Eagle front suspension swap to Hornet/Concord?

[AMCdealer]

Can anyone tell me the specific differences there are between the front suspension/steering setup of an Eagle and a Hornet/Concord?  I've been toying with the idea of adding the 4x4 system of an Eagle to a '72 Hornet Sportabout.  I know what's needed transmission/transfer case-wise but would like some more info on the suspension differences for the swap.  Thanks!

[eaglefreek]

I can't say for sure, but knowing AMC, it's probably just the crossmemeber and control arms. The first Eagle prototypes were Hornets.

[recomer]

There's a guy around the forums here that did the same with a Sprint. Seems he also had to graft in a chunck of floorboard to make room for the transfer case underneath..

Found his project thread http://forums.amceaglenest.com/index.php?topic=38648.0

[carnuck]

Yup. We did it, BUT to a later model ('79 up have the extra bolt holes that earlier may not) The front crossmember under the rad is stronger too for the skidplate strut/supports for the engine cross bar.

Here's the differences:
Knuckle for 4x4 hub
Upper control arms (unless you want an accidental 3" lift)
Lower control arms
Lower suspension struts (they hang lower than 2wd ones)
Engine crossbar and LH motor mount on motor
Crossbar to rad saddle braces (holes weren't there on my '78 Concord)
Front coil springs are slightly beefier with 6 cyl AC
AFAIK all Eagles use floor shift, but SOTE is column shift because it was 2wd and it was easier to do that with the AW4 we put in (MAX98059 went WAAAY overboard on his cutout. He really only needed a bit on the driver's side of the floor hump for the tcase and front driveshaft)
Rad was bigger in the Eagle.
Swaybar brackets (on the frame) and tierod ends/draglink were all different. Idler shows as same part number 2wd and 4wd.
Steering column needed to be 3" longer due to the dropped down steering box in the Eagle.

Don't recall anything else at the moment. Front subframe is a bit beefed up internally as well but you can't really see it. Car may bend at the firewall without an extra brace for this added

Brake hoses were different too. Early ones used the same calipers as 2wd back to '77ish. '82 and Later ones are same as XJ.

[AMCdealer]

I figured there would be quite a few differences.  Thanks for the info!  It would seem easier to just start with an Eagle but this Hornet has a lot of sentimental value in addition to it being a Gucci Edition.  It ran when my mom parked it over 15 years ago with over 311,000 miles on the stock engine, a 232 I-6.

Motor question, though: Would it be possible to keep the stock engine or would I need a later 258/4.0 block?  I've hard there's a suspension mount cast into the later blocks.  If that's the case then I'd likely do a motor swap since a rebuild would be in order anyway.  A turbocharged 4.6L stroker sounds sweet. 

[mudkicker715]

You are correctly answering yourself about the motor mount/axle mount. so swap away to a stroker.

[carnuck]

The pre '79 motors don't have the casting for the front diff to hang from.