AMC Muscle Cars – Used
Parts Buyers Guide of Interchangeable Parts, 1968 - 1974
By Lawrence J. Culberson
PAH Publishing International, 2007, $20, 265 pages
Reviewed by Mel Stanley
This is a spiral bound, 8.5 x 11 inch soft cover salvage yard
buyers guide. It may not be very pretty,
but it is a well researched and effective guide to swapping parts between
models of AMC cars of that specific era.
As some of you know, I own a ’70 AMX with 390 cid engine and
4-speed transmission. I bought the car
new and know its inner workings fairly well.
But there are a number of things I’d like to do to the car, and that is
why I bought this book. As you well
know, finding 40-year old AMC parts (and parts expertise) at a salvage yard is
not an easy task. Arming yourself with
knowledge found in this book increases your chance of successful hunting and
potentially saving some $$. A part off a
Gremlin may sell for less than the same part off a Javelin though they share
the same part no.
There are eleven chapters, covering the following: Engines (V-8 only), fuel systems, exhaust
& emissions, cooling systems, transmissions, suspension systems, steering
systems, rear axle & driveshafts, brakes, electrical systems, and wheels
& wheelcovers. Two pages of index
helps further breakdown the search.
An introduction chapter explains how to use the guide. Basically, the author assigns “Interchange
Numbers” to all parts. This number is
then used to match a part no. used on one model of car to other models using the
same part. The example used in the intro
is for an AMX wheel, 1969, 14X6 late production (after a production change); it
is assigned the interchange no. of 2.
First pages of each chapter list models, and under each model the name
of various parts and their interchange number.
After the list of models and parts come the pages of interchange no.
definitions.
For the AMX wheel, we find the following:
Interchange Number 2:
Part Number: 3194995
Wheel Size:
14X6----Description of part usage: 1969 SCRamber, except spare; 1970 – early 72 Hornet, Gremlin. 1969 – 70 Rebel; 1971 – early 1972 Matador;
1969 – early 1972 Ambassador; Late 1969 – 70 AMX; Late 1969 – early 1972
Javelin V-8
Notes: special
instructions when applicable.
With this info, “we now know that we can look for our wheels on
a host of other models and not just be looking for those from a 1969 AMX.”
1970 AMX power steering pump is found to have two “versions” –
with and without emissions pump. Now my
car has not had an emissions pump for a very long time, but it was delivered
with one, so I will look for a pump for that configuration. The guide gives me the interchange no. of 4
which indicates a part no. of 4488077.
Usage: 1970 AMX, Rebel; 1970 – 71 Javelin, Hornet, Gremlin, Ambassador;
1971 Matador all with a V-8 engine and air emissions pump.
I have used this book little so far, but I have noticed a number
of typo mistakes, most of which are due to inadequate proof reading –
punctuation errors and such. The above
paragraph reads correct, but it is wrong in the guide as it reads “without air
emissions pump.” After careful reading
of some other passages, I’m confident that I have made a correct interpretation. But this illustrates that the guide is not
without flaws. (This is the only one I
have found so far, but as I said, I’ve actually used it little.)
Most chapters have useful text sections describing parts and any
special info needed to remove and/or replace the parts and what to guard
against when buying a used part. For
instance, it tells me that my quick ratio gear box has a ratio of 16 to 1 and
is 4 turns lock to lock.
One quibble I have is that it would be easier to page through
and know where you are if each page had a header with the chapter no. and
title. As it is you need to refer to the
table of contents to find the first page of each chapter before you can go
there.
All in all, it is a very handy guide if you have a project car
in the year range noted in the title. It
is recommended in spite of the little flaws; hopefully there will be a second
printing and the effort will be made to correct the typos and such.
— Mel Stanley
