71 Mach1(Trans Am) 2" nose drop

[71Rustang]

Wow, congratulations to the AMX! That's the right one, I have a sweet spot for them, once was very interested in them. They have a similar appearance than our 71-73 cars. Take care of it, it's well worth it! It doesn't hurt to make some motivation out of it - have fun  :thumb:

Thanks......I have always loved Javelins. And well, I guess I  have a type of car design that I'm really attracted to. The 71-3 Mustangs and the 2nd gen Javelins share many of the same proportions. Long hood,short deck, low roof, full width grill, long overbite front end. Not to mention the 4300 carburetor. And I love Trans Am cars.

 

[timachone]

Thanks......I have always loved Javelins. And well, I guess I  have a type of car design that I'm really attracted to. The 71-3 Mustangs and the 2nd gen Javelins share many of the same proportions. Long hood,short deck, low roof, full width grill, long overbite front end. Not to mention the 4300 carburetor. And I love Trans Am cars.

That's right, and they have their Trans AM history, too! In our region there is one which has the '71 Penske/Donahue-Racing-Trim. That car stands out of the crowd, for sure  :thumb:

 

[detritusmaximus]

Thanks......I have always loved Javelins. And well, I guess I  have a type of car design that I'm really attracted to. The 71-3 Mustangs and the 2nd gen Javelins share many of the same proportions. Long hood,short deck, low roof, full width grill, long overbite front end. Not to mention the 4300 carburetor. And I love Trans Am cars.

Nice AMX. When I was a kid, right around 8th grade, a guy down the street had a very nice medium metallic blue Javelin. Probably the first one of that bodystyle that I recall seeing.

Thru a friend of mine that has/had a roadrace 70 Mach1 I met another guy with a pretty nice replica of the Sunoco Camaro.

 

[droptop73]

Cool AMX... NOW back to our regularly scheduled programming... LOL!!

 

[71Rustang]

You guys are just going to have to get used to me mentioning the AMX every once in a while,it's part of the family....LOL...................AND NOW,back to our regularly scheduled program.I've been working on this problem for about a month...ish.And yes while messing with the AMX it did hit me,and I knew what I was going to do.The stock suspension sits on the frame at full droop,so why not build mounts the bolt to the car,just up higher in the chassis to make up for the shorter spring.So here we are.The chassis brackets are short enough to allow the spring to to removed and installed. Then bolt on the stop brackets and done. They hold tension on the spring so it can't rotate in the seat or fall out of the car.Everything is made of 1/8'',with 5/16'' grade 8 fine thread bolts.I left my self enough material to install 2 more bolts per side and upgrade them to 3/8th if I wanted to.There is no deflection in the mounts and it works like it should and looks like it belongs on the car.

 

[droptop73]

That's a nice solution. 

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

Just a thought. Did the old cars not have a limiting cable to stop the drop? I would think that you might need some kind of rubber cushion in there to prevent it banging every time it goes to full travel? Maybe a piece of old tire or thick conveyor belt just so not steel to steel.
I had my 73 vert on the lift the other day to clean the wheels and I have put my wood limiting blocks on the frame under the upper arms. The right hand one came out and I did not notice. So when I did notice was too late it split the rubber shock bushing on that side with just one lift. They were NOS made in USA also.
Went to local autocross on Tuesday of all days. There were two Tesla cars there but they were not the fastest due to handling. One is strictly a race car also. They ran into the night I left at 10:00 there was no way I could have seen the gates and cones it was too dark. Many missed them.
On the American motors. My uncle had one of the red white and blue Rebels I think they were called. Ran really good. The pic is not his but one like it. His son sold all of his cars never kept any of them and one was a 1935 Ford coupe with 800 miles on it, like new. Had a Packard Limo. several Model A roadsters, AA Model A log truck, and several others. My son same way no interest in cars at all unless new. The local tech school was restoring an AMC to sell but have not seen lately at shows.

 

[71Rustang]

Just a thought. Did the old cars not have a limiting cable to stop the drop? I would think that you might need some kind of rubber cushion in there to prevent it banging every time it goes to full travel? Maybe a piece of old tire or thick conveyor belt just so not steel to steel.
I had my 73 vert on the lift the other day to clean the wheels and I have put my wood limiting blocks on the frame under the upper arms. The right hand one came out and I did not notice. So when I did notice was too late it split the rubber shock bushing on that side with just one lift. They were NOS made in USA also.
Went to local autocross on Tuesday of all days. There were two Tesla cars there but they were not the fastest due to handling. One is strictly a race car also. They ran into the night I left at 10:00 there was no way I could have seen the gates and cones it was too dark. Many missed them.
On the American motors. My uncle had one of the red white and blue Rebels I think they were called. Ran really good. The pic is not his but one like it. His son sold all of his cars never kept any of them and one was a 1935 Ford coupe with 800 miles on it, like new. Had a Packard Limo. several Model A roadsters, AA Model A log truck, and several others. My son same way no interest in cars at all unless new. The local tech school was restoring an AMC to sell but have not seen lately at shows.

View attachment 53710

I designed the stops with making improvements in mind.That's why the chassis brackets are flat.I do have another set of stops in mind with rubber,nylon,ect on top for a little cushion.I can make another set of stop brackets in about 45 minutes. I've seen some of the team cars with cut down springs to get the rate,then with spacers to make up the distance. And I have also read about some of the cars,had spring set ups in them that if you did jack the car up the springs would fall out of the seats.I didn't like the limiting cable or strap idea for my car,just because I didn't like them.Remember the idea is to keep the car on the ground. The stops are mostly for jacking the car up and if the car hangs a wheel around a corner. Since I built this set up I can always improve/change it if need be.                                                               

 I have never been to an auto cross event.They seem like they could be fun.As for My AMX............It is it's own thing,and I love it dearly. It's going to be my perfect street car that my Mach 1 was going to be.The other thing with AMC is don't be in a hurry to fix it.You will get used to hearing,we have to order that,and no that isn't in stock,a lot.But I have noticed no matter what kind of car brands people are loyal to,everybody loves to see a Javelin. Probably going to start on that this winter. Did you uncle have a Rebel or a Scrambler American? You have pictured the Scrambler. The Rebel was the midsize car.Machine is still the best name for any car ever....

Oh...........and I am currently working on the fender flares.I have all 4 of the wheel arch lips rolled out and hammer and dollied to the shape of the flare. They are going to look killer when done.

 

[69 Rustang]

The ‘73 AMX was my first car I noticed and commented on to my family as something I loved.  I was about 5 years old at the time.  That shifted to Mustangs over the next few years, but I always remembered the swooping fenders of the Javelin and late AMX’s.  Excellent choice…you certainly like cars that are not the every-man’s car like a Camaro or 64-68 Mustang.

By the way—auto crossing is a blast, but it is a bit tough on front tires as you tend to chunk them out at the edges.  Better tire tech, the correct pressure, and better alignment angles specifically for the task will improve your results.  I did it with my ‘69 back when it was my everyday/only running car.  I tore the heck out of my tires and wanted to go more.  

 

[71Rustang]

Hi,it's picture time again.You have to be a certain kind of person to take hammers and start hitting 1200$ worth of new sheet metal you just bought and installed.............looks like I am that sort of person.LOL I have been working on the fender flares and now have a really good handle on them and have even created a new sort of problem ,but not really for myself.You see I only really have 2 cars as a visual reference to look to when I am building mine,the Tope and the Hinchcliff Mustangs.I now realize that those cars indeed had 10 inch wide wheels on the front when they were built. I went with the 8s in the front because I knew that they would fit.But after flaring the front just like the Tope car I realized that the amount of room in the front fenders is huge.The 8s would work just fine ,but visually look a bit off.I could have used 8s front and rear and not flared anything,but where is the fun in that.TA cars have flares.So far the fronts are shaped and the drivers rear is shaped,I still have to do the pass rear.I also have included a pic of a 10 inch wheel with 4'' of backspace on the front to prove my point and a pic of Ed Hinchcliffs car,those are 10s in front.Looks like I'm going with a new set of wheels with 10s in the front,but not Minilites,they were to much of a pain in the butt to get.This time I'm going with the TA Race Engineering Superlites.And now the AMX gets a new set of wheels.

 

[rio1856]

WOW! You got skills man! Awesome looking race car!

 

[71Rustang]

WOW! You got skills man! Awesome looking race car!

Thank you.

 

[computercarguy]

Looking great! 

 

[71Rustang]

Looking great! 

Thanks 

 

[71Rustang]

Here's the passenger rear flare shaped to its final size. Next I will be blending the flares where they meet the rockers into the body. Then making the new filler panels for the outer wheel house to quarter panel.

 

[timachone]

Wow, awesome work, really great  :thumb:

 

[droptop73]

Lookin good! 

 

[tony-muscle]

That's the way to go..... love the look of it. It looks wide, short and mean! If you fit bigger tires and 10" wide wheels in the front it will give you a lot of more cornering ability. I need to add fender flares to my wish list, maybe not as big as yours but a little will help. It will be nice to fit 285s in the front.

 

[71Rustang]

Lookin good! 

thank you

 

[71Rustang]

That's the way to go..... love the look of it. It looks wide, short and mean! If you fit bigger tires and 10" wide wheels in the front it will give you a lot of more cornering ability. I need to add fender flares to my wish list, maybe not as big as yours but a little will help. It will be nice to fit 285s in the front.

Thanks.There was a point when I was installing the Watts box,that I thought to myself,now she's a TA. After finishing hammering out the last flare and looked down the side and thought,now......now it really is a TA Mustang.

Are you looking at welding on premade flares,glass flares,build your own and weld them on,or doing a milder version of what I did? Just buy rolling out and flattening the lip they gained an 1 1/2'' There are multiple ways. The way I built mine is the way Kar Kraft and Bud Moore built them.