AMC Eagle Den Forum
Information and News => Hatchlings => Topic started by: Bluevan on April 19, 2022, 09:56:56 PM
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I picked up this 85 Eagle last fall after finding it cheap on craigslist. Right before winter sets in is not the best time to buy a car, but I always kinda wanted one of these and I couldn't pass it up. It is suprisingly rust free for a new england car and the interior is in great shape. It also hasn't been modified much by previous owners.
I have been lurking here for a few months and have fixed some odds and ends recently now that the weather is getting warmer. I still have a list of things that I plan to do to get it to pass inspection and cruise comfortably without worry.
The amount of smog stuff on this car is mind boggling. It doesnt run particularly great so I am contemplating ditching the carb for something simpler as well as jettisoning a bunch of the smog stuff. Here in NH they are not very strict about having all that stuff in place.
Here are some pictures - hopefully they load OK.
Joel
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Nice looking Bird! Welcome to The Den.
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Wow! That is a beautiful Eagle, I like the exterior color combo, so often those woodies are paired with brown. Nice pick up, and welcome to the Den!
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Nice! If it's not running quite right, it might be a good idea to first replace every rubber vacuum line under the hood. My car ran like crap when I got it and it turned out to be leaking vacuum lines and a bad choke pull-off. I also rebuilt the carb and set it to factory spec and it ran like NEW for very little money.
All of the emissions equipment are there for a reason, many people remove things because they do not understand the purpose (e.g. EGR). Don't blindly start removing things just because you can't understand what it does as it can impact other things. Definitely inspect vacuum hoses and be specific under what circumstances it doesn't run particularly great and folks here can offer help. Does it only run bad when cold or warm or upon hitting the gas or cruising, etc.
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The Eagle as a hard time starting after it sits for a day. Once it starts it will stay running but its pretty gutless when driving around. It seems low on power and struggles up steep hills. I had a CJ with this same motor that I plowed with and that thing seemed to have gobs of torque, but it was a stick so may be not comparable. I'm sure the gear ratio in the Eagle (2.35) is not helpful.
As far as emissions goes, so far I have only taken out the air pulse injection stuff. The tube that ran from the exhaust manifold to the cat was rusted in half so it wasn't doing anything anyway. Still has a piece sticking out of the manifold that needs to be sealed up - maybe doing that might help? The car came with factory service manuals so I can consult them about the identification of the other smog stuff.
Drove it to my inspection guy today to get an idea of what I need for a sticker. Turns out all I need is to fix the exhaust leak on the manifold - could use some rear shocks and strut rod bushings, but those wont keep it from passing. He was actually impressed by the condition of it and said everyone hes ever seen was a rusted pile of :censored:
Joel
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hi, welcome and nice Eagle! hard starting may be caused by the fuel bowl draining. If it's the original carb, it could definitely use a rebuild. Lack of power could be a clogged or semi clogged catalytic converter. Since you're not using the pulse air anyway, I recommend a modern free flow cat. Those old air injection types , without the air injection, could get so hot as to catch the above carpet on fire. good luck, gz
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The tube that is part of the air injection that goes into the exhaust manifold - is that threaded in? If so I was thinking that I could try and heat whats left of it up with a torch and unscrew it, then put in a pipe plug. Its pretty much buried from the top side so I need to move some stuff. Any suggestions on sealing up this exhaust leak would be welcome.
Thanks!
Joel
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hi, 1985 should not have air injection, it should have a pulse air system. can you send a picture?
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I had a leak from that same spot on my manifold. Looked like it went to AIR, but it was all gone. Mine did not seem to be threaded, just an open piece of pipe for an AIR tube to clamp on to. What I did to fix mine, was heat it up with a torch until it glowed. Then, I squeezed it with a set of two-foot channel locks. Repeated squeezings with a vice grip should have the same effect. Took about three heats to squeeze it mostly flat. Then I stuffed exhaust cement in the flattened tip; the ends had a tiny hole I couldn't seem to flatten out. Short of pulling the manifold or searching for some kind of block off cap, that was the only option I could think of. It's been good for a few years now.
