1967 Rambler Rebel aka The Swamp Monster

[Rebel]

Had the car since I was 19. The past 5 years or so have been nothing but learning hotrodding and honing my fabrication and welding skills. Its all getting poured into this project. The goal is to have it ready by the next power tour. All fabrication has been done by me. Tube front end, c5 corvette front suspension, New firewall, Javelin Frame rails, all sorts of stuff. I have tons of pics. Let me know what you think.
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[asifnyc]

I think AMC rules! More pics please.

[Rebel]

The project started getting crazy when I bought a complete c5 corvette front suspension from my landlord for $500. I figured out all the suspension attachment points on paper and started brainstorming from there. This all started in November 2013. Oh yea ignore the -9* caster thing in the picture.
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Once I got the dimensions it was a matter of designing something that would work first and for most and also look like I gave a damn as far as craftsmanship is concerned. I used a cheap CAD program to lay out a design for a crossmember. The whole idea is to duplicate the C5 suspension as if it were on a corvette then set an AMC Rebel on top of it and fill in the gaps and what not.
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I used the CNC plasma cutter at work to cut out the prototype crossmember just so i could get something real in my hands and start interpolating. That was a late night but this is what I came up with and it was painfully motivating.
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These frame rails are from a poor 70 something hump fender AMX, my landlord bought it for 1000 bucks with a 401 in it!! Back half of the car was JUNK so it got parted out. The frame rails looked beefier than the original Rebel's and they were the same dimensions (very minor differences)so I figured I would build the front end seperate and tuck it in the car when i was ready. FYI I have butchered 3 AMCs so far during the course of this project. A 77ish Hornet, A 70ish hump fender javelin, and (this one breaks my heart) a beautiful 69 Ambassador..Wagon. The Ambassador was in perfect shape, my rebel needed the floor, upper cowl, and lower cowl which were all perfect so we chopped it up :(.
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[PhillipM]

Definitely want to see more.

[dangina]

awesome! my brother in law owns a 68 and I think we had butchered 6 AMC's so far, so your not doing to bad! Love the car, its great to see one turned into a protouring project! what paint scheme are you going to go with?

[Buryingthesun]

Looks mighty awesome!

[Rebel]

awesome! my brother in law owns a 68 and I think we had butchered 6 AMC's so far, so your not doing to bad! Love the car, its great to see one turned into a protouring project! what paint scheme are you going to go with?

Some type of green with a flat or satin black wide vinyl stripe down the hood. Just like the picture above except nicer. I'm putting a machine scoop on as well. Right now my favorite green is a Honda color "green tea metallic". Color is subject to change though. Ford has a nice green, I figure when it's time I'll cruise around the dealerships and pick out a color that I can see in person.

[ATOMonkey]

Very cool! I love seeing guys doing their own design and fab work. Make me jealous.

[Rebel]

Once I had the mock up crossmember and upper control arm brackets cut out and tacked in place I started to mock up the motor, trans mission, and the c5 rack and pinion.
I will be a running 6.0 Ls motor from a previous project, and a richmond 6spd. In the pictures is a 5.3 I used as a mock up block. I bought the pig for $500 bucks running, wiring harness, everything. Me and my buddy layed waste to the 01 Tahoe it was in...good times.
My 6.0 is nestled safely on the test stand patiently waiting.
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The stock AMC trans crossmember was easy to modify for the richmond.
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The C5 rack has been the biggest pain. I have gone through a few of these goofy looking brackets to mount the rack and retain the C5 geometry with no success. The bracket in the picture is version 6 I think.. It worked kinda but I cheated by moving the rack forward 2.5". (not how I wanna do things) Plus all these people smarter than me started sqwauking about ackerman angle. The steering arms are so damn high on the C5 spindles. Long and the short, still muscling through this issue.
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[Rebel]

I am butchering the timeline of this project but I cut out some of the final pieces Im going to weld permanently. My coils overs came in and I threw some sheet metal on the front to check out ride heights so i can weld the coil over brackets in place. This car was supposed to be a rolling chassis back in march and driving by this Friday...ya'll know how that goes.. anyways..This is the Rebel as of Wednesday, July 30th 2014
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Still havent cut out the final cross member, the one on the car was cut out of 12ga sheet steel and slapped on there for mock up purposes only. Although it is pretty strong, Im going with 3/16 plate and capping the open curves with sheet metal.\
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Did a few hours worth of work tonight, Feeling better and better about the car at this point. Ive done alot of stuff on this car I didnt think I was capable of. I still got a ways to go.
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[Rebel]

I wanted to replace the lower and upper cowl with the perfect lower and upper cowl I ripped out of the ambassador. The firewall was a a little crummy too so I decided to build a new one from scratch. Will this car ever get done??

Right after I yanked the motor, trans, and suspension out.
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I found more rust than I thought the car had.
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This is the beautiful one piece floor I dissected from the 69 Ambassador wagon, Fits perfectly. Got lucky on that one.
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I also lucked out on the cowl stuff.
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I ripped everything apart, after the dust settled it hit me The pit in your stomach feeling when you've reached the point of no return, and you just gotta keep telling yourself "I know what Im doing"..whether its true or not. haha. A great man told me "The car becomes junk only when you give up"
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[Dave B]

Its so much fun building a car that you can't by new sheet metal for, some guys have no idea. :)
Awesome work, and a cool uncommon car.

