1978 Wagoneer buying advice

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tedlovesjeeps71
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Re: 1978 Wagoneer buying advice

Post by tedlovesjeeps71 »

Also
Image

That isn't where the switch for the quadratrac belongs. Possible that there is a vacuum leak related to it. Q-trac is a neat system but can be finiky sometimes. Finding parts for it is getting harder too depending on what is needed.

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thecantaloupeman
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Re: 1978 Wagoneer buying advice

Post by thecantaloupeman »

tedlovesjeeps71 wrote:Also
Image

That isn't where the switch for the quadratrac belongs. Possible that there is a vacuum leak related to it. Q-trac is a neat system but can be finiky sometimes. Finding parts for it is getting harder too depending on what is needed.
Oh yeah I forgot to mention that. Its supposed to be in glove box. I couldn't figure out how he got the switch there. Is it even moveable? I was under the impression it was fixed into the car somehow. Is it just a switch with a wire attached or what?

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thecantaloupeman
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Re: 1978 Wagoneer buying advice

Post by thecantaloupeman »

tedlovesjeeps71 wrote:
thecantaloupeman wrote:
letank wrote:
Stalling upon getting onto drive can be many things, as simple as a vacuum leak, from a disconnected hose, a carburetor set too lean , 2.5 turn on the idle mix is a quick fix or a failed enrichment circuit -carb rebuilt kit will fix that one-

you have may have to deal with old gasoline... or add fresh gas and dilute the old stuff, IIRC 78 has the access trap under the rear bench so this is not too bad

the distributor is set weird you cannot advance it more because the vacuum canister is set too close to the PS pump.

The yellow wires below the cruise control unit with the exposed resistor wires... I have not seen this set up.

The master cylinder is unlike what is found on OE of this vintage, and the vacuum hose for the booster might be connected elsewhere than the OE set.

How many miles on the odometer -remember it will not have the 100Kmiles? but is an indication... where is that gem located? because of salt issues!
The car is in CO. The yellow wires might be the aftermarket usb charger he installed. Another thing I noticed is there isn't a battery so it must've been sitting for a while. I haven't asked what the dash says about miles because it's a swapped gauge cluster so I didn't think to ask. Also I will send some more photos for you to check out that master cylinder. Another thing that bothers me, is the VIN isn't a real Jeep VIN. At least I think.

The VIN is supposedly 38A15NN113089
And engine code 204N10

I did some research on that ol'jeep page and it didn't match up. Only a few things lined up like the 8 meaning 1978 and the "15" meaning Wagoneer. There are numbers in letter spots it's really strange.

ImageImageImageImageImage

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Jeep, not car. Image (We can be a fussy bunch, haha)
You could see if anyone that actually knows waggys is in the part of Colorado it's located in and would be willing to look at it for you. Most are pretty honest folks that wouldn't try and snake it out from you and would give an honest opinion. Just a thought.
That's a good idea. How would I go about that? Should I just post something and ask if there's anyone in Colorado that could go check it out

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letank
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Re: 1978 Wagoneer buying advice

Post by letank »

thecantaloupeman wrote: Another thing that bothers me, is the VIN isn't a real Jeep VIN. At least I think.

The VIN is supposedly 38A15NN113089
And engine code 204N10
the vin , may be a typo

J8A15NN.....

the 74 is J4A144CN....

As for the lack of battery, we all do that when not planning to run for a while... wally world has the 24F low 580CCA for less than $50 or the 780CCA for $99

what about the tires? cracks...

better bring a friend when you go to check it out, or 2 friends...
Michel
74 wag (349 Kmiles... parked, next step is a rust free body)
85 Gwag (229 Kmiles... the running test lab)
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tedlovesjeeps71
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Re: 1978 Wagoneer buying advice

Post by tedlovesjeeps71 »

thecantaloupeman wrote:
tedlovesjeeps71 wrote:Also
Image

That isn't where the switch for the quadratrac belongs. Possible that there is a vacuum leak related to it. Q-trac is a neat system but can be finiky sometimes. Finding parts for it is getting harder too depending on what is needed.
Oh yeah I forgot to mention that. Its supposed to be in glove box. I couldn't figure out how he got the switch there. Is it even moveable? I was under the impression it was fixed into the car somehow. Is it just a switch with a wire attached or what?

