Waking up my '77 Wagoneer after a 21 year hibernation

lethe · Post by **lethe** » Tue Jul 12, 2016 12:44 pm

Hi, I'm an idiot that overloads myself with projects and I own a Jeep that hasn't moved under its own power in a long time.

It was a piece of crap even when I parked it way in the back of my garage back in '95 when we bought our house but now I think I'll finally play with the idea of making it work again. In the time it sat it held up a section of garage wall that was falling in, then supported the roof in that area via a well engineered system of pallets and other junk. Now I think it's reward will be to see a speed higher than being pulled around with my ATV once again.
Lots to do..first off, wonder why I took out the solenoid? Bet the oil is going to be pretty healthy looking. I'll start uncovering these and other mysteries this weekend I think.

Tatsadasayago · Post by **Tatsadasayago** » Tue Jul 12, 2016 12:54 pm

Good luck oh brave one.
Keep us posted if you can.

lethe · Post by **lethe** » Tue Jul 12, 2016 1:00 pm

I will but like most things I do, it will be a painfully slow process as I have way too many irons in the fire.
This, the Chevelle next to it, an LS swap into a Miata, my bikes need some love, the garage itself needs further work on it and the house has too many projects to list going on...also, did I mention I work 2 1/2 hours from home?

Hopefully some scary pictures from underneath it this weekend as I assess how much worse it is from the pretty bad I remember it being.

lethe · Post by **lethe** » Thu Jul 14, 2016 6:32 am

Had a little bit of time to play with it last evening so tossed a battery I had laying around in it.
Since the solenoid is awol, I found a tattered wire that used to also go to it, said screw it and taped it to the positive lead that went to the solenoid and hooked up the battery.
Hey, look at that, had some lights. The headlights didn't come on but the blinkers work and the taillights do too. No dash lights and the wipers don't even try to work but the washer sprayed. Blower motor runs and the horn wants to but the little compressor motor on the air horn that is in it just buzzes.
So happy some stuff actually functions, less to chase down.
Next I'll drain whatever sludge it has in it for oil and put fresh in.
Pull the plugs and pour some oil into the cylinders, let that soak for a day and try to roll the motor over by hand.
Have a feeling it won't budge but that's hardly something that will stop me in my tracks.

motcat · Post by **motcat** » Thu Jul 14, 2016 10:31 am

You're going about it the right way. I let mine sit since 96 and finally back on the road about 2 years ago. Runs great.

lethe · Post by **lethe** » Thu Jul 14, 2016 2:52 pm

Worked from home today so I pulled the plugs this morning (shocked at how easily they came out and took that as a good sign for things to come).
Put some oil in the cylinders and let them soak all day.
Just put a breaker bar on the crank pulley and with just a little bit of initial effort I got a quick 1/4 turn out of it and heard the gurgle of it vomiting some of that oil out of the plug holes.
I'll put fresh oil in it now, let it sit for another day and then see about giving the engine a few full rotations.
Yay, signs are decent that I might as well buy a solenoid and work towards seeing if this will fire.
Option 2 was an LM7 (Chevy 5.3) that I have sitting behind me as I write this but I'll be far happier to go the easier route if I can.

Tatsadasayago · Post by **Tatsadasayago** » Thu Jul 14, 2016 3:36 pm

This is a very good sign!
In my experience, if they can be turned, they will run. I prefer ATF for the cylinders and have used it numerous times to rescue stuck engines.
I hope it fires up and runs good for you.

lethe · Post by **lethe** » Thu Jul 21, 2016 11:07 am

Took me 2 hours or so to get the oil filter off as it crumbled into pieces with the base not wanting to budge, finally was able to get it to slowly move with a large pipe wrench that had so little room to move it was looking grim for that method.
Depending how my weekend goes, I might get this to the point where I'll make a build thread as I begin to do "real" stuff.
Ideally I'd have to clear a bit more space around it.

Jeeper4life · Post by **Jeeper4life** » Sun Jul 24, 2016 12:05 am

Excited to hear this thing run!

lethe · Post by **lethe** » Mon Jul 25, 2016 5:02 pm

Might be awhile, I have way too many things I'm trying to do at once, didn't touch the thing this weekend with the exception of using the hood as a workbench for something else I was doing.

lethe · Post by **lethe** » Sun Sep 18, 2016 3:40 pm

just popping in to say I haven't given up on this, just got sidetracked with a million other things included this weekend my wife just got a 2015 Mustang so that slows my projects a bit lol but I'll be rushing back into this headlong soon

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