Author Topic: 1983 sedan offroad eagle (Read 12885 times)

jonb8 · « **on:** March 07, 2013, 06:33:20 AM »

I've been building jeeps for alot of years and I'm tired of cj's, yj's, tj's, mj's and xj's. I've built so many I'm bored so after researching a 4x4 I could keep street legal and realistically get a 4.0L motor and Aw4 in, I came up with the eagle as my next project. It wasn't easy finding a good candidate (I wanted a sx4 bad) I finally found a sedan and brought it home last week. By the way I secretly hold a grudge against all sx4 owners because I'm petty and I couldn't find one I could afford...

The guy's in my offroad club are already giving me alot of crap about the eagle but I think there just worried a little about how far I'll actually take it....It's a 83 sedan with 86000 miles and it's share of rust but nothing real bad.

jonb8 · « **Reply #1 on:** March 07, 2013, 06:50:33 AM »

After alot of measuring I found that the rear is exactly like a cherokee (except the shock mounts are backwards) so I'll be doing a s10 combination pack and a 410 8.25 chrystler rear axle with upgraded shackles...at least that's easy and shouldn't take more than a day, but the front is a different story. The front unibody is wider than the spring mounts of a D30 cherokee axle, I looked at Mick's pics hard and I can tell he didn't move the spring buckets on the axle but it almost looks like he used short springs and put them on the bottom of the unibody rail...Just can't really see for sure. I'm toying with the idea replacing the front unibody rails with a cherokee rail, I know it's alot of work but I'll get the front coil spring mounts, motor mounts for 4.0L, steering box and track bar mount. Also more hump in rails for axle travel.

rollguy · « **Reply #2 on:** March 07, 2013, 07:25:02 PM »

Quote from: jonb8 on March 07, 2013, 06:33:20 AM

I've been building jeeps for alot of years and I'm tired of cj's, yj's, tj's, mj's and xj's. I've built so many I'm bored so after researching a 4x4 I could keep street legal and realistically get a 4.0L motor and Aw4 in, I came up with the eagle as my next project. The guy's in my offroad club are already giving me alot of crap about the eagle but I think there just worried a little about how far I'll actually take it....

I had the same deal when I built my SX4, and 'wheeled with all the other guys that had Jeeps and the like. I was definitely the "odd ball". If you are planning to do the hard core trails that seem to be the norm nowadays, you will need to build it strong (like Mick's and mine). I tried it at first with just a lift and bigger tires, and it did not work very well. I then went to Dana 44's, lockers, 410:1 gears, and 33" tires just to keep up. A full frame is a must as well, as there is not much to attach to on the stock uni-body construction. Do yourself a favor, and look up all the modified Eagle threads, and take the best of all the designs. Having a comfortable, capable off/on road Eagle is an awesome thing! Just having windows and A/C, and being able to carry the family or your buddies on the trail is a lot of fun, and is not something that most Jeeps can do (at least not for the same amount of money).

jonb8 · « **Reply #3 on:** March 08, 2013, 09:35:43 PM »

I'm wanting to run 33's, or a set of 34/10.50's I got in the building. I'm a fair fab guy but I brought in the experts tonight to do some measuring and inspection for the stupid idea I have.

I'm wanting to chop the eagle unibody rails (rails only) off behind the crossmember and fab in unibody rails off a cherokee back to the front. Then chop up the side engine compartment panels to fit back in to reinforce rails and get the fenders back on.. Big job and alot of fab, but so is building spring buckets, trackbar bracket, engine mounts and steering box drop.....I want it to look like it came from the factory this way and make alot of people scratch there heads, plus all replacement parts will be cherokee and easy to come by...Here's some of mine...

This is my 355 sbc xj

My wifes mud racer with a 4.5 stroker

This is my chopped up Comanche In Harlan Ky

Here's a pic of our clubs Bounty hole competition in my trail jeep, it's a beater but always seems to get me home.

