"Turn Key" Is Not An Option

[Oldsmoletick]

lol, not the whole set, not yet anyway :lol: . The one I'm going to look at may be a possible roof and windshield donor, and who knows, it may be loaded with other usable things 8) . That pacer looks pretty sweet! Wonder what's lurking under the hood, never know could be a V8 car. That's another car to own on my ever growing list, lol. Indeed the delta would be kinda neat too.

 

[pencero]

I have to say that is one of the most handsome Eagles I have ever seen esp in that blood red although obviously the roof is trash. Have you considered having a fiberglass roof fabbed and maybe just running a cheap roll cage? It would make doing the headliner and putting sound deadener up there a lot easier I'd bet.

 

[Oldsmoletick]

Thanks, and that's an interesting thought, never considered a cage and glass top (I kinda like it, that would be pretty wild), I did think of doing a canvas top though, which would be pretty neat on the hot summer days, but not so cool (or hot) in the winter, lol. Reallity has to hit with this car, time vs money is the big deal here, I don't want to invest too much of either, in case I have to bail on it I can at least come out ahead.

With that being said . Sunday afternoon Eagle #3 graced my driveway with it's presence. Enter, The Barnacle! (hauled by a friend of mine's Wagoneer).

Ok so it's not actually covered with barnacle, but it looked like it, :lol: . Mildew, mold, tree like growth all over it, pretty nasty but it has pretty much everything I need to make the 84 look stellar (or close enough). Once I have what I want/need from it, I can sell off other valuables, scrap the rest and either break even on the deal, or make a few extra bucks to put back in one of the other vehicles 8) .

So right now the driveway is amc parking only, the malibu was cast out into the front lawn , hope it doesn't rain, it will get stuck there, lol.

I wasn't about to let that thing in my garage the way it was , and after a bit of powerwashing.....

So all in all, I now have a good dash, good powerbuldge hood , windshield, roof, dent free trunk lid, and many other misc things that the red one lacked, or had been smashed up. From what I'm told this car runs sweet, soooooo, I may have a spare driveline too, lol. The miss, is impressed , but I'm happy with my find though, hahaha.

 

[Oldsmoletick]

Haven't made really much headway lately, still doing furnace battle, making air boxes, plenums, duct work, etc. However yesterday, I managed a few things, I ran out of parts for the house, and lowes closes early on sundays, then the gf went off with her mom, so I had a few spare hours for me time, or shall I say amc time, either way, got to relax and spend some time tinkering with bad decisions turned worse, . Happy to say the parts car runs, drives, and mostly stops! lol

That made me quite happy, I know I've said it numerous times, but these things are too heavy to push around with half flat tires. Took the ole bugger for a little trip over to my parents for some air, lol, (just across the road). Then a bit of ambition hit, I decided to make some progress on the red car. It still had the busted windshield in, so that had to go, but in order to get to it, a little diassembly is required, since I was that far I figured I'd start prepping the car for its scalping, lol. Out went the windshield, I'll just say, it's a royal pain in the *ss trying to remove a shattered one with out breaking it further and making a big mess.

It is possible though, took me about an hour to carefully cut it out via utility knife. Before that process, I had my little helper hanging out with me, helping me remove miscellaneous interior pieces, .

Here he is helping me remove the rear seat, haha, ok so he just sits there and gives me puzzled looks as I dismantle the car.

Crazy eyes :lol:

The last thing I did last night, headliner removal, soooooo easy with the windshield out of the way, .

Next up, I have to remove the quarter windows and the rear window, then the roof is ready for chopping!

 

[Oldsmoletick]

Not a whole lot to report here, other than after a weekend of nothing but foul ups caused by me, I took yet another break from working on the car.

Yup that's my new winshield, I cracked it Saturday as I was making my haggard attempt to remove it. I haven't broke one in over ten years, needless to say, but I was very pissed at and disgusted with myself for that. After removing the rear window with no issues (go figure) I deserted the car as it was.

I must press on though, last night I was given a surge of ambition, no clue where it came from, but I figured I had better take advantage of it while it's there. It was time to start the surgery, I wheeled my air compressor over to my garage (still haven't moved my tools from my parents yet ), put down my fire barrier, and started the chop.

