31st Dec 2006, 13:07
I have had my 79 amc spirit for almost 9 months now, I love it. It has a 304 V8 with an aluminum Edelbrock Torker intake and a mild cam. I love the car mainly because I have been an AMC fan my whole life and where I live no one else has one. It has the four speed in it. My only problem is the four speed is not stout enough. My future plans involve rebuilding the 304 and putting my side mount Paxton supercharger on backed by a T5 transmission. I drive the car daily due to an accident I had in my truck. My future wife hates the car she said it is one of the ugliest cars she has ever seen, which is probably the reason why I love the car so much. Performance wise it runs great, it will go 0-60 in almost 6 seconds with slicks, and I have done 120 mph in it twice. It is not the fastest thing by all means, but does okay.
24th Dec 2007, 01:54
Why go with Chevy power when an AMC V8 will give you more than you need, and be a MUCH easier swap?
29th Dec 2007, 06:44
In reference to the addition of a Chevy V8. Try using the bell housing off of a four cylinder AMC 151. The motor is a Buick iron duke and has the same bolt configuration as SB Chevy. You'll still have to fabricate mounts, but your stock four speed (or T-5 Ford) will bolt right up.
9th Feb 2008, 20:43
I have a '79 AMX Spirit 6cyl. The car runs pretty good and handles great. Sure if you compare it to a car made in the last few years, you might say it's not all that, but terrible?
Front disc brakes, and front and rear anti sway bars with stout stock springs seem to disagree, more power? Sure I would like more, but who wouldn't? You got it pretty close on the seating. I wonder how many big three econo-cars will be around in 28 or so years?
19th Mar 2008, 10:09
I am looking at an AMC Spirit as a street/strip car. What rear do they have and how strong is it? What rear suspension do they have? Is there a rear that would be an easy swap?
13th May 2008, 23:27
The guy who posted about the Iron Duke doesn't have his facts straight. The Iron Duke was a Pontiac motor not an Buick as stated. The bellhousing bolt pattern is the Chevy V6 pattern, not the Chevy Small block I believe.
2nd Dec 2010, 09:23
I agree, and did the same to my 1979 AMC Spirit GT. I've restored the interior (seats and carpet, and painted the inside panels), and I've repainted the car with a 3-layer paint job. I've also added 15 inch bullet hole racing rims to the front, and added 16 inch ones the the back.
The straight 6 engine remains the same. I've had little problems with the engine after I took the smog system off. Once that's off, it runs 120% better than it had.
Soon will be adding a 350 Chevy small block equipped with twin turbos. But with the car stock, it's horrible unless you take off the smog system. It has horrible braking, traction, speed, acceleration, and suspension.
Even with all these troubles, it's still an awesome car.
24th Jun 2006, 22:00
I'm not familiar with car talk, but I have had my 1979 ACM Spirit for about half a year now. I bought it with 36,000 miles on it with very few problems. It's still going strong minus the brakes. As far as I'm concerned it has been easy to work on and a decent car for a young driver. But if there is something I should know about the vehicle, feel free to enlighten me.