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It's vacuum controlled as I remember. Should be a couple/few rubber hoses going to it. If one of them is loose or dry rotted/cracked it could cause issues.
I'm a couple hours from where the Craigslist ad says the Jeep lives but if you keep asking you may find someone from Denver that isn't so far.

will e
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Re: 1978 Wagoneer buying advice

Post by will e »

I would pass on this one. I paid 800 for a rust free wide track Cherokee. There are deals, watch for them. This isn't a deal. If it looked sweet but had running problems I would go for it. This doesn't run, looks bad, has rust and the interior is weird. You can do better.
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derf
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Re: 1978 Wagoneer buying advice

Post by derf »

At best it's a parts rig. And it doesn't have many parts worth saving. I'd spend my money on one worth more than it's scrap yard price.
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tgreese
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Re: 1978 Wagoneer buying advice

Post by tgreese »

Engine is April 10, 1978. 360 2V (2-barrel).

Should be J8A15NN113089; J=Jeep 8=1978 A=Automatic 15=Wagoneer N=6200GVWR N=360 2V, 6 digit sequential serial number

http://oljeep.com/gw/78_tsm/1978_JeepSh ... mplete.pdf

Parts car IMO. They are not scarce enough to make that one worth saving. The body is thrashed. Body work is expensive to have done, and requires a lot of skill, special tools and facilities if you do it yourself. The only reason to save that one is if you have a deep emotional conection to it somehow. JMO.

It's a general rule, with old cars, the more you spend up front, the less you will need to spend in the long run. If you can't afford the cost of a cherry Wagoneer, perhaps you could find a nice ZJ or WJ Grand Cherokee for a good price. There are a lot of those around, and you can probably find one for cheap with decent appearance and some mechanical problems. A cracked head or worn out transmission will be way easier to address than the cut out fenders, rust and dents in this Wagoneer.
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Maine beekeeper's truck: '77 J10 LWB, 258/T15/D20/3.54 bone stock, low options (delete radio), PS/PDB, hubcaps.
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thecantaloupeman
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Re: 1978 Wagoneer buying advice

Post by thecantaloupeman »

tedlovesjeeps71 wrote:
thecantaloupeman wrote:
tedlovesjeeps71 wrote:Also
Image

That isn't where the switch for the quadratrac belongs. Possible that there is a vacuum leak related to it. Q-trac is a neat system but can be finiky sometimes. Finding parts for it is getting harder too depending on what is needed.
Oh yeah I forgot to mention that. Its supposed to be in glove box. I couldn't figure out how he got the switch there. Is it even moveable? I was under the impression it was fixed into the car somehow. Is it just a switch with a wire attached or what?

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It's vacuum controlled as I remember. Should be a couple/few rubber hoses going to it. If one of them is loose or dry rotted/cracked it could cause issues.
I'm a couple hours from where the Craigslist ad says the Jeep lives but if you keep asking you may find someone from Denver that isn't so far.
Yeah I dunno I posted a topic but noone responded. It would be kinda cool though. If I found someone that could go look at it, it may end up being a super simple issue, and then all I need to worry about is rust. And at 600 if it ends up running alright, I am fine with driving it around that way for a while. It will still be objectively cooler than an old Civic at least in my opinion.

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Xplitive
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Re: 1978 Wagoneer buying advice

Post by Xplitive »

Not sure I saw it - but where are you located?
Erik
1989 GW, 31s on rancho front and general spring rear

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thecantaloupeman
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Re: 1978 Wagoneer buying advice

Post by thecantaloupeman »

Xplitive wrote:Not sure I saw it - but where are you located?
The jeep itself is located in Bennet Colorado which is an hour away from me.

