'83 SX4 project

[B.rad256]

Hi there, I'm a new member and this will be my first post, but ever since I acquired my Eagle back in July I've been lurking on here almost everyday. I have learned a lot from you guys so thank you



 Anyways, a little about the car. It's an 83 SX4 from California that got shipped out to Tampa where I bought it. It has the 258 and it is a manual. The car needs a lot of work since it seems to have been sitting for a long time. Most of the car seems to be stock (the ball joints are still riveted in) and it came with a bunch of the original paperwork. My hopes are to use it as a daily driver since my commute isn't that far.
  The interior is trashed because the exterior door handles don't work so they left the windows open and in Florida it rains. A lot. But carpet and upholstery can be replaced. The dash and all the plastic interior pieces are extremely fragile due to baking in the sun for the last 30+ years.



 Under the hood the engine is filthy (thanks to a leaking valve cover) but after cleaning out the carb I got it running and seems to be in decent shape. I haven't gotten it to drive yet since I'm still working out a solution for a new clutch master cylinder.



 Overall I've got a lot of work to do and very little money to do it with so I will most likely be updating this project slowly. I'll post photos tonight since I can't seem to figure out how to do it on my phone.

[Taylor]

Welcome to the forums. Good luck with your project.
I think rockauto.com has clutch master cylinder repair kits. Not sure where to acquire the actual master cylinder.
Also I bought door handles from quadratec, they have the Jeep paddle handles. Make sure you get right and left sides as they are different.

[vangremlin]

Welcome to the Den and good luck with your project.  Sounds like you've got a good car to work with, just needs a good dose of TLC.

Taylor is right about the door handles, or it could be that you just need some clips that attach the handles to the hardware in the door.  Those are pretty basic and available just about anywhere.

[B.rad256]

Thanks! Yeah as far as the master cylinder goes I bought one I think will work but the linkage rod is too short so I'm fabricating one up. As for the door handles, I did take the door panel off the passenger side and I know for sure that one is busted. My dad found a few eagles and other AMCs at a junkyard out by him in Utah and snagged me a few.

[B.rad256]

[B.rad256]

Quick update on the car, I've been working a lot so I haven't had too much time too work on this project but I did manage to get my hands on a stock spec clutch master cylinder. After scouring this sight for info on substitutions or parts retailer, I came across Kennedy American and luckily for me they had a few in stock. They even threw in a rebuild kit for me.



As you can see from the picture, the master cylinder I purchased previously was actually quite close to what I needed but there were a few differences. The first is obvious, the linkage is way too short; the second is the diameter. The top one is 7/8" bore and the correct one is 11/16". Anyways, I'm hoping to get it installed today.

I'm currently in the process of the redoing the front suspension. I've done the driver side ball joints, sway bar bushing and link, lower control arm bushing, and strut rod bushings. I'm working on getting the upper control arm bushings out now and hopefully I'll be able to move to the passenger side soon. That should go a bit quicker since I have a better idea of how I should sequence it after doing the driver side.

Yesterday, I finally got around to replacing the door handles. Now I don't have to leave the windows down and put a tarp over the doors! I ended up taking the whole latch mechanism out and giving it thorough cleaning and oiling; now everything is operating smoothly. I did make an interesting discovery behind the driver side door panel. It is the original build sheet from the factory
 


That's all I've got for now. Hopefully soon I'll be posting that this bird is running and driving.

[djm3452004]

I did make an interesting discovery behind the driver side door panel. It is the original build sheet from the factory
 

That's a cool find.  Whatever sheet my '83 wagon had is likely long-gone, unless it's under a seat like a Chevrolet.  I did not locate a sheet inside any door.  As an interesting point, my '84 parts wagon did have a build sheet located behind one of the passenger door cards.  I'm wondering if the Brampton-built cars located their build sheets behind a door card, but the build sheets were placed somewhere else on the Kenosha-built cars?  Does anyone have any idea?

David