I’ve been meaning to start a build/restoration log of my 1979 Jeep Wagoneer. The history of this Jeep is a little unknown to me. I bought it from an older guy in Blaine, WA who intended to restore it, but had too many other projects on his hands. He got it from a guy in Arizona, which is all I know. I do not know the last time it ran, but I am guessing at least 10+ years ago.
I have wanted to restore a classic car since I was a kid and had finally reached a point in my life where it became feasible. I have also been in to trucks, Jeeps and off-roading since I could drive, so I thought I would combined the two things and restore an old Jeep. I started looking for a Wagoneer or Cherokee towards the end of 2016. I was aiming for something running, but with minimal need for body repair. I have almost no experience fixing rusted out body panels or pulling out large dents. I found several candidates on Craigslist over the course of a few months, but I usually end up finding too much rust or other problems I wasn’t comfortable with for their asking prices. In April 2017, I found a 1979 Wagoneer that wasn’t running, but the body and frame were in near perfect condition.
I had actually been searching for a Cherokee, as my family had a ’76 when I was growing up and the nostalgia was playing a part in my search. I took a look at the ’79 above, and was very excited with what I found. The body (while in need a fresh paint job) was damn near perfect with only very light surface rust in a couple areas. The typical problem areas on these jeeps (floor boards and rear fenders) were in excellent condition with at worst very minor dime sized spots of surface rust you could clean off with a Scotch Pad. The trim pieces, plastics and glass were all in great shape and the interior wasn’t too bad either. The drawbacks were that the engine, tranny and t-case were not in the vehicle. In fact, they were sourced from a different ’79 the owner had come across. With those components not in the Jeep, I could not be sure I was getting everything I needed to make it run again. I also wasn’t that excited about it being a quadratrac Jeep with the offset rear differential. I had done plenty of research on it before hand and decided, while not perfectly ideal for me, it will still be a good setup. I could do the Mile Marker conversion, but I do not think I will; I am now starting to warm up to the original AWD setup.
After looking it over, it seemed like I had pretty much everything I would need, so I made an offer and he accepted. I loaded it up on a flatbed trailer I borrowed and headed back home.
I took the next couple of days I had off to wash the years the Pacific North West had deposited on it as well as clean out the interior to get a better assessment of what I had. I was excited to see the green moss wash right off, revealing shinny chrome trim underneath, which would require minimal effort and expense to fully restore. I reinstalled the grill and headlights. I also mounted the Dick Cepek light bar and lights that were on my family’s ’76 Cherokee that I had been sitting at my parents’ house for the last 25 years. I took off the tow mirrors, but I think I’ll keep the plastic body mount points installed for future possible uses of the tow mirrors.
As I started examining the motor, I started realizing that I did not have most of the accessory brackets or components. A York A/C compressor was sitting the cargo area, but the brackets for the compressor, alternator, power steering pump and air pump were missing. While not hard to find on eBay, I was not excited about the cost to acquire these brackets and components were adding up to. I spent a couple months after the purchase of the Jeep skimming eBay and Craigslist for a chance to source these parts and bought them when I found them reasonably priced.
I started mapping out the electrical and comparing it to the TSM my Haynes manual. Everything seemed to be there with the exception of the lighting harness. Funny enough, there is not a single bulb or wire in the Jeep for lighting. I have an EE degree, and I was actually planning on completely gutting the electrical wiring anyway and redoing it myself, so I wasn’t that disappointed.
A front bumper was sold with the Jeep, but as it turns out, it’s the older 3-piece style and does not appear to be compatible without fabrication. A newer style 1-piece is on my shopping list when I get around to it. I have not made my mind up about the bumper as I would really like to get a winch on this thing, but I don’t want a big ugly bumper on it. I am thinking I might try my hand at fabbing up a hidden winch setup like Ramsey(?) used to do.
It took me a couple months to establish a plan and the priorities for the Jeep. I initially was just going to do what I had to get it running, and then slowly fix it up. But with how much it was missing and the work I knew I was going to have to invest in it just to get it running, I started leaning towards a nut & bolt restoration. Plus, I was having trouble turning the engine over and decided I would have to rebuild the engine immediately. I had always planned on rebuilding the engine, but after I had it running and could get a better idea of the Jeep’s strengths and weaknesses and determine what needed attention first.
Before I start talking about the rebuild, I’ll establish what I have decided on the priorities for this Jeep restoration:
1. No cutting corners. Everything will be torn down, cleaned and rebuilt with new components if needed.
2. Power, capability and reliability. I don’t need a power house, but I want a strong V8 under the pedal. This Jeep will be the weekend cruiser, family camping and fun rig. It has to be able to wheel and off-road on easy/moderately difficult trails (moderate trails at Moab, or maybe the easy lines of the Rubicon). This means the Dana 44s will get rebuilt and upgraded with selectable lockers. 4 or 6 inch lift with 32” or 33” tires as well. Along with capability is reliability. I do not want to break down on the trail, out on a trip, or event just down the street. The carb will be swapped out with fuel injection. This also means brakes will be completely redone and upgraded.
3. Budget. I will spend as smartly as a I can, but I tend to buy the best components I can find. Having said that, I am not made of money. The project will move at a pace I can afford.
1979 Jeep Wagoneer. [Currently restoring] 360, Quadratrac, D44s, STOCK.