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Author Topic: Penny is Back in the Shop! Thread for My Mechanic  (Read 10610 times)

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Offline Prafeston

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Penny is Back in the Shop! Thread for My Mechanic
« on: February 18, 2017, 01:40:57 PM »
Well she's back in the shop again. Figured I'd update you guys here since I know there are a few of you not on Facebutt. Thought I would start a thread for the forum so you guys can stay in the loop and so if my mechanic has any questions he can ask the community here.

Dustin is another AMC nut from Southwestern Utah and I found him on theamcforum. He's restored several FSJs and currently has a 62 Rambler Cross Country. He's done some great work, but I'm not doing a full on restore. Just want her ready to drive!

Here's a link to one of his restorations. http://fsjnetwork.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=9536

Anyway, I've been lazy with Penny and haven't touched her in over a year and I've been looking at purchasing a daily driver cause I'm tired of sharing a car with my wife. After thinking I could spend 2-3k on a daily I decided I might as well put that much into my Eagle to get it daily ready. Found Dustin and he was willing to take on the project.

I borrowed a trailer from a neighbor and tried a test run with the Eagle loaded with our 2002 WJ with the 4.7, but it was way too taxing on the transmission so I also borrowed my neighbor's Dodge Ram 3500 Dually. That did the trick and now the car is in the shop.









I just got it to him on 2/14/17 and he already got it started, but there is now oil getting to the top of the engine.
"Definitely lots of engine noise. All coming from the top of the motor. Found that the drivetrain wasn't getting any oil up top. Pulled the sending unit and cranked the engine. Had oil down low. But it's not getting up top."
I look forward to getting this thing all ready to go...finally! Years later!

BONE DRY


Video of it running.
https://www.facebook.com/dustin.langston.9/videos/10210628286856410/
« Last Edit: February 18, 2017, 01:43:52 PM by Prafeston »
1983 AMC Eagle SX/4 - Penny

Offline eaglefreek

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Re: Penny is Back in the Shop! Thread for My Mechanic
« Reply #1 on: February 18, 2017, 06:59:00 PM »
Cool, hopefully it will be something easy to fix. I don't recall, did you install another oil filter after having the issue? I wonder if it's something to do with the filter bypass.
1986 AMC Eagle Wagon 4.2L/4.0L head, AW4,NP242, Chrysler 8.25" rear.
1981 AMC Eagle Wagon As Seen On TV  Lost In Transmission


 

"I know he'd be a poorer man, if he never saw an eagle fly,
Rocky mountain high"  John Denver
Click for Fayetteville,TN Forecast" border="0" height="100" width="150

Offline Prafeston

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Re: Penny is Back in the Shop! Thread for My Mechanic
« Reply #2 on: February 18, 2017, 08:35:42 PM »
I don't think the filter has been replaced since the initial install.
1983 AMC Eagle SX/4 - Penny

Offline vangremlin

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Re: Penny is Back in the Shop! Thread for My Mechanic
« Reply #3 on: February 20, 2017, 02:07:42 PM »
That's good news!  Hopefully he's got it up and running in no time and there is nothing major wrong with it.  He seems to know his way around an AMC.  Always good to get an Eagle back on the road!
1981 Kammback 258 - "Pepe"
1980 Coupe 258 - "Ginger
1972 Gremlin X 304
1978 Gremlin 4 cyl 121 - sold
1964 TBird 390 - sold

Offline Prafeston

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Re: Penny is Back in the Shop! Thread for My Mechanic
« Reply #4 on: February 20, 2017, 02:53:35 PM »
I'm excited to be making some headway again!
1983 AMC Eagle SX/4 - Penny

Offline dustinlangston

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Re: Penny is Back in the Shop! Thread for My Mechanic
« Reply #5 on: February 22, 2017, 10:54:26 PM »
Hooray I'm finally register and on the forum! Just wanted to introduce myself. I am Dustin and I'm working on this project. Love all AMC and am super excited to be working on this Eagle. I'm in love!

Offline Prafeston

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Re: Penny is Back in the Shop! Thread for My Mechanic
« Reply #6 on: February 23, 2017, 12:13:16 AM »
Might have to get your own after you're done with this one!  ;D
1983 AMC Eagle SX/4 - Penny

Offline mudkicker715

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Re: Penny is Back in the Shop! Thread for My Mechanic
« Reply #7 on: February 23, 2017, 12:40:28 PM »
Hooray I'm finally register and on the forum! Just wanted to introduce myself. I am Dustin and I'm working on this project. Love all AMC and am super excited to be working on this Eagle. I'm in love!

