AMC Eagle Den Forum

Eagle Gallery => Eagle Road Trips => Topic started by: Mauieagle80 on October 07, 2017, 04:34:56 AM

Title: Cross country in an new to us eagle!!!!
Post by: Mauieagle80 on October 07, 2017, 04:34:56 AM
Me and my fiance recently purchased a  80 eagle sport wagon on long island and had it shipped to a Friends shop in Ohio. He checked over in and repaired some frame rust for us. We have never even seen the car in person and will fly from our jungle home on Maui to go to my nieces wedding in the heartland. From them we intend to drive it north towards Minnesota then to the mountains of colorado and to explore the southwest on our way to the city of angels where we will ship the eagle home to Maui. It will be a adventure to say the least. We plan on a lil camping and alot of exploring back roads. I will try to post many pictures of our eagles wings and the country we will glide it over.  Our car is a nice creme color with a 258 auto and full time tcase. By the time we leave Ohio the rear will have a 2 inch
Lift and the front will have 1 inch boost. It currently has 235 75s on it but i have a set of 28 inch super swampers ready to be mounted. I also have the factory fog lights(broken ones) upgraded to 34 watt LED's to held watch out for those road critters.  Wish us luck and we will keep you updated. By the way we are first time eagle owners and long time jeepers. Aloha!!

The people in the picture are some great Friends of mine and long time gearhead buddy who helped make our dream vacation a reality.
Title: Re: Cross country in an new to us eagle!!!!
Post by: vangremlin on October 07, 2017, 11:05:01 AM
Congrats on your new Eagle and it sounds like a you have a great vacation planned.  May the Eagle serve you well for many years to come.

Let me know when you come through Colorado, I live just outside of Denver, maybe we can meet up along with some of the other local Eagle owners.

When you say you upgraded the fog lights, did you replace them entirely, or did you install LED lights into the original Marchal lights?  That second option would be a pretty cool upgrade.

Safe travels!
Title: Re: Cross country in an new to us eagle!!!!
Post by: Mauieagle80 on October 07, 2017, 04:54:05 PM
Thanks for the invitation! We will be in denver for a day or so and  would love to meet some other owners. As far as we know there is only one or 2 on maui where we live. 

As for the lights my buddy simply replaced them with  small led bars. He did alot for us in his spare time checking over the car and making sure its road worthy. Radiator, shocks, brakes, hoses, bulbs,  u joints, tranny flush, and all other fluids. Including major front frame repair. So i havent asked him for too much custom touches like that. But i beleive he saved the housings so i may do that down the road and move the leds to a roof basket.

 I have always been a hotrodder and a jeeper so i have hopes of combining both in in the eagle to make it the perfect maui cruiser.
 
