yachtflame Posted March 26, 2023 Share Posted March 26, 2023 Some 30-35 years ago I Resto-rodded a ‘46 Chevy pickup and followed drawings from Jim Carter’s Old Chevy Trucks. Very good company by the way. Anyway, the instructions were for replacing the original front axle with a front end from a Pacer. Everything went well and fit perfectly with the 1/2” washer on either side as spacer before bolting and welding. Now this many years later I’m wanting to go through it and replace worn parts. It seems with the 30-35 years gap, my memory hasn’t improved with age and I don’t remember what year Pacer I robbed the unit from. Does anyone know how to determine the year of an AMC front end. Knowing my luck, I’d buy all the correct parts for the wrong year! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
61polara Posted March 27, 2023 Share Posted March 27, 2023 The first thing I tell any friends who are looking to by a resto-mod is to ask for a detailed parts list for all the modifications and what year and model they came from, not just who they bought them from. Run if they can't supply it. With that said, I doubt there was much change in the Pacer front ends from year to year. Start by contacting AMC parts suppliers to see if you can get a parts list and then see what changed from year to year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank DuVal Posted March 27, 2023 Share Posted March 27, 2023 (edited) I went to my favorite "what fits across years" part number source, rockauto.com, and see from the first year Pacer to the last year Pacer no part numbers changed. The bad news, there were only about six suspension parts listed... I know, don't trust roackauto.com (or any one source of information except maybe specialized sources of a make) to list correct parts everytime, but you get a good sense of what's going on. Edited March 27, 2023 by Frank DuVal (see edit history) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yachtflame Posted March 27, 2023 Author Share Posted March 27, 2023 Thanks for the reply’s! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty_OToole Posted March 27, 2023 Share Posted March 27, 2023 Not specific to AMC but about cars in general. I would expect the suspension design did not change but there is a chance they updated the brakes at some point. It is not uncommon to keep the same suspension design for 10 years or more but change brakes every few years. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junkyardjeff Posted March 28, 2023 Share Posted March 28, 2023 Good luck in finding the parts,I heard some parts were starting to get hard to find 15 to 20 years ago. Does Kantor have any listings for parts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John348 Posted March 28, 2023 Share Posted March 28, 2023 (edited) Rule of thumb was if it was used on an AMC it was sourced from one of the BIG 3, I think the parts will be pretty common Edited March 28, 2023 by John348 (see edit history) 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TAKerry Posted March 28, 2023 Share Posted March 28, 2023 YF, no offense meant to you as this was (and still is) a common practice. I remember my brothers taking a perfect 1935 chevy truck, putting a mustang front end along with a sb 350 then letting it sit. But, this is a problem with guys that make resto mods with a confluence of parts. Its ok for the moment but when the car is sold a couple of times and future owners have no idea what was put in where. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SC38dls Posted March 28, 2023 Share Posted March 28, 2023 I don’t know about “Dating an AMC front end” I would rather find a complete young lady! dave s 5 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Bruce aka First Born Posted March 28, 2023 Share Posted March 28, 2023 1 hour ago, SC38dls said: I don’t know about “Dating an AMC front end” I would rather find a complete young lady! dave s LOL! Inevitable ! Ben 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe_padavano Posted March 28, 2023 Share Posted March 28, 2023 As others have noted, AMC had limited development budget and reused parts across years and models. When these cars were more common in wrecking yards, the Pacer front suspension swap was a relatively common one. Fortunately, I don't think the design changed across the years that the Pacer was built, so exact year probably doesn't matter. Unfortunately, as others have also noted, repair parts for these cars are getting difficult to get due to limited production numbers and lack of interest on the part of collectors. There are a few AMC specialty houses that sell parts. They are not inexpensive. https://www.amclives.com/collections/suspension/1975-1980-pacer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocketraider Posted March 28, 2023 Share Posted March 28, 2023 4 hours ago, SC38dls said: I don’t know about “Dating an AMC front end” I would rather find a complete young lady! dave s 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yachtflame Posted March 28, 2023 Author Share Posted March 28, 2023 9 hours ago, TAKerry said: YF, no offense meant to you as this was (and still is) a common practice. I remember my brothers taking a perfect 1935 chevy truck, putting a mustang front end along with a sb 350 then letting it sit. But, this is a problem with guys that make resto mods with a confluence of parts. Its ok for the moment but when the car is sold a couple of times and future owners have no idea what was put in where. TAK, not sure if you actually read my opening inquiry but to refresh, I built this truck some 30-35 years ago. Since the parts are beginning to wear out from use, I’d like to rebuild the front end so I can get another 30-35 years of use out of it. Thank you for your thoughts though! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcdarrunt Posted March 29, 2023 Share Posted March 29, 2023 Original parts for the Pacer IFS are extinct so we use a Monte Carlo upper ball joint and a Chrysler lower---fab required. The disc brake hardware is of the Ford design and drums were used only the first couple years. The caster/camber eccentrics can be scavaged from a Chevy pickup. Drums from (?) require sleeves and spacers. Your shoes can be relined. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TAKerry Posted March 29, 2023 Share Posted March 29, 2023 13 hours ago, yachtflame said: TAK, not sure if you actually read my opening inquiry but to refresh, I built this truck some 30-35 years ago. Since the parts are beginning to wear out from use, I’d like to rebuild the front end so I can get another 30-35 years of use out of it. Thank you for your thoughts though! Yes I did, thats why I said I was trying not to offend anyone. I suppose it was a psa/commentary on how cars change with non branded parts and over the years then cars change hands a few times and then an owner has to try and figure out what went where. Sorry for the hijack and I am sure you will get this sorted out nicely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yachtflame Posted March 29, 2023 Author Share Posted March 29, 2023 (edited) Your concerns are noted. Though when you think about it, any car that we purchase to restore has probably had several “restorations”, rebuilds or levels of maintenance in its past. What parts were used then is up for speculation. Depending on the restorers financial situation, area in the country or time period these repairs were done makes for a very wide verity of parts and repairs. During WW II, parts were hard to find and I’ve seen where what ever parts could be found were adapted to fit where possible. I’m thinking that these imaginative mechanics probably didn’t make lists of what they used so the next or third owner down the line would know what’s there. I guess the current caretaker will just have to do some research and make the best of what he finds. Edited March 29, 2023 by yachtflame (see edit history) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Dobbin Posted March 29, 2023 Share Posted March 29, 2023 19 hours ago, rocketraider said: I too was a little confused by the thread title, es[aciall when this pop-uo that appeared over it. Yes, I'm tired of dating games and ready to meet singles in my area! Senior Women Looking to Date. A friend had 33 Buick that he put a 455 Riviera engine in and wanted a stronger independent front suspension and used the Pacer. Works great but rebuild parts were hard to come by. No dating required! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHuDWah Posted March 31, 2023 Share Posted March 31, 2023 On 3/28/2023 at 9:53 AM, SC38dls said: I don’t know about “Dating an AMC front end” I would rather find a complete young lady! dave s Here ya go. Oh, wait...that's not the front end on either one! 😁 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yachtflame Posted March 31, 2023 Author Share Posted March 31, 2023 Maybe I should be looking for the back end!🙄 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmTee Posted March 31, 2023 Share Posted March 31, 2023 (edited) If you find this car you can grab the front-end and I'll take the sandwich... Edited March 31, 2023 by EmTee (see edit history) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocketraider Posted March 31, 2023 Share Posted March 31, 2023 They's enough of that sammitch to share! 😋 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan G Posted April 3, 2023 Share Posted April 3, 2023 (edited) Senior year in high school, there were two really cute juniors: One was named Amy McNeilly (name altered slightly to protect...me!) and one of Korean descent. I took to calling them by code-names when discussing with my pal; they were "AMC" and "Hyundai". Reviews of these two particular, uh, models, often centered on...uh...exhaust components. Around that same time, the father of yet another junior tried hard to sell me his Pacer. I skipped the car, but soon was dating his daughter I'm pretty sure he'd prefer I took the former. Edited April 3, 2023 by Bryan G (see edit history) 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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