1982 Eagle and 1987 YJ
The Jeep was my first car, not a single Chrysler emblem anywhere on it. My father bought it for me when I was 16 for $2,800. It is a Laredo, first sold in Colorado Springs. By the time we got it, it had a MPFI 2.5L inline 4, clearly a swap. When the wiring finally decided to cause starting problems, my father gave in and we built a SBC 350 and installed it along with an NV4500 with 6.34 1st gear, and Ford 8.8 rear axle while I was still in high school. Today, the V8 lives on with a Holley Sniper II suite including Hyperspark distributor and CD box. It is an extremely quirky automobile with an insane amount of personality. Quite the romp.
My Eagle is my first engineering project. I acquired this during the COVID pandemic with a loan from my dad. I immediately fell in love with it, and I drove it daily for about a year. Then the repairs had to begin. I discovered that the frame needed rebuilding, so I taught myself CAD, welding, and general mechanics to solve a plethora of other repairs. The modifications have not stopped since. A new 5.3L LM7 sits in the engine bay with a Holley Terminator X management system. I converted it to a manual. An AX-15 and an NP242 with a slip yoke eliminator kit sit behind. The rear end is a Ford 8.8 with 3.08 gears, a Torsen limited slip, and disc brakes. A Borgeson steering box for a 1970-something Monte Carlo (etc.) is mounted to its custom frame. The engine and front axle from a 1986 Eagle (no center axle disconnect) sit on/in custom engine mounts. A seat from a 2018 Porsche Panamera GTS sits behind the stock steering wheel. Custom lignum vitae lathe-turned shift knobs for the transmission and the transfer case complement the Hurst shifter stick, while a Core Shifters short throw shifter controls the AX-15. Manual brakes with a Wilwood master… what else?
Still a work in progress, and I find it to be an extremely meaningful process. My father passed in 2022 to ANCA vasculitis, and I like to think that when I actually get this Eagle on the road, he’d be rather proud.