AMC Eagle Den Forum
The Shop => Project Cars => Topic started by: atmafox on July 26, 2019, 02:11:29 PM
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So, after so much hassle she's finally home and in the garage.
To cover what's happened so far: Getting frozen valves unstuck and replacement of the pushrods (somehow she ran on 2 cylinders -- like hot garbage but ran) due to throwing pushrods because of said frozen valves.
Then the gearbox let go -- likely from running on 2 cylinders due to the weakness of the TC hub on the TF998. New to me TF998 and a lot of money to have a shop do it since I couldn't very well drive her home. So that's a joy.
Then the rear driver brake auto-disassembled inside the drum and I had to have her hauled home from KC to Denver anyway. That's going to be a mess when I get to it. Also, the master cylinder has blown a seal and is gulping air. Headliner is doing the customary sagging, none of the windows or front glass seal, the (possibly OEM?) tint is forming all kinds of bubbles and such -- old age? So this one'll be a lot of work, but I think I may have one of the only (until I register her) single owner Eagles left in the world. Dunno there. Rear diff has a pretty bad seep around the cover plate, leaf springs are collapsed, suspension all around needs servicing and we're dealing with bolts that haven't been touched for $DEITY only knows how long -- lots of ATF/acetone blend to get them loosened. She's also throwing nasty black dust out of the HVAC whenever air moves through it and most the gauges either are nonfunctional or barely functional -- heck, the clock only comes on at all when the headlights are on. Besides that she seems stuck in high beams. All of the safety lighting works, though -- small favors.
Oh, and she needs a repaint pretty badly. Previous owner was a body knocker and had repainted her a beautiful silver back around '88 or so. Unfortunately he started a new restoration then promptly had a stroke and stopped being able to work on her, which left her in a field until I found her.
Pictures will be coming along soon. Good news is the motor and new-to-us gearbox run quite well. Plus plenty of small favors. This'll be a long restoration, and eventually she's going to get a 4.0HO head/EFI/etc but keep the 258cu bottom end. Maybe an Eaton M90 (got two sitting around unused from previous projects) supercharger, unsure as yet.
My most ambitious part of the project will be adapting a GS6-53BZ 6MT out of a BMW to fit. That'll take some work at the tail plus removing the BMW bellhousing and attaching a bellhousing from a suitable AMC I6 mount. The gear ratios line up quite nicely from my calculations and the gearbox is quite svelte so shouldn't have fitment issues. Length'll be fun, but a custom prop shaft should do me, or mounting the t-case divorced; thinking an NP242. But first priority is to get her driveable and registered then I'll eventually start gathering all the other needed parts.
Long,rambly post but a good overview of the project facing me on this gal. Named her Skunk after the previous owner's paint scheme and a little pipe cleaner skunk we found in her when we got her.
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I would love to see pics!
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Good luck with your new project, sounds like you have your work cut out for you. And like the previous poster said, we'd love to see pictures!
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I await the pictures to take us through the development.
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Still no pictures (I'm horrible about them) but will have some while I'm doing the brake job.
Which brings me to: I've just ordered a stem to stern brake job. Everything available for the front and rear brakes, booster, soft lines, parking brake cables, the whole shebang. Only things I can't find are:
- The brake booster cylinder
- Perhaps a couple of pieces for the rear drums like some of the stamped steel parts that are (hopefully) still good in mine. Did get the auto-adjuster rebuild kit for each rear though.
Also, going to have her front and rear glass resealed on Tuesday so she'll finally be able to be outside without water penetration.
So progress is happening!
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hi, sounds like a challenging project. I went through something similar with my 84 sedan. Any small parts that are reusable but rusty, soak 'em in some Evaporust for a day or so, and they will be as good as new. Available in most good hardware stores. Or, if you want the 5 gal bucket, @$80., from Amazon, Stuff really works! good luck, gz
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So got some brake work done and got the pictures of her as she stands. Honestly I think she's beautiful and in beautiful shape. New glass up front, refreshed glass rear. Pretty nice interior.
The last picture is a pucker moment; the driver side front brake flare for the softline connection was frozen to the hardline so snapped the hardline clear off. I need a new hardline now.
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Progress! Keep up the good work!
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Nice, a 2 door sedan. Looks good.
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More work! The front brakes are done and we used good stainless steel hardline so no more corrosion problem here!
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Well, back to my tube and hose shop. The rear brake lines were corroded beyond belief. Got them out, mostly intact... had to do it this way anyway after the flare nut going to the old rear brake hose on the driver side tube rounded out despite penetrating oil, heat, etc. Just too much corrosion.
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40 years worth of corrosion!
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After a bit of a break, got the entire set of brake work done with the exception of the forward parking brake cable and that's on the list soon. There're electrical gremlins a plenty still and I seem to keep finding more, but at least she'll be movable under her own power safely. Progress, however small.
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So, I bought a house and moved and such.
But Skunk came with me and now has tags! Took her on a hundred mile round trip and she performed admirably. Though that's after I rebuilt her carb, replaced all the vacuum hose, and corrected all the improper routing.
Had to take the carb off again too clean the idle air bleed tubes though, as in the last few miles of the drive she developed a stall coming to stops. So hopefully get the carb back together and on the car tomorrow and take her out again.
Having to do a lost title but pretty close to done there too.
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Didja drill out the bottom of the idle bleed tubes per the AMC Service Letter?? Cures a lot of BBD issues.
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Yup! Fixed most of the issues right up then got a professional tune and she's running like a dream. Now onto suspension, steering, and wheel bearings!
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Got ahead of myself last post. Next step was to build an exhaust! It's almost done, thanks to the wife who is a superb welder. I'll post pictures after it's all cleaned up and everything.
And I've started spending way too much money on amclives.com to get all the parts needed to totally overhaul the suspension.
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And I've started spending way too much money on amclives.com to get all the parts needed to totally overhaul the suspension.
Way to support those AMC specialty suppliers!! ;D
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Exhaust is in! That's a flowmaster series 50 in there and man is she nice and quiet. Positively civilized!
Wife and I put it together over a couple of weekends.
http://imgur.com/gallery/7oyRM97
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Looking good!
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Just scored a haul of parts off a showroom quality '80 Eagle 2dr Sedan -- sadly the poor bird had a barn fall in on it so it wasn't salvageable, but these parts are just amazing -- pictures will happen soon.
• Front and rear bumpers with endcaps that are still soft and pliant
• Fully intact rear valence
• Full set of seats in burgundy
• Side markers with no sun fade whatsoever
I might be trading my old ignition system including spark box for a front skid plate and some other stuff, unsure yet. It's hard to convey just how clean this poor Eagle was before the barn came down.
With great sadness,
-Atma