February 22, 2004

I just added T-5 swap info courtesy of John Elle, it is available here. This document is a comprehensive five speed swap document and is relevant for other transmissions swaps as well. This covers, parts sources, ford transmissions and auto to manual conversions and more. I would venture to say that John Elle has written the most complete AMC five speed swap article ever.
October 12, 2003

Wow, big update. Let's see, at the end of the summer I drove with a friend to Michigan and bought some parts for my 258. I've got a Clifford intake, cam, header, 350cfb 2bbl Holley carb, and a head waiting for my car. I've put a spoiler on my car now. My engine is in the middle of being disassembled and will be pulled with the engine hoist I just bought. I put a new CD player in, it's a Jensen with a good amount of power and a remote. I don't really understand the point of the remote, I mean, is it that hard to push a button two feet away where the head unit is? Anyway, I bought a little LCD screen and think it would be funny to hook an NES up in my car. However, it's a low priority right now. A lot has happened, I just can't think of it. I'll have pictures soon.
June 27, 2003

For a while my car wouldn't go. What happened was we bumped a wire to the starter when screwing around with the tachometer we're installing. It runs now, but there is still a rough idle. The spoiler is installed and the trunk release and radio are both wired into a constant behind the dash, rather than directly into the fuse box. On saturday, I plan to finish installing the tach and to remove the A/C. The rear bumper is pushed in a little on the driver's side, there isn't any damage that I can see, I just need to pull it out, that is what I plan to do. And we can't forget the rough idle, that really needs to go away. What else, maybe I can swap the rear end to something less pathetic. I don't think I'll do anything too major until after I got to the American Motors Owners(AMO) Nationals in Lansing, Michigan, that's in mid July. Right after that, I go to visit University of Iowa, Iowa State and Northern Illinois. I'm liking Purdue right now if anyone cares. OOOOO, I almost forgot to mention I found this sweet Harman Karmon 330c receiver from the 70s, and since I'm into old audio equipment I think I might hook it into my car with a DC inverter. Await further updates on this.
June 11, 2003

This is the story of a 1980 AMC Spirit. I got this car in May 2003. It has a solid body(rare for Chicago) and 39000 miles. This car has a 258 with an automatic on the column. The car is base, the only hint of options in the 258 instead of a four cylinder, and it has dealer installed A/C. The A/C really sucks and is ugly. It had ugly wheels when we got it so we put Turbocast II wheels mounted on white letter Firestones. In June of 2003, I got fed up with the rough idle, so I cleaned the carb with lots of carb cleaner(what a concept). That didn't really help, but fixing the vacuum leak did. Well, fixing the rough idle got me interested in working on my car again and so, I worked on my car(bear, or is it bare, with me). In order to put the Spirit/SX4 spoiler on I needed a remote trunk release. I went to a salvage yard in Kenosha. I went back and found this Spirit, I looked at it and it had a spoiler, meaning that it also had a trunk release, I'll explain, the spoiler covers up where the key hole to open the trunk is so you have to get a remote trunk release in order to open it. I have the guy take out the switch solenoid and other thing. While waiting, I took a look at the rest of the car. I saw that it had Magnum 500 wheels which I knew my dad wanted, so, I called my dad and was all like, "Hey, I found this Spirit with magnum 500s." and he says, "Wow, that's cool, we should get them" Having only the ten dollars to buy the trunk release I decide to go back the next day. My dad gave me some money for the wheels and some other stuff on the car so I went back with a list and checked the car some more. The VIN revealed it was a 1983 with a 258 and 5 speed, a five speed! the shifter was gone which is why I hadn't noticed before. Anyway, I left that day with the rear spoiler, guage cluster, and black remote mirrors...I put a down payment on the mag 500s until they have been pulled. This brings me to today, June 11, 2003. The trunk release has now been installed and other things await. I am still waiting and seeing on the five speed, but I sure would like it. I have this performance head for a 258 in the garage. I want to put it on, but it is from 1985 and the valve cover bolt pattern is different. Sadly, replacement valve covers are ~$100. But wait! I got an email from a guy on amcforum.net saying that he had a valve cover he could send me for free! I need to send him shipping, but I am broke, but when that comes in I will be able to put the new head on. Also, just today, I got and email from someone who has Spirit AMX flares, grille, front spoiler, etc. these I don't think are free, but I am definietly interested in these parts. Anyway, the next step is to install the guages, I can install the spoiler myself, so I'll have my dad help me this weekend...the mirror cables also seem difficult, so I will wait for him to help on that too. Stupid things I have added to my car include a 50 dollar CD player, a trash can, a visor mirror and these old Bose speakers. I'm gonna hop backwards a little(I know it's confusing, but I'm writing off the top of my head). Well, the dealer installed A/C takes up a huge ugly space where the factory parcel shelf should be, I want to put a center console in there but it won't fit with the big ugly A/C box, I decided I will remove the A/C because it sucks so much anyway. Seriously, dealer A/C? c'mon, what were they thinking? One more step back, I was able to put the CD player in because I had a late model eagle radio hole which is wider than the typical AMC radio hole. That's about where I am now. The real problem now is I need money. My plans are to upgrade to the Ford TFI ignition, this is upgrade is all over the internet, just search...it's easier than me adding a link. Then I want to get headers and intake. Those look like they take a lot of install work so I will do them at the same time. I'm sorry for rambling so much there and being so unorganized and incoherent, when I update again, it will be much better, I promise.

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