Hey i check about once a day for members. Anyway welcome Dustin



Manitowoc WI

Offline Prafeston

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Re: Penny is Back in the Shop! Thread for My Mechanic
« Reply #8 on: February 23, 2017, 07:02:06 PM »
Hooray I'm finally register and on the forum! Just wanted to introduce myself. I am Dustin and I'm working on this project. Love all AMC and am super excited to be working on this Eagle. I'm in love!

Hey i check about once a day for members. Anyway welcome Dustin

The main issue were the questions. The first one he got was "The AMC Eagle was the first _____ car?" He tried everything but the correct answer is just "fourwheel" It has since been changed. Plus I think one of the other questions was about the base engine size which even though like 90% of them got 258s the standard engine was the 2.5 Iron Duke.
1983 AMC Eagle SX/4 - Penny

Offline mudkicker715

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Re: Penny is Back in the Shop! Thread for My Mechanic
« Reply #9 on: February 23, 2017, 09:14:14 PM »
Ok, Rafael i got that now. These are things i can look for, to hopefully make it easier. However i know absolutely nothing so far to make it easier to apply.  I will note this and see where these questions are at. When ready to do so.
There is alot of hidden stuff on here, maybe i cannot access or need to stumple upon. Good to know anyway. I would start a thread for this but if you cannot post what good is it?



Manitowoc WI

Offline Prafeston

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Re: Penny is Back in the Shop! Thread for My Mechanic
« Reply #10 on: February 23, 2017, 11:56:19 PM »
Recomer (Richard Comer) helped me out on Facebook with all the correct answers!
1983 AMC Eagle SX/4 - Penny

Offline Prafeston

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Re: Penny is Back in the Shop! Thread for My Mechanic
« Reply #11 on: March 06, 2017, 09:43:57 AM »
Well it looks like for now I may have dodged a bullet. Dustin called last night with weird/good news. He wanted to try a new filter on the engine before pulling it so he went to the parts store and picked up a filter for a 4.0 and bright it back to the shop only to find out it wouldn't screw in. So he had another 4.0 block incase indeed it and it had a filter on it. Pulled it off and tried it on mine and again it wouldn't screw in. So he did some research on the different filter changes for the  4.2 and  4.0 over the years and decided to swap the spare motors oil filter adapter into my engine and use it's of filter. And whalah! Oil to the valves! I think some how the other shop put an oil filter from a 4.2 on the  4.0 and the 4.2 engines are made with an internal oil bypass valve and the 4.0 has it built into the filter. Then the filter clogged and there was no check valve in the system to bypass the filter. Not use how it got so clogged since the oil in it still looks new. But Dustin said the filter that was on there looked way worse than one that had only been in there for just a couple around the block miles.

Here's Dustin's post from Facebook.
Oil pressure!!!!! I didn't even have to pull the motor. These are some of the issues you can come across when dealing with engine swaps. The previous shop had taken the 4.2 oiling system and installed it on this 4.0. Well come to find out that doesn't work. It blocked oil from circulating. So switching to the correct 4.0 it works. All upper engine noise is now gone. Time to move on to the fun stuff.
And the video https://www.facebook.com/dustin.langston.9/posts/10210774341187677

1983 AMC Eagle SX/4 - Penny

Offline eaglefreek

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Re: Penny is Back in the Shop! Thread for My Mechanic
« Reply #12 on: March 06, 2017, 09:58:18 AM »
Cool, hopefully it will be something easy to fix. I don't recall, did you install another oil filter after having the issue? I wonder if it's something to do with the filter bypass.
What do I win? So I towed you across a few states because of an oil filter?
1986 AMC Eagle Wagon 4.2L/4.0L head, AW4,NP242, Chrysler 8.25" rear.
1981 AMC Eagle Wagon As Seen On TV  Lost In Transmission


 

"I know he'd be a poorer man, if he never saw an eagle fly,
Rocky mountain high"  John Denver
Click for Fayetteville,TN Forecast" border="0" height="100" width="150

Offline Prafeston

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Re: Penny is Back in the Shop! Thread for My Mechanic
« Reply #13 on: March 06, 2017, 10:10:07 AM »
Cool, hopefully it will be something easy to fix. I don't recall, did you install another oil filter after having the issue? I wonder if it's something to do with the filter bypass.
What do I win? So I towed you across a few states because of an oil filter?

