Eric & Pamela's '83 SX4

[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.