AMC Eagle...

I'd swap a 4.0 or 4.0 head on.

the front end on those cars are weird, like a dana 30 with flanges on the end of the pumpkins?

Did those things use the AMC 20 rear end? If so.. dump it or get some flanged axles.

The carb on the 258 is a pile, likes to carbon up the idle tubes. Had to take small drill bits to my buddies once to clear it out. It ran 3000% better after that. The Fuel injection swap fixed it.

Don't expect a fuel sipper. I'd almost be tempted to try a 4bd1t isuzu swap in one...

Duke wrote:

Joe Gearin wrote: Not true. Eagles are incredibly resistant to rust, more so than nearly any car I've ever seen.

Where do you live, Death Valley? My wife's first car was a Hornet that utterly and completely biodegraded, and she lived in southern Pennsylvania. That thing had rust holes through the middle of the hood! Every other Hornet/Eagle I ever saw east of the Mississippi was half bondo or half missing.

He lives in florida. I had a buddy that had one in Rochester NY. It was swiss cheese and supposedly that was the good body of the 3 he collected.

Rust proofing is to AMC as profitability is to GM

ignorant wrote: Rust proofing is to AMC as profitability is to GM

Quotable gold, right there.

Eagles were galvanized steel, and believe it or not, resist rust much better than most cars of the period. Mine is now in Florida, but came from Steamboat Springs CO (not a high rust area). I also bought one from VA (also not a high rust zone) that was rust free. There are tons of them out there with minimal rust. The earlier Hornets may have been more prone to rusting. Of course, in the heart of the rust belt nearly anything will turn to dust eventually. (I grew up in IL, so I'm no stranger to iron oxide)

The 4wd system is vacuum operated, but the PO disengaged the lines. Currently I need to manually flip the switch from underneath the car to engage 4wd. I'm planning on fabricating a lever to access it from the inside of the car.

MPG isn't as bad as you would imagine. I haven't been brave enough to check it around town, but I'd guess around 15mpg. My 5spd Wagon in 2wd will pull 19-22mpg at 70mph or so. 5th gear is very tall, so the big six is just putting along.

Because of the massive wheel travel, and generally soft suspension settings, Eagles have a fantastic magic carpet type ride on the highway. They really have one of the nicest highway rides I've ever experienced.

They are ugly, strange, weird, quirky, and way, way ahead of their time. The Eagle was the first "crossover", way back in 1980.

Sure, Subaru had 4wd cars, but they were tinny, economy cars, the Eagles were luxurious, big comfy machines. Mine has earned a permanent spot in my fleet.

Would like one with a small diesel... hm.

Could you replace the vacuum 4X4 with a cable system? Something like this.

I still see them around here sometimes, but living in california you cant change the carb or anythng like that, so that doesnt sound like it would be much fun here.

Haha, f'ing California, man...