Gabe's FSJ Diary (formally Grand Wagoneer build thread)

[tedlovesjeeps71]

Man! That thing is long! Might need to look into a bronco 20 and they're new compact black box to make it short enough to fit with ste stock gas tank.

I've also changed my mind on the power of this jeep. This should give you an idea of where I'm taking this. http://www.ebay.com/itm/AMC-Jeep-AMX-Ra ... aw&vxp=mtr

Yeah, it's interesting to make work. There are a few options but as usual, none are free.
You could run a super short output shaft (SYE eliminator) depending on the case. One could also swap to a serpentine belt system which may (just a guess) allow you to move the motor forward a wee bit. If your not running monster lift you may be ok with a high angle rear cv shaft. My scrambler is soa in about 2"springs. AMC 360, NV, BB, stock dana 300. I'm looking at the jb conversions output for the 300. My issue was i was trying to keep the belly as flat as possible. I'll probably end up remaking the crossmember to drop the t case end a little more.


And the stroker will be sweet.

Sent from my SM-N930V using Tapatalk

[GaJeep94YJ]

How come I don't see any info here for communications? Are you just going to use a cb or something more serious?

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[Nikkormat]

How come I don't see any info here for communications? Are you just going to use a cb or something more serious?

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Maybe something more serious. I just don't know at this point.

[Nikkormat]

To update this thread, the focus of the build has changed slightly. When I planned this it was going to be my only vehicle. It would have to get beat on and bounced up every trail from here to the rubicon and still be reliable on a daily basis. That is no longer the case. The build is now going to be focused on one day to night and a day long trips and minor wheeling. Basically, I don't have to leave colorado anymore and this wagoneer will be more onroad focused. For serious wheeling, and just for fun, I'm going to try and pick up a CJ2A or 3A this winter. Small enough to be flat towed behind the wagoneer and fit in a 1 car garage with all of my tools.

The 401 is once again part of the plan, 727 remains, and eventually I want to swap in an NP242. When it first goes together in the spring the 208 will go in as planned.

The suspension will be a much simpler 4 inch lift with LT265/75R16 tires and 3.31 gears. Going for more of a 60's look than a restomod look. Very seriously considering leaving off the wood grain. I need to source a new fascia, so i'm also exploring the possibility of a Rhino grille instead of the cheese grater. Would look similar to this in lighter more metallic blue:


Since 33 gallons should be plenty for day trips I'm going to stick the blazer tank in storage and mount the transmission cooler, a can of water, and the 2nd battery back where the spare used to be. Should be room for the compressor down there too.

For the rear heater I plan to utilize a separate electric pump, a facet fuel pump, to pump coolant from the engine to the cargo area. on one of the back panels I'm going to mount a 120mm PC water cooling radiator and fan with a simple on/off switch. I'll wire the little pump and fan to the second battery so I can keep heating the jeep with the main fan and key off without worrying about draining the battery. Ideally I should figure out an air intake for it that's inside the cabin, not the quarter panel.
For future use: https://www.coolerguys.com/products/coo ... n-end-caps

I have officially decided to ditch the stock roof rack as well, but I'm going to add a wind deflector.

[BlackDynamite]

[quote="Nikkormat"]
4 inch lift and somewhere around a 31" tire, FUEL INJECTED 401!, J20 727-NWF Black Box-J20 NP208, Stock 44's with 3.54 gears.
Aero 38 gallon main tank, Blazer 25 gallon aux tank, on board air, lockers front and rear, stock interior with THIRD ROW SEAT!
Thinner wood trim, Stainless Brain Fab bumpers, either a rhino or cheese grater grille, rock sliders, roof storage/roof tent?
Isolated dual batteries, 4 wheel disk brakes, ample lighting, rear power and heat, cup holders, 6 speakers, some sort of weight compensation system, on board water?[quote]

What tank is this?

[tedlovesjeeps71]

Isn't cheap but would make your now road bound waggy more Driver friendly. Wish I had the $$ as it'd go in the wife's GW.

https://denver.craigslist.org/pts/5825581954.html

Sent from my SM-N930V using Tapatalk

[jpswapmohn]

I like the shift in direction, but that is because it follows my direction and maybe I can get some ideas from your efforts.

I swapped in the 242 last year. I think it is a great case for all-purpose use. I like having the ability to run AWD if the weather warrants it, but still having true Hi and Lo.

I did the HD SYE and shaft from Tom Woods. They shipped the SYE kit and waited for me to get everything installed to make proper measurements and then sent out the shaft. Considering what it cost locally for me to have 1" taken out of the front shaft, TW wasn't that bad of a price..

