AMC Sundancer 1982

[juhap]

Summer 2022, a hot June day got new car home on a trailer.



Nice...



.. very nice..



..indeed...



But six years in a garage had left some signs...

T-top had turned grey.



Some vinyl paint and a little bit of glue fixed it.



It needed some touch ups... and battery cables.



Looks fresh.



Front seat had frozen motors... out the old ones...



.. in with the new ones... I had Concord seats, so it was easy fix.





A couple of "glory holes"? Oh no...



"Look mom, no holes!"



Rag top had some nasty screws. Needed better, so I bought some right ones.



Starter relay did belong to a John Deere tractor.



Got these fixed.



Cab cover fits nice...



Door window didn´t work well. No wonder if it had to work with this kind of rubber. And this was matter in both of doors.



Glass do not sit well, but I can live with that....so far...



This metal clip was missing, but I had one. So this was also easy fix.



Window motor is kind of finnish design... worked few weeks before jammed...



Doors needed some other work too...



Handles too...



Then it was time to made it street legal... tried to drive it to road test location, but old tires were bad, so it was impossible to drive.
Had to turn back and found a pair of tires and made a new try...



It passed that test. 

I had a new set of whitewall tires waiting in a local tire shop for my Matador Coupe. So soon after road test I had new set of tires under this one.



It has had these stupid European Union lisence plates since its registration 2006...





So I changed those to standard plates. And placed those original Florida plates under them as decoration.



Found a pair of sun visors from my treasure...



Bushings were dead and caused heavy vibes...



Some maintenance done...
Bushings, gas line, and such...


New bushings...





Air hose.



Eagle donated a heater valve...



I wondered why gearbox made noice sometimes... someone had made a transmission mount of his own design... did not work.





So a new one fixed that problem.



After very busy summer it was time to go to winter hibernation....



But I have to do some seat reparation. Front seats are in bad shape as well as rear one...





This is original co-driver seat... but driver seat had fixed years ago... in US I believe... and they had painted old and new leather to get it all same color...



To fix these, I bought a cow hide...

[vangremlin]

Well that is just plain awesome.  Glad there were lots of little things for you to fix because it sure doesn't look like you'll have to do a lot of body work!  Enjoy it once summer rolls around again!

[juhap]

Next summer I´m going to use this much more than I did. But it needs some TLC and elbow grease before and during the summer.
I did order new brake calibers fron Rockauto and bought other brake parts. New bushings and such are needed... And some welding is needed too...

Battery tray and rest of that area are gone and repaired badly...
I have hoarded a lot of used parts (junk says my wife...), so I found this. It is a inner fender of an  Hornet...



After some cleaning I found that i needs some new sheet metal.



I fixed it, now its almost like new.




Both front fenders have many dings and dents and some other paint damages... Engine bay needs cleaning and painting, there has been a battery explosion and acid has burnt though paint... 

And the worst thing is that death wobble like some Jeeps do. It occures ocasionally, but is very disturbing... 

[Artmodels]

For death wobble, we had to replace our idler arm bushings, all front suspension bushings, and a new steering damper.  No more death wobble.

[juhap]

That is just what I thougt, I have to do... replace it all... I´m going to install that steering damper, there isn´t one...

[AMC of Houston]

The Concords didn't have a steering damper from the factory.   Guess it couldn't hurt to add one from the aftermarket.    Trying to use the Eagle version would take a LOT of mods.

[juhap]

Internet helps you... I found a replacement power window cable from a wrecked Olds power seat .

[juhap]

This had a DIY battery tray... not very well done...



So, it had to be replaced. I did not have any solid one, so it was time to repair one. Or two actually...



After welding and grinding.





Inner fender was not very well repaired.



It needed a piece of sheet metal.



After bending and hammering...



A little bit welding and grinding...



Inner fender had a lot of rust spots and mis coloring because there has been a battery explosion...



Some cleaning and filler...



Then primer.



And some paint.



Now, that is better. And there is a brand new NOS battery holder.



Right front corner needed some attention.



Some bondo... after hammering, of course.



And paint, too.



Better now.



Then there was this... 



Pushing it out, it is OK now.



Grinding and rust removed with phosphoric acid it was ready to paint.



