Eagle landing in Indy

[huggyb1972]

Hi all,

         I recently purchased a AMC Eagle for my wife and currently we are wating for it's transit from New Jersey to Indianapolis, In. I have always been a Ford guy and own a 89' Bronco dubbed The Drafthorse. My wife and I have been married going on 20yrs and this year for her I wanted to do something special so I got her a car she has wanted for a long time.
This is the Bronco


This is the first shot of the Eagle and the picture we bought it with.


I be keeping a log of stuff done to the Eagle here as I have done with the Bronco over on FullSizeBronco.com. We are going to get the car to a normal driving state for reliable transportation this year and then go from there. The previous owner was working on it and lost interest.   

[mudkicker715]

welcome

i used to have a big 89 bronc as well

[vangremlin]

Looks like a couple nice rigs you got there!  Welcome, and we can't wait to see more pictures of your Eagle.

[huggyb1972]

My wife has been yammering on about a Eagle wagon and a Delorean for longer than I care to admit. So we get one bucketlist car Item done this year. I also bought a motorcycle for her to learn to ride. As for me we get to go to Moab with the Bronco for a Bronco club meet this year.

I am new to these cars is there any particular area I should look at?  We will more than likely get rid of that electronic carb bussiness and do some updating to the ignition. I was wondering what kind of MPG number you folks are getting? The ads say 23city 32 hwy but I don't know if that is BS or actual and factual. 32mpg would be better than her 07' Dodge econo-turd. 

[DownwardFlame]

Sweet, another Ford guy!  Lol welcome to the den!

[TwoEaglesForMe]

Hello and welcome to The Den.  I saw that car you bought listed on craigs.  Looks to be a nice project and still solid to work with.  I am in Jersey,  East Brunswick to be exact.  I was considering it for myself,  but the wife said no more toys,  I have owned 5 Eagles, an 81 FSJ Cherokee, and a 69 Rebel SST at one point.  I'm down to 2 Eagles now and a newly acquired 1980 Spirit AMX project.  Good luck with your new car and keep us updated on the progress with lots of pics! 

[eaglefreek]

I am new to these cars is there any particular area I should look at?  We will more than likely get rid of that electronic carb bussiness and do some updating to the ignition. I was wondering what kind of MPG number you folks are getting? The ads say 23city 32 hwy but I don't know if that is BS or actual and factual. 32mpg would be better than her 07' Dodge econo-turd.

Welcome. Nice horse and bird. Most get mid to upper teens with their wagons. Some do get in the 20's. A few with the smaller bodied Eagles have reported getting 30's.

My wife has been yammering on about a Eagle wagon and a Delorean for longer than I care to admit. So we get one bucketlist car Item done this year. I also bought a motorcycle for her to learn to ride. As for me we get to go to Moab with the Bronco for a Bronco club meet this year.

I've been to Moab twice. Once with my 86 Eagle and the other with my bike. It's definitely a place everyone should see once in their life.

[huggyb1972]

Ya I wanted to tour Moab after a trip out west a few years back. That was how the Bronco was born and I have been beefing it up and wheeling it for a little while preparing to go out there. I have when a little overboard drivline wise, but it is pretty tough now we are getting ready to change the front axle out to a heavier unit in the next month.

I expect to see the car sometime around 3or4 today my wife is pretty excited at this point the wait is driving her crazy. I'm just hoping the under carriage is in decent condition and won't need to much attention.  I can deal with Engine and trans problems pretty easy. How hard is it to do a manual trans swap on one of these cars? Is the pedal assy for the clutch pretty easy to find? I imagine the clutches were linkage style.   

[eaglefreek]

Clutch is hydraulic on Eagles. The hardest part is finding a T4 or T5 from a Eagle or Jeep to make it a bolt in job. An AX15 from a Jeep is an option, but a lot more work.

[vangremlin]

I've been out to Moab a few times, but use pedal power to get around.  It really is an amazing place that people should make an effort to see.

[huggyb1972]

Okay the fun begins.  We received the car today man it is pretty, but the pretty ones like women always have something wrong worth them.  The transfer case makes a grinding noise in 2wd put it in 4wd and goes like the devil.  We drove it up to the gas station no problems picked up $30 worth of gas got it home and guess what?  We need a fuel tank. 

[eaglefreek]

Make sure it is going all the way into 2wd. Sometimes they will stick a little and not go all the way in to 2wd and make a grinding sound. Luckily, new gas tanks for wagons are available. I found Amazon to be the cheapest, since they offer free shipping. http://www.amazon.com/Spectra-Premium-AMC1-Fuel-Tank/dp/B000C7RZ2C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398555529&sr=8-1&keywords=amc+eagle+gas+tank

[huggyb1972]

how do you get it to go all the way in? I havent been able to find a drawing yet on the Tcase I was tinking maybe the viscous coupling was fubared. If you think it can be something simple I'm all ears. Otherwise we may be doing a np242 swap.

[maddog]

here is a video I made awhile back to help people with a messed up actuator but I think it may be of some help to you. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MYTuLzdvlA sorry about only posting a link on here but I can't figure out how to post videos on here.

[huggyb1972]

Thats cool I wonder if the linkage could just be out of whack.

I'm gonna pull the gas tank down and see how bad it is I may be able to repair it.

the next thing will be checking any of the rust on the car most of which is on suspension parts and stuff. I already informed my wife it is going to the 4Wheel Jamboree in Indy this year.