1979 Concord DL 2 door

[ramblinfsj]

Well it's a nasty day outside and I have nothing to do so I figured I'd post my Concord here. I already have a long thread going on the Heritage Forum about the car but why not here as well. I got the car last October. I saw it on the Craigslist for $300 and the ad said it was a running, driving, legal car so I called the number. I hit the bank and got a ride out to where the car was. I paid the man and drove the car home. During the drive home I knew quickly that the front end was shot and it needed a pair of shocks badly. The amazing thing was is that it ran like a top (258 with an automatic). I could tell the carb needed some work but for $300 it ran fine. My full intension for buying the car was to use the parts off of it to use on my other projects. Disc brakes for my 65 American, engine and transmission in my 73 Postal Jeep, rear axle for my 62 Classic, and body and interior parts for my 79 Spirit/AMX. But it only took one time driving the Concord to realize that I couldn't strip a good running car.
Here are the pictures of the car the day after I bought it.





Notice the mileage. (First number is an eight)

Still had the factory AM radio.

The package tray at the bottom of the dash was in the trunk and to busted up to use. The ignition switch was pulled off the column and dangling. The ignition key tumbler was locked so the previous owner pulled the switch off the column to start the car using an ice pick. I have since changed the tumbler and put the switch back on the column.

Here's the mighty powerplant. I was amazed it still had the emissions equipment and the A/C compressor on there.

[ramblinfsj]

I spent the next two weeks after buying the car rebuilding the front end. There was literally no rubber in the upper control arms. I replaced all the upper and lower control arm bushings, sway bar bushings, strut rod bushings, and ball joints. It was difficult at times but was really a straight forward rebuild. The only thing I didn't replace was the lower coil spring isolator bushing because they are really extensive. Front end is rebuild and all it needs now is an alignment. The car quickly became my daily driver when my 93 Chevy truck start acting up (still haven't figured out what is wrong with it). I went straight to the dmv to get it titled and registered in my name. The state inspection would have to wait because I had to fix some things like a huge exhaust leak where the exhaust pipe connects to the manifold plus other little odds and ends. When I bought the car it only had two tires on it that were the same size. The other two were different sizes and to small. Luckily a friend of mine who is building a turbocharged 77 Ford Pinto station wagon upgraded his car from 4 lug wheels to 5 lug and had no more use for his nice 14 inch Road Hugger tires. I gave him $100 for his old wheels and tires and now the Concord has a nice matching set of tires.
Tire on Pinto Wheel.

Now tire on factory Concord wheel.

Tire on Concord wheel with the only AMC hub cap that came with the car.

Shot of whole Concord with new tires. (Man I'm picture happy)



One of the major things I needed to do was change the leaking valve cover gasket. I put it off for a while because I thought it was going to be a pain in the butt to change but to my surprise it was really easy. I had to move the fuel line and one heater hose out of the way, no big deal, and I had to unbolt the wiper motor to allow room to get the valve cover up and over the last set of rocker arms. I cleaned the mating surfaces then laid down a bead of silicone on the head. I then set the gasket in place and the silicone held it there. While the silicone was setting up, I figured I might as well paint the valve cover while it was off. After the paint dried, I bolted the valve cover back on and reconnected the heater hose, fuel line, and wiper motor. Nothin' to it.

Oil everywhere


Gasket in place.

Before and After


Painted and back on.



That night I also changed out the inside passenger headlight. Now they all light up.

[ramblinfsj]

Now the one thing I had to upgrade was the radio. AM radio stinks. I placed a want ad here for a factory AM/FM and it wasn't long before I got one and installed it.

The only bad thing is that the AM radio equipped cars only came with one speaker (in the dash on the passenger side). The previous owner installed two 6x9's in the rear deck so I don't have to do that but I still have to install one more front speaker. My brother is the speaker king so that will be his job.

I drove the car for a while and it was getting harder and harder to start each time I got in it. I knew the problem was the junk Carter BBD carb. I tried rebuilding it but it was a very short lived fix. Solution----Motorcraft 2100 carb! I already had the correct "1.08" size Motorcraft carb from my 79 AMX so I had no reason not to swap. I went to the parts store and bought a carb kit, carb cleaner, and got to work.
My MC2100 from my 79 AMX's 304 engine.
 