This is a truck were building to race in the East coast offroad racing series this year...It's bobbed 12in and fully caged. This was a renix 5 speed truck and I swapped it over to 95 ho and aw4 harness,

eaglefreek · « **Reply #4 on:** March 08, 2013, 09:54:04 PM »

Nice collection of Jeeps. There was a guy at the Rambler Ranch meet in Colorado last year that is doing exactly what you are proposing. He is using the whole front subframe from an XJ on his wagon. Unfortunately, he's not on this site. He is a frame guy at a body shop and thought it would be a pretty straight forward swap for him. I have no idea how far he has gotten on the project though. Good luck.

vangremlin · « **Reply #5 on:** March 08, 2013, 10:05:24 PM »

You do good work - and have fun doing it!!!

rollguy · « **Reply #6 on:** March 09, 2013, 11:53:26 PM »

Quote from: jonb8 on March 08, 2013, 09:35:43 PM

I'm wanting to run 33's, or a set of 34/10.50's I got in the building. I'm a fair fab guy but I brought in the experts tonight to do some measuring and inspection for the stupid idea I have. I'm wanting to chop the eagle unibody rails (rails only) off behind the crossmember and fab in unibody rails off a cherokee back to the front. Then chop up the side engine compartment panels to fit back in to reinforce rails and get the fenders back on.. Big job and alot of fab, but so is building spring buckets, trackbar bracket, engine mounts and steering box drop.....I want it to look like it came from the factory this way and make alot of people scratch there heads, plus all replacement parts will be cherokee and easy to come by...Here's some of mine...

That seems like a cool way to go. Yes it is a lot of work, but to get it to look like it came from the factory that way would be awesome! We wish you great success. Of course we always say here: "If there is no photos, it didn't happen".

jonb8 · « **Reply #7 on:** March 10, 2013, 08:11:23 PM »

I agree on photo's and as you can tell so far I like them too. I've pulled some favors on this build and it'll be me, Morris which owns a body shop, Doug which is a union sheet metal worker and can weld/have anything made where he works and Jason which is a local racecar builder. Were gonna build a frame machine in my garage out of 2 peices of 8 inch I-beam so we got a level table to start all the measuring from.....I'm starting to get some parts together and should be ready to start in a month.....

jonb8 · « **Reply #8 on:** March 15, 2013, 08:08:26 AM »

I found a donor xj the other day, and bought it for the eagle project (minus tires, wheels and winch) it has a new 5 in lift, the drivetrain/axles are perfect and the unibody is very clean. Are club is leaving for Harlan Ky in 6 weeks for 4 day's so I'm gonna take this jeep and have fun with it before I cut it up for the Eagle... More fun taking something I can abuse the body on....

jonb8 · « **Reply #9 on:** March 21, 2013, 06:50:28 AM »

I got everything in for the long arms, I'm gonna long arm this XJ for Harlan then it will already be done for the eagle. If I do it right the crossmember should bolt in.....If not I'll cut them apart and modify them later.

jonb8 · « **Reply #10 on:** March 25, 2013, 06:44:39 AM »

There was some measuring and brainstorming this weekend on the Eagle project. The idea of just cutting the passenger compartment floor out and swapping it with the cherokee's popped up. That'll give us the unibody, crossmember and late model xj seats., not that I don't like the retro seats but I wanna mount my shifter between the seats. My eagle floors could use some work anyway and I have a rust free 01 xj for parts. That would also give me unibody to the rear springs were the unibody's line up, could be an option.

jonb8 · « **Reply #11 on:** April 02, 2013, 09:11:16 AM »

finally got my long arms and crossmember done, gonna try to get the eagle in the garage right after Harlan. We are gonna swap the entire floor for the xj floor. I think it's gonna be easier to keep everything square and I won't have to build a frame table to keep it all in line. Now getting enough bracing in the eagle to keep it square while the floors are out is gonna be a different story. $:-\$

jonb8 · « **Reply #12 on:** April 29, 2013, 07:28:27 AM »

Eagle has been on hold because of are Harlan trip but I got home last night and already itching to start. The xj I took did awsome, I lost a couple driver side axle shafts and the ARB blew a seal internally but all in all a great trip. I'll post up some pics when I get everything unloaded and back to normal.

jonb8 · « **Reply #13 on:** May 08, 2013, 05:38:40 AM »

Had the eagle in the garage yesterday doing some teardown and measuring and it looks like I'm going to have some firewall problems. There's no relief for the crank sensor and the xj motor sits back into a notch that I can't weld in out of the xj because of the windshield wiper motor and heater box. Looks like the 4.0 will have to be moved forward. So if the factory mounts won't work might just look into the regular SAS and save myself some headache's.

mudkicker715 · « **Reply #14 on:** May 08, 2013, 06:16:11 AM »

That 4.0 will bolt in and be just like the 258. the crank sensor just needs to have a spot in the floor cut out.

jonb8 · « **Reply #15 on:** May 22, 2013, 08:32:14 AM »

Finally back on project, had to spend a few day's getting the wife's mud racer ready for the season. She started out pretty good with a 1st and a second on Saturday. I finally got some Eagle stuff done, the 8.8 is on the property and the white jeep (floor and unibody donor) got most of the big stuff cut off and gone to the crusher. At least now I can do some better measuring. The red jeep I took to Harlan is now in the garage getting stripped so I can have the drivetrain and lift out of it for the Eagle.

jonb8 · « **Reply #16 on:** May 22, 2013, 08:45:30 AM »

Quote from: mudkicker715 on May 08, 2013, 06:16:11 AM

That 4.0 will bolt in and be just like the 258. the crank sensor just needs to have a spot in the floor cut out.