Safety first :wink: , heavy canvas tarp keeps me from lighting the interior a blaze and burning my garage down, lol.

Protects the windows from sparks as well.

After a few beers: (have to wait for the compressor to catch up, lol)

the roof ready for removal.

I have to say, that first cut into the roof was exactly what I needed, it sent me back into my normal state of mind. Construstive destruction is key, my long week of botches and screw ups stopped haunting me, the outside worlds stress took a hike, I have finally pulled my head out of my *ss! My glass is half full again! wait a second, no, piss on that half full sh*t, my whole fridge is full!

You are now viewing the rarest of all Eagles, may I present, the Bald Eagle! Complete with a full length non retractable moon roof! This is a one of none, get a glimpse while you can, it may be the last one you'll ever see!

I have to admit, moving the car around the yard with the wonderful view of last nights sky was pretty stellar, was kinda diggin the no top, lol.

Ok enough monkey business, time for the test fit. Yes I know my garage is a disaster, I'm working on it, lol.

Yup it fits, lol. So that was about it for last nights antics, well, almost, lol. I had to take advantage of the unique photo opp I was given.

Me happy + A few beers = Random acts of sensless stupidity.

Just me being a dork again, :lol: .

 

[78mali350]

great progress! I enjoy watching these builds, always have had a sweet spot for AMC cars in general. Keep up the good work!

 

[Oldsmoletick]

Thanks 78mali350!
I would call this past weekend my most "car productive" weekend I've had in a long time . Spent hours welding, grinding, shaping, welding, and grinding.

Friday night:

Prepped the car and replacement roof to become one, lol, tacked into place, and ran a few beads.

Saturday Afternoon:
Had to work in the am, so got a late start, I welded the roof up soilid (yes that's approximately a 20' bead), then proceeded to grind all that down, with a blend wheel, lol.

Next up, I had the quater window delete to do, went out and bought a piece of sheet metal, made my cut outs, and formed them via Irish knee, .

All welded up ready for grinding, only almost burned the car up once, , my so called flame barrier caught fire. I got it before the car went up though.

Sunday Afternoon:
Again a late start, had to do a little lawn battle and swap out my thermostat in the house (never ending, hahaha).

Spent Quite a bit of time grinding the welds on the delete plates, then started prepping for filler.

You can see the burn mark in the panel here, the fire was on the inside, got pretty hot to discolor the outside :shock: , warped it too :evil: .
Started my first layers of fill, and that's where I left off. I'm satisfied so far with how it's all coming together, if I keep this momentum up, I'll be ready to lay paint on the roof very soon. Almost time to move it across the street to the heated barn, .

 

[DRIVEN]

Someone's been busy.

 

[Oldsmoletick]

:lol: yes sir, had to get the lead out of my *ss and get this thing done, it's supposed to take me on a road trip on Oct. 20th, lol. I would've been further along, but the deleted windows cost me quite a few hours, but a necessity to lessen the dork factor surrounding this car .

 

[Oldsmoletick]

Since the last update, much has happened, I got sick over the last week, lost a couple days due to going to bed as soon as I got home from work, dragged *ss for a day or so because I still felt like sh*t. Saturday came around, got a late start due to work in the am, then taking a trip out to pick up a replacement windshield, and finally cleaning out the barn in preparation for the Eagle. Worked until about 2:30 am, ended with this.

Sunday: Right back to work, finished the filler work, cleaned the car, masked it off (I flipping hate masking ) and finally shot some primer at the ole booger.

Then I walked away for a while. I cranked the heat in the barn and had a nice dinner with my extended family, lol. Returned to the car a couple hours later to do wet sand battle, ended up needing to do another coat of primer, I had wanted to paint it Sunday, oh well I guess.

In rolls Monday, Got started at about 6pm, wet sanded the prior nights work, cleaned the car, remasked a few areas, cleaned the car, and started slinging paint at it.

First coat:

Last coats:

The result:

Not bad for leftover single stage crap I had laying around.

Last night, went home and dove into work head first, the result:

Windows in, moldings on, car semi cleaned and today:

it's back in action!