Lindholm 1

Rutland High School

The history of American Motors engines and cars.

Kenneth Lindholm

Miss Mills

December 20, 2021

English Final Draft



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Abstract

My paper talks about the history of American Motors engines and body in cars. In this

Essay I talked about every engine separately. I explain all of their differences. For examples

some had different bores, but they all had the same block size. I also talked about the cars,

like the first few that were built and talked about some like the max the muscle cars and

that they were only the drag cars. I even talked about what engines when in what cars.

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In my essay I will be talking about American motors and their cars and engines and

how their body styles changed over time. I will be talking about how their cars changed and

how they got better. Like they first started with little inline engines and then they went to v8

engines. They went from non-post rear ends to post rear ends. This happened towards the

70s and the muscle car era.

American motors first got going with the Nash Rambler. The first engine they put in

was a 195.6 cubic inch engine. This was an inline engine, and with this car American

motors just got going with their company. This wasn’t the best design cause it was their

first but they got off to a good start. (autoroundup.com)

American Motors soon built v8 engines. Those engines were a 209 cu (cubic inches)

250, 287, 290, 304, 327, 343, 360, and a 390 cubic inch engine and the most powerful

engine they bought the 401. Some inline engines are the 195.6 199, 232, 252, 258, and the

282. These are all of the inline entries AMC built. They are all six cylinders and they were

referred to as the straight 6. I will describe the engines and what differences they all had,

because they are all different or wouldn’t be called different and have different cubic inch.

(jeep.fandom.com)





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American motors produced 195.6 CC was produced from 1952 through 1965, and it

both had overhead valve overhead valve (OHV) and flathead (L-head) the side-valve

versions. This engine was first designed by nada and it went in the 1941 Nash

Ambassador 600 model. This engine only had four main bearings, which is unlike the 234

that had seen main bearings. When it was redesigned in 1956 to the (OHV) the water pump

was moved from the left side of the engine to the back of the generator. (they now call it an

alternator) . Back then it was just referred as a generator.) This engine was first put into the

American Rambler. These two engines of the 195.6 ere pretty good engines but they did

have one problem. That problem was the engine would overheat because the excuse was

traveling through the cylinder block that led through the exist manifold. (wikipedia.org)

The American Motors 199 cu was slightly bigger the main difference was the bore

and crank. The block was the same and this type of block got put in more different cars

then the 195.6. This engine was produced from 1965 to 1970. This engine got put in the

Rambler classic (From year 1965-1966, the fleet cars only). The American Rambler

(1965-1969). The American Motors Hornet. (1970), and the American Motors Gremlin

(1970). (jeep.fandom.com)

The American Motors 232 was the base cylinder engine on many models till 1979.

This engine was produced from 1964 to 1979. This engine was adapted so it could fit in the






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American Rambler. They did this by using a short water pump so it take less room and so

the fan wouldn’t take as much room. This engine was better cause it was lighter and it had

more horse power. This engine got 30-36 miles per gallon and this was really good

because most cars got between 24 and 29.

The American Motors 252 was a lot like the 232, it had a larger stroke in the bore

and that was pretty much it. This wast a very good engine because amc started producing

this in 1969 and dropped it by 1972 and replaced it with the 258. Which was the next

engine they built. This engine was put in the Javelin, Rambler Classic, and the American

Rambler. (jeep.fandom.com)

The American Motors 258 was produced from 1971 to 1990. This engine was

considered one of the most reliable 6 cylinder engines. They put the engine in jeeps, Spirts

Eagles etc. This engine had 1 major change and that was they built, plastic rocker arm

cover. (wikipedia.org)

The final 6 cylinder engine AMC built was the 282. This engine was produced from 1971 to

1986. This engine had a larger bore, and it used the 258 crankshaft. This engine was much

similar to the 258. (wikipedia.org)



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These are all of the six cylinder engines AMC built. A lot of these are similar to each

other but the bores are just different and they made the allium intake manifold and this was

built for performance. But overall, I believe these engines were pretty good.the six cylinder

engine were built for milage not performance like the AMC v-8 engines were. All of these

engines got better than 15 miles per gallon. (enwikipedia.org)

Next, I will be talking about American motor v-8 engines. American Motors used

the carburetor in some of the v-8 engines and thy also upgraded to fuel injections after a

while. The gas milage with the fuel injection. (enwikipedia.org)

The first v-8 engine they built was the 250 cc engine. This engine was produced

from 1956 to 1961. AMC put this engine in the Nash ambassador and they also put it in the

Hutson Hornet. This engine didn’t have very high performance because it was their first v8

they built. (enwikipedia.org)

The American motors next built 287. The 287 was introduced and used in the year

1963 for the Rambler, and they still used carburetors in these engines. The 287 had no

option to have the 4 barrel option. The 287 engine was produced until 1966.

