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After the '88 project fell through (http://www.ifsja.org/forums/vb/showt...7#post1734777), I was searching for another ride. I kind of wanted to go for a Mustang, but northern MN doesn't agree with those too well... So I was looking at XJs, Subaru Forester XTs, some Broncos, and FSJs (mostly that didn't have a drivetrain). I was leaning towards a '78 Bronco, when I was told "You have to see this!"
"This" was a super solid, Sierra Blue 1971 Wagoneer. The seller was in OR, and had rewired the whole thing, as well as having repainted it. The engine bay and the underside were hardly touched; all he did was rewire it, and throw a 1406 Edelbrock onto the stock 2-barrel manifold. Needless to say, we went for it.
So it's been rewired and repainted. It had a Buick 350 (but the long block was from a late '70s Buick), and still has the TH400+Dana 20 t-case. The rear end is stock (well, it's a '71), and the front axle is a '74-'79 narrow track, of course, with disc brakes and locking hubs. Still no power brakes though
No A/C, the power rear window was replaced with a crank, just power steering. It has stock hubcaps off a '72 (which I was disappointed about; the factory ones for this one were the Kraiger look-alikes with Kaiser Jeep logos in them)(though these ones should help margionally with aerodynamics, and thus mileage). It has new carpet, and needs some better covering in the back (1" thick mat that doesn't cover the wheel wells or all of the cargo area). The factory roof rack is still there, and it has a heavy duty trailer hitch, and still has a spare tire carrier underneath. Hankook H724 225/75r15 tires came on it...whitewalls that seem to do really well. So yeah...you guys have an idea what it looks like (I'll get pics posted at some point).
When we got it, it was really hard to get started when it'd been sitting for any extended period of time (2 or 3 days+). But the bigger issue was 5- and 40-psi compression readings on two of the cylinders on the passenger's side. So we got that head redone, and started getting some more fine tuning done. As it turned out, the tank was full of nasty junk (you know it's bad when one small bottle of gas that's been through the filter is darker than apple cider). I did electrolysis on it, and it was okay for a while, but it was leaking some out the middle seam. Long story short I got good tank out of a '79 Cherokee...I need to reseal the o-rings, but it seems to be doing really well. And I can fill it on full speed without having to top it off, every time now.
So once the fuel system was relatively well sorted (including rebuilding the carb a couple of times from that stuff in the tank), I started getting to drive it, and tune it. I put in some smaller jets, and changed the metering rods/springs. I also gave it 12 degrees of timing...someone previously set it at around 5...that woke it up and got me into the 13s for mileage last summer. I worked out other little things, but nothing too major there. Door seals, 3" tailpipe section (put it behind the rear axle; we already had the 3" from the '88), stuff like that. But the important part was that I got to drive it to work last summer, and got to know it pretty well.
Then fall came around, and I realized that the 160 degree thermostat was not going to keep me very warm this winter. It barely kept me warm when it was 45 degrees out; -20 was gonna be a nightmare. So I got a 195 from T/A (not my recommendation now), and at the same time I got an HEI distributor from them (long story short: I put a high output coil on and burned out the Pertronix unit, at a stoplight, and the next day installed some points in the Perkin's parking lot to get it home). This is when things started to get interesting.
A couple of things happened at that point. I drove it for a little bit with the HEI, and it was running great then. I added the 195 thermostat and it was like 80 degrees inside while it was barely 15 outside. Then the timing cover gasket blew. Turns out that it was missing a bolt...anyway, that was fun. It actually ran just fine; it just sprayed antifreeze everywhere once it got warm. But I'd done the main seal already, so I knew there wasn't much life left in the main bearings, and it had developed a knock that week, so I started searching for another B350. This is going to be in a new post...this is getting long.
"This" was a super solid, Sierra Blue 1971 Wagoneer. The seller was in OR, and had rewired the whole thing, as well as having repainted it. The engine bay and the underside were hardly touched; all he did was rewire it, and throw a 1406 Edelbrock onto the stock 2-barrel manifold. Needless to say, we went for it.
So it's been rewired and repainted. It had a Buick 350 (but the long block was from a late '70s Buick), and still has the TH400+Dana 20 t-case. The rear end is stock (well, it's a '71), and the front axle is a '74-'79 narrow track, of course, with disc brakes and locking hubs. Still no power brakes though
No A/C, the power rear window was replaced with a crank, just power steering. It has stock hubcaps off a '72 (which I was disappointed about; the factory ones for this one were the Kraiger look-alikes with Kaiser Jeep logos in them)(though these ones should help margionally with aerodynamics, and thus mileage). It has new carpet, and needs some better covering in the back (1" thick mat that doesn't cover the wheel wells or all of the cargo area). The factory roof rack is still there, and it has a heavy duty trailer hitch, and still has a spare tire carrier underneath. Hankook H724 225/75r15 tires came on it...whitewalls that seem to do really well. So yeah...you guys have an idea what it looks like (I'll get pics posted at some point).When we got it, it was really hard to get started when it'd been sitting for any extended period of time (2 or 3 days+). But the bigger issue was 5- and 40-psi compression readings on two of the cylinders on the passenger's side. So we got that head redone, and started getting some more fine tuning done. As it turned out, the tank was full of nasty junk (you know it's bad when one small bottle of gas that's been through the filter is darker than apple cider). I did electrolysis on it, and it was okay for a while, but it was leaking some out the middle seam. Long story short I got good tank out of a '79 Cherokee...I need to reseal the o-rings, but it seems to be doing really well. And I can fill it on full speed without having to top it off, every time now.
So once the fuel system was relatively well sorted (including rebuilding the carb a couple of times from that stuff in the tank), I started getting to drive it, and tune it. I put in some smaller jets, and changed the metering rods/springs. I also gave it 12 degrees of timing...someone previously set it at around 5...that woke it up and got me into the 13s for mileage last summer. I worked out other little things, but nothing too major there. Door seals, 3" tailpipe section (put it behind the rear axle; we already had the 3" from the '88), stuff like that. But the important part was that I got to drive it to work last summer, and got to know it pretty well.
Then fall came around, and I realized that the 160 degree thermostat was not going to keep me very warm this winter. It barely kept me warm when it was 45 degrees out; -20 was gonna be a nightmare. So I got a 195 from T/A (not my recommendation now), and at the same time I got an HEI distributor from them (long story short: I put a high output coil on and burned out the Pertronix unit, at a stoplight, and the next day installed some points in the Perkin's parking lot to get it home). This is when things started to get interesting.
A couple of things happened at that point. I drove it for a little bit with the HEI, and it was running great then. I added the 195 thermostat and it was like 80 degrees inside while it was barely 15 outside. Then the timing cover gasket blew. Turns out that it was missing a bolt...anyway, that was fun. It actually ran just fine; it just sprayed antifreeze everywhere once it got warm. But I'd done the main seal already, so I knew there wasn't much life left in the main bearings, and it had developed a knock that week, so I started searching for another B350. This is going to be in a new post...this is getting long.
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