The Restoration starts!- '80 Eagle Turbo Diesel

[rollguy]

I did some work on the car today, as the weather was excellent for working.  I wanted to find out why the oil pick up tube was loose (may be the reason for no oil pressure) and decided to pull the oil pan. There was not enough room between the crossmember  and the engine to get the pan out, so I thought about it and found a way to do it.   I jacked up the engine as far as it would go and found a piece of channel iron that fit across the engine bay and rested on the shock tower:

I chained the engine to the iron:

I then removed everything that was holding the crossmember to the frame and lowered it:

I was able to remove the pan:

To my surprise, the oil pick up tube was fine.  I expected to see a flange with two loose bolts, causing it not to seal, but it was an O ring type fitting, and that was the reason for the tube being loose.  The tube (with an O ring groove) just slips into a hole in the front of the engine. 
I realized that I will now need to pull the engine in order to repair the oil pump.   I guess I will re-ring it while it is out.   I put the pan back on, and bolted the suspension and crossmember back up. The engine and trans need to be removed as a unit, as the bell housing bolts would be impossible to get at with the engine in the car.  I pulled the transfer case, and drained the trans.  I pulled the radiator and other accessories.  With the exception of the power steering hoses, it it ready to come out.

[tougeagle]

Sometimes big rewards (your TD Eagle becoming roadworthy) involve a ton of work, but when it pays off, it REALLY pays off. That's totally cool that you're going to rebuild the engine and start anew, that many less problems to worry about in the future. Nice to see that all corners are left intact.... I found out the hard way that cutting even teh smallest corner on these Eagles will ALWAYS come back to bite you in the butt.. If you have to step back, check out what you did and say "well, I'm not comfortable with it, but it will have to do", odds are you'll end up redoing it anyway at some point...

I can't wait to hear this thing run, would love some vids once you're done with it. In the mean time though, gonna def keep an eye on this thread...

[IowaEagle]

I am thinking that in the back of Rich's mind he wanted to do some engine work anyway.  Your engine support is also mentioned in the AMC TSM's.

[thereverendbill]

i wonder if that same procedure would work to take an oil pan out of a  258?

[rollguy]

i wonder if that same procedure would work to take an oil pan out of a  258?

I am sure it would.  I could have gotten more space if needed, but I had enough.  I had the heads removed already, so raising the engine as far as it would go gave me most of the room I needed to get the pan out.

[jim]

I am thinking that in the back of Rich's mind he wanted to do some engine work anyway.  Your engine support is also mentioned in the AMC TSM's.

[rollguy]

Sometimes big rewards (your TD Eagle becoming roadworthy) involve a ton of work, but when it pays off, it REALLY pays off. That's totally cool that you're going to rebuild the engine and start anew, that many less problems to worry about in the future. Nice to see that all corners are left intact.... I found out the hard way that cutting even teh smallest corner on these Eagles will ALWAYS come back to bite you in the butt.. If you have to step back, check out what you did and say "well, I'm not comfortable with it, but it will have to do", odds are you'll end up redoing it anyway at some point...

I can't wait to hear this thing run, would love some vids once you're done with it. In the mean time though, gonna def keep an eye on this thread...

I agree.  I was thinking if I could fix the oil pressure problem without pulling the engine, then I would be able to get it on the road sooner.  However, I was assuming that my Marvel Mystery Oil ring rejuvenation treatment that I did would have fixed the compression problem. As it turns out, I will freshen up the engine while it is out, and maybe the trans as well. 

[thereverendbill]

i wonder if that same procedure would work to take an oil pan out of a  258?

I am sure it would.  I could have gotten more space if needed, but I had enough.  I had the heads removed already, so raising the engine as far as it would go gave me most of the room I needed to get the pan out.

Did you unbolt the trans as well or just the axle and motor mounts?

[rollguy]

i wonder if that same procedure would work to take an oil pan out of a  258?

I am sure it would.  I could have gotten more space if needed, but I had enough.  I had the heads removed already, so raising the engine as far as it would go gave me most of the room I needed to get the pan out.

Did you unbolt the trans as well or just the axle and motor mounts?

After suspending the engine from the iron, I removed the entire engine mount and brackets from the crossmember and engine, and then removed the 6 bolts holding on the suspension (4 from crossmember, 2 from angle supports below radiator).  I had to remove the bolts holding the idler arm, and the anti-sway bar as well to move them out of the way.  The entire assembly was lowered with a jack until the tires touched the ground.

[thereverendbill]

i wonder if that same procedure would work to take an oil pan out of a  258?

I am sure it would.  I could have gotten more space if needed, but I had enough.  I had the heads removed already, so raising the engine as far as it would go gave me most of the room I needed to get the pan out.

Did you unbolt the trans as well or just the axle and motor mounts?

After suspending the engine from the iron, I removed the entire engine mount and brackets from the crossmember and engine, and then removed the 6 bolts holding on the suspension (4 from crossmember, 2 from angle supports below radiator).  I had to remove the bolts holding the idler arm, and the anti-sway bar as well to move them out of the way.  The entire assembly was lowered with a jack until the tires touched the ground.

Awesome!  now that i know that there is another way to replace my oilpan without removing the engine i am stoked

[rollguy]

I forgot to mention that I removed the frond diff brackets as well, and wired the diff up off the ground.

[68AMXGOPAC]

Very cool , I think that maybe this issue will be a blessing in disguise in the end.It is so cool to see such a rare piece it's due rewards and getting put back in operation.That procedure is the same used for taking out the tranny in my Caddy.They sell a special set up, but like you I am thinking angle iron or wood blocking will work well , the other option I am told is to unbolt the whole front carriage and lift the car up off it, and roll out the whole assembly,who's idea was it anyways to stuff a V8 sideays in a front wheel drive car ?? Yeah I know Olds did it first with the Toranado , I was like 10 when I saw my dad's friend do a burn out with one, I think I scratched my head for days on that one.
Excellent job Rollguy , !

[thereverendbill]

Very cool , I think that maybe this issue will be a blessing in disguise in the end.It is so cool to see such a rare piece it's due rewards and getting put back in operation.That procedure is the same used for taking out the tranny in my Caddy.They sell a special set up, but like you I am thinking angle iron or wood blocking will work well , the other option I am told is to unbolt the whole front carriage and lift the car up off it, and roll out the whole assembly,who's idea was it anyways to stuff a V8 sideays in a front wheel drive car ?? Yeah I know Olds did it first with the Toranado , I was like 10 when I saw my dad's friend do a burn out with one, I think I scratched my head for days on that one.
Excellent job Rollguy , !

toronado was different in the fact that they kept the engine in the "normal" configuration, caddys and all of the other front wheel drive cars mount the engine sideways for some stupid reason

[IowaEagle]

IIRC Dodge Intrepids and Chyrsler Concordes used the traditional fore and aft configuration for those FWD cars -- at least for the 3.0's?  Or, I could be wrong.

[rollguy]

who's idea was it anyways to stuff a V8 sideays in a front wheel drive car ??

I am sure the engineers of the day decided that it was cheaper/easier to have the engine and axle axis in the same orientation (the same design used today).  The original front wheel drive transaxle was cumbersome, and not very compact.  It was however, designed to withstand the large amount of torque and horsepower that the largest displacement production automobile engine at the time put out (Cadillac 8.2 L).