Perkiomen Project Pics

[Baskinator]

This is excellent! If you need help setting up/preparing/repairing or whatever beforehand, I would be glad to help. I'd certainly have to ask first, but my mom's place would be a great meeting spot. Depends on how the "sale" is going by then, mainly.

[eaglefreek]

Congrats on the future child. I'd love to be apart of the June meet, but my sister is coming in the week before and I will have to take off some work then.

[eaglebeek]

@Captspillane...Many thanks for sharing your expertise and your hospitality on this forum. And congrats on the expected arrival of your child. I'm a bit too far away to attend the Solstic Meet this time as my vacation time is already spoken for.  

[vangremlin]

Congrats on the upcoming introduction of the new Eaglet!  Enjoy every minute with her, they grow up fast.

Hopefully you'll get some Nesters to turn out for the Solstice Meet, sounds like a good time.

[macdude443]

I should be able to make that weekend.  Congrats on the baby!

[captspillane]

 I haven't posted here since photobucket changed their layout. It was aggravating to figure out how to manipulate their new website. I think I have it all figured out now tho, so it's time to start catching this thread up to date.

That's what an AMC 401 looks like in the back of an XJ. This was me picking up the first 401 for my red SX4. The engine was 5 hours away, so I opted to take the XJ instead of the other trucks available. The engine hoist came and left with me too, so it was a tight fit inside. I've since gotten a nicer 401, so this is set aside for my J10 now.

The other photo is my white SX4 earning it's keep with lumber bound for Civil Air Patrol's Hawk Mountain Ranger School.

[captspillane]

For my Green Eagle wagon I looked up the formula to calculate exactly what speedometer gear I needed. I selected a thirty tooth gear and it is not a noticeable difference from the ideal number.

G=(20168xDxC)/(KxT)=(20168x3.07x13)/(1000x27.11)=29.69 desired teeth on speedometer gear

D=Differential Gear Ratio=3.07
C=Number of teeth inside the Transfer Case=13 for all the new process cases
K=1000=The Revolutions per Mile of the Speedometer, which is always 1000 for Eagles
T=Tire diameter in decimal inches

T=28.88 for 235/75R15 tires
T=27.70 for 215/75R15 tires
T=27.11 for 205/75R15 tires
T=26.52 for 195/75R15 tires (stock size for most AMC Eagles)

[IowaEagle]

Thumbs up given.

[captspillane]

My 5 speed wagon gave a fit for the last few days. The solenoid died as all Eagle Solenoids die and I quick put on my brand new never used spare. That didn't work at all. I finally put the old one back on, the same solenoid that had just died. This time I ran a new ground wire from the block directly to a big hole drilled into the base of the solenoid. It works perfectly and crisply now.

I got sparks and occasional starter kicks before adding the ground wire. That's totally normal for this problem.

The solenoids simply need 12V to the top forward post and ground to the bottom to work. If you know you have a strong 12V to the top post, which I checked with an old SX4 hatch release button, and it doesn't work than you must not have ground. Automatics get ground from the post, which has a very crimp connector that barely conducts from a network of tiny wires with terrible ends going back to the problematic Neutral Safety switches. Manual transmission solenoids like this one get ground soley from the back bracket, which in turn only gets ground by two very tiny very rusty old screws with a very small contact area to rusty sheet metal going to unreliable body ground straps. The system doesn't stand a chance at working reliably. A great number of Eagles have been sent to the crusher for this flaw.

Stock solenoids are horrible until you drill a honking huge hole in the base and run the biggest ground wire you can to it. Works great now. You'll also notice in the pictures that I replaced all the rings on the power side of the solenoid. Those are notorious for breaking internally and the rubber hiding it from view. They are oddball wires with very tiny cores and very thick rubber sheathing because they are designed as fusible links that will sacrifice themselves in the event of a short.

I replace every automatic solenoid with a manual one without the post in all my cars immediately upon taking ownership. In ten years I've never accidently lurched my automatic Eagle forward by starting it when it wasn't in Park already. I'm confident I never will. I have however started my stalled Eagle while driving countless times. It is a huge assistance to be able to turn the key without shifting into neutral. I despise the Neutral Safety Switch and will not tolerate it limiting my control of my vehicle. Do not lecture me on this being unsafe. I highly recommend this modification to everyone.

First picture shows the new hole and bolt I drilled right through the base of the solenoid:


The second picture shows the other end of the cable grabbing the ground at the engine block:


This picture shows the jumper I made for testing and remote starting. Push the button and the starter turns. Leave the key in the ignition turned to the run position and hit this button, the car will start:

[IowaEagle]

Thanks for the great tips.  Yes those remote starter buttons were handy back in the day when one worked on Fords and AMC's.

[captspillane]

I've gotten Monroe Sensa-Track coil over shocks for the front. While installing them I found that it is tricky. They are the correct length and they match up without too much hassle, but there are two big catches. The bottom mounting holes are a little too wide and you need a smaller set of bolts and some nuts to space with. that's not too bad. The next problem was that the bottom shock mount is just barely too big to fit through the hole at the top of the shock housing. It needs a very small amount removed with a grinder to enlarge the hole. It is not a big deal since it is covered by the mounting bracket, but at the same time most people won't want to make a permaneant change like that.

Monroe Sensa-trak 58510 for Rear Eagle coil shocks, $59.79 last time I got them from Rockauto

Monroe Sensa-trak 58270 for front. $47.79 from Rockauto last time. Shipping was $8.87.

[vangremlin]

Thanks for the heads up on the sensa trac shocks for the front!

[captspillane]

I grabbed this quote and posted here because I always forget where the heck it is. I've been going through and collecting what info we think we know about Eagle front D30 gear options. Hopefully soon I'll start offering kits to regear the problem axles and at the same time I want to solve the locker limitations. Of the stuff I collected there are quite a few people saying contradicting observations so I'll have to sort through them and bust some myths.

[captspillane]

Here are some pictures I want to be able to get to quickly. Credit goes to Eaglefreek for doing an awesome job modifiying his Eagle and also making an awesome effort to share his efforts in photos and advice. These photos were originally posted at the Evolution forum at the link included.

http://forums.amcevolution.com/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1915

Here's a pic of mine. If you look at the floor pan there is a flat spot where the lever needs to go. The Eagle floor pan was definitely designed with the thought of adding a low range lever. Mine now operates my 242 transfer case. Please excuse the dirty carpet.

I don't remember exactly what I did, but I used the NP229 linkage as a guide, but made a new one since it needed to go with the 229 when I sold it. It took a couple tries to get the measurements right, but, it works great. However, there are no stops so you have to make sure you know by feel what mode you want to select. I flipped the lever on the transfer case so it was facing up, instead of down. It required a little grinding so that it would go through the full range.

[captspillane]

For the rear shocks on all my Eagles I use Monroe 58510. I paid $60 for the pair last time at Rockauto. They work extremely well to compensate for worn rear leaf springs and work well with new leaf springs and a rear sway bar to be perfectly stiff the way I like it, which is a little less stiff than a Jeep Cherokee but still great for towing and utility.

For the front there are matching coil-over shocks available. They are Monroe 58270. They are intended for the rear of a Chevy car so you just need to put that part number into the search bar at Rockauto and it will come right up. I paid $50 for a pair of those. The coil over spring is pretty light and it is will not compensate for bad coil springs. I put long bolts on the bottom with nuts as spacers and it works well to attach to the lower perch. They don't quite fit through the hole and I had to run a drill bit against the hole and enlarge it by just a little bit to make them fit through.