1988 Grand Wagoneer Diesel Isuzu 4BD1T Ford ZF5-42

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Nikkormat
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Re: 1988 Grand Wagoneer Diesel Isuzu 4BD1T Ford ZF5-42

Post by Nikkormat »

Proper garage engineering forethought there!
Gabe, "reformed" Jeep hoarder.

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Adventure_Wagon88
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Re: 1988 Grand Wagoneer Diesel Isuzu 4BD1T Ford ZF5-42

Post by Adventure_Wagon88 »

Been plugging along. I feel like I’ve been spinning my wheels a lot but I’ve made some good progress. I like to think I’m taking my time and doing things right. The engine mounts and cradle took a long time. I had to figure out a design for the trans cross member which changed about 4x from what I originally planned. To do that I had to mock up the transfer case and doubler. I’ve changed direction on the doubler, doing a Behemoth Drivetrain Strongbox. Better ground clearance, lower gear ratio, lighter, potentially stronger. I am not using a factory bushing between the trans and cross member, I’m going to do the rock crawler thing and build it with round bushings between the cross member and the ends at the frame. I still have to order those parts. The main 2 reasons for the design are to keep the cross member above the front driveshaft and also I can make a secondary mount point on the output flange of the trans since the factory 2 bolt mount is a weak point. I took some pics of the x member but my phone deleted them sorry!


Behold, the Lowe’s Strongbucket (mock-up of the Strongbox doubler)
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Engine is in final location on completed mounts/cradle!
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Completed drivers side mount before paint
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Cradle
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Adventure_Wagon88
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Re: 1988 Grand Wagoneer Diesel Isuzu 4BD1T Ford ZF5-42

Post by Adventure_Wagon88 »

So so close to firing up the engine. Normally I get to work on it during the week but this whole week is slammed so I’m hoping to fire it up this coming Sunday. I’ve got the oil lines all plumbed, but as I was filling the engine oil I realized my valve cover gasket is completely shot so I ordered one of those. I will also have the fab parts to finish my trans cross member this week so I’ll try to get that bolted up before cranking the engine so I’m not chancing it rattling off the temporary setup.

Picture time.

Shaved some excessive bulk off the Ford 205 case so I don’t have to cut my floor.
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This used to connect to the factory oil filter housing but needs to connect to the new one with a hose so it had to be cut drilled and tapped for 1/2” NPT. This took about 2 hours with my rudimentary “machining” tools.
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This is what goes in place of the factory oil filter housing. One side is for an optional bypass filter (capped for now) the other side is the supply to the new filter setup.
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Beginnings of the trans cross member. Cardboard is a CAD template for my secondary mount point which grabs 4 of the output flange bolts on the trans. This will be isolated with bushings at each end of the 2x2.
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1/4” Steel I had my shop bend for the rear leaf spring mounts for my 63” springs.
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Adventure_Wagon88
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Re: 1988 Grand Wagoneer Diesel Isuzu 4BD1T Ford ZF5-42

Post by Adventure_Wagon88 »

I will have my new valve cover gaskets tomorrow. Took that apart, too end of engine looks beautiful. Going to check valve lash adjustment while I’m in there. I couldn’t decide what color to paint the valve cover. Felt like the blue would be too much. Either way I had to strip this down and hit it with some rust encapsulator. I got done stripping it with my Eastwood SCT tool and the nylon brush and it just looked so pretty I had to leave it bare. I hit it with 3 coats of Eastwood matte clear Rust Encapsulator paint. They say that is good up to 400°.

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Last edited by Adventure_Wagon88 on Mon Feb 19, 2018 4:36 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: 1988 Grand Wagoneer Diesel Isuzu 4BD1T Ford ZF5-42

Post by Adventure_Wagon88 »

Here’s how the valve cover turned out. The new seals did the trick, no leaks!

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Got the fab parts to complete my trans x-member

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Last edited by Adventure_Wagon88 on Mon Feb 19, 2018 4:44 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: 1988 Grand Wagoneer Diesel Isuzu 4BD1T Ford ZF5-42

Post by Adventure_Wagon88 »

Fired up the engine on Sunday! Video coming soon...