The MC2100 you want for a 258 is stamped "1.08" on the driverside of the carb body just behind the accelerator pump housing.
 
I needed an adapter to mount the holley pattern Motorcaft to the Rochester patterned manifold. I bought a Mr. Gasket adapter from O'Reilly Auto for just under $20.

The great thing about this carb coming off an AMC is that it has the provision for the PCV Valve. As far as I'm aware, the MC2100's off Ford engines do not have it.
 
Here's some pics of the disassembly and a lot of nasty parts.

[shaggimo]

Nice score!!

[ramblinfsj]

Carb is all cleaned up inside and out and reassembled. (I love pictures)






Now it's time to remove that junk Carter BBD.

Now that the Carter is out of there, it's time to set the gaskets and adapter. I removed the factory carb studs.
First gasket (provided in the adapter kit)

Adaptor set over gasket and bolted to manifold with the bolts provided with kit.


Second gasket over adapter.

Now I laid down a factory phenolic insolator gasket just to be safe and make sure I had a good seal.

I slipped all 4 bolts in from the bottom of the adapter and the first thin gasket held them in place. Now because I used the phenolic insolator gasket, the bolts provided in the kit where to short. I got some longer ones at the hardware store. Now time to slip the carb down on there.



I tighted the bolts, connected all needed vacuum lines, and the fuel line. The pcv valve hose hooked up right where it was on the Carter.
 
Now I couldn't call it a night without seeing if it would fire off. I could not hook up the factory throttle linkage because it pulls straight down and the throttle arm on the Motorcraft pulls backwards toward the firewall. So I went in the house and got a coat hanger and rigged up a hand throttle.
Enjoy.

It took a few minutes for it to start and I had to adjust the choke fully open but it started and ran like a champ. I killed the engine and it restarted everytime with a bump of the key. I woke up the next morning and wanted to see how well it cold started. Two pumps of the throttle, a turn of the key, and it fired right up.

[ramblinfsj]

Now it's time to take care of the throttle. As I said earlier, the factory straight six throttle linkage pulls down toward the ground and the Motorcraft's throttle arm pulls back toward the firewall. The solution is to make a plate that bolts to the motorcraft throttle that extends back toward the firewall that will act as a lever so it can be pulled down toward the ground but still operate the motorcraft arm as it is.
I found a piece of galvinized metal that is suppose to be use on a garage door but it will work for the carb.

This is where that plate goes on a garage door.

The plate is an angled piece so I cut the short side off. I then laid the plate over the carbs throttle arm to make some marks for two holes that have to be drilled the bolt it to the to the throttle arm. The arm already had two holes in it for me to mount the plate to. The plate already had a bigger hole punched in it so I used it over the carb's ball stud so I wouldn't have to cut it off. I drilled the holes and then bolted the plate to the throttle arm.

Earlier that day, I stopped by a local speed shop and bought a ball stud for the factory throttle linkage to connect to. With the plate on, I grabbed the factory throttle linkage, pulled it up to the plate, made sure it was straight up and down and no slack, and made a mark on the plate for a hole. At the same time, I traced around the carbs throttle arm onto the plate and freehanded it out to where the ball stud would be so I could cut the plate down and make it look better. After making my marks, I removed the plate, took it in the shop, drilled the hole for the ball stud, and cut the excess metal off the plate. I bolted the ball stud on and rebolted the plate back on the throttle arm.


After that I connected the return spring and snapped the throttle linkage to the ball stud. I pulled down on the factory linkage and everything rotated perfectly. The only thing left to do is find an air cleaner. The air cleaner had to be small diameter or offset because any other air cleaner would hit the master cylinder. All I had was a small air cleaner from one of my Wagoneers so I put that on. It fit but the element was to tall and wouldn't allow the hood to shut right. Plus it didn't look all that great.

I put the air cleaner on and took the car for a test drive. It drove great with no issues. I can tell that the carb is just a tad to big for the 258 but it runs just fine for me.
A few days later, I was moving my cars around to make my place look a little better and I was moving my AMX and noticed an air cleaner in the floorboard. I picked it up, flipped it upside down, and noticed it was for a two barrel motorcraft and the hole was offset. It fit perfectly on the Concord. So luckily that took care of my air cleaner problem. It clears the master cylinder and I can close the hood all the way. I also had to get a stud for the air cleaner so I went to o'reilly auto and they had a three peice stud kit in the Holley carb parts section that works for the Motorcraft.

