1980 Eagle Sport STW 258+TF998 "Silver Beast" (from Finland)

[juhap]

Got transfer case out of that old gearbox. It had been out before, because there were black silicone all over...



Sandblasted and painted some transmission parts...



Front axle is still hanging on that old motor. Needs some cleaning.



I had an extra front axle, original one of my V8 Eagle. I did not know if it was any good... So I did "a bucket test". It leaked oil... No good...



I had painted rear cover, made a new breather hose, taken old oil out... New oil is on its way, 1,2 litres... It is easy to pour in this stage.. More challenging when it is on its place...



Then it was time to bolt that cover on and make final cleaning and painting...



It is time to bolt all these cleaned parts together... Clean parts are happy parts...

[juhap]

Transfer case on its position.



The other side...



Some wiring improvement done.

[vangremlin]

Looking very good!

[juhap]

Thank you...

Front rearend..



..on its place...

[juhap]

Then next day it was time to throw front crossmember in...



..it sits nicely...



Today I managed to get new motor in... almost there



And finally.



Fits like a glove.



Nice...



Not so nice. 

[juhap]

Have been busy, but had some time to fix this. Idler arm, antiroll bar and those brackets are in place. Did some sandblasting too...



I could get motor lower, so there is now some clearance here... 8 mm to be exact...

[juhap]

Started assembling... exhaust bracket to gearbox and then front suspension. All went well, but one control arm rod had bent...



...like this... I had to do something. Oxy asethylen I guess... Now I know, why one control arm was tilted...



After bending that rod back to right position, I could do more. I used phosphoric acid to treat surface rust of upper control arms and brake calipers.

Then it was christmas eve, I changed motor oil and filter and painted calipers black...





MERRY CHRISTMAS    🎅

[juhap]

Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way... It´s christmas day and I had a little time to do... assembling...

[juhap]

It was time to put steering parts together. Had to do it several times, because there is not enough space and parts must be placed in right order...




The next day was brake day... Both front and rear brakes done. Found some movement on steering... bad luck.. It was steering gear.  steering arm moves about 3 mm (1/8")    Hope that my parts Eagle has a good one...




Rear brakes needed just cleaning and painting. Removed that red paint and some rust. Painted all black.
Did some under body coating.  You can see a little bit of it inside of the wheel well...



Cleaned and painted that transfer case guard.



And after many months Eagle has landed to its wheels..

[vangremlin]

You've been busier than Santa's elves at this time of year!  Keep up the great work!

[juhap]

Because Santa lives here in Finland, we all work like elves... all year long...

Today I went to my storage and picked up "new" steering gear from my other Eagle Sport...

[Blip Downshift]

You're doing a great job.  I've always wondered how difficult it would be to install the engine from the bottom.  I did it the old fashioned way (from the top) and it was difficult.  I will be trying this on my next rebuild.

[juhap]

Thank you..

Installing from the bottom is the only way, if you are making V8 conversion, like I did some years ago...

I did only once from the top (with Eagle) and it was very difficult, especially some bellhousing bolts gave me gray hair... rust, no space, had to do tools to get them. 
And after all that trouble, I had to jack my Eagle up to the celiling of my old garage, because I couldn´t get gear shifter apart from T5... rust.

[juhap]

Transfercase has now new fluid. Most of the old is on garage floor... just a little drop was in...



Then it was time for speedometer cable and skid plate...



Old exhaust pipe out, new in...



Noticed that old end was very much like new. Maybe from a Hornet.



The best bracket sandblasted and painted.



Testing new exhaust pipe to see what kind of brackets it needs...



Some new ones...

[juhap]

It was time to create a new exhaust system. First I bolted exhaust manifold and intake manifold on head... And then new front pipe.
It did not fit perfectly...  It is not exact copy of the original...     Main issue is the aluminium tranny oil pan.  If I had original, it would fit so and so..



Compared old and new... There are some major differences...



I cleaned the old one and painted it with heat proof paint.



It was very difficult to find right position to all curves, because they went every  time wrong...
Then I remembered that my -84 Wagon had a catalytic converter... Now I could see how it should be.



Done!



Emergency brake cable did not move... So I had to take it out and oil it and make it move with raw power... 



Adjuster had a lot or rust and nuts did not move at all, no it works.



And then an easy job to finish my days work...



Air cleaner needs some attention too...



...because there is a Motorcraft carb.



Size matters...