Freshmeat's Eddie Bauer

Freshmeat's Eddie Bauer (Now SAS Build)

Long story short, my girlfriend gave me my 1992 EB. The automatic transmission was giving her so much trouble she gave up and bought a new Altima. The Ex was her first car, though, so she was reluctant to just outright sell it... so when I started looking for a new 4x4 project, it fit. She would get to see it live a whole new life and I'd get a 4x4... free!

Now that I've had it a few months, there were LOTS of things wrong...
Transfer case motor was "lost" (I replaced the bushing)
All window motors were bad (I rebuilt all four)
TPS was shot (I replaced it)
Power steering was whining (I somehow shut it up)
Intake tube was compromised (I replaced it)
All fluids and filters were NAAAASTY (still need to do the axles)
Fuel level gauge doesn't work (haven't gotten to that yet)

I managed to get the A4LD working decently enough to think I was good to go. Boy, was I wrong!

Here it is stock:

I installed a set of 132X Skyjacker coils, Procomp shocks (up front), and added a Chevy leaf to the rear. I also removed both swaybars completely and threw on my 34x10.50s to see if they'd fit...
They did... but I couldn't turn anywhere...

I cut the crap out of the front fenders. Spent six hours on the passenger's side, twenty minutes on the driver's side once I figured out how much to take out...

I thought things were good, so I took it on its first trail ride... and had a blast!!

Unfortunately, so did my transmission...

I let it cool off, filled it back up, and drove it 45 miles back home. I went the next morning and pulled a M5OD and all related hardware from a 1991 Mazda Navajo, then spent the next month and a half doing the transmission swap in my (rare) spare time. In the process of swapping the transmission the exhaust system fell apart, so I installed the Dynomax catback, which sounds great! I've been driving it for almost a month with the five speed and it's a whole new truck. I'm loving how well it rides, now. I scored some manual hubs from a member here, as well as a single hub at the junk yard and installed them recently. I'm sure glad to have a spare, as violent as I get on my throttle. Next will be to extend all my breathers- transfer case and both axles- to under the hood, probably by the master cylinders. I have a set of JKS bar pin eliminators that I'm hoping will fit the rear so I can run shocks with eyelets on both ends. I already have F250 shock towers for the front; just waiting until I get the time to tear into the front suspension and get all that work done. I figure it'll take a full day to get both sides installed and I don't have a full day any time soon, so I'll have to be patient on that.

That's the current status so far. I have its first trail ride (with manual transmission and manual hubs) coming up this Saturday... planning to have a great time. I'd get pictures, but it's a night run, so there's no guarantees!

Here's a final shot of a co-worker and me goofing off with the forklift after work one day...

What do you guys think so far? It's come a LOOONG way, but still has a LOOONG way to go...

 

[Super_Swamper_98]

Station wagons own! My buddy has a merc sable station wagon on air
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[87LongroofCP]

Wagons Rule! Love my 87 CP

 

[Freshmeat]

I am back on the SAS swap. My wife and I finally purchased our new house so I can actually tear into it without the fear of having to pack things and move, potentially losing parts in the process.

I have:

HP Dana 44 from '79 Bronco
Big bearing 9" from '70s F100
NP435
BW-1356

Should end up being a good bit of fun. I'll likely run the 3.50 gears in the axles for a while. Not having overdrive, I want to keep the axle gearing down a bit to make a decent highway RPM just in case. If I have my way, I'll be digging up an OLD ass four door Ford truck to use for towing and I'll then regear the axles for even better offroad capability.

This is, of course, assuming I don't spend all my money upgrading my 2011 Mustang GT that should be here in about six weeks. :beer:

 

[yellowford]

I am back on the SAS swap. My wife and I finally purchased our new house so I can actually tear into it without the fear of having to pack things and move, potentially losing parts in the process.

I have:

HP Dana 44 from '79 Bronco
Big bearing 9" from '70s F100
NP435
BW-1356

Should end up being a good bit of fun. I'll likely run the 3.50 gears in the axles for a while. Not having overdrive, I want to keep the axle gearing down a bit to make a decent highway RPM just in case. If I have my way, I'll be digging up an OLD ass four door Ford truck to use for towing and I'll then regear the axles for even better offroad capability.

This is, of course, assuming I don't spend all my money upgrading my 2011 Mustang GT that should be here in about six weeks. :beer:

All i saw was yada stuff about sas which don't get me wrong is awesome, but then came 2011 Mustang GT and that needs its own thread we will be expecting many pictures and seat of the pants feel.

 

[Freshmeat]

All i saw was yada stuff about sas which don't get me wrong is awesome, but then came 2011 Mustang GT and that needs its own thread we will be expecting many pictures and seat of the pants feel.

What entertains me about your response is that there are moments when that is my exact thought process. "Blah, blah, blah... Holy crap I'm gonna have a stupid fast Mustang 'soon'!!"

 

[Freshmeat]

If all goes according to plan I'll be buying one of Rulebreaker's NP435 conversion kits next week.

 

[Freshmeat]

It's amazing how quickly life takes control and things don't go as planned.
I picked up the Mustang on July 13. All the extra crap for the Explorer is being sold to fun more suspension upgrades for the Mustang.

This rig is more than capable as it is. If I SAS it the Jeep guys will have an excuse as to why it's superior. I'm not going to let it die off or anything like that... I'm just gonna work on getting it more capable at its current level instead of diving off into all kinds of crazy axle swaps and such.

Today I replaced the steering gearbox and while I had everything apart I ran the low pressure lines through the OEM transmission oil cooler that I never removed. I was hoping to install a Saginaw pump at the same time, but I haven't been able to find one at the junk yard yet, so that's a no go at this point in time.

Next project will be to add some sort of vent to the hood so I can let out more heat while idling along the trails. It gets so hot that when I try to check my fluids during lunch breaks I'm afraid to grab any dipstick until it's sat with the hood up for 20+ minutes.

 

[Freshmeat]

I needed to get some heat out of the engine bay while on the trails so I pulled the hood, made some templates, and made some vent holes. I have some edge trim to go around the edges, but haven't gotten around to it, as I've been really tied up.

Driving it around with the big holes in the hood kinda forced me to address the leaking power steering pump, as the PS fluid was misting onto the windshield. It was very slight, but enough to bug me. Additionally, the windshield washer hose was saturated with the PS fluid and therefore soft, so every time I tried to spray the windshield the hose just popped off the pump. So between Friday night and Saturday I swapped the power steering pump, which shouldn't have taken as long as it did, but it really drove home the fact I need to invest in an impact wrench.

Today I dropped the gas tank (without cleaning it from the last incredibly muddy trail ride; won't do that again) to repair the fuel level sending unit which hasn't worked since I obtained this thing. The unit itself was just fine, but the float was cracked, so I clipped on a new float and everything seems to be working now.

Yesterday I found that my water pump is leaking pretty badly, so I'm going to keep the truck parked until I can make time to swap it out. Also, I pretty badly mangled my t-case skid plate on the last ride, so I'll need to toss in the replacement I picked up Friday.

A few pictures of the hood work: