1981 Spirit DL

[dessert eagle]

Alright so after a year of searching for a decently priced and reliable SX4, I caved and bought a pristine 81 Spirit instead (plus I already have a 95 4x4 Bronco, so that can get me through the mud & snow until a true eagle finds me).

Anyways, I drove 6 hours from Baltimore to Ohio yesterday to pick this up. 47K original miles, 2.5L Iron Duke, automatic 3 speed, newish front brakes and tires, awesome cosmetic condition. Made it home without any issues! In the city the brakes lost hydraulic pressure from time to time and I assume that might be a pressure leak. But she still stops fine and that's all that matters 

I want to keep it as stock as possible because of its great condition, but a few things are tickling me:
bumper mounted off road lights
turbo cast wheels, possibly bigger tires
cup holder!!
fix/replace windshield fluid motor
independent sound system? AM radio looks too good to mess with
and possibly aftermarket AC next summer




Shopping for tune up parts now, more pictures to come!

 

[vangremlin]

Wow!  Very nice and congratulations.  Thanks for the pictures.

[amcfool1]

hi, awesome Spirit! congratulation on your purchase! I have a 79 with the 232.
just some options for you:
skip the "offroad" lights, waste of money, instead look to ugrade your original lights with a relay style harness. check out www.danielsternlighting.com
turbocast rims, these a VERY nice, but the original AMC Turbocast II s are rare, hard to find and expensive. check out AR (American Racing) Outlaw IIs, I run 215/60/ 14 front, and 235/60/14 rear, gives the car a whole new look.
windshield fluid motors are available almost anywhere
am radio, check out  www.randbvintageautoradio.com, this guy can work miracles with old radios, while keeping original appearance. he just did one of mine. if you want to check it out go to Youtube, and punch in "1977 AMC Hornet AMX original AM/FM radio",  he can do the same with any radio, even AM only.
AC, nice to have but expensive,
good luck, gz

[amcfool1]

hi again, as for your brakes, sounds like the master cylinder may be on its way out. this is no place to try and save money! have that checked out asap. First thing i do when i buy an old car, completely go through the brake system, at the very least, have the old fluid flushed and replaced with new, who knows how old it is. again, good luck, gz

[Prafeston]

http://theamcforum.com/forum/turbocast-14-15_topic83299.html

[dessert eagle]

wow! thanks so much guys, i really didn't expect so much support so soon. i will be thoroughly reading up on these links tonight 

today i replaced the air filter and some old musty oil with fresh synthetic 10w30. i've read that some people switch to 5w30 for the winter, which i probably will do in a few months after this batch hopefully flushes out any build ups (although this spirit has been taken care of, i have a feeling it has sat around for a while).

i'll have a real mechanic look at the master cylinder this week. in the meantime i might head to advance tomorrow for plugs wires and a new cap. there are currently some 8mm wires installed, so i assume somebody down the line replaced the original wires. from a VIN lookup there's been about 4 owners, and I make the 5th.




i can't believe how much room there is in here! previous owner also removed the air pump and installed a new battery.

[dessert eagle]

hi, awesome Spirit! congratulation on your purchase! I have a 79 with the 232.
just some options for you:
skip the "offroad" lights, waste of money, instead look to ugrade your original lights with a relay style harness. check out www.danielsternlighting.com
turbocast rims, these a VERY nice, but the original AMC Turbocast II s are rare, hard to find and expensive. check out AR (American Racing) Outlaw IIs, I run 215/60/ 14 front, and 235/60/14 rear, gives the car a whole new look.
windshield fluid motors are available almost anywhere
am radio, check out  www.randbvintageautoradio.com, this guy can work miracles with old radios, while keeping original appearance. he just did one of mine. if you want to check it out go to Youtube, and punch in "1977 AMC Hornet AMX original AM/FM radio",  he can do the same with any radio, even AM only.
AC, nice to have but expensive,
good luck, gz

would you happen to have a picture of your wheel setup? i'm very interested to see what that lineup looks like!
i'm also very new to this site, so i've got some digging to do

[amcfool1]

hi, sorry, i can fix a car, but I am a total computer idiot, don't even have a cellphone! by choice, not lack of financial ability!, so, I do not have a camera that will interface with the pc, and even if i did, wouldn't know how to do this. but, I'm supposed to be getting one next week, so maybe one day I'll figure this whole mess out. Again, nice Spirit! I can't believe how clean the engine bay is! Ya done GOOD!  And , wow, power steering and MANUAL brakes! I did not know that AMC still did that in 81, and I have been driving AMCs exclusively since 1986. While manual brakes are a cool "old school" touch, replacing the master cylinder is a PITA. It unbolts from the INSIDE, under the dash, so, and i hope you are younger than me, it takes a few contortionist style moves to replace that thing! Uh huh, upside down , backwards, and in the dark!  At my age, (56), I try not to do this anymore! But, it must be done, good brakes are your life. The one difficulty here may be actually FINDING a new manual brake master cylinder. Most auto parts places will NOT have one, it is a fairly rare part. You may have better luck contacting one of the AMC vendors, such as APD, Galvins, or Blasers. You may even end up sending yours out for a rebuild, resulting in some downtime on the car. Yours does not look that old, so you may be lucky, still, have it checked.
Anyway, if I ever figure this computer/pic thing out, I'll send a couple. good luck, gz

[dessert eagle]

yes i agree - brakes are fairly important. my local shop looked at it this morning and is starting with replacing some of the rear brake lines, they seem to be leaking a bit of fluid. gonna take it one step at a time after the new lines are in. hopefully we won't have to pull the master cylinder if it really is that difficult! thanks

-Tyler

[amcfool1]

hi, did a quick check, and apparently Autozone can get 'em, if not, try Kennedy American, good luck, gz

[dessert eagle]

replaced the rear shoes and lines and everything is back in order now

[amcfool1]

hi, good deal, nothing like a healthy Spirit! good luck, gz

[amcfool1]

hi, any progress? how is it running? good luck, gz

[dessert eagle]

not too much progress, mainly because it's working fine! I got an Anker bluetooth sound bar which actually sounds pretty good when bounced off the windshield. much easier and cheaper than a stereo overhaul. did plugs and wires and fixed the windshield washer motor.

also working on replacing hoses and a new weber carb... i'm getting about 12 mpg in the city which is insane! my full size truck gets better mileage. gonna see what can be done with tuning the stock 2SE but man this mpg is currently a bummer