Mav's Lifted 1985 Eagle Wagon Limited/Sport Stroker - Picture Heavy! - 04/09/10

[83Eagle!]

Wow.  Nothing comes easy does it?  I think you need to meet my buddy Chris.  He has a similar rant style as you.  Stuff seems to like to challenge him more than others, just like you.  But just like you he somehow aalways seems to land on his feet.

I am sorry the truck is turning out more expensive than you thought.  It will be a heck of a runner when you get through with it I am sure. 

The astros were nice... my parents owned for awhile when I was a kiddo. Still... an ugly grocery getter though. What is it with you and grocery getters? LOL!

Take it to a dealership and the idiots will install another crappy cardboard gasket that will blow again! Duh!?

Ok for the record, I never said I'd buy an Astro for me (maybe for a winter tank if it were AWD and I never had to pay for gas).  They were big roomy and cheap to work on.  Perfect for carting people around town to and from work.  I personally felt they drove like an underpowered golf cart. 

I realize when I sell the Elantra 2 things will happen...

1. My choices for vehicle to drive for ethe day = Minivan, Wagon and bigger wagon
2. I will own all American Vehicles for the first time in 10 years (unless you count the 1/2 a Mitsubishi I have out front).

Nothing wrong with grocery getters at this point in my life as long as one of them is an Eagle.

Cardboard gasket?  My other buddy Chris cut out a gasket out of cardboard to replace the one for his carb on his 79 Catalina when he sold it.  We ran into the new owner a year later at Advanced replacing that gasket.

[Mavericke]

Cardboard gasket?  My other buddy Chris cut out a gasket out of cardboard to replace the one for his carb on his 79 Catalina when he sold it.  We ran into the new owner a year later at Advanced replacing that gasket.

LOL! That's terrible... I thnk we've all tried that route at least once. You gotta learn somehow. I even tried it twice with the valve cover... what a mistake, lol! Leak was worse after the work than before, LOL!

And you're right.. as long as it's an Eagle - you're safe in my neck'o the woods!

And the truck... again, you're right.. at least when it's done - it'll so bad@ss that you won't believe it... I mean, basically the engine runs good... it's just got some quirks... once all those sensors are replaced and after I clean here out real good... I bet she'll purr like a kiten and roar like a lion baby! I have faith in this penum repair kit... I found it on the Dodge Ram Charger forums... apparently, people from all over the world order these kits from this particular place... I looked them up and found at that they are located an hour away from me! So drove out and picked everything up today.... looks sturdy... they only deal in Mopar, but I mentioned some custom I6 valve covers... we'll see what happens.

[83Eagle!]

Once you get the truck running good you can slow down on the other projects I am sure.  Are you going to undercoat the SX/4 and the 85 Sport with anything?

[Mavericke]

Yes, Brandon... they will both be coated, but I think I'm just going to use a thick paint and roll it on.

Every vehicle I've seen with the under coating has rust UNDER the coating... granted, it's a small amount, but I think that stuff traps moisture or something.

I've been testing some paint... I'll know more after the winter hits. It was used on my Blazer and it lasted about 3 years. I wouldn't mind spraying on new paint every other winter to save it. It's cheaper and the underbody coating only lasts a few years longer and it's harder to put on.

I'm still weighing options... anyways, pics are coming real soon fo the wagon. Wait till you see it! I'll post them tonight!

[83Eagle!]

I'm thinking of POR 15 the undercarriage of my Eagle before winter.  Then, looking at options.

[Mavericke]

Ok, I said these were coming last night... my bad. Enjoy! Please comment!

So here she is, ready for her maiden voyage... unbeknownst to us all... because we weren't even thinking about it... she is strutting tires that are WAY too big. The maiden voyage barely got past the turn in the driveway and it tore up one of my fenders pretty bad. It's fixable, but it still sucked, lol!

Ok for starters... here is my valance work. The white one was dented up pretty bad. So I borrowed one from the blue SX4 until I have more time to repair the white one. This blue one did has some dings, but not nearly as bad. Apparently, I forgot to take pictures of the finished product... you're not missing much. I didn't have any fine grit sand paper and it actually looks pretty rough, but at least the dents are gone and the black looks better than the white. It's basically prepped now for a total paint job later this summer. They are posted in order... the last one is what it looked like just before I painted it black.

Here are the foglights that I found inside the latest SX4 that came out of Ohio. I was sooo excited to find these... then my heart was broken. After some more consideration though... I have come up with an idea to save them. I'll post pics on it when they are done.