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Thanks for the compliments. I have had a lot of older cars and trucks over the years and I am pretty excited about this Eagle, it has lots of potential.
amcfool, you are right. I guess that in my mind they are the same thing and I need to be more specific with my terminology. I have attached a picture of the parts that got evicted. Anything that I take off this car will be tagged and put in a box in case some future owner wants /needs to put it back to stock.
I dug into this today and as Illeagle indicated the pipe off the exhaust manifold seemed to be part of it. I removed the crusty remnants of the AIR tube off and took a piece of non rusted out tubing I removed previously and welded a plug in the end. It will fit over the pipe and get a clamp. The clamp is like a tiny "U bolt" style exhaust clamp (3/4") which nobody seems to have so I ordered one. Should have it together in the next day or so.
Thank you everyone for your insights.
Joel
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hi, not sure what that opening is for. It MAY be the bung for the "downstream" O2 sensor. Just plug it. My 84 does not have it, but then again, I have a complete new exhaust system, it may have been there originally. gz
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Plugged the hole with the cap I made and no more exhaust leak, then went back to the garage and got an inspection sticker!
:occasion14:
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Now that the Eagle is in compliance with the authorities, I can start enjoying it.
amcfool, that opening is where that tube for the pulse air tube connected to the exhaust. I guess its not on the manifold but on the exhaust pipe below the manifold.
I plan to keep doing upgrades this summer and keep it on the road. I have fixed up several old cars over the years and many times I have fell down a hole where it gets disabled and stays that way too long. I want to keep this as a running, usable project as much as possible. I have read on the forums about carb and HEI conversions, which I am considering. Any upgrade suggestions would be welcome.
Joel
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If you can afford it there are several fuel injection options. But nothing wrong with well adjusted carb. 4.0 cylinder head is a 40 HP upgrade and head and cam is over 50 hp upgrade.
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Nice looking eagle, great find!
The Eagles mostly had high gearing, yours is most likely the 2.35 gear ratio unless it was ordered differently.
Coupling that with the 110 horsepower 210 torque engine and weigh in around 3500 lbs so they are slow compared to new vehicles.
It could be that your catalytic converter is partially clogged, how many miles are on it and is it an original cat?
Does the exhaust sound struggled?
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hi, not sure what that opening is for. It MAY be the bung for the "downstream" O2 sensor. Just plug it. My 84 does not have it, but then again, I have a complete new exhaust system, it may have been there originally. gz
If this was pulse air originally instead of a smog pump there should be an upstream air port somewhere. Smog pumps liked to inject up at the exhaust ports but this indicates it was further down, past the O2 sensor.
(https://www.justanswer.com/uploads/supermechanic/2009-07-28_235546_AIR1.gif)
If you aren't putting a proper replacement cat with an air tube and you passed inspection as-is there shouldn't be an issue removing the rest of it.
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Softbuster, this Eagle does indeed have a 2.35 gear ratio. It has 96000 miles on it and I believe has the original cat. The air tube going to it was rusted off so it was creating a leak and I suspected that it could be a blockage issue so I took it out and replaced with a piece of straight pipe. It did not really make a huge difference, but the more I drive the car the better it seems to get. At some point I will put a new high flow cat under there. This car is not going to win any races but it works great for cruising around. Been getting lots of compliments.
MIPS, thanks for the diagram. Now I can remove the rest of that stuff and clean up under the hood a bit. I will keep it all if someday a future owner wants to (or has to) put it all back.
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Yeah even used some of those parts are starting to be worth something. I've seen a few places that changed the rules on older vehicle emissions (no annual testing required but now all specced hardware must be installed to pass a visual inspection) and now that bits like the formed hoses and valves are not being made it's up to whoever hoarded these bits to get it working again.