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

[eaglescout526]

Interesting! 

[89 MJ]

I ordered new carpet, which meant it was time to fix the floors. Friday I’m

headed on a 5 hour round trip

drive to get a new windshield to get rid of the leak. 
 

Floors after pulling carpet. Not great, but better than my

MJ was. 

 

Rust cut out. Didn’t get pics of the passenger side. Whoops. 

 

New metal welded in and painted. 

 

And new carpet in. It’s like a whole new car!

[89 MJ]

I also ordered a new valve cover gasket because the old one leaked some. It always was making a lifter noise and couldn’t figure out why. I know why now. The rocker arm broke. Thankfully the piece was still partially attached and no damage was done to the pushrod. 

[89 MJ]

Finally found a 3.55 rear end locally. It’s an 8.25, but thats just fine. Got it and a matching front D30 for $75. 

[89 MJ]

8.25 going in…

[89 MJ]

8.25 swap is done. Not to prep for a 231 install, regearing the front end, and putting a locker in the back. 
 

[eaglescout526]

Will you be able to use the 231 with the Eagle’s set up?

[89 MJ]

1 hour ago, eaglescout526 said:

Will you be able to use the 231 with the Eagle’s set up?

Yes. It even bolts up to the trans, however I’ll need a slip yoke eliminator, I’ll need to make a transfer case shifter, and a few other odds and ends. Not easy, but not too terribly difficult. 

[eaglescout526]

So you’re not using the eagles vacuum shift system? What’s your plan?

[89 MJ]

Probably going to do a FSJ t-case shifter. Or something along those lines. 

[89 MJ]

3.55 gears are installed in the front axle. I'm not going to get time to do the 231J transfer case yet this summer, unfortunately. It drives like a new car now.

[89 MJ]

Updated the first post with some technical info. I’ll keep doing this as I do some more involved projects on this car. The information on these cars is lacking. The Eagle forum does not compete with Comanche Club, and we’ve got some great admins to thank for that. 

[AMCyaLater]

Just seeing this thread, but looks like a great project!
Years ago a neighbor drove me out to Racine, WI where I picked up my own "Kenosha Cadillac," a 1988 AMC Eagle Wagon for $300. It was a good winter driver, but the last automatic I hope to ever have owned lol. At that time the Eaglesnest forum was a great resource, but I think that went away many years ago leaving just the AMC Eagles Den forum and The AMC Forum. I've owned many AMCs over the years so mostly stuck to the AMC forum which had great info for my 60s and 70s vehicles, but was lacking for the late model AMCs. Nice to sign up for this forum now that I own a Comanche, and be surprised by seeing an Eagle Wagon build here! Keep up the good work.

[eaglescout526]

2 minutes ago, AMCyaLater said:

Eagle Wagon build here!

There’s another build thread that someone else has done for theirs somewhere in this sub forum. 

[89 MJ]

3 hours ago, AMCyaLater said:

Just seeing this thread, but looks like a great project!
Years ago a neighbor drove me out to Racine, WI where I picked up my own "Kenosha Cadillac," a 1988 AMC Eagle Wagon for $300. It was a good winter driver, but the last automatic I hope to ever have owned lol. At that time the Eaglesnest forum was a great resource, but I think that went away many years ago leaving just the AMC Eagles Den forum and The AMC Forum. I've owned many AMCs over the years so mostly stuck to the AMC forum which had great info for my 60s and 70s vehicles, but was lacking for the late model AMCs. Nice to sign up for this forum now that I own a Comanche, and be surprised by seeing an Eagle Wagon build here! Keep up the good work.

Thank you! These are really good cars, but the transmission does leave some to be desired. 
@acfortier also has an 86 Wagon and @Eagle_SX4 is another Eagle owner, but his is an SX4 with a stick

[Eagle_SX4]

Yeah the manul transmission is the way to go. I am actually thinking of swapping out the T5 for an AX-15. I have the trans and bell housing but will probably hold off until the T5 blows up.

[89 MJ]

19 minutes ago, Eagle_SX4 said:

Yeah the manul transmission is the way to go.

This is what I’ve been thinking. My car might have a manual swap in its future

[89 MJ]

Some cool production information:

Found here:

https://forums.amceaglesden.com/index.php?topic=32617.0

 

And a neat spotters guide to tell what year an Eagle is at a glance:

http://www.n0kfb.org/homepage/amc/eagle/spotting/

[89 MJ]

I modified the seat brackets yesterday so the drivers seat would sit 2.5” farther back than it did before. It made the car much more comfortable. 

[89 MJ]

The bird has been sitting in storage still, but @thej10guy painted up an Eagle matchbox to match my car. 

[89 MJ]

It’ll do a good burnout. 

[Pete M]

needs a locker  

[The86manche]

On 12/11/2023 at 7:04 PM, 89 MJ said:

Some cool production information:

Found here:

https://forums.amceaglesden.com/index.php?topic=32617.0

 

And a neat spotters guide to tell what year an Eagle is at a glance:

http://www.n0kfb.org/homepage/amc/eagle/spotting/

That's really cool, reading the forum seems like it needed an update. Someone was saying roughly 500 sundancers made.

And they didn't include the 5~ turbo models either.

[89 MJ]

10 hours ago, Pete M said:

needs a locker  

That’s on the agenda for the summer!

 

8 hours ago, The86manche said:

That's really cool, reading the forum seems like it needed an update. Someone was saying roughly 500 sundancers made.

And they didn't include the 5~ turbo models either.

Agreed. Sadly, most of the people that made this aren’t on the forum anymore. 

[89 MJ]

We went and wheeled the Eagle, my brothers J10, and my mom’s JKU pretty hard this weekend. We only took the JKU and J10 yesterday, but the Eagle got to go today. 
They all got a couple of scratches, but the Eagle is the only one that actually got body damage. I got a rock with the right rear door and fender flare. Can’t complain though, it went up a hill a JT Rubicon couldn’t get up. Pictures for now, I’ll work on adding videos later. 

In the above picture, if you look closely, you can see that the car is in the air. No low range or lockers meant I needed some momentum to clear a couple ruts that had been dug in.