Eric & Pamela's '83 SX4

[BaldEagle]

Hello All:
I just recently purchased a red '83 Eagle SX4 automatic from Casper here on the board.
My wife's handle is Euphonical, so that you know she's also an owner when she posts here.
We're very excited to have purchased this car to replace our totaled '84 wagon, and hope to someday have it restored to "show condition"!
Casper has done much work to it already:
TFI upgrade, aluminum valve covers, MC2150, power door locks, and a lot mechanically. It still has some mech. bugs to work out, such as running too warm, and an apparent lack of power compared to our previous wagon. That is what I'm starting on first, then making her pretty again.
 
I won't bore you all with every little thing that this car needs, but the pictures will show most of the body and interior work needed. Casper rescued this car from a kid that was going to mud-bog it, so there is hardly a strait panel on it, but it is very rust free. Despite the extensive body work needed, we want to restore this car and show it partly because of some of the rare options that it has:
Rear wiper, factory alloys, skidplate, block heater, and center gauge pod. It was the PO's theory, and I agree, that it was an Alaskan car hence the rear wiper, skidplate, and block heater. I've seen a few others online with the rear wiper, but they do seem few and far between. Any insight or history would be greatly appreciated!



http://s387.photobucket.com/albums/oo319/ericget/1983%20AMC%20Eagle%20SX4/

[eaglefreek]

Looks like you got some work ahead of you, I look forward to the progress.

[Pat]

I see another rare option in that pic - an intact hood release handle!!!

[BaldEagle]

Sorry to hear about the job, Casper. At least the sale of your car may help to pay some bills, although I'm sure you would have rather put the money into another rig. I've yet to look through the paperwork much, but the rear wiper being an Alaskan thing does make sense.

Yes, as far as I can tell the hood release handle is the rarest of the factory options! 
We thought that would be a good one to post, since there's no good "complete car" pics yet. The photos are mainly just close-ups of the damage, so they really make it look worse than it is. The thought did cross my mind that all of those options bolt-on, but I'd say that being rust-free qualifies it for being saved, and prob 90% of the body damage is also bolt-on.
~E

[captspillane]

Nice purchase! The red and black sport SX4 is iconic. Most of us gained an interest in Eagles because of that exact image.

The skid plate is precious, those are very hard to find. I think they were bolted on by the dealer as an option at purchase. I'm refering to a shaped thick slab of metal bridging the two supports in front of the crossmember, held on by Ubolts.

The rear wiper is actually very common. Having the plastic cover plate intact is not common at all. You're rather fortunate if that hasn't broken already. It's fragile.

The block heater is rare here in Pennsylvania, but not as rare as that skidplate. They're common in the Northeast region. The block heater is still readily available to purchase seperately from the car, so that might not be original.

Do you have a rear sway bar? That is rare to find on an SX4 but relatively common in Station Wagons with the towing packages.

[priya]

What you've shown of the body damage is relatively minor - looks like you've got a good one there!

[BaldEagle]

Nice purchase! The red and black sport SX4 is iconic. Most of us gained an interest in Eagles because of that exact image.
It's funny that you mention that, because prior to owning one, I had only known of and loved the wagons. Hopefully we'll have another project wagon next week!

The skid plate is precious, those are very hard to find. I think they were bolted on by the dealer as an option at purchase. I'm refering to a shaped thick slab of metal bridging the two supports in front of the crossmember, held on by Ubolts.
Especially precious to us here, where 3+ ft of snow is commonplace.

The rear wiper is actually very common. Having the plastic cover plate intact is not common at all. You're rather fortunate if that hasn't broken already. It's fragile.
There can't be that many Alaskan SX4's, so maybe our theory is shot. Probably just an option that wasn't chosen a lot?

The block heater is rare here in Pennsylvania, but not as rare as that skidplate. They're common in the Northeast region. The block heater is still readily available to purchase seperately from the car, so that might not be original.
True that aftermarkets are readily available......I'll have to take pics to see what you guys think.

