Popular Post Westernstar Posted April 30, 2017 Popular Post Share Posted April 30, 2017 Hey oldschool, first let me say yuall are a terrible influence on a simple American. Been pining for something old to tinker with. Have a few dream projects/rigs I want someday but mostly for now was looking for something cheap and different. Saw this Rambler American 220 on Craigslist, shot 'em a text an actually got a reply. It was 1.5 hrs away which is purty close for us but was busy so never pursued it further. Week or two later they text back an went down 50 bucks. Now it was a bargain so I jumped on it. Supposedly was running when parked, 20 years ago. We hand winched her up on my trailer with two flat tire, Benjamin's for title it was home again. quite straight really and a lovely color. All the glass is good tho sadly none of the seals are. Lights, blinkers, bees nest, yep all the boxes ticked. Lotsa trash inside hope the misery is kept to a minimum found a 1963 penny under the flooring, slipped in at the factory maybe? 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Westernstar Posted April 30, 2017 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 30, 2017 So I ordered a carb rebuild kit and new plug wires with the objective of seeing if I could make her run. Carb was a bit sketchy, the instructions showed a washer that I never saw on tear down. But cleaned out a ton of varnish an junk an slapped er back together. It's a one barrel Carter carb feeding 196 ci FLATHEAD STRAIGHT 6. Yep 90 ponys! so the plug wires were a bust. Way wrong. Oh well, took em back an got a universal diy kit. Till then we made due . Fed it with a portable boat fuel tank and shorted the starter with a screwdriver, as one does. She fired up straight off and idled nicely. Blew a bit of smoke an all but quite happy. The fuel pump discharged all the old gas into an EPA approved bucket and after running for a couple minutes I changed the oil and filter. Had one spare tire so slapped it on front and aired up the back one, it holds air for about 10 min or so. With a quart of atf it backed off the trailer/work station, I made a half assed attempt to bleed the brakes before hand ( with a 8 yr old for a helper) but just used the hand brake. by this time the cars fuel tank was empty so hooked it back up and added a few gallons. And drove down the driveway and back. Yep gravel driveway handbrake skids more as it happens dont hold yur breath an more pics next time hopefully 30 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Westernstar Posted February 2, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted February 2, 2020 Anybody still holding ya breath? so ya never could get the brakes apart and I realized this project needed more time and money than I had at the moment. So off to the weed patch while I built myself a house and spent every penny I’d ever saved and some I haven’t yet. Best part of that is I now have a nice warm shop and needed something to tinker on. Pulled the Rambler up and evicted a few mice, holes in the floor are maybe a tad bigger but no real new problems. I’ve been thinking of finding a donor rig for a repower. The Rambler is leaf sprung rear wheel drive so I’m thinking a complete drivetrain would solve a buncha problems. Been eyeing crashed two wheel drive pickups on Craigslist and FB. For now I decided to pull the engine and tranny and see about welding up my rust problems. Coupla holes in the floorboards and the drivers inner fender is going to need some work. The simplicity is amazing, coupla hrs and a tractor assist and we have a empty hole drivers side tires leak air so bad I had to pump them up half a dozen times to push it 20’ into the back corner...... and yes the back corner does have purple and green stripes on da wall . lush I know gotta say the flathead has sex appeal, all da cool kids want generators over alternators 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Westernstar Posted February 14, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted February 14, 2020 So been chipping away at some tear down. Had a real oldschooler to give me a hand even, @chris r and I pulled off the drivers door and fender. I knew I had a rust hole but as normal it was worse Need to grab a wire wheel and strip off all the old underseal. What I scratched off with a screwdriver had good metal underneath. it appears that the heater core hasn’t ever leaked which is ace Even found some of my missing upholstery And a spare key of all things. Would have rathered a valuable rare coin but eh guess I’ll take what I get 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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