'84 AMC Eagle - Bringing new meaning to "All Makes Combined"

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 damn 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

That Eagle looks nice, considering its age. That should be a fun project. 

Wow!  That Eagle makes a lifted Crown Vic seem like a perfectly reasonable automobile.  I love it!

sweet

I'm IN.




It will be interesting to see how they hung the differential after the V8 swap.   

Cooter said:

It will be interesting to see how they hung the differential after the V8 swap.   

Agreed, I thought that was nigh on impossible to do.  

I like the wheels.  Watching with curiousity.

In reply to Cooter :

Wow, yours looks much cleaner than this one! I'll definitely take some pics of the front diff once I have it in my possession, as I am curious as well. Have been doing a bunch of reading up on the eagle forum, and have come to a similar conclusion that swapping the V8 is no small feat.

In reply to Cooter :

If yours is a 6cyl 258 consider using your crank and rods in a later 4.0 6cyl. Makes it a 4.5 stroker. Add some over pistons and you can get to 4.7. Amazing torque at 4.7.

In reply to preach (fs) :

Mine already is a 4.5. With Renix injection.

As one of the guys that built the widebody amc spirit with ford power, i approve. 

The 4x4 stuff always intrigues me. 

In reply to Dusterbd13-michael (Forum Supporter) :

Hey I know that car! I'm the one that came down with Ian to pick it up with my truck.

In reply to Cooter :

Thanks for the link to the build thread, I may have to hit you up on some more info on the seat swap. Also that junkyard you found with the other eagles is pretty sweet! I may need some parts from there as well...

Here is one I see at Rallycrosses near me.  
 

@AnthonyGS, I'll have to see if they let me rallyx this one here in the Detroit region.

Trailer is scheduled, have to clean up the vic from the gamber 500 this weekend. AMC content incoming, picking it up after work tomorrow.

Weird that another 360 powered Eagle wagon just popped up on FB.   This one is an '83.

In reply to Cooter :

I saw that one as well. Looks a little rough around the edges.

KonaBoss said:

@AnthonyGS, I'll have to see if they let me rallyx this one here in the Detroit region.

 

Trailer is scheduled, have to clean up the vic from the gamber 500 this weekend. AMC content incoming, picking it up after work tomorrow.

This guy owns a few of them.  If you have any questions about the car or want to discuss AMC stuff with him, I can probably get some contact info for you.  It sounds great with the uncorked straight 6 and does amazingly well on course. 

This is the way. I used to be super into Eagles in my teens. I had 5 at one point. 

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:

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

In reply to AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) :

That would be great if you could put me in touch with him! Always looking for more resources on these cars.

Ordered up a new pitman arm and new upper control arm bushings. $12 for the pitman arm and $20 for each set of bushings, it is definitely nice to have an old american car... Will be putting those on early next week, then its onto finding the next weakest link!

Check the ball joints. When i built the spirit, they felt tight assembled but shockingly loose with the control arms on the bench. 

Dusterbd13-michael (Forum Supporter) said:

Check the ball joints. When i built the spirit, they felt tight assembled but shockingly loose with the control arms on the bench. 

I was just wondering if I had any spirit parts hanging around that somehow didn't go with the car. I might. 

Here's mine. I've been rallyx with it for just under a year. The cv axle problem is pretty common. I've also used s10 axles in mine. Haven't had one of those fail just yet. But they do bind when the suspension is at full droop.