Got the '79 home. Educate me.

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Todd36
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Got the '79 home. Educate me.

Post by Todd36 »

My wife and I have always wanted an old school Wagoneer, and stumbled upon this one while visiting some friends at Lake Texoma. We've looked at several over the years, but the asking price/condition never matched up. This 79' is all original and 99% complete. The older gentleman I bought it from said he would take $1000 and not a penny less. I didn't argue. Image It fired right up after a little sweet talking, but I opted to go back down this weekend with a trailer and haul it home. It needs a new set of tires, and I didn't trust them on a 2 hour drive. I'll probably start a "build" thread of its resurrection in about a month, once I Have done a few things to it, and have a good start. Plans are for it to be a close to stock weekend/camping rig. Mild lift, and tall pizza cutters are the only real mods that are planned. Anyways, if you guys want to drop a few links to tech write ups you think would benefit a wagoneer noob it would be greatly appreciated.ImageImageImageImage

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jsinajeep
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Re: Got the '79 home. Educate me.

Post by jsinajeep »

Nice looking Wagon
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ghcoe
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Re: Got the '79 home. Educate me.

Post by ghcoe »

Nice.
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Tatsadasayago
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Re: Got the '79 home. Educate me.

Post by Tatsadasayago »

A very nice SCORE for 1k. She's a beauty.
Having lived in Oklahoma and Texas I would be quick to lift the carpeting and check for rust in the floors and if finding any, get it cleaned up and converted.
Obviously filters, hoses, belts and all fluids should be changed/checked and take a good look at the electrical system.

I admit I've never seen that color combo on a 79 and suspect it's a repaint. There's something about the rocker panel under the passenger rear door that looks like collision damage repair.

Regardless, congrats on the nice find and welcome to the FSJ Madness :)
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Todd36
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Re: Got the '79 home. Educate me.

Post by Todd36 »

Tatsadasayago wrote:A very nice SCORE for 1k. She's a beauty.
Having lived in Oklahoma and Texas I would be quick to lift the carpeting and check for rust in the floors and if finding any, get it cleaned up and converted.
Obviously filters, hoses, belts and all fluids should be changed/checked and take a good look at the electrical system.

I admit I've never seen that color combo on a 79 and suspect it's a repaint. There's something about the rocker panel under the passenger rear door that looks like collision damage repair.

Regardless, congrats on the nice find and welcome to the FSJ Madness :)
Thanks. It does have some rust in the corners of the floor pans and an older bondo rust "repair" on the rockers. And yes, the first order of buisness is definitely a full fluid change, brakes belts, etc. I know it has been repainted at some point. I've seen a few pics on a Google image search of the same paint scheme, though. That or it was old images of mine when it was first done! Who knows. I'll find out as I start running VIN #'s and digging deeper. Thanks for the welcome.

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Tatsadasayago
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Re: Got the '79 home. Educate me.

Post by Tatsadasayago »

The trim codes under the VIN on the firewall will tell you a great deal.
I'm sure you realize that getting a running/driving 79 Wag in that condition for 1k is highly unusual.
Reminds me of when I found my current Chief. The kid wanted 1500.00 for it and I offered 1350.00. I would have paid the 1500 because the title showed it as a 74 (Smog exempt here in Kalifornia).

Best of luck with your FSJ and don't hesitate to ask questions. Some of us here live to share info on these old beasties.
1977 Cherokee Chief - The Blair Jeep Project III
A collection of parts flying in close formation

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Todd36
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Re: Got the '79 home. Educate me.

Post by Todd36 »

Tatsadasayago wrote:The trim codes under the VIN on the firewall will tell you a great deal.
I'm sure you realize that getting a running/driving 79 Wag in that condition for 1k is highly unusual.
Reminds me of when I found my current Chief. The kid wanted 1500.00 for it and I offered 1350.00. I would have paid the 1500 because the title showed it as a 74 (Smog exempt here in Kalifornia).

Best of luck with your FSJ and don't hesitate to ask questions. Some of us here live to share info on these old beasties.
I know it's not the barn find of the century, but I'm definitely pleased to have gotten it for such a good deal. Especially after we had looked looked at so many over the years. I actually had to change the ignition switch to even test drive it because he had lost the keys. Then he couldn't find the title. All in all it took me three trips down there to get the deal done. But, it's home now and the wife and I are both happy with it. She named it "Sparky".

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Tatsadasayago
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Re: Got the '79 home. Educate me.

Post by Tatsadasayago »

Sparky for the WIN
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Todd36
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Re: Got the '79 home. Educate me.

