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

[Mavericke]

Oh yeah, I'll document everything. Thanks for the compliments... she'll be a sweet ride when I'm done for sure.

As for the louvers... from the different sets I've seen, they all have little plates that side under the trim, then the louvers screw onto them. On the top, the plate has a hinge.... so you can easily loosen the bottom ones and lift the louvers up for scraping ice or cleaning the glass. That's the one downside to louvers... you get leaves and stuff in there and they sit and stain. I mean, you can scrub it off - but it's not fun. The snow isn't too bad imo... especially if you have heated glass. Just brush off the excess and the heaters do the rest. The louvers actually help keep alot of snow from getting on the actual glass.

My mounting bracktes will be almost identical. For the 08 meet, I didn't have time to fab anything... so I went to Walmart and bought some cheap thin cabinet hinges to get me by. They did the job well... left them on there almost a year, LOL!

The side windows just have little tabs and they pop into the window trim. I don't really like that though, because you have to bend the louvers to get them in... if yours are brittle... you may have a hard time getting them out in one piece. I'm thinking double sided tape/adhesive. Again, for the 08 Meet... I had little time to prepare... so I used double sided tape on a good portion of the trim and fender wells.... it also sat for a year and honestly, I was really worried when it came time to peel it off because the stuff was strong, I thought it was going to tear/break the plastic trim... it took some time, but I got them off with no damage. The worst part was trying to get it off the paint, LOL!

Anyways, everyone has been waiting on my louver prototypes for almost two years I think, LOL... but good things come to those who wait. I promise.

[83Eagle!]

Sweet that engine is out. Yay!  That's awesome Chas.  Congrats.  One step closer to having the wagon on the road.  I thought that was an '84 Eagle though.  Hmmm. 

Keep up the great work.  With that list of parts I have no doubt you'll have a one of a kind wagon.   

[Mavericke]

Yeah, I kept saying it was an 84... I had that stuck in my head, but checked the title the other day... it's an 85 for sure.

Thanks for the encouragement! I can't wait to finish her... the carpet arrived today, so the interior will start tomorrow. I'm going to rattle-can the interior metal with a rust-oleum paint... from the reviews I've read, it's supposed to be the best. I bought a few cans to test it out... won't really know till a year or so down the road, but might be able to get some sort of insight after it dries and try to rough it up with a screwdriver or something. We'll see. I'm going to start sanding and grinding tomorrow and then get it painted so I cab lay that carpet.

[Mavericke]

January 29th, 2010

Ok, so if you haven't noticed from my other thread(s), I'm working on the front end right now. Trying to remove the springs. I busted a nut today... *cough* on the car and it scared the heck out of me. There's a pic below. I've also been spending some time sand blasting some of the rust, mostly in the interior floor boards. I'm getting ready to lay carpet and paint interior. Pictures of the carpet are also below. Oh yeah, and I got the other fender off too... it's rusted out pretty bad. Still going to save it though. Might be useful later if I need a chunk of it to save another fender or something. It wouldn't be a bad fender if someone were going to use it and cut out the wheel wells anyways for bigger wheels or something. Again, pics below... along with pics of the new carpet and the paint I am using inside the cabin under the carpet to cover the fresh metal.

Links to the suspension threads, questions, and answers... these aren't all my threads, just some places with info that I'm using on my build. A whole lot of "I don't freaking know!" right now though, LOL!
Scared to Remove Shocks! - http://forums.amceaglenest.com/index.php?topic=24942.msg231647#msg231647
Triangle Leaf springs - http://forums.amceaglenest.com/index.php?topic=24884.0
Redundant Springs - http://forums.amceaglenest.com/index.php?topic=24907.msg231392#msg231392
Taller Shocks For Lifted Eagle - http://forums.amceaglenest.com/index.php?topic=24893.msg231145#msg231145

[83Eagle!]

Looking good so far Chas.  Keep up the good work.  Do you have another fender to graft onto the '85's driver's side?  Just curious.  Are the ones from the '80 salvagable? Okay gotta go check out the other threads. 

[Mavericke]

Actually the driver's side seems to be the same fender thats rotted out on all of the Eagles I have, LOL... the 80 fender is salvagable with some work... ok alot of work, lol... but if I have to use it I will. I have one other wagon out there I haven't looked closely at yet, It has a big ding in it, but I can fix that. Otherwise, I think it's a good fender. But the new SX4 out there is missing a driver's fender as well.... not like I'll be touching it anytime soon, but at some point - I will have to find one from another source.

[83Eagle!]

Yeah I think you have some other tasks to work on before having to worry about the fender.  Who knows one might show up for sale here on the 'Nest. 

Keep up the good work.

[ScottD961]

So did you get the wagon on the road for work ? 16 miles to town is a bit of a hike in this weather !

[rollguy]

Actually the driver's side seems to be the same fender thats rotted out on all of the Eagles I have, LOL... the 80 fender is salvagable with some work... ok alot of work, lol... but if I have to use it I will. I have one other wagon out there I haven't looked closely at yet, It has a big ding in it, but I can fix that. Otherwise, I think it's a good fender. But the new SX4 out there is missing a driver's fender as well.... not like I'll be touching it anytime soon, but at some point - I will have to find one from another source.

There are plenty of rust free fenders here in CA.  The problem would be shipping it without damage.  The '83 Limited wagon I sold to the wrecker last year is still there

Let me know if you would like me to get the fenders, and how the best way to ship them..Rich

[Mavericke]

what do you think they'd cost from the wrecker? Shipping might not be so bad if the cost of the fenders aren't to bad. And I'm not too worried about them getting damaged. I doubt they'd get too bad that I couldn't fix easily... I can fix anything but rusted out holes, LOL! After closer inspection... both fenders are beyond repair. Gah! I'll post today's work in the morning... finally got the springs off.

[Pa sx/4]

hay mav. i can get fenders for 40 each. shipping 2 fenders for the same side would cost the same as i would think due to the size ( box would be the same size just heavier) . If that don't work out there are 4 in the junk yard i will check out for you.

[Mavericke]

Sweet! Yeah, I'm curious about shipping... I wonder what one of the weighs?

[IowaEagle]

they don't weigh a whole lot -- I am thinking mine felt they weighed around 25 pounds.

[Mavericke]

I'd guess about that much too from the ones I've carried.

My estimate would be about $100 to ship both of them together UPS. Might be able to ship greyhound or something slower for alot cheaper... bucket brigade would be nice, lol!

[83Eagle!]

I have heard that greyhound has good shipping rates.