The Restoration starts!- '80 Eagle Turbo Diesel

[80SpiritGT]

oops



 

[rollguy]

I had fuel too, but I had enough of a little blockage that it wouldn't run.  Did you try a compression test?  IIRC 300psi is approaching bad.  How'd the lobes on the cam look?  Just found the following info.

Normal compression is between 345 to 435 psi with an allowable difference between cylinders of 40 psi. The minimum compression should be no less than 260 psi.

I got the car running a month ago. I pulled the head and had a valve job done. I found that not to be the problem with the compression, as it did the same thing after the head was installed. Before installing the head, I put solvent in all of the cylenders to see how bad the rings leaked. They did not leak at all that I could tell. The problem was that the car had been sitting for a long time, and no oil on the cylender walls (washing them with solvent did not help either). After squirting oil in the cylenders through the glow plug holes, it started!I have put about 2,000 miles on it before converting it to run on Vegetable Oil. I will start another topic in "Lobby" and post photos.

[rollguy]

I did some more work on the Eagle this weekend. I pulled out the battery box from in front of the rear axle (dumb place for a battery) and the cables, and am going to mount the battery back in the engine compartment where it belongs. The weather has been warm here lately, so I should be doing more work on the car soon. I have received most of the interior parts from Mark (fishmoek) and will be working on the interior also.I will post photos as it progresses. I will be converting it to run on Vegetable oil as well. You can look in "Lobby" for the thread "Diesels running on Vegetable Oil"

[IowaEagle]

Sounds like you have made great progress.  2K on the engine must mean she is still a good one.

[rollguy]

I was hoping to get the '80 TurboDiesel Eagle ready for the Convention, but I am afraid it is not going to happen short of a Miricle. I have been working on other important projects, so the Eagle project has been put aside. I will also have a problem getting off work even if the Eagle was running. Maybe next year it will be road worthy and I can drive it to the convention whereever it is. I will still post photos, and write of the progress in this thread. 

[eaglewagon1]

any news on the resto?

[rollguy]

Still have not had time to work on it, too many other projects. When I get time, I plan to pull the head with a bad head gasget, and fix it so it runs riught. It also has a huge transmission fluid leak, and that will be next. If the trans has to be removed, the engine and trans needs to come out together. The bolts holding the trans to the engine are covered buy the oil pan, and the engine needs to be removed to take the oil pan off-FUN!

[83Eagle!]

Sounds like fun to me.  Can't wait until you can get around to it.  I can definitely understand the trouble with having too many projects.

[Eagle Kammback]

Are you doing a ground up resto?

[1982AMCCONCORD]

Hey there...I.E. just moved my "1982 Concord" thread to the project car section and I ran across your thread on the Diesel!

Man...I am shocked...I never even knew. I know this probably hasn't crossed your mind but...it may prove to be slightly intriguing for you....

http://www.greasecar.com/

Just a thought...I have been looking at some Merc. Benz 300D to do a veggie oil conversion on...then I seen your thread...I weas like..."Wow...the best of both worlds! Free Fuel and an AMC!!! COOL!!!" You could help make the world a greener place...one AMC at a time!!! 

Good luck with your project!!!

JB

[rollguy]

Hey there...I.E. just moved my "1982 Concord" thread to the project car section and I ran across your thread on the Diesel!

Man...I am shocked...I never even knew. I know this probably hasn't crossed your mind but...it may prove to be slightly intriguing for you....

http://www.greasecar.com/

Just a thought...I have been looking at some Merc. Benz 300D to do a veggie oil conversion on...then I seen your thread...I weas like..."Wow...the best of both worlds! Free Fuel and an AMC!!! COOL!!!" You could help make the world a greener place...one AMC at a time!!! 

Good luck with your project!!!

JB

You must have read my mind, as I already plan to run it on Veg Oil with a Lovecraft Single Tank Conversion. http://www.lovecraftbiofuels.com .  I already have a 300CD, and a 190D running with the Lovecraft system.
 I also have a 4 cyl Turbodiesel engine and trans from a Dodge D50 that I would like to stuff in my Suzuki Samurai.

[80SpiritGT]

Just my $.02....


I still say Biodiesel is much safer for a diesel engine. If you do not get the veggie oil hot enough before it hits the injectors you will destroy the engine. Its happend to five people here that I know of using kits sold on the internet via multiple manufacturers.

Biodiesel is extremely easy to produce, and requires no modifications to your engine except for seal and fuel hose upgrades to a compatible material.

If you were driving anything else I would say burn veggie oil! But the Diesel your talking about is pretty rare is it not? I would not want to risk damaging it beyond repair by burning a fuel that could harm the machine.

[1982AMCCONCORD]

I have been reading up on the veggie oil movement A lOT lately and I have read that Bio Diesel is great and easy to make at home but very time consuming and most people that make it say that it ends up costing about 1.00 a gallon BUT...when the person's time is factored into the equation...its not worth it. A guy on the Bio Fuels forum wrote that recently. The Waste Veggie Oil or WVO...is just really easy to do as long as its filtered properly...ussually a 2 stage set up is the way to go...first filter out the coarse stuff...then filter out the fine stuff.

Your right about warming up the oil...the temp gauge needs to be accurate...and I would spend up on the stuff needed to insure that accuarcy...I wouldn't go cheap on something so important. I am not 100% on all the details but...I wonder if the temp gauge is mounted IN the oil and not on the outside of the tank. That would be the best way to get the accurate reading...make sure the oil is up to temp and not the tank itself.

Rollguy...how was the coversion process? Are you glad you did it? did you do it yourself or did you have Lovecraft install it? I personally like Lovecraft for the Mercedes stuff...but I like Greasecar for the Volkswagan stuff. Either way...I totally believe in the movement...I like it...and frankley...if I could get any kind of fuel for free...worrying about MPG would be a thing of the past. I only drive 50 miles a day but that equates to 250 dollars a month...before I was driving 100 miles day and that costed me about 500 dollars a month. Now...I would like to get a diesel and convert to WVO and not spend a nickel on fuel anymore. I would love to save 250 a month...who wouldn't? Once you run a WVO or even Straight veggie oil (SVO)...MPG become meaningless...I am ready to sell my Caprice that won't stop leaking rad. fluid and get an old Merc. Benz or a VW and convert. A Merc. Benz would be nice because they aren't as expensive as lets say a VW...and there wouldn't be any worrying about voiding an extended warrenty on the Merc. benz...but I sure would hate to blow the engine...that would make the whole gross experiment worthless.

[1982AMCCONCORD]

Ahhh...RollGuy...I just read some of your posts over at LoveCraft's forum...too funny!!!

[jim]

My wife's brother makes his bio diesel from used cooking oil he gets from convenience stores.  His entire refinery is home made.  I think he can bring off about 40 or 50 gallons at a time.
He mixes it with diesel in his older Dodge Ram, and runs it straight in a big generator.
He says it costs him about $1/gallon.
His name and location are confidential.  He doesn't want the tax man after him.