Primer.



And paint...



There were some issues concerning right power window.
Motor was not original, but it was OK. Power cable was not... It was done by someone using original metal inner part and garden hose and vaseline and cable ties and screws and...



It was an easy fix using GM power seat cable. no DIY parts needed.



Works fine...

Heater worked well too, but  upper radiator hose, heater hoses and valves were a sad story...



Here are "new" parts assembled... Radiator hose is from Eagle. I bought a new one, but it was shorter than expected, so it did not fit with multi-groove belt. Heater valve is from my Eagle parts car... not the same, but close...



Vacuum hose was destroyed, so I took this from Eagle too...

https://jaatiedostosi.com/juhapih/sundancer/IMG_0668_(1).jpg

There were nothing left to attach that vacuum hose.



Luckily I had all the parts.



I fixed this panel, too.



Had a better one from an other Eagle.



Much nicer...



This had a stereo system with subwoofer and such... and original radio was deleted, wires cut and nothing worked.



All wires found their places, electric antenna works, but radio has just AM, not FM as it should...
No so nice...

There are some jobs to do, but now it is time to drive and enjoy...

[vangremlin]

I see you are working your magic on another AMC.  Well done!

[juhap]

Last summer I started to fix original seats.
Leather had a lot of damage. They´ve been repaired some many many years ago, and I found some leather paint too...



Frames needed cleaning and new paint. Cushions are still in good condition.



Bought a cow hyde in right color.



Co-drivers seat is leaning



There are some issues...



Oh that dirt...



Under seat everything is OK, but very dirty. I have saved some springs from previous seats jobs.
Forgot that power control unit did not work.



Power issue was fixed... wires were loose.



Drivers seat had been repaired alot, but still it needs most attention.



Someone had broken its switch. Put all parts together and... it worked as new.



Drivers seat cushion was a mess..



The other looks much better.



More issues to be fixed.



This was hiding under leather. Not so bad.



Drivers seat had a lot of rust...



Aaarrrgghh....



Have done this before, so it was an easy job. Now there is something that AMC forgot... primer.



After a days job, they all were in good condition. Just one spring replaced.



Driverseat needed a lot of attention...
Springs first. And then I fixed ends of those wires. Replaced rotten carboard twine by rubber tube...



New material...



And more... hog rings secured cushion.



And more new material.



Then it was time to remove those 4 door seats...and rotten original carpet.



Carpet was dry, but shot.



Under carper it was dry too, but there has been water... 



Found the first hole... there has been a screw and rusted through...



Found more pinholes... that 2x4 beam is under there...
Added some phosporic acid to remove test of rust...



The other side had marks of that 2x4 beam too. Welding had left some burnt paint and surface rust.  :'(

Once the jack has pushed floor up... 



And after that this stopped. I could´t by any carpet material from finnish suppliers! Lower edges of front seats need Saddle color cutpile carpet.
And Auto Custom Carpet didn´t sell any if you don´t order it with a precut carpet! So... what to do? It was about christmas time, when I ordered a new carpet to my AMC Matador Coupe from ACC. And with that I could buy a piece of right material. So far, so good. My friend had a car coming to Finland, so this carpet and much more stuff began to float across the bond to us... Now that container is in Bremenhaven, Germany. We had a stike here in Finland, so containers stopped there... Do not know when I´ll get my stuff...

But Now back to the business... I had a new carpet. So today it was time to do something about that...

Made a piece of new sound mat.



Rear seat first. Found missing plugs from my parts Hornet. Painted that floor a couple of weeks ago...



New material here.



New carpet is a little curvy... It was out of its package for six months...



I had to put those 4 door Concord seats back...



And after few hours of labour, job is done.



To be continued... soon, I hope...

[juhap]

Long and snowy winter is over. Sundancer is on the road again.

Remembered that there is an issue with sill molding. A couple of broken fasteners.



Sill looks quite solid...



A couple of plastic clips are gone...



One is broken...



Some new fasteners. I bought these from a local dealer. Couldn´t find those from an AMC parts dealers.



Done... costs about 5 euros or dollars. Not bad at all..

[juhap]

Transmission started to do strange things...

I removed oil pan. .. and found this.



Yes, it was once a front band...