11-10-2025 by Frank Swygert
This is my current long-term project. It started with a Facebook ad for a convertible nearby (Charlotte — about 2.5 hours away) that was in what appeared to be excellent structural condition, but needed everything. No rust! Well, I found some later, hidden under the front fenders, but nothing visible. That’s amazing for a 61 year old convertible (I got it in 2022) — most have rust in the floors at least. The seats and other interior panels had been recovered in a tan vinyl. The engine ran, but rough. Auto trans worked. Paint was actually fair, just a couple bad spots. Brakes weren’t working, owner had taken them apart and not got back to putting them on, but had all new parts. Top pump had been replaced and the top frame worked perfectly, but it needed a new top (old was removed). The front end had one badly worn lower trunnion that I didn’t discover until I started to rebuild it, but everything was intact.
All in all it wouldn’t have been a bad restoration project, but I prefer a reliable driver, and I wanted this to be capable of long distance travel like my 63 wagon. The 195.6 can be made reasonably reliable, but I really don’t want to carry spare parts (especially a water pump!) on trips. There are other things that can fail, but they all usually give some notice or aren’t that hard to deal with on the road. I daily drove a 195.6 for 14 years — I’m familiar with it! I only had one real break-down on a long trip and it wasn’t engine related, but I wanted something with a bit more power and easy to drive. After much deliberation over some modernizing of the 195.6 OHV or a newer drivetrain, I decided to do a resto-mod instead of a restoration.
My first choice was a 2.5L AMC/Jeep four. An AMC Forum member WARBED built a 1959 American wagon using a TBI version of the Jeep 2.5L (later port injection manifold won’t fit without cutting into the inner wheel well, carb and TBI intakes will). He used a GM 700R4 automatic from an S-10 truck with 2.8L V-6. AMC used that engine in the early XJ Cherokee (84-86) and used the same bell pattern on their new for 83 2.5L four to simplify transmission choices. Of course that went out the door when the 4.0L was introduced in 1987. They kept the GM four/small V6 pattern on the 2.5L since they were already having Chrysler transmissions cast with it, and they already had the molds for bell housings also. Alas, I didn’t find one! See more on WARBED’s car here: https://theamcforum.com/FORUM/59-rambler-american-sw-rebuild_topic49472_page1.html
Second choices were a Toyota or Nissan truck four, specifically a 95-04 2.4L 2RZ-FE or 2.7L 04-23 2TR-FE from a Tacoma or a 98-04 2.4L KA24DE from a Frontier (Frontier only had V6 engines in the US after 2004). My wife wanted it to have an automatic transmission so she could drive it. The Toyotas used the A340 four speed auto, similar to the AW-4 in my 63 wagon. The Nissan also used a four speed automatic, the Jatco RE4R01A (used in most Nissan and Infiniti RWD vehicles). I needed an entire vehicle for parts so I would have everything to swap over the EFI. Alas, those are darned pricey when/if you can find one! I was looking at around $1500 for an engine and trans, none of the other things I’d need! I found some at the Columbia Pull-A-Part, but I didn’t want to be running up there every time I discovered I needed something. I really needed a wrecked/rusted/salvage vehicle that was known to run.
My third choice was a Ranger four cylinder. About a year after I bought the convertible I found a rolled over 2003 Ranger with 2.3L Duratec DOHC four and five speed automatic. It had high mileage, but was running when wrecked. The fellow wanted it gone — asked only $500!! I did a little quick research and called the next day. For $500 I could risk it! A few days after I got it home my brother helped me get it started. No issues except fuel delivery. It would run with a little fuel sprayed into the throttle body from a spray bottle though. The fuel issue was that the right side was caved in where it was hit. There is a roll-over valve on the right side. The door wouldn’t open, so I couldn’t reset or bypass the roll-over valve. I have since pried the door off, but haven’t had time (as of 11/06/2025) to mess with it yet. But it runs, the transmission is good, and everything is there! I plan on pulling the entire wiring harness and using it in the Rambler. That should make wiring all the electronic controls easier and gets me much newer wiring throughout the car. It definitely won’t look “Rambler” once the hood is open!
I plan on keeping a 61-63 AMC 15 rear axle though. The Ranger has a 4.11 rear gear, but it’s a truck and designed to haul a 1,260 pound load and tow 5,500 pounds. I won’t be doing either with this car, so I plan on using a 3.78 rear gear ratio. That’s not a big drop – only 0.33. With a 26.3″ tire (205/70R15, I believe that stock Ranger) the engine will turn 2500 rpm @ 70 mph. With 4.11 gears it would run 63.5 mph — in overdrive (0.75:1 ratio). The 2.3L Duratec is a revvy engine — it’s max HP is 143 @ 5250 rpm and max torque is 154 ft/lbs @ 3750 rpm. I can’t find a torque curve chart, but have read that it starts getting thirsty after 2700 rpm. It will definitely NOT drive like a Rambler, but should drive more like a Ranger truck. I may have to drop the gear ratio back to 4.11, but I’ll try the 3.78 gears first. Manual trans models came with 3.73 gears but a much lower first gear (3.72:1 vs 2.47:1) — that might make a big difference! Too high a first gear can hurt fuel mileage also — might have to find a 4.11 Rambler axle, which was used with OD in 58-62 Americans (but was an optional ratio, so harder to find!). Failing that I may end up adapting the Ranger axle, which is about 55″ wide. The Ranger axle is 58.5″ wide, but the passenger side axle is 3″ shorter than the driver’s side, so two passenger side axles bring it down to 55.5″ — that will work!
The plan is to keep it looking as “Rambler” as I can while upgrading the drivetrain. That might make instrumentation tricky — I’m considering a small OBD-II gauge panel and an electric/cable speedometer adapter (uses an electric motor to drive the original speedometer from the engine VSS signal). I may end up with a digital dash though (https://intellitronixgauges.com/create-a-dash-universal-led-digital-kit/). At least it will keep the oval gauge cluster opening.
This is a time/cost sheet I keep for the car, as of 11/06/2025.
1A Expense-Time Log 61 American Convert
I used this car to develop the disk brake conversion brackets I sell.