments again. I'm still running the coil that came in the car, which I assume is the original but can't say for sure. I did have to replace the vacuum advance on the distributor, but the points, rotor and distributor cap are all old. Any of those could be weak. Apparently there were two different distributors on the 61s, bec

Author: TWeland42 Subject: 69 AMX hood Posted: Sep/15/2026 at 6:05pm Just got a 79 AMX and working on the body work and was wondering what everyone thinks of a Fiberglass hood ? The hood that came with the car has been in accident and the hood is messed up Just seeing if anyone has had any luck with a fiberglass one and do you recommend a suppler that carries a. Good one ?

Author: MarlinSteve Subject: Puller for 1963 287 damper Posted: Sep/15/2026 at 5:36pm I purchased this at Harbor Freight and it works fine.