Let's not talk about it! It was a fun adventure though! :)

P.S. I don't remember any filter bypass suggestions before...though I could have at least taken the filter off and checked some things. It boiled down to a majority of the time the Eagle was not in my possession and then when it was I was just too lazy. I'm just glad things are being figured out and progress is being made!
« Last Edit: March 06, 2017, 03:57:13 PM by Prafeston »
1983 AMC Eagle SX/4 - Penny

Offline vangremlin

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Re: Penny is Back in the Shop! Thread for My Mechanic
« Reply #14 on: March 06, 2017, 01:05:32 PM »
Great news!  Sounds like Penny is well on the road to recovery.  What do they always say, check the simple stuff first?
1981 Kammback 258 - "Pepe"
1980 Coupe 258 - "Ginger
1972 Gremlin X 304
1978 Gremlin 4 cyl 121 - sold
1964 TBird 390 - sold

Offline eaglefreek

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Re: Penny is Back in the Shop! Thread for My Mechanic
« Reply #15 on: March 07, 2017, 11:24:43 AM »
Cool, hopefully it will be something easy to fix. I don't recall, did you install another oil filter after having the issue? I wonder if it's something to do with the filter bypass.
What do I win? So I towed you across a few states because of an oil filter?

Let's not talk about it! It was a fun adventure though! :)

P.S. I don't remember any filter bypass suggestions before...though I could have at least taken the filter off and checked some things. It boiled down to a majority of the time the Eagle was not in my possession and then when it was I was just too lazy. I'm just glad things are being figured out and progress is being made!

I was just busting your balls. I don't know why I didn't think of checking the oil filter when you were originally having the issue.
1986 AMC Eagle Wagon 4.2L/4.0L head, AW4,NP242, Chrysler 8.25" rear.
1981 AMC Eagle Wagon As Seen On TV  Lost In Transmission


 

"I know he'd be a poorer man, if he never saw an eagle fly,
Rocky mountain high"  John Denver
Click for Fayetteville,TN Forecast" border="0" height="100" width="150

Offline Prafeston

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Re: Penny is Back in the Shop! Thread for My Mechanic
« Reply #16 on: March 07, 2017, 01:27:13 PM »
Wish we would of thought of that 3 years ago when we were at the Rambler Ranch. But I'm glad it was figured out now before the engine was pulled out.

Thanks Eaglefreek! There is a reason I'm posting all updates from Facebook on here!
1983 AMC Eagle SX/4 - Penny

Offline Prafeston

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Re: Penny is Back in the Shop! Thread for My Mechanic
« Reply #17 on: March 13, 2017, 07:07:55 PM »
Some good news. Dustin talked to me today and would like to have it back to me in 2 weeks!!! I was expecting it to take much longer so I'm pretty excited to have it back so quickly. He plans on hitting it hard this week and then getting tempt tags and driving it around and finish it up next week.

Here is some further information from the oil filter debacle.

Here is the oil filter adapter that was being used on my engine when I got it back from the shop back in Kansas. This allowed the filter to be installed straight to the block.



Even though viewing old photos from the 4.0 I purchased it had the original 4.0 oil filter adapter on it.


Here is the oil filter and adapter which Dustin grabbed from the spare 4.0 and put on my engine so that it could get oil pressure to the valves.


And here it is after he cleaned it all up.


He's also going to try to address the shifter which appears to be bent or something. The photo here is with it in 1st gear so when you go into second it's almost touching the floor.


And this photo really makes me happy cause it shows me how much Dustin cares about my car. He's cleaning the oily film that has built up on the inside of my windows since it's been sitting so long.


Which brings me to another question. What could be causing this build up? I noticed it awhile back. Just moisture getting in somehow? If so what common areas allow moisture into the inside? Here are some more pics of the windows.


1983 AMC Eagle SX/4 - Penny

Offline vangremlin

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Re: Penny is Back in the Shop! Thread for My Mechanic
« Reply #18 on: March 13, 2017, 07:42:44 PM »
Maybe an old Big Mac stashed behind the front seats?  :rotfl:
1981 Kammback 258 - "Pepe"
1980 Coupe 258 - "Ginger
1972 Gremlin X 304
1978 Gremlin 4 cyl 121 - sold
1964 TBird 390 - sold

Offline Prafeston

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Re: Penny is Back in the Shop! Thread for My Mechanic
« Reply #19 on: March 14, 2017, 11:45:43 AM »
Real funny Dave! I think I would have found a big Mac in there when I found the monopoly piece from McDonald's!

Dustin had a marathon night last night! And now Penny is at the tire shop getting new shoes. Going with General Grabber AT2 in a 215/75/15.

Here are progress pics from last night.
Back on the lift for examination and fluid checks.


Here are the main problem areas rust wise. Though Dustin was pleasantly surprised how clean it was underneath. He plans on tackling the few rust spots and hitting them with self etching primer and then undercoat.

Worst rust on passenger floor board












Front diff fluid good


Rear diff fluid a little darker but didn't smell bag


Transfer case fluid good


Transmission fluid good


And the other shop did some interesting things to my fuel sending unit.

1983 AMC Eagle SX/4 - Penny

Offline Prafeston

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Re: Penny is Back in the Shop! Thread for My Mechanic
« Reply #20 on: March 15, 2017, 04:52:11 PM »
Well I think for the most part Penny is doing good and well on her way to recovery. I'm going to start posting back in my Your Eagle(s) thread with updates. If we have anymore questions I'll post them up here.
1983 AMC Eagle SX/4 - Penny

Offline 1985amceagle

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Re: Penny is Back in the Shop! Thread for My Mechanic
« Reply #21 on: March 19, 2017, 12:47:07 AM »
out of curiosity what did Dustin find for differences that the 258 oil filter adapter wouldn't work in the 4.0 block. the first renix blocks  had the adapter (with metric filter threads thanks to renault) as the filter would not fit the mj/xj mounted as the 258 filter was mounted. Chrysler changed to the SAE threaded adapter later. I guess what im getting to is was the oil passages on the block changed by amc or chrysler significantly compared to the old 258 block, or was the adapter a different length or had a hole drilled in or something. the valve cover on your motor looks like an earlier chrysler H.O. motor, as it is still cast aluminum but does not use the amc style fill cap. sorry for the long winded post, would like to add that info to the eaglepedia possibly in the future
1985 Eagle Wagon

Offline Prafeston

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Re: Penny is Back in the Shop! Thread for My Mechanic
« Reply #22 on: March 19, 2017, 03:20:23 PM »
The problem is it does fit in the 4.0 block. But the 258 uses and internal engine oil bypass valve mounted just inside the the block at the oil filter and the 4.0 uses filters that have the bypass valve built into them. So when the 258 adapter got mounted on the 4.0 and the 258 filter was installed with now bypass valve and no bypass valve internal to the 4.0 then when the filter got clogged there was no where for the oil to go. Which is why I wasn't getting any oil to the top of the engine.

That's my understanding of it anyway. Does that make sense?
1983 AMC Eagle SX/4 - Penny

Offline 1985amceagle

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Re: Penny is Back in the Shop! Thread for My Mechanic
« Reply #23 on: March 19, 2017, 09:56:30 PM »
thanks, that helped quite a bit, thanks for adding what he seen that was different, and happy to see your car is running again. just looked in the service manual, seen the valve is not on 87 model year engines. funny part is the oil filter should of also had a bypass valve built into it, which may be why the engine mounted one was deleted in 87
« Last Edit: March 19, 2017, 10:14:50 PM by 1985amceagle »
1985 Eagle Wagon

Offline Prafeston

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Re: Penny is Back in the Shop! Thread for My Mechanic
« Reply #24 on: March 19, 2017, 11:38:35 PM »
Got the windows tinted on Penny on Saturday. They look good. 25% all around. How I don't get hassled. Even though I live in the desert in Utah the legal low is 43%.





1983 AMC Eagle SX/4 - Penny

Offline eaglefreek

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Re: Penny is Back in the Shop! Thread for My Mechanic
« Reply #25 on: March 20, 2017, 09:38:12 AM »
Looking good! I usually go with the legal tint on the driver and passenger windows and dark on the rest so the law doesn't mess with me. I don't know how strict they are in Utah, but my neighbor tints windows out of his garage and puts some really dark tint on many cars and even tints windshields. He's only had a couple come back to change them after being busted.
1986 AMC Eagle Wagon 4.2L/4.0L head, AW4,NP242, Chrysler 8.25" rear.
1981 AMC Eagle Wagon As Seen On TV  Lost In Transmission


 

"I know he'd be a poorer man, if he never saw an eagle fly,
Rocky mountain high"  John Denver
Click for Fayetteville,TN Forecast" border="0" height="100" width="150

Offline Prafeston

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Re: Penny is Back in the Shop! Thread for My Mechanic
« Reply #26 on: March 20, 2017, 10:21:44 AM »
I'm hoping because I live in down in the desert I won't get hasseled about it. It's kind of crazy that Utah only allows 43%. Missouri even allowed 35%. Plus all the other states surrounding Utah allow much darker tint.

Idaho: 35%
Wyoming: 28%
Colorado: 27%
New Mexico: 20%
Arizona: 33%
Nevada: 35%

Also I'm confusing myself with the two threads now. I meant to post this in my other thread.
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Offline vangremlin

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Re: Penny is Back in the Shop! Thread for My Mechanic
« Reply #27 on: March 20, 2017, 11:37:02 AM »
Looks good!  The tint should really help keep it cooler.  Is Penny home from the shop now?
1981 Kammback 258 - "Pepe"
1980 Coupe 258 - "Ginger
1972 Gremlin X 304
1978 Gremlin 4 cyl 121 - sold
1964 TBird 390 - sold

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Re: Penny is Back in the Shop! Thread for My Mechanic
« Reply #28 on: March 20, 2017, 03:13:30 PM »
Little over a week and hopefully I'll have it back.
1983 AMC Eagle SX/4 - Penny

 

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