I beleive we will be in the denver area from the 22nd to the 24th so we will message you somtime before then.   Aloha!
Title: Re: Cross country in an new to us eagle!!!!
Post by: Prafeston on October 15, 2017, 05:04:49 PM
This is going to be fun to follow!
Title: Re: Cross country in an new to us eagle!!!!
Post by: rollguy on October 17, 2017, 10:18:59 AM
Although I am Eagle-less now, you will probably be passing right near where I live on your way to LA.  I have not been hanging around here much, but have a renewed interest. Send a p.m. if you would like to meet up on your way......Rich
Title: Re: Cross country in an new to us eagle!!!!
Post by: Mauieagle80 on October 17, 2017, 01:07:32 PM
Well we have officially hit the road. We wanted to by kenosha wisc but our drive got late last night. We are now in western wisconsin. The eagle is flying along well. It has a bit of oil leaking out of the valve cover, but otherwi
Ise has good power. It is loaded down with about 800lbs of winch , jack, tools, roofop carrier for luggage, fridge/freezer, 4  28x8.5 super swampers mounted on cherokee honeycombs, and various other things. We put 2 inch blocks on the rear with homemade shock extemsions, and squeezed a 1 3/4 inch rubber coil spacer up front to keep the 235 75 15s out of the front wheel wells. Once loaded i had ro install helper springs to the rear for the same reason. But aside from a few mystery noises and the oild leakage which is about a quart every 500 miles idt is smooth sailing. We are very happy with its highway performance so far. More pictures coming soon!
Title: Re: Cross country in an new to us eagle!!!!
Post by: Mauieagle80 on October 17, 2017, 04:26:42 PM
Here is some pics so far
Title: Re: Cross country in an new to us eagle!!!!
Post by: Mauieagle80 on October 17, 2017, 04:29:42 PM
And more
Title: Re: Cross country in an new to us eagle!!!!
Post by: Mauieagle80 on October 17, 2017, 04:31:10 PM
More
Title: Re: Cross country in an new to us eagle!!!!
Post by: Mauieagle80 on October 17, 2017, 04:31:44 PM
More
Title: Re: Cross country in an new to us eagle!!!!
Post by: trooper5707 on October 17, 2017, 05:32:07 PM
Nice looking car, thanks for sharing!
Title: Re: Cross country in an new to us eagle!!!!
Post by: Budwisr on October 17, 2017, 06:30:28 PM
Yep, keep them coming!
Title: Re: Cross country in an new to us eagle!!!!
Post by: vangremlin on October 17, 2017, 07:16:38 PM
Thanks for the pics!!
Title: Re: Cross country in an new to us eagle!!!!
Post by: JONAS78028 on October 18, 2017, 12:53:09 PM
Diggin those swampers!  I'm running mud terrains on my wife's Eagle.  We like the look and ability.
Title: Re: Cross country in an new to us eagle!!!!
Post by: Mauieagle80 on October 20, 2017, 12:49:45 AM
Yeah i cant wait to get those on there. Just saving the tsls tread till i get to the rockies. With the aluminum wheels they are lighter than what i have on and i will be shedding 3 tires worth of weight and since the swampers are a touch smaller i should pick up a lil pep from the old bird.  I also plan to do all the ford upgrade ignition parts tommorrow in minneapolis. We also are getting a windshield replacement tommorrow. We have a nice crack up the drivers side.  Here are some pictures we took lately. Enjoy!
Title: Re: Cross country in an new to us eagle!!!!
Post by: maddog on October 20, 2017, 01:49:01 AM
welcome and that is a nice wagon dude.  I also have an 80 wagon but is nowhere near as nice as yours is. If if you want to see what it looks like click the link below in my post. BTW I'm in southern Colorado in the Pueblo area.
Title: Re: Cross country in an new to us eagle!!!!
Post by: Mauieagle80 on October 23, 2017, 12:26:59 PM
Well we made it to the rockies!!! Where an eagle can fly! Turns out we have to get a windsheild put in in denver. So we are at Latinos auto glass. The only window i could find in the region was right around the corner from here. We will be in denver today and tomorrow. Today may be busy but if any of you other denver eagle folks are around tommorrow it would be fun to gather round some where. Just let me know. Anybody can call me at 937 232 7338. My name is Shane.
Title: Re: Cross country in an new to us eagle!!!!
Post by: rmick on October 23, 2017, 10:41:29 PM
Do you have any plans to see the Rambler Ranch while in Colorado? This is a must for any AMC fan if you have the time.
Title: Re: Cross country in an new to us eagle!!!!
Post by: Mauieagle80 on November 05, 2017, 01:48:01 AM
We made it!! 4000 miles through 13 states in a 37 year old  Eagle! It was a fun trip and the bird is sitting in california waiting on a boat to take it to paradise. It did see some pretty countryside. From the Ohio river valleys to the driftless parts of the midwest, we saw the worlds only corn palace, and swam in hot springs of Colorado. We climbed mountains deep in mining country then rolled down the canyon walls and through pucker pass in Moab and blasted across the deserts at night past the lights of sin city at night. The Eagle never slipped a tire and only once dragged the hitch. It wasnt without trouble as we had a mildly serious oil spraying issue. It used about a quart every 2 tanks so not in the emergency realm. We had to replace the windsheild in denver because the shippers wouldnt take it with broken glass. We got it replaced by a great lil glass shop by the name of Latinos auto glass. After taking the jeep shortcut out of Arches national park and over to Long Trail road down pucker pass the well worn rubber parts of the front end seemed almost non existent. But it slill handled fine on the road even with the soft rubber of the swampers on it. We averaged around 13.5-14 mpg even with about 700lbs of cargo inside and on top of the roof.
  Even with never before riding in an eagle me and my lady love Josi both got very comfortable in it. Nice smooth ride and those big comfy seats really took care of us. We rented a new crew cab half ton dodge in san diego and after about an hour we were both complaining about how uncomfortable the ride was compared to our Eagle. We cant wait to get it here so our dogs can enjoy it with us. I already have some new gaskets and a rear main seal coming. Thinking about getting a weber 38 to match my jeeps motor this weekend too. Its missing a headliner so we will probably do a hawaiin floral fabric for that and should be cool. I will get more pictures up soon and will make some youtube videos of the trip i will post.  And no unfortunately we didnt make it to the rambler ranch but we saw quite a few amcs  up in  Mordo SD. Mostly Rebels Amxs and a Pacer.   Aloha everyone!!
Title: Re: Cross country in an new to us eagle!!!!
Post by: vangremlin on November 05, 2017, 09:23:55 AM
Glad to hear you had a safe trip and the Eagle performed so well.  It's great that you didn't have any  vehicles issues to deal with.  I'm sorry we weren't able to meet up when you were in Denver, you had a pretty packed schedule so maybe another time lol.  Looking forward to the pictures and videos.
Title: Re: Cross country in an new to us eagle!!!!
Post by: mudkicker715 on November 05, 2017, 03:04:42 PM
Good to hear it was good trip.
Title: Re: Cross country in an new to us eagle!!!!
Post by: amarshall on November 06, 2017, 02:47:26 PM
Fantastic report!  Good to know there are other Eagles out there making the cross-country journey.  I'm no expert, but I've worked through several of the issues you mentioned.  My advice would be to combine that rear main seal job with a front suspension rebuild.  If you are doing control arm bushings anyway, you are most of the way to getting the oil pan out from below.

Congrats on a great trip!
Title: Re: Cross country in an new to us eagle!!!!
Post by: Mauieagle80 on November 07, 2017, 02:03:57 AM
Thanks for the advice i wil most likely be tearing all that apart at once. Hopefully i get a little more life out of the motor if i can get it to hold it oil. Other wise i have a few good and fun and crazy options to keep the eagle flying. Have a the original 258 out of my cj waiting on full rebuild, a v8 zj that we are replacing with a bronco, or a 302 5spd 1356 combo if i want to get crazy. Only time will tell.
And here is a few more pitcures for yall.
Title: Re: Cross country in an new to us eagle!!!!
Post by: Mauieagle80 on November 07, 2017, 02:12:23 AM
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Title: Re: Cross country in an new to us eagle!!!!
Post by: Mauieagle80 on November 07, 2017, 02:14:52 AM
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