[Rebel]

The firewall panel has so far been the most challenging piece to make. After spending alot of measuring, looking at other peoples work, and interpolating I came up with the drawing in CAD. I wanted the firewall to be in one piece for the most part. I had to cut the notch for the trans tunnel so I could fit the panel in the press brake. I wanted to ad some bead rolls in the panel but I woulda needed 3 people to help me work it but I also wanted to get it done rather than waiting on everyone to sync their schedules. So I adapted and came up with the idea to cut out windows on the firewall and make seperate smaller panels with bead rolls to fill those windows. Worked out great. The bends were straight forward, 45 degrees, just trying to stick that cumbersome thing in the press brake and hold it on the mark was a pain in the you know what.
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Laying out where everything is going to go.
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Mocking up the AC box to figure out how big to make the recess panel.
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The recess panel
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Recess panel tacked in place on the back side of the firewall. Once welded, I will trim the extra and grind smooth.
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[MichaelUser]

Looking great. I will be watching this one. Just a suggestion. Since you are replacing the firewall with a custom piece have you though about replacing the heater box with an aftermarket unit? Might save you some space.

I like the design, and the Rebel always had some nice lines. Jeez, for that matter AMC had some clean lines on most of their cars.

[Torquedork]

Very Very Cool.

The '67 Rebel has great body lines front to back. Would love to have one. Post car is rare.

Do it right and people will be blown away and totally confused about what it is at the same time. LOL

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/08/rebel4f_zps23f1899f-1.jpg (http://s1369.photobucket.com/user/protour71/media/Reviews/rebel4f_zps23f1899f.jpg.html)

[Rebel]

Looking great. I will be watching this one. Just a suggestion. Since you are replacing the firewall with a custom pice have you though about replacing the heater box with an aftermarket unit? Might save you some space.

I like the design, and the Rebel always had some nice lines. Jeez, for that matter AMC had some clean lines on most of their cars.


I never gave it any thought, the factory blower box is so small already. Plus when I open the hood I want the engine compartment full and busy. Also.. I don't have money for stuff like that haha.

[Rebel]

Very Very Cool.

The '67 Rebel has great body lines front to back. Would love to have one. Post car is rare.

Do it right and people will be blown away and totally confused about what it is at the same time. LOL

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/08/rebel4f_zps23f1899f-1.jpg (http://s1369.photobucket.com/user/protour71/media/Reviews/rebel4f_zps23f1899f.jpg.html)
I used to drive it around with a tired amc 360, rusty floor boards , whooped out suspension and people went nuts over it. I had one guy try to buy it from me and he didn't even know what it was. The. 67 is my favorite year. 68 they went to side marker lights and the belt buckle door handles which I'm not a fan of. I'm gonna do this car right , maybe not right away but I will have it driving for the hot rod power tour. 6.0 ls is going in it for now, and I do have a 401 for it.

[Rebel]

Finally got the trans tunnel made and halfway welded in, still needs some touch ups and two smaller pieces made. The tunnel was made out of 16 gauge and really ties the firewall together. Subframe connectors are coming up soon.
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[Torquedork]

Here's a Black post I tweaked a little bit for you.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/08/proreb4_zpsa23dc256-1.jpg (http://s1369.photobucket.com/user/protour71/media/Reviews/proreb4_zpsa23dc256.jpg.html)

Have a suggestion. Don't know what shape your dash is in. They are basically good looking with the exception of the horizontal speedo. You could try and find a '67 or '68 Ambassador gauge bezel for they have two nice round pods which would be great for custom gauges.Sure it would fit right in.

Rebel Dash.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/08/proint1_zpse0a299ed-1.jpg (http://s1369.photobucket.com/user/protour71/media/Reviews/proint1_zpse0a299ed.jpg.html)

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/08/proint2_zps8cdf1cf6-1.jpg (http://s1369.photobucket.com/user/protour71/media/Reviews/proint2_zps8cdf1cf6.jpg.html)

[MichaelUser]

I never gave it any thought, the factory blower box is so small already. Plus when I open the hood I want the engine compartment full and busy. Also.. I don't have money for stuff like that haha.

LOL. I get it. The photo of the blower box looked bigger, but I am glad you can use the stock piece. Keep up the great work.

[Rebel]

Here's a Black post I tweaked a little bit for you.



Have a suggestion. Don't know what shape your dash is in. They are basically good looking with the exception of the horizontal speedo. You could try and find a '67 or '68 Ambassador gauge bezel for they have two nice round pods which would be great for custom gauges.Sure it would fit right in.



I agree

the dash I have is in near perfect condition. I do also have an abassador dash that I kept .I haven't tried swapping parts yet to see if they will work. The metal frame work is the same but the pads are different. My landlord has two ac dashes , I'm still trying to convince him to sell me one. Ac dash with ambassador gauges would look sweet.

[Torquedork]

I agree

the dash I have is in near perfect condition. I do also have an abassador dash that I kept .I haven't tried swapping parts yet to see if they will work. The metal frame work is the same but the pads are different. My landlord has two ac dashes , I'm still trying to convince him to sell me one. Ac dash with ambassador gauges would look sweet.

I'm pretty sure the Ambo dash or even just the gauge bezel would swap in.

[Rebel]

Still making progress, Ive been working on another side project so its been a while since the last post.

Recently I have adapted a hydroboost setup for the brakes, Added some reinforcement to the firewall, and further modified the C5 rack and pinion for its final mounting position. i have been flip flopping between the C5 rack, a ford Lincoln rack, and your run of the mill mustang rack. the C5 fits the best. Shallow pinion angle and the pinion shaft sits nice and tight to the frame rail.
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I also mounted my coil overs.
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Rack and pinion mount
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Next is the aftercooler mount
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The over all final design to the main crossmember. Not quite finished but its spec'd out.
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After 9 months of hard work and good ol fashion tenacity, she rolls again
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Questions and suggestions always welcome.