Eagles International Forum

Here's our project Eagle, a 1982 Model 10, DD 6V92T/Allison Auto. Ser. # 20287.
The Eagle was purchased in Dec. '08. Towed home in January. It had issues with air & brakes. Not safe to drive though the engine was strong.
We landed on this unit after searching & learning what we really wanted. For us it was easy to pick the Eagle. We have always loved that Royal look they have. Lucky us how we found it. I kept watching busses on Ebay, etc. for a year or so. Most of what we saw would require traveling a distance just to look over one. Not being mechanically familiar with busses this posed a problem.
I decided to do a search on Craig's List & low & behold there she was, and only 60 miles from us. Emailed for some pictures & was pleasently surprised. She shows well in pictures. On first visit I was very pleased with the limited amount of rust found. After a few phone calls & attempts to find out all that I could about her I made an offer & was very satisfied with the deal we got. Left enough room for a few major issues should they come up.
Will be posting pictures as we go of course. This project thread won't be as in depth as others but this is a great way to outline things & keep up with them.

John,

Looks like your Model 10 is in pretty good condition. Good luck on your conversion. Your suspension looks to be setting a little low; however, do not set it until you have finished your conversion.

SmoothJazz wrote:John,

Looks like your Model 10 is in pretty good condition. Good luck on your conversion. Your suspension looks to be setting a little low; however, do not set it until you have finished your conversion.

You did well at sixty miles, mine was 1300 miles away, about a three day drive for an old coot like me. Nice looking buggy, can't wait to see the progress as you start to change "her."

BCO

Hi John,

Very nice Eagle! I really like the color combination. I'm glad you posted some pics, now that your've been bitten, there is no kown cure!

I drove about 1800 miles to get ours, now that was a fun trip!

Welcome John and Tara,

Paul

Looks like an outstanding starting point, John. I've been similarly lucky on all of my bus purchases so far and hope that the same luck holds in the future. I look forward to watching your progress. There are a lot of great examples to learn from here.

I hope both you and Tara will feel at ease and start posting on the forum as you go.

Now about those air & brake problems. This baby just got tired of sitting. The previous owner sat on her for 2 years contemplating & decided getting a little dirty wasn't for him. Ends up no real brake problems. Air is another story. Continued to work out the bugs little by little. Fixed some air leaks. Shut down a few things. Not enough so lets replace the governor, & while we're at it let's change that dryer too. How about an auto drain valve to boot. Now we're cooking. Starter was dragging causing me to question my start batteries. New starter no more drag. Batteries excellent. While we were chasing air & brake issues we greased her good & put on a new set of rubbers too!

Boy it's been hot hot for a couple of days. Figured to be a good time to get this project thread going. After tires, air & brakes I got to snooping around the electrical. What an adventure that would be. In the mean time I met Dan McMurphee from Mims, Fl through the article in BCM about his bus accident. Dan had some stuff I wanted & I felt like he would be a good mentor while I was going through this conversion thing. First solo outing for the old girl, 400 miles one way straight down I-95 to Mims, Fl to meet Dan & ask his opinion on some things. So here you will see some electrical mess that I will update in the Fall when Dan & co. completely rewires the old girl.

2nd voyage- Southeast Bus Nuts Rally- Palmetto Cove-Cleveland, SC

Everyone was super at the rally. Found out I wasn't alone in this conversion thing I had on my hands. Did a little steel tenting so Tara could feel it out & start getting excited about what's to come. I'm posting these pics so we'll have before & afters at some point.

Yes!this is it,this is what I am talking about ,the meat and potatoes of taking on a project like this and starting from scratch.I can hardly wait to make another attempt to venture out in our tent too,thanks John & Tara for those pictures(keep em comin),we are not to far behind ya'll

OK now let's get that OTR A/C stuff out of there including that extra heat & air unit in the front bay so we can do a little sanding, scraping, painting, & install a generator. As to the painting I'm trying a rust converter product made by Atco called Rustame. It is a not so thick creamy paste you brush on a couple of times & top coat with your choice. The cost was good & I like that I didn't have to wear a air fed hood to use it. Now whether this product compares to Rust Bullet or Por 15 I don't know. We'll see how it does on this unit. I top coated with Rustoleum oil based Industrial smoke gray. The Rustame comes in 1 gallon size. You have to buy 4 gallons-approx. $250 including shipping. I haven't even used a gallon yet so if anyone wants to try some let me know. I set up a couple of test samples that I will leave out in the elements to see how it holds up. So far 2 months & alls well with no top coat.

































Before Rustame







After Rustame









After Rustoleum