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Re: 1988 Grand Wagoneer Diesel Isuzu 4BD1T Ford ZF5-42

Post by Adventure_Wagon88 »

Well work got stupid busy the past three weeks. Everything was due this week so I’m back to my normal slowness of this time of year. I made a small investment recently in the Willys lineage of wagons. Check out these two projects! The body on the green one is pretty shot and despite the oxidation on the other, that body is in great shape. The green one is the only one with a title so they’re getting married. The green 61 is pretty near complete and though it doesn’t run, the current owner never even tried to start it. Motor from the rusty (52) one is in the back all disassembled.

First order of business is to get the 61 running, then go over mechanicals. I’ll pull the 52 body and prep the underside before swapping and enjoy the 61 a bit in the mean time hopefully. I say this stuff like it’s my plans for next weekend but really I just want to tinker on the 61 and then make a bigger project out of it eventually. The 52 HAS to wait until the Wagoneer is rolling before I can do anything. It will be stored out of the elements until then.

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jaber
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Re: 1988 Grand Wagoneer Diesel Isuzu 4BD1T Ford ZF5-42

Post by jaber »

Sweet find, I have a 51 to play with in the near future.
Jeff

'46 cj3a
'51 Willys p/u
'51 Willys Parkway Conversion
'74 CJ5
'75 J-20 Wrecker
'75 J-20 Cummins service truck
'77 J-10 p/u
'79 Cherokee
'88 Grand Wagoneer
http://s252.photobucket.com/albums/hh14/jeffaber/

Cheapthrills
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Re: 1988 Grand Wagoneer Diesel Isuzu 4BD1T Ford ZF5-42

Post by Cheapthrills »

Those are sweet...

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az chip
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Re: 1988 Grand Wagoneer Diesel Isuzu 4BD1T Ford ZF5-42

Post by az chip »

I like the horns on the green one. Sweet pick up.
'81 Cherokee Chief 81 WT Chief/MSD 6/Holley Sniper/ Rusty 4" Spring lift/ Bulltear oil adapter/K&P Engineering Oil Filter/ NP 208/ Serehill Light Harness/KC LED Headlights/ Evil Twin Fab Roof Rack and sliders/ Ross mirror mounts.

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Re: 1988 Grand Wagoneer Diesel Isuzu 4BD1T Ford ZF5-42

Post by Adventure_Wagon88 »

az chip wrote:I like the horns on the green one. Sweet pick up.
They sound awesome!

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1988 Grand Wagoneer Diesel Isuzu 4BD1T Ford ZF5-42

Post by Adventure_Wagon88 »

Sorry for the delay in getting around to posting this. Here’s the engine firing up and some hyper footage of us cranking for oil pressure. No turbo installed for this.

https://youtu.be/QnhwOuDPtcE
Last edited by Adventure_Wagon88 on Fri Mar 16, 2018 5:49 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: 1988 Grand Wagoneer Diesel Isuzu 4BD1T Ford ZF5-42

Post by Adventure_Wagon88 »

It’s not finished but I finally got the trans cross member to where I have the transmission setting on it. Now I can work on the front suspension. I unfortunately need to outboard each front leaf 2” but other than that I’m not moving the springs forward or backwards at all right now. Eventually it will be 3-linked.

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Since the trans is only mounted on 2 bolts and I’m building the cross member to be isolated at the ends I decided to build a mount that grabs the output flange too.

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A little CAD. Gotta take it to my buddy’s place and plasma cut it.
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My HX30W came! It’s absolutely huge. Way bigger than I pictured. I need to clock it, but all the fittings and ports are going to end up exactly where I need them.
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The front sprint situation
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Cheapthrills
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Re: 1988 Grand Wagoneer Diesel Isuzu 4BD1T Ford ZF5-42

Post by Cheapthrills »

This is looking really good.

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Re: 1988 Grand Wagoneer Diesel Isuzu 4BD1T Ford ZF5-42

Post by Adventure_Wagon88 »

Cheapthrills wrote:This is looking really good.

