1973 Wagoneer - Full Size Camping Goodness
- Thread starter Dr. Marneaus
- Start date
Coachgeo
Explorer
Had an older J300? she got stolen about month after I got her. Still had orginal herculise? engine. Police didn't do shiat. That was back in early 90's. Boy was that too long ago. After that got a J3000 with a 455 olds in her. Sold that for a TJ in 97? when they came out. My Dad had a Waggoner when I was a kid in Late 60's to around 1974. Some good memories.
MPower5266
New member
I just spent the last few days going through your thread, and it inspired me to join the forum. I cant wait for more posts.
AgentOrange76
Adventurer
I've also been combing through your thread, beautiful truck man! I love Grand Wagoneers. I really like your year with the subtle wood paneling and that grill. Super cool man, love seeing all the pictures and reading the stories, glad to see you keeping it on the road!
unkamonkey
Explorer
What can I say? My father had Suburbans from '62 to '93. We had friends that shipped their Wagoneer to Africa when the father was working for USAID. They shipped it back home when they came back.
Most of my parents friends had 4X4 Travelalls to pull their trailer.
My father tried to give me the '62 later. I should have taken it. Bad move John. It did have a nice Corvette motor in it. I should know, I'm the one that rebuilt it back to above the factory level.
I think your rig is very nice.
Keep driving it.
Most of my parents friends had 4X4 Travelalls to pull their trailer.
My father tried to give me the '62 later. I should have taken it. Bad move John. It did have a nice Corvette motor in it. I should know, I'm the one that rebuilt it back to above the factory level.
I think your rig is very nice.
Keep driving it.
Subbing, sweet rig. How's the FI working?
I was thinking about the FI-tech setup for my rig but the two times I've had issues that got me close to pulling the trigger I found the issue wasn't with the carb but with something else. I have the later style with altitude compensation so not sure if it'd be worth it without also doing a bunch of other stuff to the engine like intake/cam/headers. I plan to pull 5000lbs ish (airstream) with mine, so that may be the path I go...
I was thinking about the FI-tech setup for my rig but the two times I've had issues that got me close to pulling the trigger I found the issue wasn't with the carb but with something else. I have the later style with altitude compensation so not sure if it'd be worth it without also doing a bunch of other stuff to the engine like intake/cam/headers. I plan to pull 5000lbs ish (airstream) with mine, so that may be the path I go...
Dr. Marneaus
Station Wagoneer
My buddy has fitech and likes it. A little simpler to install than the MSD since there is no external module to mount, but thats about it. He has somehow burned through 3 of their fuel pumps though and is looking to do an in-tank pump.
I'm liking the MSD so far, it has a few little quirks and i dont drive it super often so I'm still in the process of trying to find the perfect tune, but its been reliable even if it isnt tuned 100% perfect yet. It'll do something weird every do often (sometimes it'll stall within 30 seconds of a hot start, if the engine temp is not cold and not warm, it'll hunt when you fire it up, etc). Mostly just small stuff that happens on occasion that I'm sure it'll learn out or will be minimized with tuning.
Anyway, so far so good.
Dr. Marneaus
Station Wagoneer
Been driving it around a bit. It's been hunting on start up again.
Also, within the first minute of driving on a cold start, even if it's been allowed to warm for several minutes, when you step on the gas it bogs and sputters and i actually got it to stall on the road when I was doing about 25mph. then took a second to fire back up, perhaps it was flooded?
It did this same thing to me back several months ago before I started adjusting the tuning to different displacements, etc. Not sure what happened.
However, AFTER that initial drive issue and then putting around in the rainy desert with no issues, the thing was purring like a kitten. It was holding idle at between 650-665 rpm, I was amazed it was steady to within 15-20 rpm, and in park it was super steady right around 800. No the miss is now nearly invisible at 14.0 AFR for idle, and its 100% invisible at 13.8.
I realized also that on this last trip towing, as well as putting around the desert over the course of 175 miles....I got 8.4 which is literally the worst I have ever gotten. Odd. Maybe i should go back to the setting sI was running on my trip to Lassen NP with the displacement set at 400CID, I wasnt toweing but I managed over 13mpg.
Also, within the first minute of driving on a cold start, even if it's been allowed to warm for several minutes, when you step on the gas it bogs and sputters and i actually got it to stall on the road when I was doing about 25mph. then took a second to fire back up, perhaps it was flooded?
It did this same thing to me back several months ago before I started adjusting the tuning to different displacements, etc. Not sure what happened.
However, AFTER that initial drive issue and then putting around in the rainy desert with no issues, the thing was purring like a kitten. It was holding idle at between 650-665 rpm, I was amazed it was steady to within 15-20 rpm, and in park it was super steady right around 800. No the miss is now nearly invisible at 14.0 AFR for idle, and its 100% invisible at 13.8.
I realized also that on this last trip towing, as well as putting around the desert over the course of 175 miles....I got 8.4 which is literally the worst I have ever gotten. Odd. Maybe i should go back to the setting sI was running on my trip to Lassen NP with the displacement set at 400CID, I wasnt toweing but I managed over 13mpg.
Dr. Marneaus
Station Wagoneer
What af ratio does it start at when set to 400ci? Just wondering if maybe it's going too lean and then richening up vs starting a little richer and leaning out as it tunes itself. I don't know that 8mpg when towing and puttering around at low speed is out of whack on one of these, though. 13-14mpg seems to be best case,and given they're a rolling 5000lb brick, you can throw whatever you want at it and it won't do any better.
Last edited:
lumpskie
Independent Thinker
That's wierd. It does sound flooded but, if I were you, I'd invest in the Innovate wide band (LM-1?) that you can just bolt to your tail pipe. Then you'll know exactly what AFR your rig is actually making. As for MPG, yours does seem a tad low to me. On my last road trip out here, I got 14.x MPG and I remember getting around 9 or 10 MPG going over the Eisenhower tunnel back in CO. That makes me think you might be running a little rich too. How do your plugs look?
Comanche Scott
Expedition Leader
If it were me, i'd play out the current strategy with the person helping you on fsj.
Take copious notes to reference from.
If after playing this out you still don't achieve the results you want, try a different strategy with your newfound knowledge.
Take copious notes to reference from.
If after playing this out you still don't achieve the results you want, try a different strategy with your newfound knowledge.
Dr. Marneaus
Station Wagoneer
Have not driven in about 3 weeks. Dont even really feel like thinking about it anymore.
As a test, I fired it up this morning because it was in the 20's. Engine temp was 34* at startup. Started up instantly and idled perfect for like 10 minutes then i shut it down. Great. Why doesn't this happen when it's 60*?
