'82 Wagoneer Project

[TheSerialHobbyist]

I was finally able to actually finish something on my '82 Wagoneer, so I figured it was time to go ahead and start a build thread. But first, the basics:



It's a '82 Wagoneer, with an unknown amount of miles (probably 208k). I've only had it a few weeks, but I have plans to make it a mild off roader. But first, I'm trying to fix the obvious problems. And so that brings us to the first thing, the headliner.

Here is how it looked before:





And here is how it looks now:





The color isn't anywhere close to an exact match, but I think it's a nice combination. I did the headliner a couple of times in my XJ, but it always ended up falling back down after a couple of weeks. So my fingers are crossed that this one holds up better.

The good news is I saw no signs of leaking from the roof rack holes, and the roof looked really good overall.

[TheSerialHobbyist]

Just a quick update:

I haven't done much really since my last post. Between lack of funds and lack of time, not much progress has been made. The rusty quarter panel still needs to be addressed, but I don't currently have the tools for the job, or a place to do it. I might end up holding off on that until next year, when my wife and I will hopefully be buying a house and I'll have a garage.

I did have to do some work on the tail gate though. The window got stuck, so I opened up the tail gate to see what was wrong. The metal support on the bottom of the glass was completely rusted and bend, basically jamming everything. I pulled that all out, and rested the glass directly on the lifting arms and it seems to work. Not particularly secure, but it will have to do for now.

Otherwise, she's mostly just sitting at the moment. Although it's going to be time to register her in the next couple of weeks, so I'm sure I'll have to sort some things out to get it to pass emissions. I know at the very least it's running rich, so I'm going to have to do some fiddling with the carb at least.

[TUDrewser]

Nice job on that headliner! Sure makes a difference, doesn't it? Very satisfying before and after pictures too

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[TheSerialHobbyist]

Nice job on that headliner! Sure makes a difference, doesn't it? Very satisfying before and after pictures too

Sent from Tapatalk

Thanks! Yeah, it definitely does! I've done headliners before, and they always fell back down. But this one has been staying up so far, so that's good. The real test will be next summer when it gets hot again though.

Another update: my small claims court date is tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes. I don't know if the guy is even going to show up. I think I have a good case, but it who knows what will happen.

[TheSerialHobbyist]

A couple of quick updates:

I lost my small claims court case. Apparently, under federal law, it isn't illegal to lie about the mileage of a vehicle that is more than 10 years old. Colorado doesn't have any additional provisions, and so I lost. I could tell the judge thought there should have been some way for me to win, but determined that legally I didn't have any options.

I drove the Wagoneer to work today, as my Outback is in the shop after an accident on Friday. Unfortunately, it broke down on the way to work. The electric fuel pump stopped working, leaving me broken down in the center lane of Speer Blvd in Denver. With the help of a construction worker, I pushed it into a parking lot. I tried bypassing the electric fuel pump, hoping the mechanical one was functioning enough to get me going, but no luck there. So I had it towed to a shop that was close by.

I'll post an update when I have information from them.

[TUDrewser]

Man, that sucks That's a bad couple of days

[yjsquareguy]

Try to keep your chin up. Positive energy=positive results. Good Luck.


Rob Fischer
Director of Membership
Rob.fischer@matanzasjeepclub.com
1989 Grand Wagoneer AMC 360
2007 JK 2dr Rubicon. 3.8L
2005 Grand Cherokee.

[TheSerialHobbyist]

Thanks guys! I'm not too upset about it, bad luck builds character.

Anywho, the shop has been unable to recreate the problem with the fuel pump, and it's been running fine for them. But, I'm having them replace the electric fuel pump anyway, just for peace of mind. The only two things it could be are the fuel pump or the wiring for the pump, and they said they checked the wiring and it looks fine. So it's got to just be an intermittent problem with the electric pump and replacing it should keep that from being an issue again.

I should be able to pick it up tonight hopefully. Then I have to get the emissions checked. I'm sure it's going to fail, so I'm anticipating having to do some work on that.

[TheSerialHobbyist]

Bad news. I'm regretting what I said about bad luck and character...

I picked up the Wagoneer from the shop tonight, with the new fuel pump installed. I got maybe 2 miles down the road before the exact same problem happened: it sputtered for a couple of seconds and then the engine died. It would only start back up for a second, then die again. Eventually, after waiting a few minutes, I was able to get it started back up and drove it back to the shop. I'll call them in the morning and tell them to look it over again.

Does anyone have any idea what the problem could be? I'm almost positive it's something to do with the fuel pump, because the old one was really loud when it was running, and I noticed that I couldn't hear it running anymore after it broke down the first time. This time however, I didn't notice if that happened. The new pump is much quieter, and I didn't have the presence of mind to listen for it with everyone honking at me while I blocked traffic.

I'm kind of screwed on the timeline on this. I need the Wagoneer running so I can get the body damage on my Outback fixed. Technically I only have until the 21st to register the Wagoneer (and the Outback for that matter), which means I have to figure out what's wrong and fix it. Then I have to get the emissions checked, and when it fails I have to figure that out and fix that. Then get it tested again, and hopefully register it. And somehow I have to get that all done by Thursday without missing any work (because this Wagoneer has already made me miss two half days at a job where people are working like 12 hour days).

If you can't tell, I'm pretty exasperated, so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[thehazard]

I would chuck the electric pump and just use the mechanical pump. Im running the stock mechanical pump (~$30 at auto zone) with a filter before and after. It will simplify things so much. Ive never had good luck with electric pumps.

[TheSerialHobbyist]

I would chuck the electric pump and just use the mechanical pump. Im running the stock mechanical pump (~$30 at auto zone) with a filter before and after. It will simplify things so much. Ive never had good luck with electric pumps.

Yeah, I kind of wish I had done that from the beginning, instead of paying for an electric pump. Now the "Sunk Cost Fallacy" has kicked in, and I'd feel like I was wasting a lot of money on the electric pump I just paid for...

I might call the shop though and see if they can return the electric pump and put in a mechanical one, although I doubt they can return it...

[TheSerialHobbyist]

I just talked to the shop, and they did find a problem with the wiring for the electric pump. Apparently it was wired to the blower motor for the A/C or something like that (I wasn't sure exactly what he meant). So they're going to wire it directly to the ignition like it should have been done in the first place. Hopefully that will take care of the problem, fingers crossed!

[FSJ Guy]

It was probably installed poorly in the first place. I hate butt crimp connectors. They ALWAYS fail. Not if, but when. I haven't tried the new heat shrink/adhesive sealed ones, however. I'd suspect that someone used non-weather tight crimp on connectors and that caused the problem. Tapping into the A/C fan power is actually a good choice. It is hot only when the ignition is on and the wiring is designed for a heavy load. But going direct to switched ignition power isn't a bad idea, either.

[TheSerialHobbyist]

I picked her up last, and haven't had any problems, so I think it may be fixed. They wired it directly to the ignition this time, and used a proper fuse setup. Now I just have to figure out the emissions situation...