mike343sharpstick's 69 Javelin project

[VTJUNK]

Re: mike343sharpstick's 69 Javelin project

So what did the previous owner think of it? Did he let on that he wished he hadn't sold it or was kicking himself once he saw how nice it turned out?

I'm supposed to hook up with the guy who owned my '63 Falcon from '68 to '81. He was the one that really made it the car to beat in the area.

[mike343sharpstick]

Re: mike343sharpstick's 69 Javelin project

The visit to the original owner was very cool. Smiles all around! He was very happy that is was for the most part brought back to its former glory, and hadn?t been changed drastically. He didn?t seem to regret selling it.
I think the reason for that is because before he decided to sell it, he took it to a body shop for a repaint/restore estimate, so he was well aware of how much it would have cost to get it restored. At that point he had come to the realization that there was no way he could spend that much money on it.
Hell, neither could I!
Fortunately I have good friends in the body shop business.

BTW, I have been driving the car, even brought it to work today. Life is good.

[mike343sharpstick]

Re: mike343sharpstick's 69 Javelin project

Had nothing going on today, so we took the 'ol Jav to a local car show, not my reason for having a car like this, but an easy reason for having a lazy Sunday.
300 + cars, Any guesses how many Javelins were there ;D

[mike343sharpstick]

Re: mike343sharpstick's 69 Javelin project

Well, I've really been enjoying driving this thing. There are a few things that need to be done, but honestly I can live with it the way it is for now?.. EXCEPT one thing! :
The rear of the car is way to high, big dead cat hole (term used by Brian earlier in the thread) above the rear tire. It bugged me a little at first, but it's been getting under my skin more and more as look at it. :P
I ordered up some one inch lowering blocks and test fit everything last night. Much, Much better. ;)
Gotta get new U-bolts today to finish it up, the threads on a couple of them got totally screwed up when I was taking it all apart.

I also picked up some engine jewelry from Edelbrock, classic series valve covers. Shiny aluminum stuff! 8)

Like my wife says, "they were on sale, I couldn't pass it up!" :D
Is this what's known as Bling? I'll throw those on this weekend too.

Also planning to build something like this using an old stock air cleaner assembly,

still planning on how to do it on the cheep, the kits out there are over 200 clams! :P

[Blazerteam]

Re: mike343sharpstick's 69 Javelin project

Not bling in my eyes.If you polished the tubes,well..then it would be bling ;).Dig your car ;)

[mike343sharpstick]

Re: mike343sharpstick's 69 Javelin project

At this very moment there?s an item on eBay that I need, can't tell ya what it is yet (don't want to jinx myself) but please keep your collective fingers crossed. I think it's bad luck to count your chickens before they hatch, or to get excited about something before it's in your grubby hands!
How guys put AMC's together before the internet is incredible, a patient, persistent bunch I'm sure. I can't imagine going to a swap meet and looking through piles of big 3 stuff for an AMC nugget, must have been like panning for gold without the payout.

BTW, Drove the old horse to work all week, makes for a good start to the day. ;) Car show next weekend too. The kids are excited about that, especially my enthusiastic little 3yr old hot rodder.
My plan was that this would be a cool family activity; it seems to be working out that way. Not much cooler than an excited little car guy(3) and/or girl(8)! ;D ;D ;D

[mike343sharpstick]

Re: mike343sharpstick's 69 Javelin project

Well I made some more changes to the car; I put more MILES on it!
Saturday I did a little tour with about 20 other cars, including a couple bar stops.
There was some super nice cars in the group, boss 302, newly restored Challenger, and an assorted array of GM stuff. Nice little non-official type event. I think I put at least 250 miles on the car this weekend.

Today I hit a local show with the family, there were 14 AMC in attendance! :o I think 6 AMX's, 1 Javelin (Mine), One SC/Rambler, one Rebel Machine, and a few other assorted Kenosha Killers! Met some very nice local AMCr's.

There was a couple AMX's there that were amazing. Every damn part was resto-perfecto. I'm glad there are folks that do that, Not my thing, but still nice to see other folks keeping some time capsules in tact.

