1968 AMX 390, resto almost done 22yrs later!

I thought I'd share this as I'm close to finally being finished with the restoration of my AMX . Me and my father started on this back in 89 and its now just getting finished. My Dad and I bought the car in very original, but tired, condition from the original owner, Bob Lankersheim on Jan 7th 1989. He bought the car from Todd Boothe Motors in Ontario California. He said they were hard to find at the time. Its a 390, auto, go pack car, with A/C, PS, PDB, twin grip, tilt, and a group 19 ignition. I drove the wheels off of it my senior year of high school (89) and then got the brilliant idea to restore. It got the motor pulled and the body sent out for paint over time. RIght off the bat I ran into problems when I went to get my parts chromed. They overplated the letters, so that they looked melted almost, and worst of all they lost the tag off the valve cover! Even back then I knew how important that was. In hindsight I shouldn't have rechromed the valve covers as they were really nice in the dull chrome that AMC was know for. With age comes wisdom right? The other parts turned out beautiful and the owner bought me new letters, but the tag was forever lost.
The car was in paint prison for 2 yrs, but it was well worth the wait! Its the original Rally Green, and man did that car look beautiful once it was done. I had moved out of state by then and would work on it when I was home to visit. My father would also do work on it too as time allowed. He wasn't really a "car guy", but did it as something to do with his son. Which I know think is very cool and is my motivation to get it done.
My parents decided to move up to Reno where I live several years ago. Now that the car is close I was able to spend more time getting things done. Mice ruined the new carpet kit I installed years ago,
I had the motor rebuilt and trans rebuilt and recently installed it all back in. I'm working on installing the new carpet kit. Then rebuilding of the heater and A/C box will be next. Once the interior gets buttoned up I'll be firing it up and breaking in the engine. After all the little deatils get done, it will be drive time. Finding parts is just as hard now as it was in 1990, thankfully the internet speeds up the hunting process. My Dad stills helps and will be there for the first drive, for sure! My son is named after my father and he is always helping as much as he can, he's 4. I have already promised this car to my son. I've had a lot of cars come and go since 89, 50+, but out of all of them this is the car I kept, its pretty much a member of the family now!

Heres the engine almost done. I still have to install the A/C compressor and some other parts. The engine color is incorrect for a 68, but I prefer the 69 color. Most people won't know the difference anyways..

Car looks nice. You can get a repro valve cover tag. Ask on the AMC Forum.

http://theamcforum.com/forum/forums.html?SID=c5f7feeac9891ez19abcc37d9fezcf87

That's great that you never gave up on restoring the car. I'm sure you will enjoy it once it's al done. Good job.

Very Cool. I have always liked the AMX cars. Remember seeing a used one on the Dodge Dealership lot when I was a kid. It was BIG BAD GREEN.

Ironically after completely restoring/restomodding the 69 RR next to it in 3 yrs I felt guilty for not getting it done first. My plan is to have it completely done by March. Then my Dad, my son, and myself can cruise to shows and Hot August Nights this year.

More progress during the holidays.

Thanks to Moparts member 71TA (DMT gaskets) I got the the heater and A/C box rebuilt, after being taken apart 20 yrs ago, with no good replacement for the foam till recently. I had to take the heater box out to re-gasket it and its a good thing I did because the heater core was bad when I tested it. AMC's A/C box is WAY simpler than an E body A/C box!

I also got the carpet for the wheel wells trimmed and installed. I had to replace the brand new carpet kit thanks to mice. The carpet kit from the 90's fit much better.

Todays project was making new rear door panels. The vinyl and foam was $8 and I had the glue and particle board at home. Here's the reason why..dang mice!

Making templates. I only got one panel partially finished today.

Nice car, I've always liked the AMX's...where'd you pick up the board for the panels? Len

love the AMXs and Javlins.
where I work we get steel coils from Germany that are wrapped in the same stuff used for the backboards. PM me if you want some.

I got the board at Lowes. They used particle board/ masonite on those rear panels. The fronts are pressed cardboard. The fabric store where I bought supplies also had that kind of cardboard. Gotta thank my mom for telling me about the fabric supply store!

Got the rear door panels finished today. I also made a trunk divider panel with the left over wood and removed carpet kit.

Heres the rear panel seen from inside the trunk.

I got my heater core today. After getting it out of the box I thought it was wrong as it was missing the side brackets. I called the vendor who told me thats the only one made thats correct size and tube wise, and thats its for 71+ AMX. I was told "Just pack it with foam and will be fine".... Umm no I don't think so. So I went to lowes got some sheet metal and made some brackets in about 20 mins. After drilling a few holes, then some epoxy, the brackets fit and looked just like the originals. Once the correct amount of foam went on the heater box was completed. Thanks again to 71TA's gaskets, they such an important piece of the puzzle!!
So heres the heater core with the brackets made:

Heres the box all ready to go back in...with a non leaking heater core now!!

Nice work

It's nice to see an AMX mentioned on this forum...An underdog in the musclecar world for sure...I've owned 3 of them...Here's my last one... Good luck with your project!

Nice Red AMX!
Got more progress done. I got the heater and A/C box installed, still working on what cable goes where but I think thats solved. I got the carpet kit completely installed...whew what a pain in the rump that was. I could have done 5 carpet kit installs in my 69 Road Runner in the same time frame. Fit was ok, the old carpet was much better though. I also got the kick panels/ vents installed along with the sill plates. I washed the seat belts today and fixed a broken tab on the console. I also got some electrical testing of components done too. Heres the back section close to being finished.

Heres the carpet kit installed & trimmed. The kick panels/ vents and sill plates are in and done too. Vacuuming is definately next on the list!

I had some help today, which was good since its his car, or will be someday. We vacuumed the carpet, which made a difference. Then we got the seat belts figured out and installed. Although one of my shoulder belts is torn and chewed on. I was able to sew the torn part up, but can't do much with the chewed up part. Anybody got an extra one laying around? We also got the pass seat installed. I dropped the shift indicator lens that goes in the console...it broke into 3 pieces. Time to call American Parts Depot

This week I go the seats, console, and most of the dash installed. Its starting to look like a finished car again! All went well until I went to install the wiper blades... I put a scratch on both sides of the car thanks to the arm pooping off...

Heres the scratches , which don't look too bad in this pic I got some other little stuff done too. Cleaned and painted the horns, fixed some wires, etc.

Sorry about the scratches. But now that you have put a scratch in it, you want feel too bad about

Everything is looking great.

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Heres the scratches , which don't look too bad in this pic I got some other little stuff done too. Cleaned and painted the horns, fixed some wires, etc.

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Maybe they will buff out. Hope so. I have the same problem. Seems like no matter what I do I always end scratching something. Looking nice though.