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So I am a new member. I have always loved this Jeep body style so I took the plunge back in May. I found a pretty rough 1982 Wagoneer Limited in Salt Lake City and paid $1100 for it. I live in Cedar City Utah which is about 3 hours away. As I was driving it home the motor started to knock so I pulled over. The motor died and I tried to restart it. It would not turn over. The motor had seized. After looking at rebuild options for the 360 I decided to go with a 5.3 Vortec swap with a 4L60E trans. It has been a lot of work but it is done. I finished it about a month ago. The power gain is ridiculous. This is my build thread.
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Last edited by DustinLangston on Sun Dec 15, 2013 10:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
1982 Wagoneer Limited 5.3L Vortec 4L60E swap - finished/restored - sold - bought back - sold again
1979 Wagoneer 360 TH400 1339 QT - built into perfect daily driver - sold
1981 J10 Sportside Honcho - finished/restored - sold
1979 Cherokee Golden Eagle - 5.3L Vortec 6L80E swap - finished/restored - sold
1967 Super Wagoneer - sold, too much work
1978 J10 Golden Eagle - finished/restored - sold
1962 Rambler Classic Cross Country Wagon - current project, wife's daily driver - she'll never let me sell it
So it all started with getting the old motor/trans/transfer case out. With a little disassembly of the front end it was a pretty straight forward removal. Took the whole assembly out in one piece.
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1982 Wagoneer Limited 5.3L Vortec 4L60E swap - finished/restored - sold - bought back - sold again
1979 Wagoneer 360 TH400 1339 QT - built into perfect daily driver - sold
1981 J10 Sportside Honcho - finished/restored - sold
1979 Cherokee Golden Eagle - 5.3L Vortec 6L80E swap - finished/restored - sold
1967 Super Wagoneer - sold, too much work
1978 J10 Golden Eagle - finished/restored - sold
1962 Rambler Classic Cross Country Wagon - current project, wife's daily driver - she'll never let me sell it
Once the motor was out, it was time to unbolt/cut out the old motor mounts. I got new motor mounts from Novak, they worked great and bolted right in. I welded the top for extra strength and then power washed and painted everything underneath.
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Here is the new assembly all bolted together. I also got an adapter ring/clocking ring from Novak for the 4L60E to NP208 transfer case setup. This kit includes a new tail shaft for the transmission. Since you have to pull apart the transmission to install the tail shaft I decided now would be a great time to rebuild/strengthen the trans.
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Also this is my daughter Katherine. She is two and loves helping dad turn wrench on "Daddys Jeep".
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I also ordered Novak's center dump custom headers for this application. They didn't fit and interfered with the new motor mounts. So I ordered a second set that were more of a rear dump and they worked great.
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1982 Wagoneer Limited 5.3L Vortec 4L60E swap - finished/restored - sold - bought back - sold again
1979 Wagoneer 360 TH400 1339 QT - built into perfect daily driver - sold
1981 J10 Sportside Honcho - finished/restored - sold
1979 Cherokee Golden Eagle - 5.3L Vortec 6L80E swap - finished/restored - sold
1967 Super Wagoneer - sold, too much work
1978 J10 Golden Eagle - finished/restored - sold
1962 Rambler Classic Cross Country Wagon - current project, wife's daily driver - she'll never let me sell it
So once the motor was in it was time for new tires, and a lift. I wanted this done before I got my drive shafts customized. The rear drive shaft had to be shortened and the front had to be lengthened. I took this opportunity to beef up the front drive shaft as the stock ones are a little dainty and this new drive train has quite a bit more power.
Here is the Jeep after 2" lift and 31" BFG All-Terrains
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1982 Wagoneer Limited 5.3L Vortec 4L60E swap - finished/restored - sold - bought back - sold again
1979 Wagoneer 360 TH400 1339 QT - built into perfect daily driver - sold
1981 J10 Sportside Honcho - finished/restored - sold
1979 Cherokee Golden Eagle - 5.3L Vortec 6L80E swap - finished/restored - sold
1967 Super Wagoneer - sold, too much work
1978 J10 Golden Eagle - finished/restored - sold
1962 Rambler Classic Cross Country Wagon - current project, wife's daily driver - she'll never let me sell it
There were a ton of parts that went into this build. I mainly worked with Novak Adapters as they have most of these parts off the shelf. One thing I will warn about that gave me quite a bit of heartburn was shifting linkage. I originally bought a shift cable from Lokar. It didn't work. I wound up getting the solid rod shift linkage from Lokar and it works great. My vortec was a pre-electronic throttle so I ordered a Lokar 36" throttle cable and it works perfect. I had a full 3" custom Magnaflow exhaust put in, ProComp shocks from BJ's Offroad.
When I went to upsize my fuel lines at the tank I pulled the tank and skid plate to find that my frame was rotted almost all the way through. A frame restore kit from BJ's Offroad and a welder fixed this right up. Luckily my skid plate was still in good shape so it wasn't too expensive of a fix.
An aluminum radiator/electric fan assembly was ordered from Novak. It works great but hoses were hard to come by. If anyone is doing this same swap PM me and I will send you NAPA part numbers for the hoses I used. I retained the original trans cooler and AC condenser. I used the original non pressure power steering pump line and cut it to fit the new pump. I had one custom pressure power steering hose made at NAPA.
I used an inline Walbro electric fuel pump. It works perfect but it is loud. You don't notice when you are driving but if you pull next to a wall or fence then you can hear it wining.
The wiring harness came from Novak and it included a custom computer tune. The kit was ordered to delete all of the emission junk. Rear cats, evap, EGR all was removed.
