83 SX4 stroker fuelie project

[Brentmo]

Hello fellow Eagle Denizens,

Been a while since I've logged on.  Always working overtime, family visiting for the holidays, and the eagle project moving at a snail's pace, you know, all the excuses.  But I do want to share what's going on, so here's my project, a 1983 SX4 (sport?) with 4.2 six and 5 speed stick.  Found on Craigslist in Washington and trailered home to Central Oregon.  The battery was dead in the camera, so no pictures until we got it up on a rack at our local shop.  Needs some of everything, but the body is fairly rust free.  As much as I wish I had a shop and the time to wrench on my own car, I'm for the most part chained to my desk.  So I'm relying on others to bring my bird to life.  Planning a major renovation, including new motor, interior and paint.  Limited to five pictures, so here's the before.  More to come in my next post.

[MudPuppy]

Welcome Brent.
She sure is a beaut!

Definitely a sport and with a T5 , rear wiper & a clean undercarriage.... lucky!
Look forward to more pics and project updates.

[Prafeston]

We seem to be in a close perdicament. I too have others working on my ride to bring it back to life. I opted for the 4.0 Cherokee route though. Looks like you have a great start to your project. I'm jealous of the rims (with center caps) and rear wiper!

My project too has been moving along pretty slow considering I bough the thing in April and it just fired up with the 4.0 in it this week! Look forward to following this build! If you wanna check mine out here is my thread. http://forums.amceaglesden.com/index.php?topic=42948.0

Also if you use an alternate photo sharing site like photobucket, flickr, or imageshack you can upload your photos to those sites and then just paste in the img code it's quite simple and you can post as many pics as you want in one post!

[1985amceagle]

Welcome!

[Brentmo]

Thanks everybody for the encouragement.  Prafeston, I checked out your build thread and we're definitely on a similar journey.

I started and drove the SX4 when I bought it, but now that it's home two shops have confirmed the #5 cylinder doesn't hold compression.  For the price of a remanufactured motor with warranty, I thought that a better route than paying to rebuild the old one.  Once that decision was made I looked into getting a 4.0 litre head and fuel injection.  Then after more research and consulting, I couldn't resist spending the little extra to get a 4.6 litre stroker.  The toughest part was finding a shop that was reputable, willing to take on the swap, and reasonable.   

So now the engine is out and the shop put it on a trailer so I could get the engine bay pressure washed and take it to the painter to get the engine bay done.  I'm not yet settled on keeping it red, so we're going to paint the engine bay black.  We ordered the new stroker from S&J Motors in Spokane.  It's now sitting in it's crate at the shop and S&J even painted it AMC blue!  Here's some more pics:

[Prafeston]

Wow, you straight up bought a new stroker. That had to set you back a bit! Should be worth it though!

[Brentmo]

Yes, but not as much as you might think.  Would you believe a remanufactured 288 (4.7 litre) stroker long block with 7 year, 100,000 mile warranty for $2,035 (plus $400 core chg)?  S&J says it's built for for reliability and makes only (for a stroker) 240 hp.  I asked for an RV cam so it should make a bit more.  I'm excited about the torque.

Of course that also requires manifolds, fuel injection, and OBD computer.  But after talking to lots of AMC and Jeep people, and reading on this forum and others, it seemed a worthwhile investment to be rid of the the electronic feedback Carter and the mess of vacuum lines.

I put a 383 stroker in my 98 Chevy K1500 in 2005.  After 9 years and 110K miles that truck still puts a grin on my face every time I drive it.  It wouldn't win at the drags, but it moves out with authority, pulls any load the suspension can handle, and is never lacking for more gas pedal.  Long story short, I'm a big fan of my Chevy stroker.

S&J lists their remanufactured 4.0 for $1,417.  After considering the total cost of the install and FI conversion, another $600 seemed not too much more to live the stroker dream in my Eagle.

[Brentmo]

OK, I just turned 50 this month.  My SO says of the Eagle, "at least it's not a blonde"!

[Prafeston]

Yeah, but it is a redhead!

[eaglefreek]

OK, I just turned 50 this month.  My SO says of the Eagle, "at least it's not a blonde"!

[amchornet]

Yes redheads can be expensive!!!!

[DownwardFlame]

Just out of curiosity, where in Washington did you find it?

[Brentmo]

It was near Tacoma last fall.  I saw another driver SX4 listed near Seattle after I bought this one, I think for 2,000.  There was also another red sport with the 258 and manual trans listed on and off last year in Spokane.  That one was a driver as well and had fuel injection and  a lot of other work.  The seller was asking 3,000, which in retrospect is sounding like it would have been worth investigating.  Don't know if it ever sold or not.  I still regularly check C-list in Seattle and Portland.  Just keep looking, there's not always one available, but they do come up every now and then.  Good luck!   

[Baskinator]

Wow, I am envious of where this is heading! $2,000 for a 4.7 Stroker with 100,000 mile warranty??? That is quite impressive, and I thank you for the reference. Looks like you need to have a mixture test done by a shop to validate the warranty, but still... I haven't seen any strokers with a warranty over 30,000 miles! I'd love to go this route when I get a job out of college and can afford it. Plus my Eagle's already setup with the 4.0, so it would be a simple swap. Can't wait to see this completed!

[vangremlin]

Keep us posted on your progress.  Getting a completely rebuilt motor for those prices is a heck of a deal.