I have an early prototype Novak spacer and tailshaft conversion in my 4L60e to NP229..(if I had only known better back then!), so bolting up was no issue, and shouldn't be for the 727.

The 242 is shorter than the 229, and the SYE gave more to the rear shaft.

The difference: Shafts

Looking forward to putting those J20 axles under my wagon when I get home! Glad to see you are doing a build.
b

[Nikkormat]

4 inch lift and somewhere around a 31" tire, FUEL INJECTED 401!, J20 727-NWF Black Box-J20 NP208, Stock 44's with 3.54 gears.
Aero 38 gallon main tank, Blazer 25 gallon aux tank, on board air, lockers front and rear, stock interior with THIRD ROW SEAT!
Thinner wood trim, Stainless Brain Fab bumpers, either a rhino or cheese grater grille, rock sliders, roof storage/roof tent?
Isolated dual batteries, 4 wheel disk brakes, ample lighting, rear power and heat, cup holders, 6 speakers, some sort of weight compensation system, on board water?

What tank is this?

Made by Aero fuel tanks in California Google them. It can be custom ordered with a double thick bottom and internal fuel pump.

[Nikkormat]

After too much head scratching I've decided I am going to go to a rhino grill. And I'm going to steal GL's quad headlight setup.

Spent the past few weeks taking care of some final body work. It's not perfect, but good enough. While finishing up the front, I got to thinking about the pie tins. I have them, but kinda like how it looks when people have put lights in them. I did some research, but it seemed to be too complicated until I happened to find these Pro Comp lights at 4 Wheel Parts. They're all plastic, but the silver ring unscrews allowing the grill to be sandwiched between housing and the ring. The light fit almost perfectly with just a slight enlargement of the hole so that even if I decide I don't want them, my pie tins will still mount. If you look closely, you can see that the there is a gap between the light and the ring. I just did the rough fit, and later I will look at possibly shortening the ring to make it more flush.






Front all buttoned up with my quad lights

I would like to build some adjustability into the lights, but I don't know if that will be possible. Some pencil beams aimed dead ahead would certainly do something even if I couldn't aim them! Flash your highbeams at me now you subaru driving nitwits!

[tedlovesjeeps71]

After too much head scratching I've decided I am going to go to a rhino grill. And I'm going to steal GL's quad headlight setup.

Spent the past few weeks taking care of some final body work. It's not perfect, but good enough. While finishing up the front, I got to thinking about the pie tins. I have them, but kinda like how it looks when people have put lights in them. I did some research, but it seemed to be too complicated until I happened to find these Pro Comp lights at 4 Wheel Parts. They're all plastic, but the silver ring unscrews allowing the grill to be sandwiched between housing and the ring. The light fit almost perfectly with just a slight enlargement of the hole so that even if I decide I don't want them, my pie tins will still mount. If you look closely, you can see that the there is a gap between the light and the ring. I just did the rough fit, and later I will look at possibly shortening the ring to make it more flush.






Front all buttoned up with my quad lights

I would like to build some adjustability into the lights, but I don't know if that will be possible. Some pencil beams aimed dead ahead would certainly do something even if I couldn't aim them! Flash your highbeams at me now you subaru driving nitwits!

What about turning them into fog lights? Maybe tint the lens yellow somehow with a flood pattern (or whichever works best for flood)? I love the look and adding more light will be nice to have.

Sent from my SM-N930V using Tapatalk

[Nikkormat]

What about turning them into fog lights? Maybe tint the lens yellow somehow with a flood pattern (or whichever works best for flood)? I love the look and adding more light will be nice to have.

Sent from my SM-N930V using Tapatalk

You don't want fog lights up that high. They'll blind you in actual fog. You want your fog lights as low as possible to see underneath the fog rather than illuminating it.

[tedlovesjeeps71]

What about turning them into fog lights? Maybe tint the lens yellow somehow with a flood pattern (or whichever works best for flood)? I love the look and adding more light will be nice to have.

Sent from my SM-N930V using Tapatalk

You don't want fog lights up that high. They'll blind you in actual fog. You want your fog lights as low as possible to see underneath the fog rather than illuminating it.

Oh, good to know. Never owned a set of FL before.
So do you foresee finding a good rhino grille will be hard? Already have one? Going with the aftermarket plastic (?) One?
I had one on my last fsj but for the life of me don't know where it went. And they were getting hard to find back then.

Sent from my SM-N930V using Tapatalk

[Nikkormat]

What about turning them into fog lights? Maybe tint the lens yellow somehow with a flood pattern (or whichever works best for flood)? I love the look and adding more light will be nice to have.

