For any "rebuild", wait until you're back.
For the rear seal, there was one mechanic here where I live that claimed you could do that by lifting the car, supporting the transfer-case and trans, separate the trans from engine, then fish the old seal out with a coat-hanger, then lube the new seal with fresh engine oil and slide it in.
It's also common, and a pain, to replace the oil pan gaskets. Plural. But it's an opportunity to clean it out and to put a new oil pump in (before that fails) since you're there. Done right it should last. Needing redoing at 160K is not a surprise. There are better gaskets now for that too.
Those stock valve covers do become brittle and break. To get a stock one in place, you need the Felpro double-thick cork gasket. Then gasket adhesive on the bottom of the gasket and then for the top, either gasket adhesive if the channel on the valve cover is good, or a TINY bit of RTV gasket maker if it's not. You use minimal torque to put the valve cover on. Leave the RTV to set, then add a bit more torque. That was the solution 15 years ago: search the forum for other's advice on handling that. I had trouble after trouble until I went with the double-thick cork gasket (don't use two stacked...). An aluminum cover is nice, if you can get one for a reasonable price. I made my own steel one... lol
If the rubber boots at the brake pistons in the rear drum brakes and the front calipers are dry but intact, they can often be refurbished in place by rubbing with "ATE Brake Cylinder" lube/grease. First use some to lube the rubber to wipe any dirt off, then a clean coating of that left in place to lube.
If you ever pull the calipers to rebuild them, you use that grease on the pistons before you put them back into the calipers (astounding the difference in brake feel, compared to using the Permatex product for that). If you found any rust inside the calipers, use some EVAPO-RUST to remove the rust, rinse well, wipe dry, let sit until thoroughly dry. Paint with that ceramic brake paint caliper paint, cure, then rub a light coating of the ATE B.C. grease all over the inside and into the feed and bleed channels of the caliper, so they can't rust again.
I'd use the ATE Brake Cylinder lube/grease on any rubber with issues on the TC too.
You had the trans filter & fluid changed. I'd wait and see if it has any issues.
Rebuilding the stock 258 sounds nice, but putting a 4.0 head on it is a better upgrade. Even better, is putting a whole 4.0 in, so you get the fuel injected throttle body. There's a flange on the 4.0 block that will take the Eagle front diff mount. As long as the stock engine is running and not having problems, I'd say wait until you're back and put more research into it.
With a bent/warped valve cover, if you can't find an aluminum one cheap, if it's not leaking a lot, you should be able to have it limp along until you're home.
Topic: 1985 Eagle Solenoid location? (Read 7394 times)