Inliners International Forums General Discussion AMC/JEEP Thinking about hot rodding an AMC 199

Is there any hope of an AMC 199 being a hot rod motor?

I was given one. ....and thought of sticking a bigger cam in it, making an dual carb intake (for mercedes zenith carbs I have) and a set of headers.

As for picking the cam....how much lift can a 1967-ish motor handle?

It looks like Lunati makes some healthy looking cams, but don't want to open a can of worms and spend $$$$ on valvetrain for a oddball motor.

Flipper:
I'm (finally) assembling my Willys F-head 161. Performance equipment available?...Not hardly. So I had the machine work done, .040 over (I had the pistons), found rings on ebay (thank goodness), crank and rods .010 under, balanced and line bored, new valve guides in the block and head, hardened seats, surfaced the block and head. I port matched the exhaust ports to the gaskets and made my own headers (not really necessary, but, well, you know ) and am going to make an adapter for a Holley Weber two barrel. In addition, I also have another head that I have been modifying to accept two Carter YH carbs. The Brasilian Willys 2600 (same motor basically) that came equipped with two YF's.) I had Delta Cam in Tacoma grind tha cam for me, an RV type grind. Great folks to deal with by the way.
So...Machine work...$750. Misc other parts, ie gaskets, rings, bearings and stuff I don't remember right now, around $400. Cam about $125 which included postage from east coast to Tacoma and back.
Hot rod motor?.. No, but it's fun doing it and I bet when I'm done most will have no idea what it is. It should run well for a little motor. To me, it's about having fun with what ever you have. Does it cost any less to do a small motor?...No. Perhaps more if you have trouble finding parts. That said, if I had an old Stude, or AMC or flattie of some sort, I'm probably going to use is just for the fun of having something different.
Want to use it? Find out about parts availability. Try to get ahold of Tom Jennings on this board, or Frank Swygert on the H.A.M.B. who publishes http://www.amc-mag.com. (his handle is farna )
They should be able to point you in the right direction.

Regards:
Paul

Anybody on here ever built a 3 in stroke AMC?

How about a Lunati Voodoo cam for one of these motors? Anybody used one?

Also, on shaft mounted, non-adjustable rocker arms...how do you adjust valve lash? Do you just bolt them down and hope for the best?

Adjustable pushrods.

Ford used pushrods of different lengths... Back in the 80's they were $9 each... A very expensive way to get proper valve
adjustment... And that makes you sorry you didn't build a Chevy
engine. If you converted to adjustable rockers, on a Ford, it
would just break the bank...Adjustable pushrods, although expensive, are the way to go...

I'm thinking a SBC might make a whole lot more sense....

As long as its inline;)

If you have a need to make sense you're in the wrong place. It used to be that we did the best we could with what we had. Now it's one size/engine fits all. Your AMC will cost you more and make less power than a SBC but it will turn more heads and give you a greater feeling of pride. What will in be in? How often will you be able to drive faster than the 199 will go? Being different just to be different usually isn't a good idea, but building a different engine because you want to see what you can do is not the same thing. Somewhere on this site is a thread about a Rambler race engine.

It will be in a 41 dodge truck....and yes the Barney Navarro indy motor is part of the reason I even considered doing it. I haven't completely ruled it out yet. I'm gonna look at hooking up a 94 camaro T5 to the AMC bellhousing first. It I can make it work, I may try the AMC still....

Given the amount of work needed, you should start with a 258.

The AMC 258 is plentiful in junk yards and aftermarket parts are
cheap and available. Look for Jeep parts... OR,
Did you ever consider a Dodge engine? Slant Six 225?

I don't think I will go buy another AMC motor. I will build the 199 or go V8.

The problem with a Big V8 is that you have power you rarely use and always pay for. With a small 6 you can be hot rodding it all the time and no one will ever know. Really how much power will you be using. Even with the V-thing it won't be the fastest car around.

Bump

If you go V8 at least use one of the bad Ass AMCs.

No plans to build the 199 in the short term. I bought a chevy LS motor off of craigslist. 5.3 with an automatic from a 2001 silverado.

That may be a good way but it's not the "Cowboy Way".

nahh, don't let the 199's Rambler-ness scare you off. it was in production from 1964 through the chrysler 4.0 days. one block/bellhousing change (1972), for the later stuff there's many trans options for the various bells etc. (for the early block, Modern Drivelines now makes a T-5 adapter for it; stock pre-72 blocks you're stuck with a T-96 or early T-14 pattern trans).

internally it's 7 mains, great journal sizes, it's incredibly well documented, many parts interchange over 40+ years. it's been bored and stroked to 280ci.

very rational design. the block is long (may be the longest passenger car inline six), lots of metal for mods. the later (EFI) heads flow incredibly well -- and you can bolt them onto the earliest blocks (with varying amounts of bolt-hole resizing, steam hole filling, etc).

barney navarro chose the 1964 7-main 199ci as the basis for his #50 indianapois car (67-69? never qualified, alas). first (single turbo) version was 550hp, second (twin turbo) was 700hp. the first one was a dead-stock block and (obviously modified) head. the second the block was drilled for four-bolt caps. so i guess for the rest of us the block torque limit is under 750 hp (lol).

Isn't there a post here about one of those race engines?

I found it! Turbo Indy Rambler

The Navarro turbo 199's are the whole reason I ever considered building the 199.

Even though the Dodge is getting a LS motor, I still have a project with a staraight six

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=339315&highlight=roofus

That is a neat build. A lot of helpful pictures for me. I am starting a '26 Chevy roadster build and there will be a lot of tubing to bend and weld to get the body together. I like your tubing bender.