Inliners International Forums General Discussion AMC/JEEP Rambler 195.6 OHV six, update, EDIS wasted spark,

hola, been gone from here for most of a year! damn! been super busy...

I "hot rodded" my Nashcan 195.6 OHV in 2010, it's running great. Didn't do much to it for the last 12 months but keep it fresh, change the oil, 100 miles/month and all that rot.

But it's now running on a Ford EDIS 6 wasted-spark ignition. Project has gone fairly easy, the hardest part fabbing the 36-1 toothed wheel onto the crank pulley/damper and the magnetic pickup. Did that when the engine was apart.

EDIS page, incomplete: http://wps.com/AMC/195.6OHV/EDIS%20ignition/index.html

Project page, recent mild update: http://wps.com/AMC/195.6OHV/index.html


This poor motor has no friends. Gotta make everything!

Tom,

Great info on the little Rambler... I have a '65 crate engine
in my '50 Willys...Weber carb, Pertronix ign....This engine
is a torque King.......But, I raised the gearing and now need
just a wee bit more power for highway use with a bike in the
bed..... How much compression will this engine tolerate? I'm
thinking of milling the head about .040"..Any suggestions? I'm
in L.A. county and would really appreciate a conversation regarding this engine..

Larry Doane, aka Melon
hankins@qnet.com

I don't know what it would tolerate for compression. As you probably know head sealing (and the easily fixed cooling issue)are probably the limiting factors, but the wedge chamber, to me, signals some detonation issues waiting to happen. There's just so much crazy closed areas I wonder what could be done.

I made a decision on mine to leave it all alone as I was going after a different end (erm, reliability!), but, funny you should write now, i've been itching to make another motor even though I don't really have a car to put it in. OK I have a '61 American in the yard, and a pile of parts...

But I have this Barney Navarro Rambler 6 in pieces, and that might get my attention next.

I just realized recently that the Chrysler 4.0 connecting rods will actually fit in the ancient Nash motor; they're stronger, cheaper and I'm sure (not checked...) much lighter, and with good pistons (yeah right) maybe a good motor is possible.

I do wonder if any of the other nash six heads are adapatable.

Tom,

I did the math. A .040 cut on the head will only bump the
compression to 9.3 from the stock 8.7...Most automotive heads
will tolerate a .030" cleanup cut... I can call around but,
you have actually done the work, experimenting with this engine.

At some point, I'll pull the engine and rebuild/blueprint it.
It'll get a turbo and all the needed changes OR, I'll have
Ross or Jahns make a set of 10/1 pistons... For now, I'm just
wondering if the stock head will take a .040" cut. Do ya know?

Extra info: Truck Weight 3,300 lbs with fuel. 5.38 axles.
3rd gear with overdrive gives 70 mph @ 2,810 RPM. This is the
max continous speed/rpm I run at....Slow lane on the Frwy. The
wind noise is horrible above 70 anyway and I enjoy the thumbs up
from passing cars.... Thanks again for your interest/help with this engine.

The head will easily take a 0.040" cut. I've had to have 0.030" off just to clean up a warped one before. If you get up to 10:1 compression you can forget a turbo, and you will have to run premium fuel. I wouldn't go over 9:1. What you really need for more power is a better cam. I had Lunati regrind one for me years ago. I just told them I wanted "a little more pep". They added 0.10" lift and 20 degrees duration. That did nothing for the low end, but as long as I kept the engine in the 1800-3000 range it really woke up! So it had great cruising and passing power, still took a bit of time to get up to around 40-45 mph where it had all the extra power. Galvin's (www.ramblerparts.com) now sells a reground cam that is supposed to come in a lot sooner, more like 1000 rpm... a towing "RV" grind. I think Tom is running that one.

If you want to turbo it you would be better off to REDUCE compression and dial in the boost to suit performance. Remember, boost is just about the same as adding compression.

Other than Tom I'm the only one I know who has put much into one of these engines. There just isn't a whole lot possible without major reengineering and $$$$. No other heads will fit from any other engine, it's in a world all it's own. It was derived from the small Nash L-head and many parts interchange with those, but the block casting was changed to accomodate the OHV configuration and the head is a special design just for that motor (can't put that head on an L-head block!).

I don't know about the 4.0L rods being stronger than the forged 196 rods. They are most likely lighter, especially than the earlier 196 rods (late model... 64-65... appear to be a different forging that is lighter than earlier, but I haven't looked a lot into that). I've only had 63-65 models myself.

DEFINITELY use the cooling mod Tom has devised! I never got into trying to fix any problems like that. I don't know if using studs is a fix for the head bolt creep (loosening over time) or not. Sounds good, and I thought about it, but never did because I'm just not willing to risk loosing the head (good ones are hard to find!) due to not retorquing the head every 2-3 years or 10-12K miles. The bolts are good for that (I've run as much as 14K, but only a couple times over a 14 year period), so I didn't bother with replacing them with studs. In theory the cooling mod along with studs should eliminate the problem, but what if it doesn't?

Thanks for the info Frank...FYI, I've been running premium gas
all along....This old engine deserves it...It sat idle for over
8 years and surprised me when I first got her running again..
I am using 15w40 Rotella oil, changing it every 1,000 miles or
so. The engine will pull smoothly from 1,400 RPM in 3rd overdrive on a freeway uphill......So, it puts out gobs of torque

I'm just looking into a little more poop @ 2,500 RPM.. I put
the 2 barrel Weber on it, petronix ign module and advanced the
timing to 12* BTDC at idle...No pinging or hard starting..

When I get a chance, I'll pull the head and oil pan and inspect
the general condition.... Then, I'll either mill the head and
reassemble or, pull the engine for a major overhaul... It runs
so good right now, it's hard to make working on it a priority.

I've been screwing around with old cars for 50 years and this
engine is the smoothest, torquiest little motor I've ever played
with..
Thanks Again,
Larry aka, Melon

I put a Weber carb on my 195.5 Ramber OHV engine a while ago.
I jetted it per Tom Jennings postings... However, I used the
Ramber 2 barrel manifold and mounted the carb "inline"... I
recieved a 1 1/2 tall air cleaner with the carb.... Well, when
reviewing what Tom did, I noticed his air cleaner looked taller.
I just installed the tall one (2" tall).......I am amazed.. This
simple change made pulling a grade just that much better..Boiling
point on Sierra highway always slowed me down to 50 mph...Now,
I can pull it at 55.......Friggin' amazin'...

I sent you info on the cam I used per your PM. For others, Lunati re-ground my stock cam to 0.470" lift (+0.100") and 264* duration (+20*). This gave me good mid to high rpm power, did nothing for low end. I think the long stroke/small bore combo just takes a minute or two to get up to speed. I estimate that the cam added 20 hp. I forget the rpm range, but from about 45 mph to 75 mph there was noticeably more power. Much easier to maintain speed on the highway (cruise at 55-75 all day!) and there was even a bit of passing power. Don't know how the cam Galvin's sells works, Tom seems to be pleased with it though.

I pulled the pan and inspected my 1965 Rambler 196 OHV...The
bottom end is like new! The mains are standard and the rods
are .010". Clearance for both is .0015" Pretty good for a
47 year old engine that came in the truck from the junk yard.
This must have been one of the "crate engines" Rambler sold off.
1965 engines came with a bypass waterpump and full flow oil filter.
I buttoned it back up and will install the new "RV"
cam in a month or so..I'm pleased I won't have to overhaul the
engine.

Larry