1983 AMC Eagle Wagon

Dude, I love Eagles! Good seeing you putting one back on the road. Dont see a lot of them so when i see one, it is always cool!

First off, great deal, and a even better car. I have always wanted a silver SX-Eagle or a Grand Cherokee with the Quad-a-trac.


> AMC's false reputation

No, it was well deserved, imho.

I used to work at a Renault/AMC/Jeep dealership in parts, doing mechanical work, and as a service manager. The wiring was the worse problem, probably because they used Delco. CJs had a big problem with firewall rot. I used to sell cars and it was hard to sell a CJ-8 and everyone wanted the CJ-5. Now the CJ-8 is coveted, go figure.

The nice thing about the Eagle was the AWD drive train was solid and the 258 was one of the best engines ever built. I did find one in GA, a few years ago, but, it was priced at $6000 or something.

I put the AMC Pacer in the same class of the Ford Temp, good basic transportation that is reliable and cheap to own and repair.

I would upgrade to a better front and then rear bumper to protect your investment. Grill guard would not hurt. I know it is subjective, but, the Eagle and Grand Cherokee were some of the nicest driving wagons vs. it' being just a car.

Good timing on the post there @JB_4x4... I finally got some updates to spill this past week! I am definitely planning on putting a heavier bumper front and rear on it if I do end up dailying it. I'm not sure if that is still the plan at this point, but regardless I am still putting some money and work into it and getting it back on the road either way.... at least until I find something I want to save for or a better daily.

@JB_4x4 If you're in the market for an Eagle wagon in the south I know where to find several around here, just sayin lol.

I went ahead and took it over to the college and began to work on it. I spent about $500 on it recently I believe. Ordered up an entire suspension bushing kit, trans mount, rear brake shoes, drums, and hardware kit, 2 inch lift spacers, for the front (was waiting to get the car back on level ground to measure what I need for the rear), and 2 cv axle boots. I only managed to get the trans mount in, the rear brakes done minus the drums because they're on back order, the front bump stops and sway bar bushings replaced.

Had 'er on the rack for about a week.




After so many years of owning this car, I FINALLY have some good underside shots of it:




New sway bar bushings... I didn't do the links yet as I still need to do the lower control arm bushings. I'll do them when I go to reinstall the control arms.




Here's the old trans mount... I didn't take a picture of the new one, but the old one was definitely sagging quite a bit compared to the new one. Glad I changed it.



New one in:



I didn't get any pics of the new brakes. I'll get pics of the brakes when I put the drums on. AC semester is starting in June, so we'll be working on the AC and heat soon. I will also try to finish the brakes and suspension while we work on that. At home I'm slowly working on cleaning up the interior parts and will be repainting and refurbishing them as well as some exterior trim parts. Also going to be looking into all new weather stripping and seals pretty soon as well as sound deadening so that I have that ready to go when the interior panels are done.

In a month or two, once my F-150 4x4 is back on the road for tow duty, I want to buy my daughter an old school AWD Tempo or Eagle (I prefer the Eagle). So, if one is available in GA, TN, NC area, I would be interested.

For myself, I really want a mini-truck aka KEI and have registered a few URLs concerning them, but, just found out GA is going out of their way to not register them and to de-register the ones that have already been issued titles :-P

BTW: Just went over all your pictures again, looking at the under-body. That is an amazing rust free car, it surely is a keeper!

Thanks man! It really is. I'm excited to have it back on the road!

Not too much to update, but we did get to something here during the AC semester. We removed the condenser as the end of was almost twisted off and brittle so it needs replaced. I was able to afford everything needed to convert the car to R134a but the condenser costs $350, so unfortunately I was not able to go through with the AC work this summer, but I will next summer!

I did get it washed down really good since I had all of that out of the way...



And this is how she sits currently.



Engine and electrical semester starts next week, so I need to order up a radiator and we'll get started on getting her running good again. Hope to have it on the road or at least ready to be on the road by early winter!