1986 Wagon Project

[Nightpath]

I've been debating for a while whether to keep the old girl stock (or as stock as possible), do a SFA conversion...or tonnes of other things. I really can't decide what to do.

Here is what I'm definitely doing though...so I need more suggestions!

- XJ motor/drivetrain conversion
- D35 rear axle w/3.55
- replacing windshield, resealing back windows, new window seals (have all the stuff)
- almost have the interior done (ceiling left, some trim to install)

Here's what I'm looking at :

- need replacement seats - might rip these from an old Eagle, but open to alternatives
- replace the stock steering wheel. I can only imagine stopping fast and becoming toothless
- stereo + speakers -rear XJ speaker bar?
- Jeep rims/bit larger tires

Possibly :

- repaint


If you had a bit of cash, what else would you do to your wagon? Nothing overboard or insane, but upgrades and other stuffs that would make the car that much better.

[attemptnumber2]

I havent done it yet because I am getting the major body/interior issues fixed but the following in that order (pending on parts availability) is what I see as worth while modifications for a nice riding eagle.

Front SAS- I would like to replicate what the factory 4 link JGC's have as best I can and that should open up all JGC aftermarket parts.
Rear axle swap- also replicate the 4 link the best I can for aftermarket parts reasons.
5.0HO SBF engine- light, small, aftermarket parts, reliability and power. Engine/Trans harness pretty much standalone.
Explorer trans/tcase-matches SBF pattern obviously, reliable and upgrades readily available.

People on forums swap EFI SBF's into jeeps all the time...should make most of it pretty straight forward.

[Nightpath]

For me the XJ drivetrain is a solid upgrade, and there are chips and tuners out there for it to eek out bits of performance/MPG and so on.

Sounds liek a sweet plan though

[DownwardFlame]

I've been debating for a while whether to keep the old girl stock (or as stock as possible), do a SFA conversion...or tonnes of other things. I really can't decide what to do.

Here is what I'm definitely doing though...so I need more suggestions!

- XJ motor/drivetrain conversion
- D35 rear axle w/3.55
- replacing windshield, resealing back windows, new window seals (have all the stuff)
- almost have the interior done (ceiling left, some trim to install)

Here's what I'm looking at :

- need replacement seats - might rip these from an old Eagle, but open to alternatives
- replace the stock steering wheel. I can only imagine stopping fast and becoming toothless
- stereo + speakers -rear XJ speaker bar?
- Jeep rims/bit larger tires

Possibly :

- repaint


If you had a bit of cash, what else would you do to your wagon? Nothing overboard or insane, but upgrades and other stuffs that would make the car that much better.

Skid plate, if it doesn't already have one.

[carnuck]

Save yourself a ton of digging. Look into a long arm set up from an XJ to put in at least the front of your Eagle to do a solid diff swap. 3.55 with stock Eagle tires will SUCK the fuel down.

[Nightpath]

I'm swapping over to P235 75 r15 when I get the chance, and if things go right I hope to dig up some 3.21 gears. The responses to 3.07 were that they would be too low for the AW4 to work properly.

Might be an idea to look at OBD1 tuners and chips if I want better MPG. I have co-worker who sunk some money into one for his Liberty, went from 15-16MPG to 24MPG (less torque at the low end, few more differences)

[carnuck]

I ran my first Eagle wagon with 2.37 gears, a high stall lockup converter and 235/75/15s. It was a bit sluggish off the line, but cruised at 70-80 mph no prob with the 282 motor I had in it.

[Nightpath]

What motor is the 282?

Think 3.07 would work with the stock Jeep XJ drivetrain?

[carnuck]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMC_straight-6_engine#282

3.07 is what Jeep ran with the 5 speed stock with bigger tires than the Eagle came with.  I ran 33" tires on my '87 Comanche back when it was 5 speed and still had 3.07 gears. Off the line with a load wasn't speedy, but about the same as my Eagle with 2.72 and 235s. The AW4 has a better torque ratio in their converter for taking off but you still want to match the original ratio to tire size within a percentage. It will also depend on whether you go HO or Renix EFI. The HO really needs lower gears for takeoff but it's within the percentage to run the same as Renix. They just changed the O/D ratio to keep it in the power band.
   O/D for Renix is .70 and HO is .75 which doesn't seem like much but at 60 mph it's 1564 rpm vs 1676

[Nightpath]

Mine is from a 94 xj. HO and obd1

[carnuck]

Auto or stick?

[Nightpath]

Automatic....has the aw4 transmission common to the 94 xj.

[carnuck]

Then 3.55 ratio or 3.07 will work.

[Nightpath]

Hmmm....3.07 is tempting. I just don't want to have it go too low rpms wise since I plan on putting on some 28-29" tires. Some of the Jeep guys and a few here said that with the 3.07 fit that it didn't like overdrive too much.

I'll get the swap done and 3.55 axles then work from there maybe.

[eaglefreek]

In my opinion the 3.55's are almost perfect with that size of tire. 3.73's if you plan on towing anything with some weight to it.