News: Putting FUN and FRIENDLINESS, FIRST into owning and learning about AMC small bodied cars, primarily Eagles, Spirits and Concords as well as vehicles built in AMC's Mexican subsidiary, VAM.

The AMC Eaglepedia can now be accessed using the buttons found below  This is a comprehensive ever growing archive of information, tips, diagrams, manuals, etc. for the AMC Eagle and other small bodied AMC cars. 

Also a button is now available for our Face Book Group page.


Welcome to the AMC Eagles Nest.  A new site under "old" management -- so welcome to your new home for everything related to AMC Eagles, Spirits and Concords along with opportunities to interact with other AMC'ers.  This site will soon be evolving to look different than it has and we will be incorporating new features we hope you will find useful, entertaining and expand your AMC horizons.

You can now promote your topics at your favorite social media site by clicking on the appropriate icon (top upper right of the page) while viewing the topic you wish to promote.


  • March 28, 2024, 10:40:35 AM

Login with username, password and session length

Author Topic: Engine Swap and a Road Trip? Yes Please.  (Read 8971 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline amarshall

  • Eagle Sport
  • ****
  • Posts: 286
  • Thumbs Up 16
Re: Engine Swap and a Road Trip? Yes Please.
« Reply #15 on: May 17, 2017, 01:33:09 PM »
More please!
Wanted:  More time to work on my Eagle!

1988 Eagle Wagon - Overlander Build
http://forums.amceaglesden.com/index.php?topic=45852.0

Offline Prafeston

  • I <3 Wheels
  • Global Moderator
  • Eagle Turbo Diesel
  • *****
  • Posts: 1461
  • Thumbs Up 55
Re: Engine Swap and a Road Trip? Yes Please.
« Reply #16 on: May 18, 2017, 03:54:53 AM »
Nice work springing for the crate motor. Can't wait to see how that looks in there!
1983 AMC Eagle SX/4 - Penny

Offline djohnston89

  • Eagle
  • **
  • Posts: 40
  • Thumbs Up 10
Re: Engine Swap and a Road Trip? Yes Please.
« Reply #17 on: May 21, 2017, 11:21:39 PM »
Lots of work done today. Didn't quite get the engine in, but I'm pretty close. I was having some trouble getting it lined up with the bell housing. If anyone has any tips or tricks on that account I'd be happy to hear them :help:

What I did get done today was getting the new crate motor all dressed up and I actually got really lucky in that I appear to have dodged two of the biggest hang ups I've heard of regarding the 4.0 swap. First of all the boss's for the axle bracket on the back of the block were already tapped  :hello2: So that saved me a lot of work, but even better the motor mount/diff bracket on the driver side on my eagle (and maybe this applies to all late '87 and 88 eagles) is different than others I've seen and appears to be made to accommodate the 4.0 block. I didn't have to grind down that rib on the block, nor did I have to grind the bracket to fit, it just bolted right up. My guess is in late production they were gearing up to switch the eagles to the 4.0 in the event that production continued so they engineered a bracket that would fit both engines. (EDIT: You still have to do something about the bracket on the back of the motor, that one is not easily modified so grinding the block is probably the best option)

Here is my bracket:


And here is a bracket TheDarkSideofWill on the JeepStrokers forum had to modify:


as you can see the bump where he had to grind is less pronounced on my 87's bracket. In these next pictures you can also see that the later one has an opening in it where the other one does not and a support brace which is in a completely different place.



Anyway, I thought that was kind of interesting, but here's some photos of shiny stuff  :blob1:

Here's a photo of the engine partially dressed. I had originally planned to paint the motor itself AMC blue and the valve cover black, but ATK had already painted it gloss black so now I'm doing the opposite. The valve cover currently on it is a junkyard 4.0 cover I cleaned up a while back, and it's on there were two bolts and no gasket  just to keep everything under it cleaned and undamaged during installation. Now that I know it fits, I'll be installing the original 258 aluminum cover I have, but only after I've primed the oil pump and ensured the valve-train is getting oil prior to first start up.


Speaking of the 258 valve cover, I've painted and cleaned it and it's ready to go:


Actually, a lot of painting went on today. I try to get it done between other tasks so I had this little assembly line going


Here's a photo of the oil pickup screen. That was a bit of the pain in the butt as the special tool to install them appears to be made of unobtainium in Northern VA. Luckily my Dad was able to get ahold of one so I didnt have to keep goofing off trying to 'freeze it smaller' with an upside can of duster gas. (That trick totally does work for removing dizzy's on old EFI fords though, ask me how I know  8) )


Not sure why I didn't get one of the engine fully dressed, it looks a lot more complete with the oil pan, the flex plate and the harmonic balancer installed. I'll make sure to snap one tomorrow, although now that it's in the the bay you can really see those parts that well.

