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Ok time to start this build thread. After looking for about 6 month, I picked up this sweet 77 Wagoneer from Michigan. My goal is to get it ready for daily driver duties by the time my car lease ends in the spring. I'd like to get the mechanical and electrical issues taken care of first, then I'll park it for the winter while I work on body and interior stuff. On the bright side most everything seems to work and it drove like a champ on the 400+ mile trip home. I'm not a mechanic or fabricator but hopefully I'm not an idiot either, and my budget dictated I find something that needs a little work. My goal is to enjoy the jeep, keep it fairly original at least in appearance, and slowly make some upgrades to improve drivability and reliability. Later down the road it'd be nice to do a more thorough restoration, but not for a while.
Step 1 will be getting it to pass emissions so I can get it plated. After that, there's a few things that need attention, then regular maintenance stuff. For the emissions test, the fuel fill lines are cracked and it's missing a catalytic converter. I haven't looked closer to see if the rest of the emissions stuff is there/connected, except the crank case hose is missing so that's on the list as well. Picture time:
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Last edited by superdave on Tue Jul 10, 2018 4:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Dave Knoerzer
1977 Wagoneer 360/400/QT stock as far as I can tell
I see a rust hole in the rocker. When you go to cut that out spend your time and do it right. If not you will be making that repair every 2 years.
1982 Wagoneer Limited 5.3L Vortec 4L60E swap - finished/restored - sold - bought back - sold again
1979 Wagoneer 360 TH400 1339 QT - built into perfect daily driver - sold
1981 J10 Sportside Honcho - finished/restored - sold
1979 Cherokee Golden Eagle - 5.3L Vortec 6L80E swap - finished/restored - sold
1967 Super Wagoneer - sold, too much work
1978 J10 Golden Eagle - finished/restored - sold
1962 Rambler Classic Cross Country Wagon - current project, wife's daily driver - she'll never let me sell it
DustinLangston wrote:I see a rust hole in the rocker. When you go to cut that out spend your time and do it right. If not you will be making that repair every 2 years.
Yup she's got rust in all the usual places, and 2 owners ago there were some crappy bondo repairs. That will certainly need some work. The tailgate is pretty ugly too.
Dave Knoerzer
1977 Wagoneer 360/400/QT stock as far as I can tell
First question while I'm waiting on parts in the mail- my dash lights don't work (PO said they work for a bit then blow a fuse) but the seatbelt light is stuck on. Any suggestions on where to start looking?
Dave Knoerzer
1977 Wagoneer 360/400/QT stock as far as I can tell
There are drains in the rockers and behind the rear wheels. Make sure they're all clear and flush with fresh water. Bottoms of doors too. Should be plugs in the ends of the rockers in the front of the rear wheels.
Last edited by SJTD on Tue Jul 10, 2018 9:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Sic friatur crustulum
'84 GW with Nissan SD33T, early Chev NV4500, 300, narrowed Ford reverse 44, narrowed Ford 60, SOA/reversed shackle in fornt, lowered mount/flipped shackle in rear.
Beautiful! I had an identical 76! My wife and I were just talking earlier about how stupid it was to sell it and this pops up on the feed. Ugh. I thinks it’s a sign to get back into the FSJ game.
SJTD wrote:There are drains in the rockers and behind the rear wheels. Make sure they're all clear and flush with fresh water. Bottoms of doors too. Should be plugs in the ends of the rockers in the front of the rear wheels.
Will do, thanks.
bbuenger71 wrote:Beautiful! I had an identical 76! My wife and I were just talking earlier about how stupid it was to sell it and this pops up on the feed. Ugh. I thinks it’s a sign to get back into the FSJ game.
I had a 62 willys wagon and I kick myself every day for selling it, but now I smile when I open the garage door again
Dave Knoerzer
1977 Wagoneer 360/400/QT stock as far as I can tell
I would take out the instrument panel and give a good inspection noting what works well and what doesn't before you do. Replac all the lights, check the circuit board for burns or corrosion, clean corrosions, check for broken or loose pins for the plugs and re solder the ones that are loose, check gauges with voltmeter, inspect wires for hacks and crappy previous repairs, check controls for heater, lube wiper mechanism, inspect firewall for leaks and overall check around for other problems between the instrument panel and the fuse box while your in there and give it a hundred year fix.