The problem I'm having is the 4.0 sits back into the firewall on the xj, here's a pic of one I welded into an old style 4cyl xj when I swapped it to a 4.0...

Now the eagle has a straight firewall and the motor set's forward and has more front overhang than the xj. So if I use the xj unibody rails than the 4.0\crossmember won't bolt up and I'll have to either fab new mounts or modify the firewall which I can't because of the windshield wiper motor and heater box. I'm just saying the xj rails might not be worth it because I have to fab everything except the steering box and trackbar bracket. Oh well it's time to start cutting and let the peices fall where they may..

captspillane · « **Reply #17 on:** June 10, 2013, 06:15:24 PM »

Thanks for that picture. I have an '87 MJ, originally a 2.5L, that I was about to put a '92 4.0L into. I never knew the firewall changed. I'm not sure it affects me since the 4.0L was already an option in '87, but I'll have to look at it closer.

jonb8 · « **Reply #18 on:** June 12, 2013, 12:24:28 PM »

Your good on a 87 it had the 4.0 as an option, the 86 and older mj's only had a 2.8 and 2.5 motors so they didn't put the crank sensor and 4.0 relief in the firewall. The big differences is the wiper motor, fuel lines and gas pedal. Get those from your donor. The fuel lines are stainless steek and just snap in along inside of unibody rails If you use the aw4 and it was a 5spd truck than you may only have 2 crossmember bolts that line up, I've seen them both way's. Here's the link I use to tie the xj dash and harness into the MJ rear harness to the back. If you have any other questions I'll try to help all I can, I've done 8 of these swaps but each one seems to throw a curveball or two.

http://comancheclub.com/topic/18588-xj-dash-harness-to-rear-mj-harness-wiring-guides/

captspillane · « **Reply #19 on:** June 13, 2013, 10:23:19 AM »

Thank you! I appreciate it. I checked last night and it does have the firewall relief. I knew about the pedal and fuel lines, but I didn't know about the wiper motor. I'll compare the two closer during the swap.

jonb8 · « **Reply #20 on:** June 14, 2013, 07:14:52 AM »

The wiper motors are the same just differences in wiring and delay and stuff. I just change it all to keep the wiring clean and uncut. Your factory in tank pump will run the OBD1 fuel rail so that's not an issue. Since the tank is in a different location than the xj I usually tie the xj fuel lines into the factory mj lines under the drivers seat with compression fittings because the MJ lines are bent all funny around the crossmember and at the tank.

jonb8 · « **Reply #21 on:** February 26, 2014, 06:50:31 AM »

Just want to let everyone know I didn't abandon this project, I just put it on hold for alittle while. I did get the rear lift done and it's now at a buddy's garage getting ready to get cut up as soon as I finish my buggy. I ended up putting a 8.25 chrystler rear in and I did a inconsiderate person pack lift like I do my xj's and was alittle disappointed, I expected 5in of lift and putting a 34 on but in reality I could only fit a 31.. I'm gonna have to cut alot more than I expected.

jonb8 · « **Reply #22 on:** February 26, 2014, 08:34:08 AM »

One reason I've been slow on this project is how far the motor sits forward in the eagle compared to the xj. Since the spring perches stack right under the unibody and the motor sits to far forward to use the unibody out of the xj and make it all bolt up I'm going with leaf springs in the front. I don't like using real short springs on the coil swaps so does anyone have any idea's on what springs to use on a leaf swap to get me close?

eaglefreek · « **Reply #23 on:** February 26, 2014, 09:11:01 AM »

Not real sure, but possibly YJ or Grand Wagoneer front springs would work. Paul, aka Strike Eagle, utilized the Eagle's factory spring pockets and made some brackets that put the coil springs a little more further out than where they would mount on a front Cherokee axle. Sorry, I don't have a good pic of his front end.