Do you have a rear sway bar? That is rare to find on an SX4 but relatively common in Station Wagons with the towing packages.
I haven't looked yet, but Casper did say there was one. I had forgotten about that one!

Thanks, Priya.........I hope it is minor. Fortunately, I have an old friend that's a shop foreman at J&M auto body. Even if he doesn't lay a hand on it, his advice and connections will be invaluable.

[Draekon]

The skid plate and block heater combo is probably a good sign that it was an AK car.
My sx4 was originally an AK car, and also has the skid plate and block heater.

[BaldEagle]

The skid plate and block heater combo is probably a good sign that it was an AK car.
My sx4 was originally an AK car, and also has the skid plate and block heater.

Rear wiper???

[Euphonical]

rear wiper on sx4 is something i havent seen even in any pictures other than on this car. the station wagon the wiper is common. not sx4. i was told that in '82 ak law mandated that cars have a rear wiper. this being an 83, it has it. in the paperwork it does show where it was purchased in ak. and last winter, i DID have it plugged in, and the block heater did work. nice warm air coming out as soon as it was fired up!!

I've been using Facebook too much apparently, I was looking for the "Like" button 

Having a toasty heater in the winter at start-up with a carbureted car will be amazing!

[Draekon]

The skid plate and block heater combo is probably a good sign that it was an AK car.
My sx4 was originally an AK car, and also has the skid plate and block heater.

Rear wiper???

rear wiper on sx4 is something i havent seen even in any pictures other than on this car. the station wagon the wiper is common. not sx4. i was told that in '82 ak law mandated that cars have a rear wiper. this being an 83, it has it. in the paperwork it does show where it was purchased in ak. and last winter, i DID have it plugged in, and the block heater did work. nice warm air coming out as soon as it was fired up!!

Mine does not have the rear wiper, but it is an '81, so I guess no law required it at the time.

[captspillane]

They are rare, but all three of the 258 SX4's I own came with the rear wiper. I have two other spare hatches with rear wipers. Both Iron Duke SX4's I own didn't have the wiper but that's not surprising. One of those didn't even have a mirror on the passenger side door. I've seen nearly two dozen in junkyards. I saw more wipers than I did center gauge consoles.

In contrast when I found my first skid plate they became my holy grail of junkyard finds. I searched and searched and yet I never once found a second one until recently buying my most recent SX4. Sun roofs are very rare, but I've got four cars with those and a couple spares from the junkyard but only one car with a skidplate and exactly one spare from the junkyard.

I own four station wagons with sway bars and I've seen about a dozen sway bars in the junkyard. All of those cars came with the factory bumper hitch. I have one '81 SX4 that came with a factory bumper hitch but no rear sway bar and a different '83 SX4 without the bumper hitch but a rear sway bar. I've never seen another SX4 with a rear sway bar.

I haven't compared them to see if the SX4 bumper hitch is exactly the same as the station wagon version, but I suspect the bolt tabs are angled slightly different. I've only ever seen one SX4 hitch. I've been looking for those because the front bumper of a station wagon is the same as the rear of an SX4. I'm going to use a frame mounted hitch on the rear and the factory SX4 hitch on the front bumper between my brushgaurd uprights. I consider an SX4 bumper hitch rather rare and desireable.

[Pat]

Didn't know skid plates were rare. The first one I bought new (think someone said '81? Dealer told me leftover '80) Kamback had one from the factory. Was purchased in Pa.

[BaldEagle]

Got a bunch of work done today......
Took off the carb and sealed a bad vacuum leak with a new gasket
Hooked up the PCV system
Put on door handles, and fixed the linkage so they won't break (soon).
Did the seat incline mod to raise the back.

I got some new JY parts from a '81 Spirit too.........
pics to follow. 

[Prafeston]

Interested to see what you snagged from the Spirit!

