V8 Swap '84 Eagle Wagon

[V8Eagle]

As is customary with my project threads, I'm going to start this one before I pick up the vehicle. In what may be the world's strangest trade agreement, I will hopefully be trading my lifted crown victoria for an '84 AMC Eagle next week, contingent on the crown vic making it through the gambler 500 this weekend in 1 piece (which it will, it is near indestructible). Pic of the crown vic:



Now, some details on the AMC:

Its a 1984 Eagle wagon. Not just a normal Eagle wagon however. This one has been V8 swapped with an AMC 360 out of a mid 80's FSJ product (grand wagoneer, cherokee, etc). Behind the 360 is a torqueflight 727 trans, followed by the stock eagle single speed transfer case. From there, I think it is a Dana 35 rear (stock eagle) axle, and Dana 30 IFS front differential (again stock eagle stuff). Here are some pics of the vehicle in question:









The AMC has been lifted about 2" with V8 Javelin springs up front, and an add-a-leaf in the rear. Main issue currently is that the drivers side front CV joint on the halfshaft is in about 5 pieces, it came apart while turning sharply at a fairly good clip (per the PO). I'd have to imagine the angles aren't real happy with the lift, so I'll have to figure that whole thing out. Otherwise the car is in pretty good shape, it came from the land of no rust known as North Carolina, and has only been here in Michigan for about 2 years. The underside is in very respectable shape for a car that is approaching 40 years old. Also, the engine has been pretty thoroughly gone through over the last year or so. New distributor and cam gear, new water pump and timing chain, new carburetor (first car I will have ever owned with one of those...), new gas tank and sending unit, and new brakes.

This should be an interesting ride... Stay tuned for more details

[V8Eagle]

Alright, AMC aquired. Naturally some pics to document the start of the project, before I got it off the trailer:







And a couple of it once I got it into the garage:

[V8Eagle]

First thing on the agenda was to get the drivers side CV joint replaced. The previous one had a massive failure...


I was able to source one out of a 1985 Chevy S10, which is supposed to be a bit longer and help the angles a bit on lifted Eagles. It was in stock at O'Reillys and ready for pickup as of noon today. Gotta love american cars... It is definitely the shinest thing on the car now.



Following the CV shaft replacement, I took the ol' girl out for a quick spin around the neighborhood. Was the first time I had driven the car more than about 20 feet. Thoughts thus far:

1. The steering is sketchy. I'm not expecting perfection, but its to the point where it is borderline dangerous. Huge dead spot in the middle of the steering wheel. I crawled under once I got home and noticed that the joint on the end of the pitman arm is completely toasted, to the point where I can move it up and down at least a 1/2 inch by hand. That is next on the list

2. Along the lines of suspension, I also noticed that the upper control arm bushings are totally shot. So are the sway bar bushings. Add both of those to the rock auto order

3. Anything over about 1/4 throttle kind of chokes out the engine. Need to look into carb tuning and make sure the timing is set to something reasonable. Could also probably use fresh gas.

4. Transfer case is leaking. Planning on swapping to an NP242 anyways, so not overly concerned about it.

5. Rear differential is weeping. If I crack that open there will be some variety of limited slip that makes its way into there

6. The heater controls are literally hot wired under the dash. I need to make a switch panel for those

Thats all for now, going to try and get the steering squared away so I'm comfortable driving it more than about 1/2 mile. Still pretty rad

[AMC of Houston]

Just an FYI; looks like your massive CV failure was simply due to the aftermarket inner joint housing, which is quite a bit shorter than the factory unit; and as such they pull apart easily.

[V8Eagle]

Thanks for the info! Hopefully the new one doesnt do the same thing, but I get the feeling it may since it is likely the same inner housing.

[AMC of Houston]

There's an older aftermarket axle on EvilBay right now with the correct inner joint.  Here's a link if you want to see what it should be:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/294189357687?hash=item447f0d5a77:g:YnMAAOSwW2ZgqeCi

George G.

[vangremlin]

I'm sure lots of the members on here would be interested in seeing how they were able to swap in the V8 while also keeping it 4WD.  If you can post some pictures of how the front axle is attached that would be great.  Thanks!

[AMC of Houston]

I'd love to see that, too!!   Looks like the front diff is mounted almost 3 inches lower than factory; and that accounts for the less-than-optimal front axle shaft geometry.  But also means the suspension could be raised 2 or 3 more inches with no issues (raising would actually improve the axle geometry!).

[V8Eagle]

I'll add some pics when I get home from work tonight. Havent looked real close at that particular part yet. Being new to these cars I'm still learning how they are put together.

[V8Eagle]

Well, I would have had some pictures of how the differential is mounted, but I spent most my evening fighting with the pitman arm replacement. Anybody have any tips/tricks on replacing that? I have both ends loose/free, just need to get it to come out...

[AMC of Houston]

I usually loosen/remove the steering box mounting bolts as needed so it'll pivot a bit.   Good luck on the pitman arm longevity - they usually don't last very long - the aftermarket units seem to be somewhat low-quality IMHO.

[V8Eagle]

Thanks for the info, I'll give that a shot. Yeah, at $12 I'm not so convinced this Mevotech is going to last all that long... Has anyone tried converting to an XJ Cherokee unit or are they not very similar? Was just curious since it seems like quite a few of the XJ items can be swapped over. Also, other than prothane are there any other good sources for sway bar bushings? Would like to stick with rubber if at all possible.

[mudkicker715]

an xj  gear is compatible do some searching as we were recently talking about this I also did this.

[AMC of Houston]

Re the sway bar bushings; your Eagle should have a 1" sway bar (AMC's came with 3/4", 7/8", and 1" bars over the years).  The only AMC-listed bushing still readily available is for the 7/8" bar (Moog K3168 etc.) -- but that can be made to work (the 1/8" difference isn't much; so just squish 'er down!).   End Link kits (as I'm sure you've noticed) are easy to come by.

[V8Eagle]

An update:

Finally won my fight with the pitman arm replacement. Thanks to AMC of Houston for the tip. Wound up having to undo one end of the steering damper, and loosen the bolts to the steering box. That was definitely the cause of most of the sketchy steering, other than needing an alignment the steering has definitely improved drastically! No pics of the replacement, was too busy fighting it...

Next up I took some pics of how the V8 conversion was done while still maintaining 4wd. Best I can tell it looks like some custom engine mounts were used, and the differential was moved down. Looks like the subframe still bolts up in the factory locations, and I didnt see any spacers between the subframe and the unibody.

Engine mounts:




Front axle mounting:








Also, looks like I'm in for another CV shaft replacement... Might try and find a boot kit for that one. Or is it worth just putting another S10 one in?


Also discovered that the transmission kickdown linkage is not hooked up to the carb... That Lokar cable should be hooked up to something!


Today I picked up a Holley 20-40 trans kickdown stud kit at the local O'reillys andhooked up the kickdown cable. What a difference that made! I also ordered in some front swaybar bushings as well (Thanks again to AMC of Houston). Next up on the list:

1. Fix boot on passengers side front CV shaft

2. Figure out how to make the HVAC do something other than blow hot air out of the floor vents

3. Get the coolant temp gauge working

4. Check timing and carburetor tuning