Eighth Report of Work Done - San Antonio, Texas Stop

(Please read carefully...a lot of information has been added and/or updated.)

Due to Fiesta (a week of city-wide partying and events) and earlier delays while waiting for parts, the Charity AMX Project has been on hiatus for the last couple of weeks. However, last night (Tuesday, April 30th) marked the first official Alamo AMC 'Charity AMX Thrash Night' as we have a lot of things to do to get the car ready for the Southwest AMC Regional next month. We had a decent turnout, and here is the latest update on parts and productivity.

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:

• We have received the brand new (reproduction) brake and fuel line kit courtesy of Jeff Reeves of Peach State AMO (jeffr@yearone.com) and Fine Lines, Inc. The Fine Lines people (http://www.finelinesinc.com) were most generous in providing us this kit, which made the completion of the brake system SO easy. The kit comes with all the factory bends already in place, and the lines fit like a glove! With four of us working together, we replaced all the lines in about two hours! (We only encountered one minor problem with the kit which we were able to easily resolve--I will be informing Jeff and Fine Lines about the problem so it will be corrected in future kits.) I would recommend this kit to everyone...it is well worth the cost to eliminate the headaches of trying to bleed out an old, rusted system, and certainly fits much better than trying to bend your own!
• The fuel tank issue has been resolved, thanks to the efforts of Mark Price (mprice@westco.net) and Moyer Fuel Tank Renu! We got the tank back last week; the people at Moyer even shipped it back to us at no additional charge! As far as the rest of the fuel system goes, the people at Fine Lines have provided us with a full front-to-back fuel line in addition to the 'fuel pump to carb' line, and we also have a BEAUTIFUL new fuel tank sending unit, strainer, and gasket courtesy of Matt Haas (mhaas@one.net) and Kennedy American. All of this is due to be installed at next Tuesday's 'Thrash Night', so I'll have a report on the fuel system installation in next week's update.
• We have received a set of reproduction window 'sweeps' courtesy of Frank Swygert (farna@att.net) and Peter Stathes (statamc@hoflink.com). I have already installed the driver's door sweep, and it fits beautifully. We plan on gluing in the side windows before the trip to Kenosha so the car can be locked up and/or stored outside.
• Brett Schneider has replaced the 'trashed' road wheel with one of the one's sent by Tom Benvie. This will be mounted on the car with the others. We still don't have a matching set of four, but they will do until other wheels can be located.

NEW PARTS RECEIVED:

• Brake/Fuel Line Kit, Fine Lines, Inc. (See above.)
• Refurbished gas tank, Moyer Fuel Renu. (See above.)
• Window 'sweep' Kit, Peter Stathes. (See above.)
• Fuel sending unit, gasket, and strainer, Matt Haas (See above.)

PENDING PARTS:

• Eddie Stakes of Planet Houston AMX (eddiestakes@planethoustonamx.com) has sent us two taillight housings and one taillight lens. The housings are nice, but one is the 'bolt on style' and one is the 'stud style'. We will sort this out once we see what George Graham (george.graham@ps.ge.com) is able to come up with. We still need a center section and a left and center lens regardless. Kevin Dalley (AMXAMC@aol.com) and the Houston boys are also still working to get the bumpers and other chrome pieces redone.
• Larry Mitchell of AMCWC is supposed to be sending us a complete '70 AMX decal kit including air cleaner sticker, emission sticker, tire pressure sticker, etc. This may have been sent to Tom Benvie first...waiting for information.
• We got a 'underhood seal kit' from Joe Roberts (neprocap@aol.com), but no instructions as to what any of these small seals are for. I haven't been able to figure out where they all go...can someone help me out?
• 'Big Walt' Garson (Bigwaltsshop@aol.com) is currently working on our grille and headlight doors. Walt is a master of 'plastic restoration', and he is going to fix up the AMX grille and headlight doors like new! We'll give everyone a full report on the parts once Walt has a chance to work his miracles!
• We are waiting for a rear valence panel from Mike Hathaway (mhathaway@tacomaclick.net).
• Ron Akerman (AMX1970@aol.com) is still trying to arrange for a shop to install the rear quarter panel in San Antonio, but the economy seems to be working against us. Ron himself works in the Indianapolis area and may be able to do the work there.

PARTS STILL NEEDED:

• Air Cleaner canister parts. At this point, I think we're going to settle for a '70 canister and top, and leave the 'heat riser' situation up to somebody else. If you have ANY '70 V8, we need a air cleaner canister! The 'correct' parts are:
  (4.015-1) 3191898 - DUCT, Carburetor Air ('68-70 V8 w/4-bbl)
  (4.015-3) 3192223 - DUCT, Exhaust Manifold Hot Air ('68-70 exc. 390)
  (4.088) 3198376 - CLEANER, Carburetor Air ('70 360 V8 w/'cold air induction')
  (12.001-16) 3198374 - DOOR, Hood Air Scoop Rear Duct ('70 w/'cold air induction')
  (12.001-17) 3198375 - RETAINER, Hood Air Scoop Rear Duct Door ('70 w/'cold air induction')
  (12.001-18) 3198370 - CONTROL, Hood Air Scoop Damper ('70 w/'cold air induction')
• Rear Leaf Springs. Jeff Barfield (jrbarfield@mindspring.com) has offered us a used set from a Javelin, but I really think it would be preferable to install and new set from ESPO or somebody like that. Can someone volunteer to track down a supplier and approach them about a donation/discount?
• I've been looking at a lot of pictures of '70 AMXs, and I have noticed that they all have clear parking lamp lenses. The Jeep Commando set I have are amber. Were amber lenses optional? Does anyone have the correct clear set?
• Horn contacts. Glen Hoag (hoag@ro.com) has informed me that I "GM 474102 is a kit that contains a plunger, little plastic sleeve, and a spring. The instructions in the package show that these fit a number of GM cars from the late 60s through mid '70s. It should fit the Javelin column. The spring was exactly what I needed for my Pacer when I lost mine. About $2.50 at your Chevy dealer." Does somebody want to contribute this kit?
• Metal radio pod and radio. Susan Hammond (shammond@cahners.com) has a bunch of AMC radios available, but I haven't been able to make a positive ID on the radio we need--radios are considered 'dealer' items so only the '899' part numbers are listed in the accessory manuals--no original production numbers. Can someone give us the tag information off of a '70 AMX radio? We are also still looking for the pot metal radio 'surround'; Dan Whitehead (freebird_58@hotmail.com) indicated he might have a junkyard piece located.
• Horns. I just realized that they are missing! Anyone have a decent set lying around?
• Armrest overlays. Tom Benvie may be able to contribute these.
• Driver's Side Seat 'Turtleback' (black). Tom Benvie may donate this as well.
• Underhood pad. Do Ram-Air cars still use a pad?
• Tires. Tom Benvie is currently collecting contributions in order to purchase a full set of ‘reproduction’ performance tires. The existing tires (two pairs of radials) are already mounted on the car and look quite good...they will suffice until someone is ready to address the wheel situation.

Thanks for reading, folks! The car is getting close now, and we are very excited about driving it to the front-end alignment shop and exhaust shop in the next two weeks! Stay tuned for further developments!

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
The Charity AMX has it’s own Internet website hosted by Matt Haas:
http://www.mattsoldcars.com/charityamx/

The National Project Coordinator is Frank Swygert (farna@att.net).

The San Antonio contact for the car is me:

Alfred Koos
Alamo AMC
San Antonio, TX
akoos@juno.com