Anyway that's all for now, hopefully I'll be reporting back tomorrow with news that it's fully installed!









 
« Last Edit: June 10, 2017, 09:11:37 PM by djohnston89 »

Offline eaglefreek

  • Moderators
  • AMC Eagles Den Addicted
  • *****
  • Posts: 4011
  • Thumbs Up 209
Re: Engine Swap and a Road Trip? Yes Please.
« Reply #18 on: May 22, 2017, 09:08:14 AM »
I prefer to remove and install the engine with the transmission attached. It's much easier to align the transmission to the engine with it out of the car. Usually the biggest issue with not being able to get the bellhousing to mate to the engine, is the torque converter not being seated properly in the pump. DO NOT try to force the engine  and bellhousing together with bolts. If it doesn't go together don't force it, you'll ruin the transmission.  First make sure there isn't a pilot bearing in the end of the crank not allowing the converter to go into the end of the crank. To make sure the the torque converter is seated, you will have to rotate it and push on it and wiggle it. I pull it out to confirm it slides in. You should feel like 2 clunks when it's properly seated. Sometimes they are a bear to seat.
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 djohnston89

  • Eagle
  • **
  • Posts: 40
  • Thumbs Up 10
Re: Engine Swap and a Road Trip? Yes Please.
« Reply #19 on: June 10, 2017, 09:02:54 PM »
I'm ALIVE!!!!

Sorry I know I just kind of fell off the face of the earth there for a bit, but with the move and all I had a lot going on, then it took a while to get internet set up at the new place (I now work for a kind and generous ISP and wanted to wait for the perks to kick in because I'm a cheap skate)

Unfortunately I did not have the eagle road-ready in time to make the trip, so it got trailer'd out here by the penske truck with all my stuff in it. The motor is in it but I still have to run vacuum lines, find TDC and stab the dizzy. I also decided to go HEI to simplify things a bit, and that's on order and should be here in a few days.

I do have pictures of a lot more of the process to upload (including some fab work I did on the REAR front diff to block bracket to make it work without having to grind the block) but I have to recover them off my old cellphone that decided to die the day before I left.

For now here's the Eagle in my lovely new two car garage:


and an under the hood shot:


and another (which by the way, I totally recommend buying a sketchy ebay header for anyone else doing this swap, being made out of thin stainless makes them ideal for reshaping with a hammer. I think the two part kind for doing dual exhaust might be ever better still because it should give more options for clearance.

Offline Prafeston

  • I <3 Wheels
  • Global Moderator
  • Eagle Turbo Diesel
  • *****
  • Posts: 1461
  • Thumbs Up 55
Re: Engine Swap and a Road Trip? Yes Please.
« Reply #20 on: June 18, 2017, 02:21:10 PM »
beautiful! Can I have that engine bay!
1983 AMC Eagle SX/4 - Penny

Offline djohnston89

  • Eagle
  • **
  • Posts: 40
  • Thumbs Up 10
Re: Engine Swap and a Road Trip? Yes Please.
« Reply #21 on: November 28, 2017, 04:05:39 PM »
Finally got around to editing the mountain of go-pro footage from the engine swap down to a watchable montage and got things together here in CO to do more episodes!  :blob1:

It's nice to get the momentum back after being preoccupied with other things the last few months, can't wait to get this thing on the road :D

https://youtu.be/pE0jZMOl6JE


Offline mudkicker715

  • Administrator
  • AMC Eagles Den Addicted
  • ******
  • Posts: 3002
  • Thumbs Up 167
Re: Engine Swap and a Road Trip? Yes Please.
« Reply #22 on: November 28, 2017, 06:36:34 PM »
Nice.



Manitowoc WI

Offline eaglefreek

  • Moderators
  • AMC Eagles Den Addicted
  • *****
  • Posts: 4011
  • Thumbs Up 209
Re: Engine Swap and a Road Trip? Yes Please.
« Reply #23 on: November 29, 2017, 08:04:05 AM »
Good job. I'm jealous of your Milwaukee impact, but you need to get rid of the adjustable wrenches. I call them rounder wrenches because they do a good job of rounding of nuts and bolts. Waiting to hear it start up.
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

 

SMF spam blocked by CleanTalk