no $ but lots of time

[james828]

so i have time after school to work on my eagle, i clean it all the time because thats all i can think of to do. can you guys/girls. think of anything i can do with my eagle that requires little money but will help it be a better car? things to check or bolts to replace? 

[shanebo]

id pop off the fender flares and side skirts and clean that up real good under there. I could not believe how dirty it was under mine....not to mention i found some rust starting to pop up and was able to take care of it before it became and issue.

[DaemonForce]

I cleaned up my Eagle after I tore out the transmission. I had to take a scraper to it and a bit of ether it was so nasty. 30 years anyone?

Really though, don't do what I did. For the fenders use an air powered steel brush or something. Also, check under your skidplates. There's at least one area for greasing I'm sure you've missed. Also, if your sway bar bushings(or any bushings) are falling apart, identify what they are and see if you can replace them. All you really need to do between points of spending cash is figure out what you're going to spend. At least that's how it is with me.

[Draekon]

If you have old vacuum lines on the car, you could replace those.  Vacuum hose is cheap.

[HappyPappy]

  Check your lower ball joints, they tend to come apart at the most unusual time. You can add grease fittings to them, requires drilling and buying a tool to install them, takes about half an hour to do both, also check all your tie rod ends, can put grease fittings in them also. Grease is cheaper then parts!!  Check all your universal joints, drive shafts, both axle shafts, pay attention to the rubber boots, if there cracked and dry rotted might want to replace them or the whole shafts, there about fifty bucks each.  If it's auto, drain and change the filter and fluid.

  There are lots of things you can do to it with out costing a lot of money,but the other things will cost some bucks.  Good luck with it!!

[shanebo]

x2 vaccum lines always need replacing on these things....its a cheap job....not to mention all the frustration it will save you down the road from having to trace down individual ones as they go bad....good call Draekon.

[Hawk258]

Some free things that you can do, would be, To do a complete PMCS (Preventative Maintainence Checks and Schedule) For you non-military people.

 make a list of things that are in need of repair, or replacement. Some stuff is easy, other stuff is harder, but no big deal. One other thing I would do, IF you know your vacuum lines are in the right places, See if you can get some model paints or even finger nail polish (Trust me) and put a small dab of paint on the hard line then one on the hose, this will help to prevent any mix ups and a cheap way to keep things straight.

Once you have the list start going through and make it into a constant check list that can be used for daily, weekly, monthly, bi-monthly, and yearly checks, as well as a place to enter your mileage for your oil changes, tune ups, and mile sensitive maintenance.

This will give you a baseline to keep things simple and give you a priority list when you have the money to repair/replace any items that need attention and put let you decide how and when to handle them best. I don't know if anyone else here has such a list, but there is a good PMCS that the army used for the HMMWV's that would be pretty close to what you could start with.

you could also work on your checking your electrical, making sure there are no messed up wires or any thing that could be a hazard later. thankfully electrical tape is cheap. and there are plenty of wires to inspect.

[DaemonForce]

x2 vaccum lines always need replacing on these things....

Dude, you know what I just realized? I have never had to replace my lines. EVER! o.O

My 4x4 engages just fine too. What are the main causes of vaccuum leaks on these Eagles?

[Hawk258]

drying causes cracks running along the line, bad angles of the vacuum lines causes breaks across the line, and even severe vibration have been known causes for vacuum lines to disconnects.

[carnuck]

If you were out here close to Seattle I'd even trade labor for some of the spare parts I have around here

[Hawk258]

If I could I would, I don't have any parts eagles left, ended up selling the wagon many years ago. I regret it now, cause I also had a spirit which would have been a great build for an AMX spirit... but I was an idiot and sold them both.