You bought what?? 88 Eagle Wagon - Overlander Build

[mudkicker715]

The last 1 percent is the most wowwiesome. Thats the part where you turn the key crawl under and go ...................

[vangremlin]

Yep, that last bit gets us all.  Awesome job, and thanks for the photos!

[amarshall]

Thanks for that, something else to worry about!    I really wasn't thinking that far ahead, but if it's still leaking I think I'll have to invent new cuss words.   

I have to travel for work this week, so I won't get to put it back together until at least next weekend.  We can all suffer together!

[amarshall]

Wow, putting this thing back together is tough! It was a struggle to get the engine back down onto the mounts cleanly. It was raised about 6 inches, and wandered a lot sideways. It also wanted to tip over to one side, since I just had a floor jack under the oil pan. I kept at it and threw a couple ratchet straps on the engine to keep it upright, pulling toward the fenders.  Finally got it in the right spot and ran bolts through the mounts.

It's almost ready, just need to put the starter back on and I can test fire it. Fingers crossed! If all looks good, I can put the front axle back in and reconnect the driveshafts.

[vangremlin]

Glad to hear you finally wrestled that beast into place.  Sounds like you were doing it just by yourself, that is quite a job for one person! 

I have no doubt you'll have a successful start up, then you'll be so eager to get back on the road everything will come together quickly!

[amarshall]

Good news, it still starts and runs!  I had a scare with a small leak from one of the oil pan bolts on the drivers side, right in the middle.  Best I can tell is that the gasket was "sqooshed" a bit when I lowered the engine - since I was using a floor jack and a 2x6 right under the pan.  I went back and re-torqued the bolts. Found 5 or 6 pan bolts on the driver's side were loose, and the leak stopped after they were tightened.  Whew!  Rear main seal appears to be leak free also, though I'm still pretty nervous.

Slowly putting everything else back together.  Yes vangremlin it's just me, and I'm just in a home garage with jack stands and a floor jack.  There is a lot of up and down to get tools, and laying under the car just planning the next step.  I really don't want to forget a step and have to take something back out - so I feel like I'm jumping around to random things and not staying on one task.

As an example, it has always been tough to find neutral - and to get to drive I have had to go to first, then back up to Drive.  Once the trans was dropped a bit and I could see better, I figured out that the selector lever had come loose on the trans shaft. I was able to get back on tight which is great but it was a detour from the rear main seal job.

So far I've done everything myself.  At one point last week my wife said "maybe you should get some professional help".  I'm 95% sure she was talking about the car, not a psychiatrist!

[eaglefreek]

  At one point last week my wife said "maybe you should get some professional help".  I'm 95% sure she was talking about the car, not a psychiatrist!

 

[amarshall]

 

[vangremlin]

    

[amarshall]

I was feeling pretty good last night, that's for sure!    Got the Eagle back together and took it out of the garage for a victory lap off the neighborhood at about 11pm.  First time on the road since the new carb, 2" lift and suspension rebuild, and rear main seal/oil pan job.  It was a good ride, only one thing fell off!  One of the lug nuts had separated in two and the chrome cover fell off.  I'll take that.

All tucked back in for the night.



And then...I glanced under it today and the oil pan/rear main looks clean, but the dang fill plug on the front axle is leaking.    Anybody got a vote about this?  To tight or too loose?

I ordered some tires online and they came today, and that's probably what kept me from drinking after finding the leak!  Can't wait to see them installed.

[vangremlin]

Dang, them's some beefy tires!  They will look great on your car!

I vote too loose on the fill plug.  I figure I have a 50/50 chance of being right 

[amarshall]

I got kind of silly with the tires, I suppose.  They are 235/75/15 mud tires.  I'm planning on taking this across country on mostly dirt, and don't want mud to stop me.  I got the tires from a "recapper" place and shipped to me for $88 per tire.  What could possibly go wrong?  I have some Cherokee wheels, just need to clean them up and get the tires mounted.  I'll probably need to do some work on the front wheel wells for clearance, of course.

The list of mechanical tasks is getting pretty short (except for that stupid axle plug!) and I am really looking forward to working on the fun stuff to pretty this thing up.  It's been a lot of work this year, with very little visible to show.  Maaco is advertising a $299 sale in my area, and I'm hoping to prep it and let them spray it.

[djohnston89]

I'm quite interested to see how those tires perform, I'm pretty sure I was looking at the same re-capper's site. $88 a tire is a pretty solid deal, and they are gonna look awesome on your eagle!

[amarshall]

No news on the tires, haven't had a chance to get the wheels cleaned up yet.  But I did look at the front axle drain plug.  I took it out and was surprised to find that it's got pipe threads. I grabbed some teflon tape and put the plug back in.  No leaks so far, fingers crossed.

[amarshall]

Progress has been very slow the past couple weeks, just normal family stuff has gotten in the way.  I have a bunch of pictures but seems like I can't report that anything is complete.  Just trying to nibble away at it when I get an hour here and there.

Note to self:  NEVER mess with an oil pan again!  I've been chasing a couple small tiny leaks, fingers crossed that I got them all.  Now that I've actually driven the car a couple times, the very front of the pan is seeping a tiny bit.  I had used a little RTV with the fancy Fel-Pro gasket, but only on the block side and only across the front and back.  Maybe this was a bad idea.  I went under there, loosened the bolt in the front section and tried to jam RTV into the seam.  Then torqued all the bolts again - I've got the specs memorized now.  7 and 11 Ft-lbs, got it!

Let's see, got the wheels painted white (old school 4x4 style) and tires mounted.  The wheels came from a Cherokee and are 15x7.  I did some work on the passenger front fender, needed a little trim to clear the 235/75-15 tires.  So I've got 3 tires mounted right now, looks kind of funny.  But it's sitting nice and high - there is 9" clearance to the rear axle pumpkin and the next lowest thing is the exhaust at 11".

A buddy came to town and we started prep for paint.  Looks pretty rough right now, with a lot of rattle can primer.  And I've got all the flares and small bits off the car for painting.  Thank goodness the flares will cover my lousy fender work.

Big news is I went to the DMV and got a tag!  They insist on looking at the VIN in person down here, so I drove over.  It was nice to drive it finally, haven't been able to do that since late last year.  The lady took one look at the car and just shook her head, hah!  They were very confused about AMC, and almost issued the title as a Jeep.  I talked them through it and they finally found "American Motors Corp" in their system.

Enough chit chat, here are the pics you guys want!

Set of Cherokee wheels, scored off Craigslist.


I'm going with old school white wheels.


Looking good for the DMV!


Disassembled front end


Needs paint!


Found some dirt in the rocker covers


Paint prep


Front fender modifications - will be hidden by the flares


Plenty of room now.  Apologies to the purists.


A hint of what's to come...