[mach1mustang351]

I though all Eagles got skid plates.  I have had 2 wagons and 1 sx4 and all 3 had them. 

[Euphonical]

I drove it to work today and the seat mod helped my back a great deal! The car seems to be doing pretty good!

when I got to work one of the mechanics that didn't see it last week when I drove it came out and mentioned how much he liked it. He's a funny guy, he'd had a Concord years ago and he hated that car. It was the wagon type. He hated my wagon because of that too - so today he came wandering out of the shop as I was parking and yelled "at least it isn't a wagon" then he started going on about how much he liked that particular type of Eagle. I'm sure he'll be bummed when we get the wagon going and I drive it, but hey - can't please everyone LOL.

[BaldEagle]

Here's the seat back mod and door handles installed.
Both handles came from the junkyard Spirit.







The rest of the pics are of the Spirit stuff I got. It may not show up, but the rear corner panel extension is aluminum, and was bent enough to crack. The new one is straight and just needs some new speednuts to go on. Clickable thumbnails.






Our old pillar? trim was badly damaged from sagging doors at one time.



New ones just need paint, and the eagle emblem moved over.






Hood release handle does have a broken mounting tab, but I have it and will plastic weld it for backup.




It's not all that much, but for $20 I'm not complaining!
~E

[Baskinator]

I though all Eagles got skid plates.  I have had 2 wagons and 1 sx4 and all 3 had them. 

All Eagles had a [pretty thick] transfer case skid plate. The front crossmember skid plate is the rare option.

Eric/Pamela- What was wrong with the seat that you modified it? If it was leaning back too much, the culprit is most likely a busted seat frame. They often get stress fractures and will crack/bend along the sides, making the seats sink. You can take off the covers pretty easily to check by pulling off the plastic tabs on each side. The frames unbolt from under the car.

If you end up having to fix the seat frames, I'm sure a lot of people would appreciate some good photos.

[BaldEagle]

I'll have to check out those seat frames, but the driver's side angle did match the pass. one. I had read Rollguy's seat angle fix, so did the mod to fix it. Now it will recline as much as (I) like, and sit more upright for Pam.
http://forums.amceaglenest.com/index.php?topic=36179.0
~E

[BaldEagle]

No restoration work of recent........I've been trying to get her mechanically sound first.
I don't want to clutter up this build thread with mundane repair work so:
http://forums.amceaglenest.com/index.php?topic=39459.0
~E

[carguy87]

I have one of those front skid plates as well as a gauge pod, but have not been able to find any in the vehicles in the Michigan junk yards.  My eagle came with the tow option and no rear sway bar as well, quite depressed by that, but I can find an XJ one I guess.  That does look like a nice rig from the select pictures. 

[carguy87]

I see you got lucky with that factory broken tach, weird to see that wiper back there though, lol.

[BaldEagle]

Yes, the infamous Eagle tach is broken, so I'll likely put in a Ford one.

We've decided what direction to go in this car now. Not to copy Casper, but these are pretty common mods:
Keeping body 99% original
4.0 heads and camshaft
Headers and dual exhaust
Possible gearing change, if we don't like the 2.70
Aluminum radiator
Tranny cooler

The SX4 is supposed to be a sports car, right!?!...........so that's how we're going to build it.
We've been sorely disappointed with the 2.35 gearing that's currently in the rear, making our old wagon seem like a power horse in comparison. By keeping the body original, any mods done can be reversed, albeit at a great expense.
~E

[Euphonical]

I got a super fun thumbsup today on the way home! Since we live on the mountain there's a lot of campers going up the mountain in the summer. I was passed by a group of campers, they had an extended cab pickup and it was loaded with gear. A 'kid' (probably about 18 or so) was leaning out the window as they passed and staring at the car, then he started grinning and waving and doing a thumbs up. I wanted to catch up to them and see if the guy knew what kind of car it was or if he just thought it was an unusual four-by. But the police are really strict in that area and I didn't want a ticket LOL.