76 Wagoneer on a Dodge frame

[WaggyGuy]

At this point I had to figure out how to mount it. I pulled the mounting brackets off the Waggy radiator and toyed with the idea of using those but decided against it in the end. Instead, I fabricated my own radiator support and mounts. For the top, I cut out a section of the Waggy radiator support so that the radiator would sit low enough:



I don't have a pic, but I used the top mounting bolts for the factory radiator and made a bracket that bolted there and then bolted onto the radiator's mounting flange.

For the bottom, I used the bolts that hold the front part of the front clip on. Using angle iron and some strap, I made a bracket that drops down and then welded some plates on with slotted holes for the posts on the bottom of the radiator to sit in:

[WaggyGuy]

I need to go back and clean everything up (and maybe make the pads the same size), but I just wanted to make sure it all worked first. The final product isn't too bad:





I've got about 5 inches of clearance between the water pump and the radiator. That should be enough room to fit a fan. I'm thinking about running a Ford Taurus electrical fan, which is somewhere around 4.5" thick at the motor. I used one on a previous project and they move a TON of air. The only problem is that the Taurus shroud isn't quite big enough to cover this radiator.

As for the top, when I close the hood I've got at least 2 inches of clearance between the radiator cap and the hood. Everything else is clear so I think I'm good to go.

[ProTouring442]

What about the Mark VIII fan? It pulls at least as much as the Taurus fan.

[WaggyGuy]

Hadn't heard about the Mark VIII fan before. I'll definitely do some research on that one. I've got a line on a working Taurus fan for $50 right now, but if the Mark VIII fan will cover more radiator I might go that route. Thanks for the idea.

[hutcho]

I wanted a mark viii but got this from a grand marquis. Looks like its gonna work out well. Cfm was supposed to be the same or comparable to the mark.

[hutcho]

25 bucks at the local yard.

[WaggyGuy]

Nice! I wish we had a u-pull type yard around here. All we have are traditional salvage yards and they charge new part prices for used stuff. Maybe next time I go up to ABQ I'll take some tools and see what I can find. The fan isn't too much of a priority at the moment. I've got plenty of other stuff to do and I can get it up and running without a fan for now (just not running long).

[hutcho]

Yeah that's what we have here too. I got a dozen or more yards within a half hour drive but I choose to drive over an hour cause there are 2 that let you pull your own. Only been to one so far though, feel like a kid in a candy store!!

[hutcho]

Check out row52.com. theres an option there to request a part and when someone is at the yard and they find your parts they will pull them for you and ship them. I've looked in to it some but most guys put a little too much markup on them. Might be cheaper than another yard or ebay though.

[WaggyGuy]

Update time. Since I got the radiator in last weekend, I figured it was time to tackle radiator hoses and engine compartment wiring. For radiator hoses, I got factory replacement hoses from a 96 Ram. Well, I wasn't thinking when I did that so I ran into some very minor fitment issues. The 96 Ram has a huge gap between the engine and the radiator, so these hoses were too long. A little trimming and I got them in.



With the hoses sitting in place (I need to get some new clamps), I decided to put the heater box and blower motor on the firewall. I figure that way I can run my wires and not have problems later. I have about an inch-and-a-half of space between the heater box and the passenger valve cover.

[WaggyGuy]

At that point it was time to tackle the wiring harnesses. The Dodge has 3 harnesses that all connect together. I had them all in a box along with pieces of the Waggy harness, so it started out like this:



To get my bearings (and remember where things went), I laid it all out on the garage floor. This also gave me an opportunity to take off some sections that I'm not ready for and I also labeled some plugs that hadn't been labeled previously.







The harness in the top photo has the transmission control module and connects to the trans, transfer case, injectors, alt, and AC compressor. The middle photo is the interior harness that has the ECM. the bottom photo is the harness that contains the bulk head connector and engine bay fuse box. This connects to the battery, starter, horn, lights, etc.

[WaggyGuy]

I connected the bulk head connector to the firewall and mounted the fuse box to the driver fender. I thought the hood was going to hit it when it closed, but it looks like that won't be a problem. I laid out the wiring around the front of the Jeep and it looks like things will all work out.

