Classic Wagoneer as expedition vehicle?

[Nullifier]

I used to own an '87 grand wagoneer. Truck was a money pit until I decided to gut it and start over. I rebuilt the 360 and got new wiring harnesses. dropped in all new bolt ons under the hood. after that not 1 issue. The tranny is a great 727 chrsyler so no worries thier. If I was dong one again and the though had crossed my mind more then once I would drop in a cummings motor. The biggest issue facing the mid to late 80's units were the mish mash of electrical crap. It was a mix of amc, gm and ford components. A real PITA to keep track of.

The other major issue is the power wimdow. I had to take them apart and fix them annually do to poor design.

 

[BKCowGod]

I love the platform, and actually plan to someday build a Diesel FSJ. I get a whopping 10mpg out of mine with a very non stock carb. I hear I can get 15 if I really work on it.

 

[computeruser]

At least I'd imagine that you can stick a large tank under there to help out with range. Plus it's big/stout enough to hang a few jerry cans off the back, a few on the roof, etc.

By way of comparison, my stock TJ - 10mpg around town, 13.5mpg on the highway, 9mpg with the 5x8' utility trailer hooked up. Charming, eh?

 

[BKCowGod]

lovely.... guess I'm just used to 20 on dirt roads in the Isuzu. Gets you spoiled after a while.

 

[Christian P.]

Camuyano

get a Land Cruiser diesel and you'll be happy to get 20+ mpg instead of 10-.

and it is easier to swap 2 seats than to swap an engine...

 

[elcoyote]

If it were me doing a budget mod on a Grand Cherokee to turn in into an Overland rig, I would find a GC in good physical shape but with poor mechanicals. Find a Dodge Ram P/U with the 6BT turbo diesel with good mechanicals but poor physical as the engine & trans as a donor and do the swap.

Reasoning here is that it is less expensive to rebuild a diesel and the 6BT would be far more economical to run than the gasoline alternative. The trans & transfer case from a Ram 2500 or 3500 would far exceed your load requirements

We are doing a swap project into a FJ55 based upon the same logic. FYI we are finding used Rams with 6BTs and high miles in the $2000 range.

 

[BKCowGod]

or there's always the military surplus K5 blazer diesels that are all over eBay for $3k...

 

[Camuyano]

Camuyano

get a Land Cruiser diesel and you'll be happy to get 20+ mpg instead of 10-.

and it is easier to swap 2 seats than to swap an engine...

Christian:

I didn't know those were an option in the US. Please enligthen me... :luxhello:

 

[CRD4Liberty]

The old man had a 60's J truck and wagoneer with the Pontiac overhead cam straight 6s in them. They got good mpg for the time, were reliable as a hammer and had great power.

 

[XXXpedition]

i looked at that myself but wanted a diesel in it and didn't want to go through all the hassles...
but i've seen that one down under and thought it was cool and capable...
he just added another grill.