Anybody put a LA Mopar in an AMC Gremlin?

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71gtdart

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Dont ask me how, but I have ended up with a decent 74 Gremlin. For $200 I wasn't just going to leave it there for someone else to buy.

Want to make a little bracket car out of it. Something that could be built on a budget and go low 7's in the 1/8th. At first I was thinking that I would pick up a 390 or 401 to go in it, and do a budget build. Nothing too radical, just let the cubic inches do the work with the light car.

That was until I started trying to find either one of those engines. Finally found a complete 401 and the price was $2,000 for a complete stock engine!

Plan now is to use what I have in the shop. Got a 408 with some eddy heads that went 6.80's in my Volare wagon at one time. Question is, do any of you have any knowledge of what the headaches are with putting it in the Gremlin? I know some motor mounts will need fabbed. What about headers? Will A body headers fit? Hoping some of you guys have dealt with this or have knowledge of the situation through someone else. Have not got the car home yet, so haven't been able to get the 6 cylinder out and try to measure and mock anything up. Been looking on the internet for 2 nights trying to find some info where somebody put one in a Gremlin or Hornet. Can't find anything, which is surprising. I thought a small block mopar swap to one was, or used to be, kinda common. Thanks for any help
 
Dont ask me how, but I have ended up with a decent 74 Gremlin. For $200 I wasn't just going to leave it there for someone else to buy.

Want to make a little bracket car out of it. Something that could be built on a budget and go low 7's in the 1/8th. At first I was thinking that I would pick up a 390 or 401 to go in it, and do a budget build. Nothing too radical, just let the cubic inches do the work with the light car.

That was until I started trying to find either one of those engines. Finally found a complete 401 and the price was $2,000 for a complete stock engine!

Plan now is to use what I have in the shop. Got a 408 with some eddy heads that went 6.80's in my Volare wagon at one time. Question is, do any of you have any knowledge of what the headaches are with putting it in the Gremlin? I know some motor mounts will need fabbed. What about headers? Will A body headers fit? Hoping some of you guys have dealt with this or have knowledge of the situation through someone else. Have not got the car home yet, so haven't been able to get the 6 cylinder out and try to measure and mock anything up. Been looking on the internet for 2 nights trying to find some info where somebody put one in a Gremlin or Hornet. Can't find anything, which is surprising. I thought a small block mopar swap to one was, or used to be, kinda common. Thanks for any help

I have an AMX. Yes, forget about an affordable 390 or 401. I highly suggest getting an AMC 360, a TorqueCommand (aka: Torqueflite) trans and a Group 20 twin group differential and build them up. Does the Gremmie have a 304 or a 6 cyl?
 
Amc 360 would certainly be more common. Didn't those come in Jeeps?
 
Not an AMC expert, so pardon me if this is a dumb question. We all know the Mopar 360 has GREAT performance potential. Does the AMC 360 have the same ability? Not all motors have equal performance potential. Maybe it would be better to use a Mopar engine??
 
You're gonna have serious traction issues. A stout, Streetable Mopar360 will put you into the low 11s(1/4)/ very low 7s(1/8), if you can get it to hook. You might as well cage it, and back-half it, and pull the aprons out of it, and maybe a motor plate.This is looking like a 118mph, track-only type car.
If that sounds expensive, it is.But if it doesn't hook, and 60fts up around 2.2 then it will be closer to an 8 second 1/8th.
A teener might keep it out of the 11s and so no cage required. No cage/no back half. SS springs grafted in/much cheaper.
But yeah, I see headers a bit of a problem.If it's gonna be a track-only car, I suppose you'll figure something out.
As for me, I'd make her into a potent streeter. But I'd keep it LOW, with plenty of tire on both ends, cuz the short wb,narrow track will want to spin every chance she sees,heehee.I like Gremlins.... Kindof a Demon connection going on there... I always wanted one, but I didn't care for the interiors, nor the AMC engines.She'd be a terror even with a teener.Course I don't do teeners, soooo a 360 it would be.But a tame one this time.
We need pictures!
 
Not an AMC expert, so pardon me if this is a dumb question. We all know the Mopar 360 has GREAT performance potential. Does the AMC 360 have the same ability? Not all motors have equal performance potential. Maybe it would be better to use a Mopar engine??

It comes down to personal preference. 71gtdart can create a quick budget for both options. There are pros/cons.
 
It comes down to personal preference. 71gtdart can create a quick budget for both options. There are pros/cons.
Car Craft did a 66-67 Rambler American,a few years back..('06-'10...) ,Douglas Glad,editor owned it... Essentially,all AMC mechanical,are the same,IIRC...

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou..._rp6nYTENYi5v6LrA&sig2=B9lFciuX27_n8LDgMwAWNw

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...tqljnG7ffVjFSStbA&sig2=uYVqbnzn3tdEltgH3eqgzQ

Just something,for ideas... Hell a decent 304 Gremlin,can run hard....

images (2).jpg


ccrp_0710_03_z-1967_amc_rambler-rear_view.jpg
 
You're gonna have serious traction issues. A stout, Streetable Mopar360 will put you into the low 11s(1/4)/ very low 7s(1/8), if you can get it to hook. You might as well cage it, and back-half it, and pull the aprons out of it, and maybe a motor plate.This is looking like a 118mph, track-only type car.
If that sounds expensive, it is.But if it doesn't hook, and 60fts up around 2.2 then it will be closer to an 8 second 1/8th.
A teener might keep it out of the 11s and so no cage required. No cage/no back half. SS springs grafted in/much cheaper.
But yeah, I see headers a bit of a problem.If it's gonna be a track-only car, I suppose you'll figure something out.
As for me, I'd make her into a potent streeter. But I'd keep it LOW, with plenty of tire on both ends, cuz the short wb,narrow track will want to spin every chance she sees,heehee.I like Gremlins.... Kindof a Demon connection going on there... I always wanted one, but I didn't care for the interiors, nor the AMC engines.She'd be a terror even with a teener.Course I don't do teeners, soooo a 360 it would be.But a tame one this time.
We need pictures!


