New here and looking at two eagles

[IowaEagle]

A happy wife means a happy life.

[OverKnight]

Well, Joe finally got his Eagle!

We picked up a 1986 Eagle Limited this past Friday.  It's got about 87,000 miles on it, and the body is quite solid and straight.  The main issues needing repair are:
1)   Exhaust System: The previous owner cut the catalytic converter out, so we had to jury-rig a connector pipe to get the car home.  We'll need to get a new converter, plus the downstream air tube, and then get everything correctly connected.
2)   Carburation: The previous owner claims to have rebuilt the car, but admits he may have not connected all of the vacuum lines correctly.  It runs okay at speed, but doesn't idle well at all.
3)   Brakes: They didn't feel great when we test-drove it, but they're worse than we thought.  There's plenty of lining left on the pads and shoes.  Possibly the power brake booster isn't getting sufficient vacuum.  A thorough flushing of the old brake fluid and careful bleeding may be all that's needed, but I think we'll probably rebuild the wheel cylinder and calipers, and maybe the master cylinder, and replace the rubber brake lines.
4)   Crankcase Pan: I don't know how I missed it, but someone missed the front crossmember with the floor jack and tried jacking on the crankcase pan, so I need to remove this and either try to hammer it back into shape or find a replacement.  Can the pan be removed without pulling the engine?
5)   Headliner: it's intact, but has become unglued from the board (or whatever it was glued to).  We'll need to remove this and re-glue it.
6)   Headlights: I've already posted a question about this in the electrical section, but I'll repeat it here; when the headlights are turned on, just the right headlight comes on, but when the high beams are turned on, all four bulbs come on.  My thought is that there's a problem with the high beam switch, but before we start tearing things apart, I'll solicit advice on where to start.

Thanks very much.

[HappyPappy]

  I can give you some insite on the vacuum, just need one line from the manifold to the dist, unless you need it all hooked up for emissions,

  Exhaust, NAPA use to carry a universal with the air port and they have a kit, rubber of some kind to hook the air tube up. It does not have the flange on it, may have to make one.

  Brakes, flush the system  and bleed everything real good. I'm not sure but a power booster from a Cherokee may fit, or get a rebuilt or have that one rebuilt. Rock Auto may have them.

  Crankcase pan, have to remove the front rear, easier the pulling the motor. You should be able to hammer it out. HINT, change the oil pump while you have the pan off. HINT #2, use the Fel Pro gasket, the $40.00  one. Get some 1/4 inch bolts, cut the head off, install the gasket, hold it up with some small "c" clips, tie a piece of fishing line to the clips, then once you have the pan in place pull the clips out and remove the studs, been there done that, works real well. May want to change the rear main seal too.  I used a high volume pump on mine. there are pro's and con's on that, but I would change the pump.

  Headlights, probably the low beam is burned out, pull it out and see if it is getting current

[OverKnight]

Thanks, Pappy.  If a car is registered and insured as a driver in New Jersey (not as historic or classic), I'm pretty sure it will require emissions testing, so we plan on repairing/refurbishing most or all of the emissions controls.

Places like Advance Auto carry catalytic converters that they claim will fit.  I suspect anything I get that's not from a Mopar dealer is going to be a generic/universal fit item; I don't even know if Mopar can still supply the exact replacement, and even if they did, I don't think I'd want to know their price.

The entire brake system absolutely needs to be thoroughly flushed, and the rubber flex hoses replaced.  Although there's plenty of lining on the pads and shoes, the pads are "crumbling" around the edges, and the shoes all have longitudinal cracks on them, so we'll replace these.  Although I didn't see any leakage from the calipers or cylinders, I was struck by how much rust was still on the rotors and drums after the 86-mile drive to get the car back up here, so as long as the pistons and bores aren't badly corroded, I'm planning on rebuilding them (I have a few cylinder/caliper hones) to both save some cash and teach Joe how to do this.

I really don't know how I missed the crankcase pan, because it's pretty badly pushed in.  However, the oil pressure is fine.  I'm not clear on you instructions, Pappy: "have to remove the front rear,...".  Could you elaborate?  The last thing I want to do I yank the engine out  .  Regarding the oil pump, the least I would do is to mike everything up and make sure everything is flat and has proper clearances.  I've already been through this with the pump in the stovebolt-6 in my '57 Chevy.  Advance Auto has a Melling pump for $70; if we can avoid this cost, we will.

We'll check out the bulbs, sockets and voltages for the headlights this weekend,

Thanks again.

[HappyPappy]

  The front rear is bolted to the engine. It's not hard at all to remove, just remember to unhook the rubber vent line before you let it down to far. With Joe helping you it won't be hard at all.  You have to unbolt each axle from it, allen bolts, tie them off so they don't hang freely.  There are too bolts that you have to take out from the top left side and two from under side and one near the far right side of the rear housing. When you reinstall it, make sure you put all the spacers, if any, back where they were, (on the far right bolt). I had the one in my Eagle out twice, by myself. It's not hard but a helper makes it much nicer. It's not heavy, just clumsily to get back up there. Start all the bolts before you tighten any of them, that will give you some wiggle room to get them started. The main thing is to be sure there is no binding on that right bolt. It will put a strain on the housing and inters. Also would be a great time to change te lube in the rear, almost impossible to do once it's back in.  You may have to jack the motor up a little to get the pan off. I would do that on the balance pulley unless you have a hoist, then lift it from the top

  They also sell rebuild kits for the stock pump. If the one you have is aluminum, I'd replace it with a cast iron one, just my thought.

 There is a vacuum hose diagram on here, but from experience I know what the difference is with them all off, or you can plug them with wood dowels, push them in far enough to get the hoses back on, that way their there.

  I just looked up the cat and that kit you'll need on the NAPA site, part # EXH 15031- $96.90, Air tube kit- 35574, no price on that, glad you don't need a Cal cat, $172.40,     They seem to have the whole exhaust system in stock, must have wised up. I had to make most of mine.

  You may won't to check NAPA for what they call "loaded calibers", they have everything to replace what you have, cal, pads, and hardware, sometimes cheaper to got that way then buy everything separately.  I drove my Eagle for three years and all the rust never came off the rotors, but then it sat for ten years too!!

  Good luck with the car. hope all works out for you.  Just a note, A lot  of Jeep Cherokee stuff fits the Eagles, but don't put their Bendix ABS brake system on it (88-91)

[OverKnight]

Thanks, Pappy.  We've actually taken it of the road until we can get all of this fixed; no sense in paying 18 year-old insurance rates for the next month or so when it can't be driven.  We'll try to get under there the first warm weekend day to start work on getting the pan out.  Then the exhaust, then the brakes...