AMC 258

[bigred88]

Another boring wiring update.

Finished all the wiring for the relay box. Just need to paint (waiting on Amazon's much longer than 2 day delivery...) and drill a few more holes to finish mounting the base to the top. Then I can move on! You know, to the car side of the wiring...


Rather proud of how clean the metal looked when I was done- not bad for my first time welding sheet.

 

[bigred88]

Yay, no wiring in this update!

I've never done floor pans before, and even though I'm confident enough in my metal skills, cutting the floor out of a car that I've had for 20 years and put countless hours into is a little nerve wracking...


But now it's done and there's no going back.


I don't think it will be too tough of a patch to make. Just one curve, some minimal beadrolling. The frame rail is in pretty good shape- I was worried what I might find under all the floor rust but I'm pretty happy with what's there.

 

[sweetk30]

 

[bigred88]

Damn, I knew it had been a bit, but i didn't think it was April the last time I posted. Not a ton of progress through the summer, just been busy.

I got the drivers side all welded up. Not the end product I was hoping for, but for a first time I guess it'll do. Never gonna see it anyways, but I hate having that attitude. Also not gonna cut it out and start over, so it's good enough.



Started on the passenger side the other day. 4 patches to do there, one decent sized and the other three pretty small. Cut out the biggest one, only to find out that the panel behind that one was also rusted through, so I got that one cut out too. Patch panel fit much better than the last, fairly certain this one will be a much better end result. It's all welded up, just need to grind it smooth now. Pretty sure I'll need to touch up the one spot I blew through a little more, too...







I feel really slow at this work. I spent an entire morning cutting out the old 2x3 inch piece, cutting out the new one, and grinding it to fit. Didn't even get to the welding that same morning. I'm sure as I do more it'll get faster, but it feels painfully slow right now.

 

[bigred88]

Done with that patch, actually proud of this one!


Had some time in the garage last night after the kids were in bed, so no metal work. Oh well, plenty of other problems to solve. Figured I'd start on mounting the clutch pedal and master cylinder. I have a factory clutch pedal assembly, so that was easy. The master cylinder, not so much. 6 cylinder Spirits originally had mechanical linkage, this was an auto so it never had anything anyways, and I'm going to with a hydraulic setup. The 4 cylinder Spirits had a hydraulic setup, so I got that master cylinder. Doesn't fit, hits the brake master cylinder. Turns out I need a clutch master cylinder from an Eagle. Turns out they no longer exist. Found a Wilwood part that will work, so it's ordered, but I think I'm still going to have to switch to a passenger side outlet brake master cylinder to get it all to fit. Its a very tight area, between the two master cylinders and the wiring harness. I don't want to run new brake lines... Gonna wait until the Wilwood stuff shows up and get it mounted, then I'll decide if I need a new brake master or not.

 

[bigred88]

An update! With things I made progress on!

First and biggest, the engine is at the builder. Has been for a couple months, I'm expecting it back next month at the earliest, probably March. I'm trying to get the interior work done before then, so I can move right into getting the engine installed when it comes home.

I got all of the holes in the floor patched. I learned a lot, they still look fairly shitty- some are actually halfway decent, some aren't. Someday maybe I'll buy a better welded and see if I can do better work with something other than my current $100 Harbor Freight job.

Pics are of the the passenger side floor pan, just before and just after paint. I've removed all of the factory rubber floor coating mess, and I'm finishing cleaning the entire floor and firewall, and it's all going to be painted with the same paint, followed by dynamat, followed by dynamat's carpet pad.

 

[bigred88]

More pictures of the floor- all welded up, grinding done, and sanded down and ready for paint. I spent way too much time removing all of the factory rubber/asphalt/whatever the hell the sticky substance is that doesn't come off floor coating. I just wanted to get rid of it, and paint the floor cleanly. I don't think I could have made the paint stick well over it, and I wanted a fresh coat of paint for the dynamat to stick to, so off it all came. Took forever, but I'm happy with the results so I think it was worth it.

Pics of the floor ready for paint. Just working on masking everything now. Planning to paint on Tuesday!

 

[bigred88]

Floor is painted, got a little finish work to do but onto dynamat soon.

 

[SPLATT]

If you haven't got to far with the engine there is a way to combine parts from a 258 and the 4.0L and end up with a 4.6L. I built one once for a customer about 15+ years ago so I don't remember any details.

 

[bigred88]

Yeah, you drop the 258 crank in the 4.0 block, and that gives you a 4.6. Some guys will further stroke and bore that out to a 5.0. Takes a few extra dollars to go that far, but the 4.6 is cheap enough to build.

I considered going down that road, but decided to just stick with a well built 258. I am putting the 4.0 head on top, boring out and using pistons from a Chevy 305 (more options to fine tune the compression ratio). All in all it should be a pretty badass 258 when its done. The 4.6 probably would've netted me more power, but I'm happy with the road I've gone down with it.

 

[bix]

The floors turned out good! Looks sweet all painted up.

 

[bigred88]

Slowly but surely... making progress. Floors are all done, top and bottom. Firewall is fully covered in dynamat, which takes a really long time. Thankfully with less bends and no openings, the floor will go much quicker. About to start remounting anything attached to the firewall (heater box, etc). Brake and clutch pedal are mounted, I need to modify my clutch pedal to work with the clutch master cylinder (if they were a manual, these cars used mechanical linkage, so the hydraulic clutch setup is 100% custom). About time to order up my steering column. Spoke with the engine builder- he has all the parts for the build. He just hasn't started yet... oh well, I dont need it just yet anyways.

 

[bigred88]

First bit of modding done to the clutch pedal. I'll add a bit of bracing to this for more strength, but the main part of the bracket is done. I'll have to build a piece to attach to the master cylinder, too, and then that and the clutch pedal will bolt together.