Post by Todd36 »

Got a full tune up finished up this morning. Still have a small ticking sound from the passenger side of the motor. Not sure if it's an exhaust leak or a valve/lifter. I'm leaning towards exhaust. Only because the tone hasn't changed after changing out the super thin old oil. Took it for a 30-40 mile test run on the dirt roads and no surprises. Next weekend I'm going to try an go through the brake system.

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Todd36
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Re: Got the '79 home. Educate me.

Post by Todd36 »

First fill up. Hopefully many more to come!Image

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Tatsadasayago
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Re: Got the '79 home. Educate me.

Post by Tatsadasayago »

If the tick proves not to be an exhaust leak you might consider pulling the valve cover and inspecting the rocker arms and bridges.
The bridges have pivot surfaces that ride on the rocker arms and wear down over time causing a loose condition that leads to a constant ticking.

One old school fix for this was to file or sand the base of the bridge which lowers it toward the head thus taking up a few thousands and clicking-be-gone.
1977 Cherokee Chief - The Blair Jeep Project III
A collection of parts flying in close formation

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Todd36
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Re: Got the '79 home. Educate me.

Post by Todd36 »

Tatsadasayago wrote:If the tick proves not to be an exhaust leak you might consider pulling the valve cover and inspecting the rocker arms and bridges.
The bridges have pivot surfaces that ride on the rocker arms and wear down over time causing a loose condition that leads to a constant ticking.

One old school fix for this was to file or sand the base of the bridge which lowers it toward the head thus taking up a few thousands and clicking-be-gone.
Great tip. Thanks for sharing. Hopefully it's just exhaust. I'm going to replace the manifold gaskets next weekend. We'll see what happens.

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Lumpskie
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Re: Got the '79 home. Educate me.

Post by Lumpskie »

Thanks for this thread. I like following your from purchase through first drive and expecting the mods to come.
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Todd36
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Re: Got the '79 home. Educate me.

Post by Todd36 »

Mods will be slow in coming. I've got about $400 dollar a month budget. I have two daughters. One is a junior in HS. And the other is a sophomore in college. Disposable income is hard to come by now days. I should be able to keep a steady pace on it though.

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Lumpskie
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Re: Got the '79 home. Educate me.

Post by Lumpskie »

Hey, $400 a month is more than I have for mods and I only have a 2 year old!
1989 Grand Wagoneer - Rebuilt 360, 2" Alcans, 10" travel Gabriel Guadian shocks.
1996 Land Cruiser - 1HD-T Diesel, Gturbo (23psi), Wholesale Automatics 442f, F/R ARBs, 35" Duratracs, ARB Rear Bumper, OME 2" lift, home built sliders and aluminum belly skid
2000 Honda Civic - Integra GSR engine, transmission, shift linkage and axles, 200hp, 33 combined mpg
2006 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 9 - 437hp/447ft-lb

Topic author
Todd36
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Re: Got the '79 home. Educate me.

Post by Todd36 »

Lumpskie wrote:Hey, $400 a month is more than I have for mods and I only have a 2 year old!
2 year olds are pretty expensive as well!

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Jeepguyp
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Re: Got the '79 home. Educate me.

Post by Jeepguyp »

Tatsadasayago wrote:If the tick proves not to be an exhaust leak you might consider pulling the valve cover and inspecting the rocker arms and bridges.
The bridges have pivot surfaces that ride on the rocker arms and wear down over time causing a loose condition that leads to a constant ticking.

One old school fix for this was to file or sand the base of the bridge which lowers it toward the head thus taking up a few thousands and clicking-be-gone.
IF it still has the original 1-piece aluminum, do yourself a favor and replace them ALL while you have the valves cover off, as you are bound to be putting some gaskets on her soon. The 3 piece bridge and pivot set you get at a parts place is far better than the OE stuff.
Put those on, no more rattling rocker arms. Inspect the arms pivot surface too, but they are steel, originals last longer

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Todd36
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Re: Got the '79 home. Educate me.

Post by Todd36 »

Thanks for the replys, guys. Waiting on some parts from BJ's to come in then I'll be tearing into it again.

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Todd36
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Re: Got the '79 home. Educate me.

Post by Todd36 »

Got a wild hair this evening and did a tailgate switch rewire with a hidden DPDT switch. I might eventually go through the factory set up and get it all working, but this'll do for now. Not bad for $6 and 15 min. Of my time.ImageImageImage

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Re: Got the '79 home. Educate me.

Post by dodgerammit »

Nice.
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