And here are some shots of us working on the headlight buckets, lights, and grill. I just pulled out the headlights from the Orange SX4 to use temporarily until I can take the time to make some headlight bucket modifications for the projector beams. These headlights are going to Brandon. They have some small scraches in them from the wreck last summer, but no more than what you'd get from a summer of driving anyways. They still function properly.

Oh yeah, one of the pics (the first one) is a shot of my bondo job on the fender. I didn't take my time with this. I simply slapped some bondo on and shaved it down to fill in the rust hole so that I can spray some black paint on it and protect the good parts until I take the time to do all of the body work and paint it.

[83Eagle!]

Nice work.  I have the wheels out of the shed as you saw earlier.  I have an hour or three of homework, then I'll run to see what shipping will be.  I'll give you a call if anything changes from the quote you got.

[amc78concord]

Looks good Mav, I like the updated headlights...Looks like a real well done job to restore the Eagle.  Good job!

[Mavericke]

Nice work.  I have the wheels out of the shed as you saw earlier.  I have an hour or three of homework, then I'll run to see what shipping will be.  I'll give you a call if anything changes from the quote you got.

Sweet! I can't drive her until I get wheels, but the truck is running well enough to take back and forth to work so I'm content. Take your time buddy - I appreciate it more than you know!

Looks good Mav, I like the updated headlights...Looks like a real well done job to restore the Eagle.  Good job!

Thanks man! She's getting there. That was all just the basic stuff.... alot more labor intensive than I expected. :/ But it turned out so much better than expected. The front frame rails seem a bit wavy where the bumper mounts connect, but the frame is straight. They're wavy because of where the welds went in.... and it's sturdy too, we just could have filled in some more flux to smooth it out and we didn't because we had already gone through about 7 rolls of flux core wiring fro the welder... at $12 a roll, it was starting to get expensive.

The next job... once my brother's truck is done and Shelly's Jeep is repaired from her ditch accident back in December... then I'll pull the wagon back in the garage to rip out the interior and finish up the body work. I'm going to do my best to paint the car the exact same color. I really dig it. I'm just going to leave this engine in for now and get as many miles out of her as I can. She just runs too good to rip it out.... and why fix something if it isn't broken!?

The stroker will sit for now until I find a use for it. Since the Orange SX4 has been neglected... and now that I have confirmed that the engine has blown.... I'm seriously considering dropping the stroker in it along with the 5-speed tranny I've been holding on to.

The choices are limitless at this point... I've even considered selling the zero mile stroker just so that I could use the cash to dump into another engine or two and do it all myself.

Anyways, thanks for looking, posting, and supporting!

[Pat]

Good luck Mav., hope you get the Dodge fixed soon. Good to hear the Eagle is up & running. Going to see if I can just transfer my title tomorrow without actually putting plates on till I get it re-inspected. Have my brake hoses now, wiper blades are next ( even I can do that. Just leaves the exhaust. All I want to do is patch it to get through inspection. If I ever get my 360, it'll need new exhaust anyway. Don't want to buy something I'm not going to use long.

[Mavericke]

Thanks man... it's getting there.

Good luck on yours too.... just like I say to all the other guys... wich you lived closer, we'd git'er done! It's just bittersweet because you really don't live too far... just far enough for it to almost cost too much to make it for a quick fix. :/ Of course, Brandon drove twice the distance to hang out with me a few months ago. He was just lookin for an excuse to get out though, LOL!

[Pat]

If I could afford the time off , I'd do it. Plus my niece moving maybe the end of this month or the middle of next month, puts my schedule kinda mixed up right now. She has a key already, gave her one the last time she was here. She's been here enough times now, she can find it without me. Never know, may show up on your doorstep one of these days. Better call the    !

[Mavericke]

LOL... nah... I'll call pizza delivery, and have the wifey pick up some brew!

[Pat]

Better make it Dew instead of brew for me. Don't drink, a shot of Nyquil® will put me out like a light for about ½ hour & then my prostrate kicks in. Hope you have an extra bathroom  .

[83Eagle!]

Of course, Brandon drove twice the distance to hang out with me a few months ago. He was just lookin for an excuse to get out though, LOL!

Dude ain't that the truth.  I am half tempted to load those wheels up and head that way Saturday Morning.  I think there and back would be too much for one day though, since I have to pick Sam up by 8pm and the earliest I'd be able to get out of here is 10 or 10:30