Last edited by DustinLangston on Mon Jan 06, 2014 3:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
1982 Wagoneer Limited 5.3L Vortec 4L60E swap - finished/restored - sold - bought back - sold again
1979 Wagoneer 360 TH400 1339 QT - built into perfect daily driver - sold
1981 J10 Sportside Honcho - finished/restored - sold
1979 Cherokee Golden Eagle - 5.3L Vortec 6L80E swap - finished/restored - sold
1967 Super Wagoneer - sold, too much work
1978 J10 Golden Eagle - finished/restored - sold
1962 Rambler Classic Cross Country Wagon - current project, wife's daily driver - she'll never let me sell it
I just dropped it off today at the paint shop. I am getting it painted heritage brown. It was a GM color that came on Trans Am's and some trucks in the late 70's. I am also going to do a decal copper stripe similar to the four door Cherokee stripes but mine will just be a solid color. Speaking of these vinyl decal does anyone have a good way to get in touch with Tonka J200? I have left voicemails, emails, PM's and I have gotten no response. If he is no longer making decals does anyone know someone who does? While the Wagoneer is in the paint shop I will have all of the interior redone. Once I get it back from paint I will install the new interior. Has anyone installed a rubber cargo area kit from BJ's offroad in their projects? If so I would like to see some pictures.
1982 Wagoneer Limited 5.3L Vortec 4L60E swap - finished/restored - sold - bought back - sold again
1979 Wagoneer 360 TH400 1339 QT - built into perfect daily driver - sold
1981 J10 Sportside Honcho - finished/restored - sold
1979 Cherokee Golden Eagle - 5.3L Vortec 6L80E swap - finished/restored - sold
1967 Super Wagoneer - sold, too much work
1978 J10 Golden Eagle - finished/restored - sold
1962 Rambler Classic Cross Country Wagon - current project, wife's daily driver - she'll never let me sell it
Keep us in the loop if you find a decal solution. I was thinking about the same "cherokeeish" stripe for my dewooded waggy. I sent a couple of emails to phoenix graphics but they didn't have an appetite for doing anything that isn't on their existing product list. here are a couple of pics that I found online that I thought could make for cool accents. the first one could obviously be painted.
I have also thought about getting some of the dinoc and woodgraining that body indent, but I think it would look odd without the chrome trim
Well the Wagoneer is back from paint. It turned out great. Heritage Brown is the color. They used it on Pontiac Trans Am's in 1979 and Harley Davidson also used it for a few years. I also got my dash back from the upholsterer. Love the stitching. Thanks Ed Sunday for selling me the replacement dash. Even though it was blue it looks perfect now.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
1982 Wagoneer Limited 5.3L Vortec 4L60E swap - finished/restored - sold - bought back - sold again
1979 Wagoneer 360 TH400 1339 QT - built into perfect daily driver - sold
1981 J10 Sportside Honcho - finished/restored - sold
1979 Cherokee Golden Eagle - 5.3L Vortec 6L80E swap - finished/restored - sold
1967 Super Wagoneer - sold, too much work
1978 J10 Golden Eagle - finished/restored - sold
1962 Rambler Classic Cross Country Wagon - current project, wife's daily driver - she'll never let me sell it
"After years of being paranoid about my Jeep’s temp going towards that 220F mark, I’m realizing that if it was real problem, Jeep engineers would have painted that area RED." - FSJ Guy
So I made a lot of progress on the Wagoneer today. I have all the carpet in, and the new headliner in. I also cleaned the wheels and bumpers. I still need to polish them but they are already looking great. I also got my seats back from the upholsterer, they look great.
Has anyone ever rebuild the electric motor in the seats? Mine are running a little slow and I was wondering if that would help.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
1982 Wagoneer Limited 5.3L Vortec 4L60E swap - finished/restored - sold - bought back - sold again
1979 Wagoneer 360 TH400 1339 QT - built into perfect daily driver - sold
1981 J10 Sportside Honcho - finished/restored - sold
1979 Cherokee Golden Eagle - 5.3L Vortec 6L80E swap - finished/restored - sold
1967 Super Wagoneer - sold, too much work
1978 J10 Golden Eagle - finished/restored - sold
1962 Rambler Classic Cross Country Wagon - current project, wife's daily driver - she'll never let me sell it
I like that brown. I'm leaning towards 2 tone. Gm brownstone metallic on the new silverados and a cream from the late 60s camaros. The interior is beautiful
Well it's been awhile since my last update. I finished putting together the exterior last night at about 2am. It needs to be washed really bad but I couldn't pass up a picture opportunity. Most of the interior is in, I still have to install door panels, visors and a bunch of trim pieces. Nothing too big left though.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
1982 Wagoneer Limited 5.3L Vortec 4L60E swap - finished/restored - sold - bought back - sold again
1979 Wagoneer 360 TH400 1339 QT - built into perfect daily driver - sold
1981 J10 Sportside Honcho - finished/restored - sold
1979 Cherokee Golden Eagle - 5.3L Vortec 6L80E swap - finished/restored - sold
1967 Super Wagoneer - sold, too much work
1978 J10 Golden Eagle - finished/restored - sold
1962 Rambler Classic Cross Country Wagon - current project, wife's daily driver - she'll never let me sell it
1988 Grand Wagoneer, , 6" on 33x12.5 BFG M/Ts & Mickey Thompson Classic wheels
Currently undergoing a 5.3/6L80E/NP241C swap!
You can view my Build/Work In Progress thread by clicking HERE!