Everything else you do later will have the piece of mind that it isn't in the dash.
87 Grand Wagoneer Rebuilt 360 by S&J, Fitech GO EFI 600, Novak in-tank fuel pump, Skyjacker Hydro 4" lift, BFG AT KO2 30", Dynamax Muffler, MSD distributor, MSD ignition, Edlebrock perf 4bbl intake, Elgin perf cam, Oil tube mod, Roller rockers, chrome molly lifters, HD alum radiator, Powermaster 150/100 alt, Alum HD water pump, Serhills tailgate harness, Cowl screen mod, Evil Twin grab handles, Rstep's custom AMC door lock knobs, all electrical works.
bbuenger71 wrote:This was mine. I still have all the original hubcaps laying around somewhere.
You have excellent tastes.
ShagWagon wrote:I would take out the instrument panel and give a good inspection noting what works well and what doesn't before you do. Replac all the lights, check the circuit board for burns or corrosion, clean corrosions, check for broken or loose pins for the plugs and re solder the ones that are loose, check gauges with voltmeter, inspect wires for hacks and crappy previous repairs, check controls for heater, lube wiper mechanism, inspect firewall for leaks and overall check around for other problems between the instrument panel and the fuse box while your in there and give it a hundred year fix.
Everything else you do later will have the piece of mind that it isn't in the dash.
I think that sounds like the right way to do it. Thanks!
Dave Knoerzer
1977 Wagoneer 360/400/QT stock as far as I can tell
I went through the bin in the trunk from the PO and found some goodies. The story I got is the PO had it about 3 years, bought it from a younger guy in the area that had worked on it a bit after buying it off his dad. Looks like it's been in Michigan its whole life.
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Dave Knoerzer
1977 Wagoneer 360/400/QT stock as far as I can tell
superdave wrote:Also had this trunk mount tire carrier and spare cover. Does anyone know if this is a factory piece?
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not too sure if it was factory installed, it was a tri valley product or something similar, but it has been in a few FSJ, sometimes when a dual fuel tank system was present. it is sitting on the driver's side cargo area... I have pict somewhere
Otherwide the parts manual from AMC seems like a gold mine, may be you can get a readable pict of the bookmarks...
Michel
74 wag (349 Kmiles... parked, next step is a rust free body)
85 Gwag (229 Kmiles... the running test lab)
superdave wrote:Also had this trunk mount tire carrier and spare cover. Does anyone know if this is a factory piece?
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not too sure if it was factory installed, it was a tri valley product or something similar, but it has been in a few FSJ, sometimes when a dual fuel tank system was present. it is sitting on the driver's side cargo area... I have pict somewhere
Otherwide the parts manual from AMC seems like a gold mine, may be you can get a readable pict of the bookmarks...
Thanks for the info- maybe there will be something about the tire holder in the special equipment book. That's a good idea about the parts book- I'll start a thread when I get home so people can request pics of pages in the parts book. Might help someone out.
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Dave Knoerzer
1977 Wagoneer 360/400/QT stock as far as I can tell
Finally some updates. I got the ammeter bypass done today. I also replaced the rotted lower fuel filler hose last week. Hoping to open up the diffs tomorrow to inspect, reseal, and replace the fluid. The tcase is leaking pretty bad so I ordered the tcase fluid from bj's and will probably drop the whole case to reseal it. I also talked to a client that's a mechanic about resealing my engine, and he's up for it, even excited.
I found a few things while I was crawling around today that seem to go nowhere. Any info is welcome. First, I have 3 random wires that go nowhere near my coil. One coming off the coil, one coming out of the harness near the coil, and one coming out from behind the ac pulley. Any ideas?
I also have a small lever next to the low range lever under my seat. Underneath it looks like it has some cut off fuel lines and filter. PO had the sending unit replaced, maybe it was a fuel cutoff?
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Dave Knoerzer
1977 Wagoneer 360/400/QT stock as far as I can tell
the loose red and white wire is the bypass wire used during cranking and goes on the unused post on the starter solenoid...
the other brown, needs to be tested for polarity, but i suspect the (+) for the compressor, see where is the other end of the compressor wire goes to... or the idle solenoid power, but test before, the idle solenoid is not fused, the compressor is fused at the fuse panel
Michel
74 wag (349 Kmiles... parked, next step is a rust free body)
85 Gwag (229 Kmiles... the running test lab)