Carter’s 1986 AMC Eagle (plus Eagle axle swap and other tech info)

[89 MJ]

The car is now running! Here is a current picture of the old girl. 

[Pete M]

  

[89 MJ]

I got a very good shipping quote, so I jumped on it. It looks like the car will once again be in my possession as of Sunday 6/13. I ordered a new fuel tank already because the old one leaked and that should be here on Wednesday 6/9. 

[89 MJ]

New fuel tank. 
 

The shipper had trailer problems on the way to PA, so pickup has been delayed to Monday. No big deal. 

[MiNi Beast]

Thats a big deal. I sleep on mondays. 

[89 MJ]

5 hours ago, MiNi Beast said:

Thats a big deal. I sleep on mondays. 

I suppose it is, but I’m not super worried about the 3 day delay. I wouldn’t have time to work on the car this weekend anyways. 

[89 MJ]

The Eagle has landed, safe and sound. It’s a super solid car being from AL. It needs some work, it does have some rust that I need to fix and the driver seat springs are broken, plus I want to add my lift and swap carbs to a better one, but it ran and drove which is super exciting!

 

[Pete M]

let the tinkering begin! 

[89 MJ]

3 hours ago, Pete M said:

let the tinkering begin! 

Nah, I tinker with tractors. I work quickly on cars. This one won’t take a ton get get it road worthy. 

[89 MJ]

Today we decided to replace the fuel tank. We got it up on the lift and pulled the old one out. Then we decided that we didn’t like how low the car sat, so we did the right thing and abandoned the fuel tank project and lifted the rear end instead. 

That is with the rear tires on the ground. 

[89 MJ]

HEI Distributor and Motorcraft carb upgrades are both installed now. It really woke the engine up, it does burnouts now. 
 

 

[89 MJ]

Apparently an admin in one of the Eagle FB groups thought the Eagle and MJ were cool enough to be a cover photo. Clearly the Comanche is the pretty one in the picture. 

[Pete M]

congrats!     old iron gets all teh looks  

 

 

next we'll teach how to take a good picture of a great subject... namely with the sun at your back  

[89 MJ]

24 minutes ago, Pete M said:

congrats!     old iron gets all the looks  

 

 

next we'll teach how to take a good picture of a great subject... namely with the sun at your back  

Yeah, this was the best I could do at the time because we had to push the Eagle off of the trailer. Once I get my new battery in it, I’ll take the duo out into the yard for some real pics. Here is a better one. 

 

And the new carb, distributor, and plug wires. I know, the air filter is getting replaced. 

[Pete M]

I know you know what you're doing.   just razzin' ya.   

 

 

is that the factory air cleaner?  was it typically that tiny back in the day?  I'm pretty sure I've seen more square inches on a lawn tractor!

[89 MJ]

No, that is not factory. I will have to find a factory one that will fit this carb because the carb is much larger than the old one. 

[89 MJ]

New-to-me wheels and tires today. The tires are about 75% tread and the wheels have a crappy spay bomb paint job, but they should work for this car for now. The tires are the same Firestone Destination AT that I have on my Comanche, just in a much smaller size. 225/75R15 vs 31x10.50R15. 

[89 MJ]

New wheels and tires on. The front end still needs to go up about an inch or so. We will probably make some ball joint spacers to get it up so as to not wreck the suspension geometry. 

[mac9x]

Rarely see these on the road

[watchamakalit]

[89 MJ]

8 hours ago, mac9x said:

Rarely see these on the road

Hopefully this one will be back on the road soon! I figure it’s been off of the road since the 90s. 
 

 

6 hours ago, watchamakalit said:

Soon, we will get back on this once the MJ is back on the road after my radiator debacle. 

[89 MJ]

I got a new rear seat bottom in near perfect shape and moved a trailer with River rock in it. Once I lift the front, we should be good for road use!

[89 MJ]

Next major part acquired:

 

It is a piece of 1” thick aluminum. We are going to use it to make ball joint spacers to lift the front end of the car up so the tires won’t rub and so it will sit close to level with the rear. 
Right after getting back from PA, I used it to move a trailer full of rocks. It never squatted and towed it around the yard super well. 

[89 MJ]

Still not done with the ball joint spacers, but I did restore the grille and change to a nicer hood lip molding. 

Before

 

After

[89 MJ]

My dad has started calling this car the Sh!tbird. Also, the ball joint spacers are almost done.