Penny is Back in the Shop! Thread for My Mechanic

[Prafeston]

Well she's back in the shop again. Figured I'd update you guys here since I know there are a few of you not on Facebutt. Thought I would start a thread for the forum so you guys can stay in the loop and so if my mechanic has any questions he can ask the community here.

Dustin is another AMC nut from Southwestern Utah and I found him on theamcforum. He's restored several FSJs and currently has a 62 Rambler Cross Country. He's done some great work, but I'm not doing a full on restore. Just want her ready to drive!

Here's a link to one of his restorations. http://fsjnetwork.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=9536

Anyway, I've been lazy with Penny and haven't touched her in over a year and I've been looking at purchasing a daily driver cause I'm tired of sharing a car with my wife. After thinking I could spend 2-3k on a daily I decided I might as well put that much into my Eagle to get it daily ready. Found Dustin and he was willing to take on the project.

I borrowed a trailer from a neighbor and tried a test run with the Eagle loaded with our 2002 WJ with the 4.7, but it was way too taxing on the transmission so I also borrowed my neighbor's Dodge Ram 3500 Dually. That did the trick and now the car is in the shop.









I just got it to him on 2/14/17 and he already got it started, but there is now oil getting to the top of the engine.
"Definitely lots of engine noise. All coming from the top of the motor. Found that the drivetrain wasn't getting any oil up top. Pulled the sending unit and cranked the engine. Had oil down low. But it's not getting up top."
I look forward to getting this thing all ready to go...finally! Years later!

BONE DRY


Video of it running.
https://www.facebook.com/dustin.langston.9/videos/10210628286856410/

[eaglefreek]

Cool, hopefully it will be something easy to fix. I don't recall, did you install another oil filter after having the issue? I wonder if it's something to do with the filter bypass.

[Prafeston]

I don't think the filter has been replaced since the initial install.

[vangremlin]

That's good news!  Hopefully he's got it up and running in no time and there is nothing major wrong with it.  He seems to know his way around an AMC.  Always good to get an Eagle back on the road!

[Prafeston]

I'm excited to be making some headway again!

[dustinlangston]

Hooray I'm finally register and on the forum! Just wanted to introduce myself. I am Dustin and I'm working on this project. Love all AMC and am super excited to be working on this Eagle. I'm in love!

[Prafeston]

Might have to get your own after you're done with this one! 

[mudkicker715]

Hooray I'm finally register and on the forum! Just wanted to introduce myself. I am Dustin and I'm working on this project. Love all AMC and am super excited to be working on this Eagle. I'm in love!

Hey i check about once a day for members. Anyway welcome Dustin

[Prafeston]

Hooray I'm finally register and on the forum! Just wanted to introduce myself. I am Dustin and I'm working on this project. Love all AMC and am super excited to be working on this Eagle. I'm in love!

Hey i check about once a day for members. Anyway welcome Dustin

The main issue were the questions. The first one he got was "The AMC Eagle was the first _____ car?" He tried everything but the correct answer is just "fourwheel" It has since been changed. Plus I think one of the other questions was about the base engine size which even though like 90% of them got 258s the standard engine was the 2.5 Iron Duke.

[mudkicker715]

Ok, Rafael i got that now. These are things i can look for, to hopefully make it easier. However i know absolutely nothing so far to make it easier to apply.  I will note this and see where these questions are at. When ready to do so.
There is alot of hidden stuff on here, maybe i cannot access or need to stumple upon. Good to know anyway. I would start a thread for this but if you cannot post what good is it?

[Prafeston]

Recomer (Richard Comer) helped me out on Facebook with all the correct answers!

[Prafeston]

Well it looks like for now I may have dodged a bullet. Dustin called last night with weird/good news. He wanted to try a new filter on the engine before pulling it so he went to the parts store and picked up a filter for a 4.0 and bright it back to the shop only to find out it wouldn't screw in. So he had another 4.0 block incase indeed it and it had a filter on it. Pulled it off and tried it on mine and again it wouldn't screw in. So he did some research on the different filter changes for the  4.2 and  4.0 over the years and decided to swap the spare motors oil filter adapter into my engine and use it's of filter. And whalah! Oil to the valves! I think some how the other shop put an oil filter from a 4.2 on the  4.0 and the 4.2 engines are made with an internal oil bypass valve and the 4.0 has it built into the filter. Then the filter clogged and there was no check valve in the system to bypass the filter. Not use how it got so clogged since the oil in it still looks new. But Dustin said the filter that was on there looked way worse than one that had only been in there for just a couple around the block miles.

Here's Dustin's post from Facebook.
Oil pressure!!!!! I didn't even have to pull the motor. These are some of the issues you can come across when dealing with engine swaps. The previous shop had taken the 4.2 oiling system and installed it on this 4.0. Well come to find out that doesn't work. It blocked oil from circulating. So switching to the correct 4.0 it works. All upper engine noise is now gone. Time to move on to the fun stuff.
And the video https://www.facebook.com/dustin.langston.9/posts/10210774341187677

[eaglefreek]

Cool, hopefully it will be something easy to fix. I don't recall, did you install another oil filter after having the issue? I wonder if it's something to do with the filter bypass.

What do I win? So I towed you across a few states because of an oil filter?

[Prafeston]

Cool, hopefully it will be something easy to fix. I don't recall, did you install another oil filter after having the issue? I wonder if it's something to do with the filter bypass.

What do I win? So I towed you across a few states because of an oil filter?

Let's not talk about it! It was a fun adventure though!

P.S. I don't remember any filter bypass suggestions before...though I could have at least taken the filter off and checked some things. It boiled down to a majority of the time the Eagle was not in my possession and then when it was I was just too lazy. I'm just glad things are being figured out and progress is being made!

[vangremlin]

Great news!  Sounds like Penny is well on the road to recovery.  What do they always say, check the simple stuff first?