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Thanks! I was hoping to get my front axle under it this weekend but worked on my Willys brakes a little and spent time with friends and family instead. Got the flange mount piece for the trans plasma cut and I did start the spring out boarding on the drivers side. My buddy is cringing at how “ghetto fab” the out boarding looks but agrees I really don’t have many options and it’s plenty strong and not worth trying to go nuts with it since my end goal is a 3 link anyway.

My 6 year old came out while I was working on the spring hangers. She’s never been interested in what was under the Jeep but asked if she could get on the “roller thing” to look underneath and asked me to tell her what she was looking at. Cool moment, she didn’t want to come out but I couldn’t have her under there while I’m actively working on it. So she left and got her brother so he could get on the roller thing and she could tell him all the parts haha.

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Cheapthrills
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Re: 1988 Grand Wagoneer Diesel Isuzu 4BD1T Ford ZF5-42

Post by Cheapthrills »

Adventure_Wagon88 wrote:
Cheapthrills wrote:This is looking really good.

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Thanks! I was hoping to get my front axle under it this weekend but worked on my Willys brakes a little and spent time with friends and family instead. Got the flange mount piece for the trans plasma cut and I did start the spring out boarding on the drivers side. My buddy is cringing at how “ghetto fab” the out boarding looks but agrees I really don’t have many options and it’s plenty strong and not worth trying to go nuts with it since my end goal is a 3 link anyway.

My 6 year old came out while I was working on the spring hangers. She’s never been interested in what was under the Jeep but asked if she could get on the “roller thing” to look underneath and asked me to tell her what she was looking at. Cool moment, she didn’t want to come out but I couldn’t have her under there while I’m actively working on it. So she left and got her brother so he could get on the roller thing and she could tell him all the parts haha.

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Out boarding is the only way to go on a budget with leafs, other than that you have to retube and custom cut axles (I say f*** that) three link will work well.

Cute little lady you got there.

Here is my soon to be three yr old that thus far is a complete and total gear head... right now trains are the favorite.

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Nikkormat
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Re: 1988 Grand Wagoneer Diesel Isuzu 4BD1T Ford ZF5-42

Post by Nikkormat »

The front sprint situation
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I think I see a cracked weld. Just helping the cause not criticizing your work! :fsj:
Gabe, "reformed" Jeep hoarder.

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Re: 1988 Grand Wagoneer Diesel Isuzu 4BD1T Ford ZF5-42

Post by Adventure_Wagon88 »

A cracked weld? Where on the frame, box tube, or spring hanger? None of this pictured is finish welded yet mostly just tacked. In some instances like the spring hanger to box tube its still not finish welded, but is more than tacked. I'm going to place two 1/4" plate gussets on these -- one where the red magnet is and another at the front 45 on the box tube. I doubt they're necessary but I'll feel better hitting potholes with it if they're there. BTW the spring hanger still contacts the bottom of the frame and overlaps it by about 3/4" and will be welded to the frame there. Also the only reason I am outboarding the springs is because of the wider perch width of the 86 Ford D60. If I wanted this project to remain under the knife for another 2 years I'd just blast the perches off and start building a 3 link with ORIs but that's gonna wait till "Stage II" I really want to start using this rig in 2018!!

Nikkormat
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Re: 1988 Grand Wagoneer Diesel Isuzu 4BD1T Ford ZF5-42

Post by Nikkormat »

The front tack where the sort of triangle of the stock spring hanger comes up onto that boxed tube looks like it has a dark line.

I want to see this thing in the road in 2018 too! This is a cool build!
Gabe, "reformed" Jeep hoarder.

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Re: 1988 Grand Wagoneer Diesel Isuzu 4BD1T Ford ZF5-42

Post by Adventure_Wagon88 »

Oh gotcha, pretty sure that's a factory crease. Where those two holes are below the triangle was a slit.

Well, I was in the middle of burning this all in when my 2 month old Eastwood MIG 175 quit on me. Second unit to do this. Thankfully I am local to their HQ and they're sending a guy out on Friday to take my welder to tear apart for testing to get to the bottom of this, and loaning me a MIG 250 :-) I was so close to having this thing resting on a front axle yesterday! Argh! It will definitely happen this weekend.
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