Project Daily Drive 1983 Wagoneer Work Log

[serehill]

Man

Night & day on the wheels. Looking better. That sway bar looks like th eold Valley towing sway bar set up.

[Idahojeeps]

Yeah I used the same bolts. Had the guy at the transmission shop look at it when my flexplate was replaced, he told me the chrome ones are prone to leak. Really liked the drain plug too.

[Achilles]

Had a break in the monsoon / snow season and worked on cleaning the shop up. Only a quick glimpse because it was a mess.



all cleaned up and parts that came in over the winter inventoried and stored in the proper place.



LOL, I have a new shop mate, She was evicted from my buddy's game room by his wife.



I am ready to roll as soon as the rain stops, and my new tools show up.

[DarkMonohue]

LOL, I have a new shop mate, She was evicted from my buddy's game room by his wife.

Nice. Very nice indeed. That's some fine, uh...craftsmanship!

[Achilles]

Got my tool box and some new tools.





Picked up a Transfer case from Rocklaurence. I would like to thank him or a smooth transaction. It will get put to good use.





Picked up some AC Parts From Rock Auto. I also scored a new York Compressor of of Fleabay.





I also picked up a fan shroud from BJ's to replace the the one that is not on my Wagoneer.





It looks to be good quality!! This is going on ASAP. Got lots of new parts stocked up so I will be getting back to working on it on a regular basis.

[Achilles]

Fan Shroud On!

What was left of the old fan shroud was easy to remove. The only part left of it was the passenger side. I placed a jack stand on top of some scrap wood so that it would support the bottom of the Radiator. two bolts and what was left of the shroud was gone. Pulled the other two








I Tried to cut a corner and snake the fan shroud in without removing the upper radiator and over flow hoses. Fail!!!! I ended up draining enough coolant to get the upper Radiator hose off.





I also ended up removing the battery for a little extra working room. The Aluminum shroud slid right in with little effort.



I tightened all the bolts back up and reinstalled all the hoses.





Shroud fits really well.







Cleaned up the top of the Battery and reinstalled it.



Refilled and purged the radiator of air. If you never used one of these spill free funnels it is well worth the money. It makes filling and purging air from the cooling system easy.



On a side note, I ended up finding the small a coolant leak. The sealing surface of the filler neck of the radiator was slightly bent down and did not allow the cap to seal flush. I gently messaged it back into shape and it sealed up perfectly.

All buttoned up!



I still have a huge stack of parts, not sure what I will do next.

[Achilles]

Started chasing down water leaks. Found this around the A pillar! A big blob of weld right in the the middle of the drip rail. Sorry for this being out of focus. I had a off camera day.



Seam sealer is directly underneath this part.



Seam sealer removed, exposed this.







I cleaned it up and used some rust converter on it.







I filled it in with POR15 Epoxy Putty, but now I am second guessing my fix.





Let me know what you think. Is this the way it is suppose to be, or do I have a bigger issue here? The cracked and falling out seam sealer that I removed appeared to have factory paint on it. The Driver side was way worse than the passenger side.

[Charles Kline]

That was factory level quality back then, there was a lot of stuff they had the hack up to make work from the original Gladiator design. (look around the rad for examples)

One side of my bed has sloppy blobs of seam sealer and the other side has the smallest little bead of it.

[toddthewelder]

I haven't got that far in to mine yet, but I remember seeing a build thread where someone was dealing with this.

[toddthewelder]

ok I just went out to the shop and looked at my 87, it doesn't have the big hole like yours, but it does have the little chrome elbow that hides the mismatched rain gutter

[Achilles]

Thanks guy's. Makes me feel a little better.

[SJTD]

I don't think your fix is any worse than the factory, probably better. Properly prepped and primed before the filler.

I welded in patches on mine but I wonder if they'll crack.

[Achilles]

I don't think your fix is any worse than the factory, probably better. Properly prepped and primed before the filler.

I welded in patches on mine but I wonder if they'll crack.

Thanks, that makes me feel better about it.

[Haleyville]

We need an update. We've come to far not to see the finished product, or at least the current progress.
I am enjoying the build.

[Achilles]

This project was shelved for a while. My Mother passwd away and I had to settle her business affairs and clean and repair the rental property she lived in. Shortly after I became seriously ill and was in and out the hospital multiple times. I am doing well now and getting ready to pick up where I left off. I am anxious to get started.