Easiest part time swap for early eagles??

[jim]

We may (will!) express opinions, such as I recommend keeping a 1980 as is.  However, most of us support your right to do as you wish with your own vehicle.  Those with enough knowledge will usually give advice if asked (sometimes without being asked!)
The purpose of this site is to keep Eagles on the road  - well, sometimes off road, but at least runnning.

[tougeagle]

Fuel injection swap

[cj71983]

turbo stroker

[philotomy]

Umm maybe this sounds dumb .... but how about just taking out the front driveshaft and see if there's any difference

[Whuntmore]

I don't think you can do that.  The CV joints go into the front main bearings, and those would be full of dirt in no time.  Plus, I think they hold it together some.  and the CV joints can't be free either, they can almost touch the ground when you disconnect them from the half shaft.

Honestly, from what I've done to my eagle, and what I've read, unless you do some serious converting, the car is what it is.  It's a good design (full-time 4x4 even on dry pavement) and it's pretty trouble free.

If you just looking to increase your fuel mileage, then do (what they call) a stroker motor, or tune the car up, or convert the intake, or consider putting a 4.0 in her. 

There are lots of things you can do to the car to get better gas mileage, but converting the drive train would be a big job - And I don't think it would yield the results you're looking for.  Once you swap out the Transfer case, you're probably looking at at least one new drive shaft, then you would need to swap out the front half-shaft to get it to be a disconnect, and then there's probably more you'd have to convert to make the whole thing work together (I can't think of more right now... sorry)

The cheapest thing to do right now, is upgrade your ignition, remove some of the pollution gear (unless you're not allowed by law where you live),  Then do a carb upgrade.  Those three things (if you're allowed removing pollution gear) would give you a really good jump in mileage.  IIRC, possibly 5-7 (or into the high 20's) increased mileage?

I don't know the actual the numbers, but it would be very notice-able. 

[philotomy]

No I didn't mean pull the cv's just the driveshaft from the transfer case  to the front axle but I don't know much about the full time 4wd systems anyways,figure 18-22 mpg is average for these cars

[Whuntmore]

I don't think that will do anything to help fuel mileage.

The only way to get real fuel saving done here (unless you gut the entire drivetrain, and swap it for something else) is to start at the Ignition, and work your way down the block.  

I've heard of strokers getting into the 40's for mileage - that's if you don't have a heavy gas foot.  Fuel mileage isn't in changing the design of the car, it's bringing up the efficiency of the motor.  That over-looked straight 6 has great potential.  It has the ability to produce 8V HP, with 4 cyl fuel consumption.  

It's almost the same adage as 'Speed' - Speed is just a question of money... how fast do you want to go?  (In this case, how cheap do you want to go?)

[eaglefreek]

No I didn't mean pull the cv's just the driveshaft from the transfer case  to the front axle 

I don't think that will do anything - If much.

Actually it will do something.......................Destroy the viscous coupling in the transfer case in a very short amount of time.

[Whuntmore]

I don't think that will do anything - If much.

Actually it will do something.......................Destroy the viscous coupling in the transfer case in a very short amount of time.

Mis-quote - What I meant is, that's not gonna help increase his mileage.  But you're right, I didn't think to mention the damage.

[Eagleearl]

I would recommend you leave it as full time 4wd but if you wanted to have 2wd you could change out the transfer case with a 129 (or 128 without viscous coupling) and add a vaccum system to switch in and out of 4wd.

[philotomy]

I agree,one of the later transfer cases will allow you to do that and prob bolt right in,the front axle does have the vacuum motor which you'd need as well.
 I really had no idea the case will be damaged from no front shaft hmm ;we dont want to do that.Thanks for the info Eaglefreek.Learning new stuff all the time.

[eaglefreek]

I agree,one of the later transfer cases will allow you to do that and prob bolt right in,the front axle does have the vacuum motor which you'd need as well.
 

Actually, an 80 Eagle won't have the vacuum motor on the axle. Either will most 81's and 86-88 Eagles. It's not necessary for 2wd operation. What it does is keeps the ring and pinion from rotating in the front differential by disconnecting one axle and eliminating some drag.

[tougeagle]

I have a 2.73 disconnect front axle if you want it, though it may need a rebuild, but I think that was more just driveshaft problems. Has a U bolt yoke on it.

[IowaEagle]

Roy Lunn shared with me in a phone call that he was chagrined when AMC told him he had to make the Eagle switchable between 2 and 4 wheel drive.  It was done to raise AMC's CAFE standards -- it only helped it a bit; 1-2 MPG and added actually added a bit more weight to the car.  In my experience you don't even notice the all the time 4wd function in the early Eagles.