1963 Rambler "Sugar" Resto-Track-Travel-AutoX-Mod

[5spd540]

Its a solid car but slow as a turtle but fun to drive with the 5spd in it

[Suzy-Homemaker]

Its a solid car but slow as a turtle but fun to drive with the 5spd in it

Who you callin' a turtle? ;)

[bosses son]

Who you callin' a turtle? ;)

pretty sure the turtle won the race.....

[Kcrain]

Has there been any new progress on this car? I love the odd ball cars.
I like what you are doing with this one.

[Suzy-Homemaker]

YES! Actually, after a brief hiatus, we're back to working on it. Some things have changed and I'm preparing pictures for a post this coming week. I think you'll be surprised at what we're doing now!

[SRD art]

V8 power? ;) Looking forward to seeing pics...

[goofybowler277]

Can't wait to see the pics

[Suzy-Homemaker]

Okay... I have pictures, but not on this computer so I'll try to sort through and get them posted tonight.
Over the last nine months or so, I have made several changes in the build -- doing exactly what I tell others not to do -- and basically delayed getting my little Sugar on the road/track. My Mister and I are well on the way to getting her rolling though, so I thought I'd share some of the build decisions/changes we've made. Keep in mind, that when we started this build, I wasn't racing (autocross) yet and I had a different idea of what I needed to race, than I do now. I am confident that before next season's racing, the beautiful flat head six cylinder that I had rebuilt/restored for a lot of $$ and the three-in-the-tree, will be replaced with an LS and 5-speed trans I just can't see going from the 6 liter LS in the Camaro to Sugar's 100 (or so) horsepower, regardless of the torque I might get from only three gears. (wishful thinking..)
Okay, back to the current build list:
1969 Camaro subframe -- This was for several reasons. Primarily because Mister was going to be changing out his suspension and this allowed all of his current equipment to easily transfer over to Sugar. Additionally, I could not find a disc brake conversion for the front wheels. As you may recall, I got a great set up for the rears from Scarebird but nothing for the fronts. Working from the base of a first-gen Camaro opened up all sorts of resources that would never be available for a '63 Rambler - as I'm sure you can imagine.
ridetech Triangulated Four-Link - Before the Camaro subframe we had found a ridetech solution for the rear to replace the leaf springs.
RideTech Coilovers -- All four corners
Hotchkis font sway bar and Helwig rear sway bar
Camaro stock modified drive shaft (first gen)
Chevy 8.5 ten bolt w/ posi
Custom Watts Link
Global West upper arms
DSE lower arms
RideTech TruTurn
Brakes: Camaro single piston w/ Wilwood proportioning valve front and Cadillac Disc Rears

Okay, that's the list. I have some cool pics of the rear coilover custom setup coming up through the storage hatch in the back of the wagon "for easy adjustments on the fly". Thanks for reading!

[snopro]

Great little car, I have a 64 330 american with the straight 6 on the tree, Its my daily driver in the summer for now until I finish my truck, then it will be next. I doubt you will regret going with the LS and 5 speed. mine takes miles to get up to speed and another few miles to slow down lol.
Good luck with the rest of the build ill be watching

[Suzy-Homemaker]

So we've subbed in the Camaro sub-frame in the rear and @Rod fabbed the shock mounts in the rear cargo hatch.
The car now sits so low the roof is almost to my 5'2" shoulder.
You can see from the pics what's been done...

[Gandalf]

why cant floor plugs be automatic??

If you leave them in long enough, in the right kind of weather - they kinda are automatic ;-)

Great to see progress guys - can't wait to see this on the track!
2G.

[1360]

There is a 330 wagon @ the local Pull-a-Part...sweet little cars.

Looking good!

[Rod]

If you leave them in long enough, in the right kind of weather - they kinda are automatic ;-)

Great to see progress guys - can't wait to see this on the track!
2G.

those are self ejecting body plugs, ha ha ha ha they just drop out after years of use

[Suzy-Homemaker]

Sort of.
Tonight we pulled Sugar out of our high-tech garage-of-luxury to turn her around and I snapped a few pictures.

[chaz75]

I like it.

[goofybowler277]

Looking good I like the stance.

[bosses son]

looking good guys!

[SRD art]

Looks great! When you mentioned the Camaro subframe my initial thought was it'll be too wide, but looks like it's about perfect. Not sure your plans but I can see that thing with fender flares like the early import guys use, you know Mr. Vengeance style, only maybe not so wide. That would look way bad.

You sure have changed the look of this thing, from wimpy to wicked! Keep it going!

[Rod]

Thanks to everyone for the thumbs up on Sugar

Looks great! When you mentioned the Camaro subframe my initial thought was it'll be too wide, but looks like it's about perfect. Not sure your plans but I can see that thing with fender flares like the early import guys use, you know Mr. Vengeance style, only maybe not so wide. That would look way bad.

You sure have changed the look of this thing, from wimpy to wicked! Keep it going!

funny you say that because, we did squeeze an 17x8inch wheel under the car all 4 corners, but we might be able to get a 17x9.5 or 10inch wheel under it with the right back space and a little flair, that's a whole LOTTA rim under a car designed for a 14x4 inch rim, its gonna ride like a go cart it has only a 101 inch wheel base

[SRD art]

Hard to tell from the pics but it looks like you have the same brand wheels I have. Mine are 17x9.5 all around with 5.5" bs, MB Old Schools from Discount tire. Is that what's on the Camaro too?