Sent from my SM-N930V using Tapatalk

You don't want fog lights up that high. They'll blind you in actual fog. You want your fog lights as low as possible to see underneath the fog rather than illuminating it.

Oh, good to know. Never owned a set of FL before.
So do you foresee finding a good rhino grille will be hard? Already have one? Going with the aftermarket plastic (?) One?
I had one on my last fsj but for the life of me don't know where it went. And they were getting hard to find back then.

Sent from my SM-N930V using Tapatalk

I think the hardest part will be finding the hood/valence. The grille setups are on eBay constantly if I get desperate for one.

[tedlovesjeeps71]

You don't want fog lights up that high. They'll blind you in actual fog. You want your fog lights as low as possible to see underneath the fog rather than illuminating it.

Oh, good to know. Never owned a set of FL before.
So do you foresee finding a good rhino grille will be hard? Already have one? Going with the aftermarket plastic (?) One?
I had one on my last fsj but for the life of me don't know where it went. And they were getting hard to find back then.

Sent from my SM-N930V using Tapatalk

I think the hardest part will be finding the hood/valence. The grille setups are on eBay constantly if I get desperate for one.

Is that the trim piece that mounts to the hood to complete the rhino?

Sent from my SM-N930V using Tapatalk

[Nikkormat]

Oh, good to know. Never owned a set of FL before.
So do you foresee finding a good rhino grille will be hard? Already have one? Going with the aftermarket plastic (?) One?
I had one on my last fsj but for the life of me don't know where it went. And they were getting hard to find back then.

Sent from my SM-N930V using Tapatalk

I think the hardest part will be finding the hood/valence. The grille setups are on eBay constantly if I get desperate for one.

Is that the trim piece that mounts to the hood to complete the rhino?

Sent from my SM-N930V using Tapatalk

Nope. The rhino grill uses a different hood and the radiator support is slightly different.

[Nikkormat]

Another update, since this will be more on road focused now I've decided I want it to be quicker as well.

A 700R4 built to handle being driven by a jackass like me with a high stall converter and 4.88 axle gears will give a 15:1 first gear to launch in and a 3.42 highway gear with the added bonus of a lockup converter.

The lockup should be nice Offroad too, even though it won't be active in first gear. In second and third gear (where I would be spending a lot of time coming down off of a pass) I could coast down without generating the amount of heat I do now whipping the fluid through the converter. It would give me more speed options too. I could be coasting along in second gear with the converter unlocked and bleed off more speed with the flick of a switch, instead of heating up my brakes.

Note to self, lockup should be wired with an off position and a manual on position. Manual on should also trigger the high idle solenoid to avoid transmission damage.

The 700r4, NP242, and 4.88's will give a 40:1 crawl ratio. That decent crawl ratio will be slightly hindered by a higher stall converter but it should be very comparable to a non Rubicon wrangler. But with 400hp.

[tedlovesjeeps71]

Did you score that one off CL that came with the AMC adapter??

Sent from my SM-N930V using Tapatalk

[Nikkormat]

Did you score that one off CL that came with the AMC adapter??

Sent from my SM-N930V using Tapatalk

I wish! I might try to after my paycheck comes through. Don't really need a stock rebuild 700r4 though. I'd kill it like I have three others. Never trust a snowplow driver!

[Nikkormat]

Did you score that one off CL that came with the AMC adapter??

Sent from my SM-N930V using Tapatalk

I wish! I might try to after my paycheck comes through. Don't really need a stock rebuild 700r4 though. I'd kill it like I have three others. Never trust a snowplow driver!

OK it looks like it's not stock, but I don't know if a corvette servo and some steels is enough.

"Fully rebuilt (never run) 700R4 transmission with upgraded Corvette aluminum servo piston and high quality steels "

[tedlovesjeeps71]

Did you score that one off CL that came with the AMC adapter??

Sent from my SM-N930V using Tapatalk

I wish! I might try to after my paycheck comes through. Don't really need a stock rebuild 700r4 though. I'd kill it like I have three others. Never trust a snowplow driver!

OK it looks like it's not stock, but I don't know if a corvette servo and some steels is enough.

"Fully rebuilt (never run) 700R4 transmission with upgraded Corvette aluminum servo piston and high quality steels "

I have no idea but I'd think it warrants a call to ask him. Maybe you could save some money and get the tranny set up you want. I'm curious to see how it improves the driveability of the jeep. What axle gears and tire size are you aiming at again?

Sent from my SM-N930V using Tapatalk