[IowaEagle]

Thanks for sharing your Concord Project with the folks here.   Will you be doing any exterior work on it this year?  Looks like both you and I need to bite the bullet and remove the vinyl tops.  Maybe we can be a support group for each other?

[ramblinfsj]

Thanks for sharing your Concord Project with the folks here.   Will you be doing any exterior work on it this year?  Looks like both you and I need to bite the bullet and remove the vinyl tops.  Maybe we can be a support group for each other?

I already bit that bullet. It had the white vinyl top but a few weeks after I got the car I stripped that old dry stuff off. The odd thing is that there was absolutely no rust under the vinyl but surface rust on the half of the roof that wasn't covered. Now I just have to figure out how to remove the trim without damaging anything.

I do plan of starting paint and body work soon. It's not going to be that difficult either. There is only two spots on the body that will need straighting. Most of the body will just need a good sanding and primer. Two weeks ago, I went and checked on paint. We have a local PPG paint shop here in town so I went to their website (auto color library), printed of the '79 AMC paint code chart, and took it up there with me. I handed the man the paper and he had the paint on his computer in no time. He quoted me $168.83 for a gallon of urethane enamel paint, a pint of activator, and a gallon of reducer. Pretty good price. The color is the factory "Starboard" blue. The paint shop also carries SEM plastic and vinyl paint so I can respray the inside of the car.

As far as a support group goes, I'm in! That was my intention for posting my project here. Maybe I could motivate others to start working on their cars and post their work here so it will keep all of us motivated.

[ramblinfsj]

A while back I mentioned over on the Heritage Forum that I would like to find a complete set of hub caps for the Concord to cover up the dull black wheels and member AMX (Scott) PM'd me saying he had some. I wanted the corporate AMC hub caps (painted the same color as the car's body). Scott had two blue caps and two others of different colors. I sent him some money and this is what he sent me. By the way, congrats to Scott for getting his Playmate Pink AMX in to this month's Hemming Muscle Machines Magazine. Beautiful Ride. And thanks for the hub caps!
Here's the two blue caps on the wheels.



Here's the other two that I will paint when I paint the car.



The caps will do for now but eventually I would like to put a set of these babies on the car.
I saw a set of these wheels on a Gremlin and they looked awesome. I think they would do the same for the Concord.


While I'm at it, thanks to MojoBean for selling me some seat belts.

[El Matador]

Maybe I could motivate others to start working on their cars and post their work here so it will keep all of us motivated.

Mission accomplished in that regard.

I have two Concords in the project queue, both of which could be on the road very soon if plans go well.  Then it would be a matter of handling the cosmetic stuff, which in the case of the '81 will be significant. 

[IowaEagle]

Any tips on the vinyl removal?  I know I have rust issues below the rear quarter windows.  I am afraid to look.  Yes removing trim is scary especially knowing we might not be able to find any clips for those we break.

[ramblinfsj]

There wasn't much to removing the vinyl. It's glued on everywhere, no mechanical fasteners. It's better to rip it off slowly so it will come off in long, wide strips. That's just a time saver. As I said, the top is just glued on and if you can get a good grip on the material under the trim, it just pulls out from underneath it. I just bought a set of trim removal tools so I will try to remove the trim and hopefully, like you said, I can find replacement clips or if I'm really lucky I won't break any at all (yeah right). I know I can get windsheild trim and rocker panel trim clips from Restoration Specialites but I'm not sure about the vinyl top trim clips. If not, it won't bother me not having a vinyl top.

Glad I could motivate you El Matador and I know you have been busy getting the old fleet car back on the road.

[IowaEagle]

Yeah, I am really seriously thinking of not putting vinyl back on. 

[ramblinfsj]

Well I tell you what, if the vinyl went all the way to the A-pillars like on your Concord, I would diffinitely have to replace the vinyl. I'm just not that crazy about AMC only going halfway and then putting that wide piece of trim across the roof. The whole roof being covered like yours just looks classier. Once I take the roof trim off, I'm going to step back, look, and see what it will look like bare. That should tell me what I want to do.

[IowaEagle]

That is funny.  I like the half roof version over the full roof like mine.  Maybe it would look better with a padded vinyl roof?