I then laid out the other harness. I thought it would be easier to work backwards, so I connected the "ends" of the harness first and worked from there. The end of the driver side is an AC plug, a ground on the Power Steering bracket. Then I connected injectors and throttle body plugs. On the passenger side, the end is the various connections to the alternator, followed by injectors. Once that was all laid out, I settled on a location for the trans control module, which will be bolted on the passenger fender. I still need to connect the 10 million plugs to the transmission and transfer case, but it is all laid out.



On one hand, I'm excited because this is a major step toward starting this thing. On the other hand, I'm disappointed because my clean, clutter-free engine bay is not a wire-filled mess. Oh well, such is life. It is only going to get worse once I add a battery, heater hoses, AC hoses, vacuum lines, etc.

Next order of business is cutting the floor so I can install the gas tank and then tackling fuel lines.

[Stuka]

Yeah, everything looks nice and clean until you add 100 various wiring connectors to the thing.

[WaggyGuy]

Update time. Spent some time and got the fuel system in. I hate cutting sheet metal, but I had a plan and just got after it. As I mentioned before, the sending unit on the Dodge tank is too tall so I had to "make room" for it by cutting a hole in my floor.



I started with drilling a hole so I could get an idea of how things were going to line up, then I cut out an area. I lifted the tank and then adjusted the hole as needed. Once I got it all sorted out, I had to figure out how to cover the area. My neighbor is a mechanic who has spent a good amount of time building rat rods. He offered me the solution of using a baking pan. I think it will work out just fine!



I plan to seal the lip with silicone and hold it down with metal screws.

[WaggyGuy]

Here are some shots of the tank and how much (or how little) room I have:





I have enough room to get the drain/fill plugs out and fill up the transfer case, so I'm happy with it.

[WaggyGuy]

Question about the gas tank. There is a hump at the rear of the tank. As it sits now, that hump is up against the cargo area floor of the Jeep. The way I see it, I can either put some rubber between the tank and the metal or I'll need a body lift. I'd really prefer to not make this thing any taller if I can avoid it, so is there any reason why I shouldn't just use rubber to protect the tank from the metal???

[WaggyGuy]

My neighbor (same one who gave me the pan idea) commented on how he didn't like the Dodge steering wheel in the Jeep. So, I decided to do something about it. I pulled the Dodge steering wheel and replaced it with the Jeep wheel. The Dodge wheel had an air bag, which I didn't care about keeping but it also had the cruise controls on the wheel. I figure if I really want to hook up the cruise I can figure out different controls.

I think it looks decent, but I'll need to shorten the shifter so it doesn't hit the wheel.

[WaggyGuy]

After 9 months of collecting dust, I finally worked on the Jeep some more. First things first, I had to remember where I left off and what the plan was. So, I rolled it out of the garage. I forgot how cool this thing looks!



I pulled everything out of it and laid out all of my parts (and spare parts, and extra parts). I tossed some parts from the Dodge that I won't be needing on the Jeep. I decided to start with cleaning out the inside. Once that was done, I went ahead and put some various random parts back on the Jeep since there's no reason to keep them sitting on boxes. I also reinstalled the back seat so I can get an idea of where the front seats need to be.

[WaggyGuy]

One thing I've been really struggling with is the dash. A Dakota dash would be nice, but I don't want to spend that much money right now. A custom dash with aftermarket gauges would be neat, but I don't really want to go that route either. I've got the Dodge Ram gauge cluster that I wanted to make work. I thought about hacking up the Jeep's dash and making them fit, but that didn't feel right. Then I remembered a buddy of mine who swapped an XJ 4.0 into a Scrambler. To make things easier, he mounted the XJ gauges under the Scrambler dash. So, here's what I came up with:



I'll figure out a bracket to hold it from above as well as brackets to hold it from behind and below.

After that I worked on mounting the ECM. Here's what I came up with:



Looks like it will be out of the way of everything, although fitting the tube for the defroster vent might be a little tricky. I'm sure I can make it work though. The picture makes it look a lot closer to the glove box opening than it really is. I might lose a little space there, but I'm not too worried about it since I plan to use a center console anyway.

[243]

Dude, at least use blue zip ties