(enwikipedia.org)

The American Motors 327 is very similar to the 287, but the difference is the bore

went up for inches. Over 1500 of these were made. This engine had 255 house power. They







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had high compression and high piston rings which gave them more hours power. This

engine was 327 was referred to the fireball engine. (enwikipedia.org)

This engine is where AMC started trying out the fuel injection. The first year of fuel

injection was in 1957. They put it in the Rambler Rebel and with the fuel injection pump in

this car it made it the second fasted car on the beach. With the fuel injection, the 372 was

rated at 288 house power. The main problem was that early cars had electronics like back

in. (enwikipedia.org)

the days was not fast enough for the engine controls. But this wasn’t just AMC all cars were

like this because the electronics were just too slow for them. (enwikipedia.org)

The American Motors 290 engine produced between 200 and 250 horsepower. And

this had the option for the 4 barrel engine, even tho they came out with a 2 barrel

carburetor. This engine was built and produced from 1966 to I’m 1969. In the 290, the bore

and the stroke were 3.75x3.28 inches. They only but 623 cars that had this engine. In the

rouge they put either an automatic or a manual. (enwikipedia.org)

The next engine they built was the 343. The bore and the stroke of this engine were

4.08 by 328.8 inches. This engine produced 235 horsepower. American Motors built this





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engine from 1967 to 1969. This engine had the 4 barrel engine. The 4 barrel made the car

have more horsepower but it got terrible gas milage. (enwikipedia.org)

The AMX 390 was one of the best engines that AMC built had been arguably the

best engine they built. This was when the amps came out, and they were American Motors

muscle car. It was a two seater car and it was similar to the Pontiac Ct. This 390 engine had

connecting rods and crankshafts that were known for how strong they were. They were put

to several tests in drag racing and they were ran very hard. It was very rare if they broke

down and they for a high performance car they did really well. This engine was built from

1968 to 1969, and this engine had 315 horsepower. (enwikipedia.org)

The next engine was 304. This engine produced 210 hours power. This engine got

put in jeeps, and it was put in cars from 1972 to 1975, and they went back to it from 1980

and 1981. This engine did have very much of a difference. (enwikipedia.org)

The American Motors 360 was a 2 barrel carburetor engine and it could also be fuel

injected. The 360 was a very popular engine. It didn’t have the horsepower like the AMC

401, but it got put in so many cars for two things. It got good gas mileage not as good as the

6 cylinders, but it also had plenty of power, so they put these in the jeeps that were all

wheel

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drive. This engine had all types of different horsepower because it had different models of

it. For example, some had bigger cams, and this was when lots of people started

overhauling their engines so they got more horsepower. (enwikipedia.org)

The American Motors 401 was the last engine they built. The 401produced 330 horsepower

and when it was overhauled, it got over 500 horsepower. This engine had connecting rods

and cranks shaft just like the 390. They were made out of forged steel. So that means this

steel was very high performance and this meal took a lot and it was very difficult for those

parts to break. They are hard to break in general, but these were made to be stronger.

This engine was put in all of the Hot Rod cars because it was the biggest

engine AMC (enwikipedia.org)

built and it had the most horse power they offered when overhauling the engine. This

engine could get over 500 horse and it made it very hard to beat cars with a 401 in drag

races. The 40 engine was put in the Javelins, Matadors, Ambassadors, and Jeeps, and

they put the in the jeeps cause they were 4 wheel drive and so they had way more power. It

worked out really well for them. (enwikipedia.org)

Next I will be talking about American Motors cars and how they changed over time,

and how the engine styles changed with the people. The American Motors first started





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making cars they were big. What I mean by that is that there was a lot of room to work

with.

The first car AMC built was the Nash then the Rambler American, and the Rambler Custom

Classic.

After the 40s American Motors started to make muscle cars but they weren’t as good.

They're best cars were in the late 60s and the early 70s. American Motors best muscle car

was the AMC Max and the Javelin. (enwikipedia.org)

These cars changed by their body styles. They were as big. The American Rambler

was sitting now. But the max was a 2 seater. This car did so well because it was a two

seater, and the two seater made it so the car was lighter and so it could get up to fast speeds

faster. (enwikipedia.org)

In my essay I talked about all of the engines that AMC made.

Some other models American Motors cars were the American Motors Gremlin and

the American Motors Pacer. These two cars were one of the worst cars AMC produced.

Some reasons why the Gremlin wasn’t the best is because the Pacer sales did terrible

after they sold well at first. The Gremlin was designed for a rotary engine. The pacer was a

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small car but it was too heavy, some reports were that this car was too wide. It was 77

inchesbwide, which had 2.4 inches less of shoulder room. A strange one was that there was

too much glass in areas for the car. People did not like this body style and people now days

even believe this may be one of the ugliest cars of all time. (indieauto.org)

The AMC Gremlin was similar to the Pacer. Except the Gremlin was rated even

worse. The Gremlin had a lot of problems, like it was bad to drive. It had a big cylinder.

engine and that means it was an inline engine. It had terrible suspension and reports said

that the engine was choppy, and people didn’t like this car that way. (content.time.com)

The American Motors Javelin was one of the better cars they made. The Javelin was

fun to drive. Most people liked it because it was like the Ford Mustang. “The Javelin was

known as the last true indent-net car in america.” (drivingline.com). American motors 3 big

cars were the javelin amc etc. Javelins only competition was the ford mustangs, Chevy

Camaros and the Plymouth. The javelin was rated so good because most javelins had the

American motor 401. This gave the cars much power and American Motors gave it a

muscle car look. In the Javelin American Motors gave the Javelin bigger fenders in the

front, and in the back. American Motors was just making a car that they knew people

would’ve so then they made a lot of money off of this. This is an example of my the people

were shaping the styles of cars. The 401 gave the javelin over 500 horse power.




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I explained the differences in the engines. I also explained how much horsepower

they had when they were produced, what cars the engines got put in, and the differences

they had in each other. I also explained different certain cars such as the gremlin, pacer and

javelin etc. I just gave information on them. I talked about their body styles and I talked

about there engines and I gave lots of information. I also explained that what AMC’S first

cars were and explained why their first cars were bigger and why their muscle cars did so

well.


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Web sites used

(enwikipedia.org)

(drivingline.com)

(content.time.com)

(indieauto.org)

(jeep.fandom.com)

(autoroundup.com)