1980 Eagle Sport STW 258+TF998 "Silver Beast" (from Finland)

[juhap]

Drivers side had bad rust issue, so I had an idea that this other side had one, too.
Welded seam had swollen a little bit and it had a thin layer of bathroom silicone...



Peaked inside... rust!!



Opened whole seam...



This was inner part...



Cut all rust away...



And weld some new sheet metal.



Then inner side of the beam...



Outer side done.



Then some paint and underbody protection.



And there is more to come... As it allways does.

[juhap]

Next thing was to weld missing corners of front fender. But first I had to take that bondo away... Oh boy... bondo it had!! Did not grind it all, that was enough... Oh those swiss...



Next thing was to take fender from my parts car... It had bondo too. Not so much, but some amount.
I think I can manage with that. That is amnerican bondo, from New York area.... 



It fits....like a glove. Almost...

[juhap]

I had an exellent idea using fender of my parts car, but it had some issues, so I gave up that idea...



Had to go back to original one. It had a huge amount of bondo. I cleaned it to bare metal.



Looks quite OK


Trunk needed new carpet. I couldn´t find any loop carpet from Finland, so I ordered it from Sweden. Cut it all by my self and local upholstery firm did sew it.




The other side needed some hinge repair job. And of course destroyed one bolt...



Repaired hinges, made new thread and painted it all... Much better now.

[juhap]

Tried to streighten bent sill. No effect... But only a dozen of small rustholes. 

Cut the bent area and found this. Rust on the bent sheet metal.

Even the reinforcement piece had bent some.



Outer part had also rust on the bent area...

[juhap]

Testing new sheet metal...




Welded it from inside, so it needs less finishing.



Used original piece as cover (after I had it sandblasted).




Finished...



It was time to continue this restoration of that fender cutting done some six years ago.... I had done a little bit of this before...




Made a new straight angle



And added some metal...



Welded it...



And after that made a new inner piece and welded it.



A better wiew...



Painted and protected against rust, I hope...



That rear corner looked kinda sad, so I sanded that cracked bondo.... Hammered a little and used schrinking disc to raise some low spots...



Repaired that missing part of front fender (drivers side)



And front corner too...
First I made fender lip using my bead roller and self made fender lip rollers...



Did some schrinking and cutting to get it fit better.



Testing....



Welded...



Yuo can see that much of it when fender flare is attached. Nothing.....



Co-drivers side needed that much of sheet metal...



Bend a little... weld a little...



Front corner needs more than a piece of sheet metal. Made a cardboard template to show how much it is out of right shape... 



What to do?

I used a compass to draw some curved lines to find some corners, so I could tape some cutting lines...



Then just cut all bad away.



I did same lines to a fender of my crashed Concord...



Testing..



Fits well...

[Taylor]

Amazing metal working skills. Definitely inspirational.

[juhap]

Welded...





Cleaned...





Needs some hammering to be finished.

[vangremlin]

Great work.  Thanks for all of the pictures!

[juhap]

After an intesive Jeep welding session, it is time to pay some attention to this "Silver Beast".... (I´m converting an ex-off road XJ to be a 2wd street Cherokee)

This 258 does have a smoke issue... a lot of smoke...



I had one 258 waiting. It is from my V8 Eagle...It did run well, so it was time to take it down.



So here it is... A new motor... at least newer one...



Here is a rebuilt tranny to replace original. It had nasty habit to loose 3rd gear and shift to 2nd time to time.. This one is a lockturbine version of tf988.



Here are some new parts for my engine swap.



I stripped new motor... and tried to clean it for a new paint...



And then of course, new paint...





I had a lot of gaskets and seals, but just one timing cover seal... but it was enough...



But the damper was not OK... rubber is coming loose... and pulley was also had some issue too. So, I have to replace those...



New valve cover needs deeper bore and threads to head...

[maddog]

That engine looks purtty.

[Billman]

you're doing some mighty fine work there

[juhap]

Some progress...
Engine and transmission are together. Damper and pulley are not. It has new fuel pump, flexplate, torque converter and transmission had full overhaul last summer... And new exhaust is on its way.



Taking old smoking engine out... You can see that aluminium adapter for Motorcraft carb.

[juhap]

Removed old exhaust pipe. Compared it to one I already had home... It is for my Limited Wagon (manual gearbox)





My "new" engine had broken damper, so I did take it from this old one.



Sandbalasted and painted it.



I removed intake/exhaust.



Sandblasted that and painted it.



And here is a brand new exhaust pipe and muffler.

[juhap]

Have done some sandblasting and painting... bolts and such. Some bigger parts also...



Removed battery tray. Body was in good shape, tray too. But that triangular reinforcement part under body panel was almost gone...



Added some paint.



New triangle part (taken from my spare part Concord) got sandblasted and painted (together with Volvo parts).

[juhap]

Today it was time to start taking all apart...
No surprises, but antiroll bar was kinda heavy duty... much thicker than my new bushings were...



It is good to have suitable tools... 36 mm socket and adapter...



Prop shafts and constant velocity shafts...



And some other stuff... Parts to clean and paint...



Soon I can take motor out.