Father and Son 1983 SX/4 Project

[kevindpm61]

I decided to start a thread about my son's SX/4 that he purchased a couple of months ago through Craigslist. This is his first car.....it's interesting that he fell in love with this Eagle. Perhaps the fact that I owned a 1983 Spirit GT when he was younger was a contributing factor. The car was purchased from Alabama and transported to PA. It is a solid car but definitely needs work to pass PA inspection. I'm pretty knowledgeable about automotive work and in fact I'm in the process of doing a full-on restoration of my first car....... a 1970 Plymouth Duster 340.
My busy work schedule really only allows us to work either Sat or Sun mornings on the car. Still, we've managed to get quite a few jobs completed. The aluminum valve cover was leaking like a sieve. The RTV gasket material was removed and replaced with a cork gasket. No more leaks or vacuum leaks! A passenger rear wheel cylinder hard line was bent and installed, new rear brake shes installed and new rear parking brake cables installed.
New exhaust system was replaced from the cat back. A Thrush turbo muffler was installed. The muffler isn't excessively loud but has a nice sound. The header pipe is leaking at the manifold attachment. So far, I've been unsuccessful getting the 2 nuts loose. I'll continue to soak them with Kroil and try again next weekend.  Here are some pictures of the car. More postings to come.

[kevindpm61]

PA requires a visual emission inspection along with the mechanical inspection. The original Carter carb was swapped out for a Weber unit at some time. The Weber runs great but I felt that I needed to try and modify an original air cleaner to make the engine compartment look more original. I just bought a Millermatic 211 mig welder and I was anxious to try my hand at metal fabrication.
I located an original air cleaner and proceeded to figure out a plan. I used the Weber base plate as a template for the new base. I removed the Carter opening and cut through the PAIR tube attachments.  I cut a 7  1/2 inch diameter circle with the Weber opening in the center. The circle was then welded to the air cleaner base. Pair tubes were welded back (individual emissions components are not tested so I didn't bother making the tubes functional). Attaching hardware was fabricated and welded into place. The assembly was  painted semi-gloss black. I'm happy with the final outcome considering this is my first attempt at welding/ fabrication. One step closer to inspection!

[kevindpm61]

Before:

[kevindpm61]

After:

[kevindpm61]

We worked on the car yesterday. My son wire wheeled the front suspension components in prep for rebuilding. Attaching hardware were treated with Kroil penetrating oil. I replaced the faulty engine temp switch.
The 4 wheel drive vacuum lines were either cracked or missing and the vacuum canister was removed. I decided to remove the remaining vacuum components and do the hose clamp front axle disconnect. The automatic tranny to transfer case diaphragm was removed and locked in the forward position. This got the front CV joints running, but there was significant vibration in the front with the car up on stands. The CV joint boots are shredded on both sides. I'm planning on replacing them. Do you think this will solve the vibration or should we look into other drive train components?

[eaglefreek]

Great progress. I like the air cleaner. New CV axles are cheap enough, in my opinion, to not attempt to install new boots.

[vangremlin]

You're off to a good start! Not sure about the vibration, but it sounds like you need to replace the CV axles anyways so that sounds like a logical place to start.

[kevindpm61]

Thanks for the compliments guys. I figured that it would be best to just buy a pair of new CV joints while we are rebuilding the front end. This is the first coil spring front end that I've worked on. I'm use to Mopar torsion bars. Also the first 4 wheel drive vehicle that I've worked on.

[kevindpm61]

Got the completed air cleaner installed on the Eagle today. I'm happy with the look and fit. Complete front suspension components arrived this week and I picked up some new CV axles. Front end rebuild will be next weeks activities if my back feels up to it.

[mo.eagles]

Looks great !!! Did you find a license plate/fuel door yet?

[kevindpm61]

Thanks mo.eagles. I did find a fuel door. In fact, I just cleaned it up and got it ready to put on the car. I'm still looking for a driver's side seat latch cover and a left rear bumper end cap. I'm looking for an end cap off of a station wagon to see if I can trim it to fit the SX/4

[kevindpm61]

Here's the completed license plate bracket. I cleaned the rust off of it today and did a faux zinc spangle with chrome paint. I did this technique on the disc brake dust shields on my Duster. It looks very close to the original finish up close.

[mo.eagles]

Dadgum that looks great! I was going to paint mine a solid color but I like that better.

[kevindpm61]

Thanks. After I stripped the rust, I painted the bracket with chrome paint. Lay on a heavy coat and then blot with crumpled newspaper to reproduce the spangle.  Very easy to do. You can mist with a clear coat but go slowly as it will dull the color.

[kevindpm61]

Front suspension components arrived and it looks like we will be tearing into CV axle replacements and a complete suspension rebuild starting this weekend. Ball joints are riveted so I suspect that everything is from the factory. I've rented a coil spring compressor and have done my due diligence reading up on the process.
The original CV axle boots are shredded. I locked the shift case into 4 wheel drive last time but experienced a lot of front drive train vibration. I suspect that it could be from the CV axles but I am also thinking that it could be front drive shaft related. Should I just pull the drive shaft, have it checked for balance and install new u joints while I'm this far into it?