It will be race only, and will have a cage, frame connectors, Cal Tracs, and a 10inch tire. I will spend some money on the body/suspension. The part where the budget comes in is in the drive train. It would cost me pretty good to find an AMC engine and trans, then build it all. I have zero AMC parts. I have a 8 3/4 rear with 35 slpine spool/ 4.10 gears. Also an already built 408 and low first gear 904.
 
Sounds like you have all the ingredients except headers. Why not set it in and get a cheap set of headers and do a test fit. If it's race only run a motor plate and open up more room for headers. I had a buddy back in the day running 11's in the quarter in a Gremlin with slapper bars and a SBC.
 
sbc WERE REALLY COMMON, I ACTUALLY SHOEHORNED A 500 cADDY ENGINE IN, IT WAS SHORT LIVED BUT FUN.
 
We also stuffed the drive train out of a 69 road runner into a 72 gremlin. Engine Mock and fab took less than a day. 383 / 727 , Custom driveshaft and narrowed 8 3/4. that thing was simply badass. Go with the 408 you'll be glad you did
 
Nothing cheap about building a good AMC engine. The Gremlin is cool[we have one]...but they go faster backwards in a wind tunnel, than forward. The Aero is terrible. Back when Booth was running his Gremmy in pro-stock, he quickly switched over to a Hornet. I believe it was said that a Gremmy needed 100 more HP, to run the same ET as the Hornet. They make great street-cars, though.

My wife's car.
6s6m2q.jpg
 
Nothing cheap about building a good AMC engine. The Gremlin is cool[we have one]...but they go faster backwards in a wind tunnel, than forward. The Aero is terrible. Back when Booth was running his Gremmy in pro-stock, he quickly switched over to a Hornet. I believe it was said that a Gremmy needed 100 more HP, to run the same ET as the Hornet. They make great street-cars, though.

My wife's car.
View attachment 1714996494
Lovin' that white gremlin. We had a blue 73 Lexis X w/304. One in the "shuda kept it" folder.
I only saw one on a drag strip and it was a factory 401 build. A Gremlins best event is burnout contests.
Oh and by the way... The chrome air foil on the top will keep that back window clean. I know for sure because my yellow 71 ( high school wheels ) didn't have one for a while.
 
Nothing cheap about building a good AMC engine. The Gremlin is cool[we have one]...but they go faster backwards in a wind tunnel, than forward. The Aero is terrible. Back when Booth was running his Gremmy in pro-stock, he quickly switched over to a Hornet. I believe it was said that a Gremmy needed 100 more HP, to run the same ET as the Hornet. They make great street-cars, though.

My wife's car.
View attachment 1714996494

That is awesome to see that is your wife's car. I'm diggin' it.
 
with enough time, effort and $$ - you can put just about anything into anything. If it were me and I had a decent Gremlin donor car and a little ol' LA V8 looking for a home - I'd sure enough try it.
 
We all had Gremlin beaters when we were young. MANY years later, I asked my wife[who puts up with all my car crap] what kind of car she wanted. I told her I didn't care what brand it was. She said she wanted a Gremlin. So, being me.....I found this one on Ebay at 12 years ago. It was a one-owner/ZERO rust unit, outta Phoenix Az. It was for sale in an estate. The going rate was about 2500 for them at the time. I told the guy I'd give him 3500 and a 1000/over-nite deposit....if he ended the auction. I bought all the NOS trim I could find[lots, back then], and had my painter give it a lawn-show quickie. It gets more attention, than my hemi-cars. It runs pretty quick with the 258-6cyl. Of course, it only weighs about 2400 lbs. It hasn't been driven in about 5 years.
33112jd.jpg
 
With your initial post, I saw the word "budget" and thought you just wanted to have some cheap fun on the track. That's why I suggested the AMC 360 & TorqueCommand (easy to install and get underway). Now that I see all of the other components and plans you have listed, you might as well just use what you have and be done with it. Start building & fabricating. GL.
 
We all had Gremlin beaters when we were young. MANY years later, I asked my wife[who puts up with all my car crap] what kind of car she wanted. I told her I didn't care what brand it was. She said she wanted a Gremlin. So, being me.....I found this one on Ebay at 12 years ago. It was a one-owner/ZERO rust unit, outta Phoenix Az. It was for sale in an estate. The going rate was about 2500 for them at the time. I told the guy I'd give him 3500 and a 1000/over-nite deposit....if he ended the auction. I bought all the NOS trim I could find[lots, back then], and had my painter give it a lawn-show quickie. It gets more attention, than my hemi-cars. It runs pretty quick with the 258-6cyl. Of course, it only weighs about 2400 lbs. It hasn't been driven in about 5 years.
View attachment 1714996553

Why hasn't been driven in five years? It looks like it's just there to hold up yellow tape now. ;)
 
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