For those of you up to your eyeballs in a project, KEEP ON PLUGGING AWAY!
It really is cool driving the old junk around when you finally get it road worthy.

[mike343sharpstick]

Re: mike343sharpstick's 69 Javelin project

Got my EBay score in the mail a few days ago. :D
AMC 343 V8 flywheel ;D
For you big 3 guys this may not seem like a big deal, but it's a very tough part to find! AMC V8's are externally balanced, so in order to convert my car to a manual trans, I NEED a 343 flywheel!
343's ended production in 69, after that AMC's produced the 360 as the mid-line V8, which has a different flywheel.

As you can imagine, this is a tough part to find, but EBay does it again ;D
One more step to banging gears done. :D
Next thing is a z-bar and the linkages from the z-bar to the clutch fork.

Question, this thing is heavy, any thoughts or recommendations on getting this lightened?

[SpiderGearsMan]

Re: mike343sharpstick's 69 Javelin project

heavy flywheel is good for inertia into the turns
nothing like an energy blast

[mlcraven]

Re: mike343sharpstick's 69 Javelin project

Mike: saw this at the local track last weekend: 401 cid 1971 Javelin w/AMX package. Runs 13.4s on MT drag radials. Very clean and straight and it got me thinking of your car (recognizing that your's is a real AMX).

[mike343sharpstick]

Re: mike343sharpstick's 69 Javelin project

Mine is actually a Javelin :-[ ;), the real AMX's are two seaters and I'd have no place for the kids :D
AMX's are the same as my car form the back of the door forward.
Very common mistake however as the first gen Javelins are so incredibly rare for whatever reason that folks, (even car guys!) get a little confused. I've taken the car to three shows and the power tour and I have NOT seen one other first gen Javelin all summer! ??? Several 2 seat AMX's, Machines, and SC/Ramblers, strange!

I'm on the hunt for a 390 or a 401 however, those damn things are getting more rare and expensive every day >
BTW all AMC v8's are externally the same (290 - 401), however the 390/401 blocks have more material around the mains so you can put 4-bolt main caps on 'em and they also are the only AMC's to have a forged crank. Soooooo If anyone out there runs into one make sure it doesn't get crushed and goes to your local rambler guy ;)

In other news, I have now in my possesion the Z-bar assembly, another piece of the gear bangin' puzzle in place.
Also, I gotta talk to a guy about a '73 401 Ambassador wagon w/66,000 miles 8)

[DanStokes]

Re: mike343sharpstick's 69 Javelin project

Good luck on the 401. That's how I got the 455 BBB that I put in my '80 Chevy PU - I bought a rusted-out Electra wagon and stripped the engine/trans. As it was a HEAVY car, the salvage yard that I worked with was happy to have the carcass.

Dan

[mike343sharpstick]

Re: mike343sharpstick's 69 Javelin project

The 73 Ambassador thing didn't work out :'(, to much money and to far away. Couldn't find enough change in the couch cushions. :D
There is a 390 block only on Craigslist for a fair price, please all keep your collective fingers crossed :o
BTW, there is a 390 crank-only on eBay now too :P

[milner351]

Re: mike343sharpstick's 69 Javelin project

this reminds me of the parts collection for the 428 in my '69 --- patience is difficult - but hopefully it will pay off for you to keep searching and waiting until the right parts fall into place for you....
by doing that I eventually found a date code correct block for my car, thanks to several friends looking for me.

[mike343sharpstick]

Re: mike343sharpstick's 69 Javelin project

this reminds me of the parts collection for the 428 in my '69 --- patience is difficult - but hopefully it will pay off for you to keep searching and waiting until the right parts fall into place for you....

Boy you got that right!
This search for a good 401 core continues. >
So the 68/69 AMC 390, while better than the 343/360 is not as good to build as the 401 for a handful of reasons. So the the search continues. :-\
Yesterday I find an add in the Detroit area for a jeep 401 sitting in a guys garage, I contact him only to find out he just scraped it. :o :'(

Ughhhhh!!