1971 waggy with a 350 buick and th400.

[seth]

I've got a bunch of questions about a '71 wagoneer that i'm looking to buy. It has 92k original miles, good body (needs replacement quaters welded on and painted), good interior. It has a buick350 th400 and dana 20. He is asking $1200- is this a good price?

I have plans on building the motor up a little. what is involved in an HEI upgrade? I'm assuming the Edlebrock buick V8 manifold will work. what headers should I choose? also- I've read that these buick mills are capible of 15mpg...is this really true?

Lastly- i'm a pontiac guy, and I know that Buick Olds and Pontiac all share the same bellhousing. The Dauntless Buick 350 is no exception right? when the buick motor dies a pontiac mill should bolt right in if i'm thinking clearly...?

thanks everyone!

Seth

[KaiserMan]

$1200 for a 71 that needs quarters sounds a little high. If the rest of the body is nice, and the interior and drive treain are all in good shape I suppose it's not that bad, but considering you are in Colorado, I think you could do better for that kind of money.

The Duantless 350 is the same as a standard Buick 350, so all performance parts will interchange.

The Dauntless uses the BOP pattern, however the TH400 uses the older Buick nailhead bolt pattern, not the BOP. Jeep used an adapter ring tp mate the trans to the motor. I would imagine you could mount any BOP moter to the adapter ring.

The HEI conversion is very simple, here is a link to ZM Jeeps HEI kit ZM Buick HEI or you could peice it together your self.

Personally, I wouldn't recommend headers for anything other then a performance car, so I can't help you there.

[ January 24, 2006, 09:21 AM: Message edited by: KaiserMan ]

[seth]

What would you consider a fair price? it's been for sale for a while...

thanks for all the info!

[testuser]

i don't think the price is terribly out of line if it's in good shape.

as for the b350, check out www.taperformance.com

i run their manifold and a rochester carb. w/ 4" lift and 31" tires I can get around 13mpg so I believe that 15 is a possibility.

[jeepbob]

Seeing as how I have never paid more than $300 for a Wag or Cherokee I think the price is way high for a 71 as the axles are the D27's closed knuckle which have weak diffs (axle shafts are not a problem as the diff blows first, ask Jeepguzzi about the time we went to the dunes)As for the tranny, Kaiser & AMC both put an adapter on the nail valve bolt pattern so they could use both the AMC 6 or the buick. If it needs quarters then check the floor panels with a welding hammer to be sure they are solid or you will be looking for chevy pu hoods to fix them. Also check the inner and outer rocker panels for thinness. the outers can be purchased but the inners will have to be made. I made mine from 2x3 thin wall tubing slit in half down the 2" sides to make 1x3 "C" channel. If you do have to replace the rockers, weld the center door pillars to the floor BEFORE cutting the rockers as the pillars are NOT attached to the floor. It would also be good to remove the doors. I found all this out the hard way.

[Tad]

I don't think Edelbrock makes a Buick 350 intake.

15mpg, I guess it's possible for hiway milage, in town I've never gotten that.

Pontiac swap, sure, I think there are a few here, you'll be doing up your own mounts.
HEI is a direct swap from a HEI powered B350 up until about 81 or so, You will need to mod the AC bracket (if you have it) to make it fit.

If it needs replacement quarters there is a lot more rust you have not seen yet.

$1,200.00
No, I doubt it.
Sounds about like mine when I got it body wise.
The B350 is a great FSJ engine but I wouldn't buy an FSJ based on that alone. I'm thinking about $3-400 if everything electrical looks in order (peak under that dash and don't freak out). You can probably find better rigs in CO I'm sure.

[seth]

So I bought it. there really was no rust except the quaters. Paid $900 and got replacement quaters, new 4bbl intake and carb out of the deal. Electrical seems to be ok. the heater doesn't work worth a crap. (any tricks?) it also has a small exhaust leak. What headers will fit the waggy? (and clear everything) it's an automatic (rebuilt th400 w/ 4000 mils on it)