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Xplitive
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Re: 1978 Wagoneer buying advice

Post by Xplitive »

If it’s that close, why don’t you go look at it?
In person viewing can really make a difference one way or another... and influence your line of questions..
Also, joining a local club would get you access to knowledge and on the ground assistance.
Erik
1989 GW, 31s on rancho front and general spring rear

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thecantaloupeman
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Re: 1978 Wagoneer buying advice

Post by thecantaloupeman »

Xplitive wrote:If it’s that close, why don’t you go look at it?
In person viewing can really make a difference one way or another... and influence your line of questions..
Also, joining a local club would get you access to knowledge and on the ground assistance.
I know virtually nothing about cars. I will go look at it in person before I decide to buy it or not, but It would help to have someone who can check it out and let me know if the engine is worth fixing first. Body stuff I'm not too worried about because I'm not worried about how my car looks. But if the engines gonna need a full rebuild or anything like that then I will just move on.

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derf
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Re: 1978 Wagoneer buying advice

Post by derf »

If the engine is anywhere near as bad as the rest of the Jeep, and that's more than likely, I'd say you should move on.

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thecantaloupeman
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Re: 1978 Wagoneer buying advice

Post by thecantaloupeman »

derf wrote:If the engine is anywhere near as bad as the rest of the Jeep, and that's more than likely, I'd say you should move on.
Well everyone is telling me to stay away so that's probably the smartest thing to do, but if anyone sees another Wagoneer or FSJ in CO for less than 2000 let me know because that's around my budget.

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letank
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Re: 1978 Wagoneer buying advice

Post by letank »

may be go and check the $3500 obo, so you can gauge how these boats drive....

in fact it is a good gauge so feel the power. Once I went to test drive a 401 version w $5k of receipt for rebuilt engine... it had less guts than my 360 with over 300Kmiles

https://denver.craigslist.org/cto/d/den ... 66397.html

Image

Otherwise as simple as can be, grab your local paper, you may find grandpa selling his fsj. I missed a beauty a few months ago... $1K... well nothing in the denver times
Michel
74 wag (349 Kmiles... parked, next step is a rust free body)
85 Gwag (229 Kmiles... the running test lab)
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tedlovesjeeps71
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1978 Wagoneer buying advice

Post by tedlovesjeeps71 »

https://albuquerque.craigslist.org/cto/ ... 94815.html

Save a few more bucks and be willing to haggle and you may find something like this is a better investment.

And be willing to travel a bit.
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derf
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Re: 1978 Wagoneer buying advice

Post by derf »

thecantaloupeman wrote:
derf wrote:If the engine is anywhere near as bad as the rest of the Jeep, and that's more than likely, I'd say you should move on.
Well everyone is telling me to stay away so that's probably the smartest thing to do, but if anyone sees another Wagoneer or FSJ in CO for less than 2000 let me know because that's around my budget.

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The problem with a Wagoneer that's offered for under $2,000 is that you're going to need probably that much more to get it in decent running and driving condition.

It might be better to spend a while building up your savings. That way you can get a better wag that needs less work.

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thecantaloupeman
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Re: 1978 Wagoneer buying advice

Post by thecantaloupeman »

tedlovesjeeps71 wrote:https://albuquerque.craigslist.org/cto/ ... 94815.html

Save a few more bucks and be willing to haggle and you may find something like this is a better investment.

And be willing to travel a bit.
Hey that's a pretty nice one

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mx71
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Re: 1978 Wagoneer buying advice

Post by mx71 »

Just an FYI, I bought my 79 for 1,200 running and driving with no rust. I now have 22,000 in it after a new motor, rebuilt trans, and I still haven't gotten it painted or had the seats done yet. This is not a show car.
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