American Motors Xperimental full frame by Ron S

10 minute(s) of a 140 minute read

Finally getting a little time over the long weekend. Got the core support made and bolted down, I've totally given up on the hood, and plan on ordering a fiberglass one. Got the side of the fender welded, and will hopefully get the top done this week.

12-7-2013

Slowly pecking at the front end, still waiting on the hood so I can get the tops of the fenders done. Trying to figure out what I'm going to do for the nose(bumper/splitter).

12-31-2013

The rear suspension in this car uses a watts link. In my normal knuckle dragging self, I welded up the watts mount on to the Dana 60 cover with a lot of adjustability, welding and warpage. After talking to Aaron for I long while, and looking at some of the cutting edge stuff he was doing. I decided to see what we could come up with in aluminum.

Aaron started the 3d design work, and in my opinion, it is nothing short of spectacular. He just started making aluminum chips, and I'm not ashamed to say it gives me abit of a chubby. The contrast between my parts and his is like comparing a couple of paper cups and string vs. a cell phone. Aaron just has the one side done, and sent me the pics today, and I had to post them. Like magic.

1-2-2014

It's crazy isn't it Justin, ALMOST doesn't belong on one of my cars. Its fun working with someone that has the same level of passion for building custom parts as I do. I know Aaron is as busy as I am, we see each other at events maybe 3 or 4 times a year. I describe what I am building, and he does the same, and I can see the gleam in his eyes as he describes the processes of designing and milling out the different parts. It is a sickness, but man I'm glad he has it. Wow that sounded a little gay .lol

1-4-2014

No sweat Mike, I really do think that the websites biggest attribute is the knowledge and experiences that most of us share. Some of these experiences are good learning tools, and some are total failures (I have a lot of failures), but Aaron I were just talking about how we are all standing on the shoulders of the guys that came before us. I've been building cars since I was 15, and feel I have a pretty good sense of what makes them work, but my lack knowledge in autox, and road racing were pretty humbling. With the help of guys like Kyle, Danny, Randy Bell, etc., etc. its amazing what you pick up on driving, and car setup. And everyone's lack of ego, and eagerness to have a good time makes what we do so much fun. Can't wait till this year.

1-14-2014

Aaron has the fill plug installed in the diff cover, and some cool graphics. I now have the new $500 hood cut to length, and setting on the car, still have some clean up work to do, but its close. I'm about to set my sites on finishing the fenders, I believe I'm going to pull molds off the fenders, and have them done in fiberglass. It will be better for the just in case moments, you can't buy AMX sheetmetal at the Walmart stores like you can Camaro's and Mustang's. As long as everything goes OK, I'm hoping they will be done in the next week or two.

2-1-2014

In staying with my AM"X" theme, I had to put a big X through the middle of the car for chassis rigidity. Took a while to fab this part with all the ports, holes, and welds. Turned out pretty good, and should stiffen the car, as if it needed more weight. It still gets a couple other bars that intersect with this bar, and I need to fab a new trans cross member, but I'm getting closer.

2-15-2014

Got the transmission crossmember and the frame mounts built. Still need to trim up frame mounts, and weld them in.

2-16-2014

Here is the finished product, had to make it that funky shape to clear the exhaust.

2-23-2014

I think the majors snows are finally over, and I'm able to put the snow removal equipment out of the garage. Started dialing the fenders in, the 335's have made the it a bit of a job, but its getting there. Trying to do both sides together so its not so hard to replicate a month from now.

2-24-2014

I usually feel like a have a pretty good vision as to what I'm building. This bumper however is going to be a trial an error exercise. When I got home tonight I started tacking some crap together to get some ideas from. The ends I haven't touched yet, but the middle is some kind of start. The lower section would get some vents, and it still would get a splitter on the bottom of it. In a couple pics I visegripped a piece of 3/4" square on the bottom to give it more height, but I don't know. I'll push it outside tomorrow and get a pic on the ground. What do you think?