1984 Amc Eagle Wagon build by an electrical engineer

[abzman]

I'm finally getting back into it.  I've always liked older cars and have the thought that anything new or fancy that I want I can add.  Most of the things manufacturers tout as benefits I don't like, and I tend to be very vocal about that and generally grumpy about not being able to turn off things like 'lane departure avoidance', 'park assist', or 'auto locking doors'.  Add that to the fact that I really don't care at all about the safety of the vehicle (young, invincible, bachelor) then building an older car up with all the upgrades that I can think of sounds like a great idea!  Right now my daily driver is a 2003 dodge stratus with completely dry rotted and patched tires, no brake pads, bottomed out suspension, front fascia falling off, but I recently replaced the outer tie rod ends (one fell off while driving) and the throttle position sensor (racing engine at stops) and filled the coolant full of stop-leak which surprisingly worked.  I have no intention to fix that car and have given myself a deadline of whenever the dodge falls apart on the road to get the Eagle to daily-driver condition (it drives now, but it could stand to be more reliable). 

My original thread is here and I'm now going to keep a project thread that I can update regularly in parallel with my blog.  The current project is an LED headlight upgrade (and other lights while I'm there) and should be up tonight.  I'm certain my placement of the new headlight relays is inadvisable, but until I build my own harness the one I got from e-bay will do. 

First question I can think of: any idea where to get the connectors for the diagnostic harness? I think I can find the pinout but I would like to build a proper harness to a tester.   


The air cleaner makes a nice laptop stand where I could watch Brazil while working on the wiring. 

[vangremlin]

I'm not sure I fully understand what you're asking for.  Are the connectors for the LED lights different than the 2 or 3 connectors on the stock headlights?  I know when switching to the H1 or H4 halogen replaceable bulbs, you just need to swap a couple of wires on the headlight plug to make them line up with the new bulbs.  Thanks.

[eaglefreek]

Dave, he's asking about the factory diagnostic connectors. I have no idea. I assume there were some AMC diagnostic tools that connected to those.

[mo.eagles]

Terminal Supply should have everything you need.

[vangremlin]

Dave, he's asking about the factory diagnostic connectors. I have no idea. I assume there were some AMC diagnostic tools that connected to those.

Gotcha!  No such things for my 80 or 81 Eagle lol

[abzman]

yeah, sorry, I switched topics pretty quickly.  I was talking about these:


I'm capable of designing a panel to test whatever signals are on those connectors, but I'd like to connect to the original ones. 

[abzman]

There, today's work written up: https://abzman2k.wordpress.com/2017/05/23/amc-eagle-headlight-mod-leds-part-one/

[mudkicker715]

Looking bright, how many lumens.

[abzman]

Looking bright, how many lumens.

The amazon page says 2700 lumens on high beams, and 900 on low (estimated from the 45 watt and 15 watt figures)

edit: I just realized that the 15 watt in the listing probably assumes all four are on low, the Eagle only uses two, which makes low 450 lumens. 

[vangremlin]

Looks good.  If you get a chance could you get a daylight shot with the lights off so I can get a feel for what the LED headlights look like when they aren't on? I've thought about installing these also. Thanks!

[IRON HORSE]

           Hello and welcome to the Den ...
  Very nice lookin' Eagle,  ride to be proud of. I like the light upgrade .. I noticed a reflection in the camera lens elements when you took the pict ( to the right of  the toolbox )... looks like 16 LEDs in each light.  How well do they lite up the road ahead
                                                             Iron Horse 

[amarshall]

I was able to find a reference to the diagnostic connectors in the October 1981 issue of Popular Mechanics.  Looks like the small connector was meant for a plug in tester, and the larger side was "used at the factory".





Who knows what logic this device had in it?  Probably not likely to ever re-create it.  Really makes you realize how these magazines have changed over the years.  Can you imagine anything on the newsstand today going into this level of detail?

Here is a link to the magazine on Google Books site:   https://books.google.com/books?id=-dgDAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA139&ots=UvSW4wWGF-&dq=amc%20diagnostic%20connector&pg=PA139#v=onepage&q=amc%20diagnostic%20connector&f=false

[amcfool1]

hi and welcome. Nice Eagle! I also have an 84. May I suggest you get a TSM for it?, available on ebay., about  $50-$80. Has all the info you will ever need, as well as all diagnostic explanations. If you ever recreate that module, let me know! good luck, gz

[amcfool1]

btw, if your ECM, (computer) checks out bad, they are still available at any auto parts place, about $180., + core. Cali version only. Located behind pass. kick panel. again, good luck, gz

[abzman]

Looks good.  If you get a chance could you get a daylight shot with the lights off so I can get a feel for what the LED headlights look like when they aren't on? I've thought about installing these also. Thanks!

Here it is, looks a bit odd, but I'll take it for the added light: