My 1979 Wagoneer. Long story with pics!!

[gas4blood]

This story begins way back in my childhood. Throughout the course of my young life, my dad bought and sold several different Grand Wagoneers. He was a business owner and wanted something nice enough to drive to work in his suit, but also something tough enough to take on our hunting/camping trips on the weekends. The Wagoneer fit the bill nicely. I grew to love those Jeeps and used to dream about building one someday. Years passed and my obsession with all things mechanical grew stronger and stronger. I got really heavy into the classic car/hot rod scene. I slowly learned how to work on my own stuff and eventually went to college for automotive technology. I received my first of two college degrees(later graduated in construction management) while dating my now wife. Her family was pretty big in to 4wd vehicles and, up until that point, I had never owned one myself. I decided that I would take a shot at it an purchased my first ever 4wd. A 1987 Bronco II. I had big plans for the build but quickly learned that BII's are not cheap to build. That lead me to my next project. A 1981 Toyota that I picked up for $400.



Over the next year, I built this vehicle mainly for rock crawling. With the help of some great friends, we stretched the wheelbase, lifted it, re-geared the axles to 5.29's, lincoln locked the rear, bobbed the bed 12 inches, and slapped on some 35's.




This was a really fun truck, but my real passion was exploring the back trails of Idaho and camping. The small pickup didn't provide much room for hauling my wife and I with all of our gear. I decided it was time to upgrade to something with more room..............

 

[gas4blood]

Which then lead to this purchase. A 1972 Scout II and a 1980 Scout II. I picked up the pair for $900 after selling the Toyota for $3500.



Over the next few months, we took all of the good parts (V-8, transmission, t-case, and axles) from the 1980 and transplanted them into the 1972. We did a home brewed spring over lift in my buddies shop and added some TSL SX 35x15.50x15's. Custom bumpers and some off road lights added to the functionality. The added room that the Scout offered was great for camping and taking friends on our exploration trips around SE Idaho.




Then the Wagoneer bug bit me and bit me hard. I couldnt help but remember all of those good times that we had in my dads Jeeps when I was a kid. After a few months of wheeling the Scout, I decided that it was time to find and build my dream 4x4.

 

[gas4blood]

I had kept an eye on this particular Wagoneer for a few years. It came up for sale for the first time right after my wife and I got married. It was being sold by the original owner. It had 76,000 miles on it at the time. It was a clean, one owner vehicle, but the price was just too far out of my budget. I watched for an entire summer as it sat for sale in front of her sons radiator shop. It then disappeared for a while. The next summer, it popped up for sale again in the town where I was attending college. A college student had purchased it the year before and was needing to get rid of it to pay for a more economical family vehicle. I felt like the price was still too rich for my blood so, for the second time, I had to pass. Fast forward to the summer that I had the Scout and on a drive home from a camping trip, guess what I find sitting in someones driveway just waiting for someone to buy it? The guy had never sold the Wagoneer and had driven it back to his house where it was just sitting in the gravel.



I stopped and knocked on the door. His wife answered and told me that he still wanted to sell it and that she would give him my number. He gives me a call later that day and says that he would sell it to me for the price of his last mechanic bill. I couldn't sell my Scout fast enough. About a week later, a guy flew down from Seattle and slapped a wad of cash in my hand. I headed right over and payed for my new project and drove it home with a huge smile on my face!!!

Stock 360 V8
TH400 trans
Quadra-Trac
Dana 44's front and rear
Super sweet 70's color scheme



I even got the factory literature!



With the extra cash that I had from selling the Scout, I ordered up a BJ's off road 6" full spring lift. I also placed an order for some 35" BFG KM2's. A quick trip to the junkyard yielded some chrome wagon spokes. About 2 weeks later, I borrowed a buddies shop for the weekend and left with a lifted FSJ!! I was on the road to owning my dream Jeep.




The before and after lift pics. You can see the tape line for my initial wheel well trimming.

 

[xkid]

I like them all. You have been blessed.

 

[gas4blood]

I drove it, wheeled it, camped in it, and overall enjoyed it like this for a couple of months.



Next to my buddies Bronco II



Camping. We have an air mattress that fits perfectly in the back with the seat folded down.



The stock interior. You can see my Yaesu FT2800M mobile HAM radio installed here. I used a WAL-MART special center console mounted directly to the floor. Wagoneers do not come with cup holders from the factory so this was a big added bonus!

 

[gas4blood]

I wanted to get rid of the factory plastic "pig nose" grill. In hind sight, I actually miss this grill. I love the way they look. I picked up a "razor" grill from the local junkyard and did the swap over a weekend. This took a little cutting and massaging to bolt on. I think it turned out nice.



Also did some much needed rust repair. While I was at it, I trimmed a little bit more out of the front and rear wheel openings to prevent and damage to the sheet metal at full stuff. I also rolled all of the fender lips. It was actually suprised at how little trimming was needed. Most guys that run 35's just cut the crap out of the openings to make sure they will only have to cut once. I found that a few carefully placed cuts actually made it hard to notice that I had trimmed at all.



With the fenders trimmed and the rust repaired, I needed a way to cover everything up and make it look nice and clean. The solution came to me while messing around on PAINT one day.



To achieve the look in real life, I used some roll on bedliner to cover the lower portion of the body. I then sprayed a dark brown paint over the bed liner to match the wood grain of the Jeep. It has been 4 years now since I did this and it has held up pretty well. Best part is that it is cheap and easy to touch up.

 

[gas4blood]

With the remote camping trips we were taking, the need for a full size spare became very important. So, I set off to build a rear swing out tire carrier. I got a good start when a buddy of mine offered me a tire carrier left over from a YJ that he had just sold. I then found a bumper off of craigslist that was pulled off a late 80's S10. It was just the right width. A little time in the shop with the welder and grinder and it looked like it was meant to be there! I have since replaced the spare with a new one.

View attachment 135955

 

[spressomon]

Nice! Your post and pics bring back memories of a 1977 GW and a 1978 Cherokee wagon I owned in the early 80's. Tried to get the stock '78 over Pearl Pass...but that was a bit more trail than it was capable of. But still had lots of wonderful adventures in them.

Thanks!

 

[gas4blood]

A picture of the Jeep out at the St. Anthony sand dunes in St. Anthony, Idaho. The largest in the country.



Some winter wheeling in the back country of SE Idaho with our Jeep club



And exploring the lava formations of Shelly, Idaho.





After a brutal SE Idaho winter, I realized that chrome plated steel wheels were not going to hold up well to the conditions. I was in the search for some aluminum wheels when I recieved a phone call from a buddy in our Off Road club. He said that he had found some old junk aluminum 6 lug wheels in his scrap pile and that if I wanted them, they were mine. They ended up being a cool set of vintage slotted wheels. A little elbow grease and some paint and they were almost good as new! :sombrero:



Added some junkyard Chevy center caps

 

[gas4blood]

The wife and I spent our 4th anniversary exploring the old mining town of Silver City, Idaho. We took the Jeep of course.




Then came the next round of major modifications. It all started when I scored a SWEET deal on a Quadra-Trac t-case that had already been converted to part time using the Mile Marker kit. I was given a pair of Warn premium lock out hubs from a friend. Just this modification alone helped me pick up considerable MPG's.



I also purchased a set of Rubicon TJ thick gear 4.11's. Using these gears allowed me to retain my stock carriers. I ordered up a SPARTAN locker for the rear axle as well as a full rebuild kit for front and rear. I had a good friend help me install all of this in a weekend.



While I had it up on jack stands I cleaned up and repainted the undercarriage and axles.




The new gears basically made the Jeep feel like it was rolling on stock sized tires. The gears combined with the part time kit in the t-case help me get 16 MPG on the freeway at 70 mph. Its true, I checked it twice on a 11 hour round trip.

 

[idaxj97]

:wavey: hello from mountain home. love you wagoneer i too have always liked these jeeps keep up the good work.

 

[gas4blood]

With the 35's and the possibility of towing a trailer, I felt like it was a good idea to add a secondary tranny cooler. I tore the grill apart and mounted it to the front of the radiator. It was plumbed in-line with the factory cooler.



I was really wanting a roof rack that I could store gear in when we went out on our trips. The stock one just wasnt cutting it. I took a trip with a buddy one saturday to look at a 3 wheeler that he was wanting to buy. I ended up spotting this SURCO safari rack at the guys house and after a short conversation, we were loading it in the truck to bring home. Cleaned it up, painted it, and threw it on the Waggy.



On one of my many trips to the local junk yard, I came across the perfect solution to a problem I had been facing. I had been wanting to mount a CB in the Jeep for quite some time. The problem I had was that there was just no good place to do it without drilling into the dash. I was digging through an old Waggy at the yard when I spotted this killer vintage AM/FM/CB radio. They charged me $10 because he was positive it wouldn't work. Got it home, cleaned it up, hooked it up, and it worked like a champ!!! The range isnt as good as a higher powered CB but I only use it when we are on club runs where we might have 1/2 mile between us at the most. The HAM serves as my long distance communication. The radio fit right in the stock hole on the dash!

 

[gas4blood]

Some random shots of the Jeep doing its thing.

 

[VanIsle_Greg]

Love this FSJ. Nice work...

 

[gas4blood]

Here is where the story of me and my Jeep took a slight detour(Dont worry, there is a happy ending). Upon graduating college, I landed a job that moved us down to Oklahoma. After a few weeks of being there, I realized that we weren't in Idaho anymore, and the Jeep was not going to get the use that I wanted. I decided to sell it and build a hot rod. The second that it left my driveway, I regretted my decision. Here are the pictures I posted of Jeep on the online ad. I had cleaned the thing up a considerable amount since purchasing it a couple of years prior.



Fast forward one year and a LOT of emails to the buyer later. I get a phone call one day from the guy that bought it. He says that the Air Force is moving him and his family to California and that they cannot take the Wagoneer with them. He wanted to know if I wanted first dibs on buying it back. YEEEEEEEEEEEESSSS!!!! I jumped right on the chance and one week later, was driving my Jeep back home.

The 4 hour drive home was filled with joy and frustration. While it was nice to be back in my Jeep again, I realized that over the year that it was out of my hands, the temporary owner had been deployed for 8 months and the Jeep had been severly neglected. The paint looked like it had sat in the Arizona sun for 20 years, the headliner was sagging, the interior was covered in dog hair, the DS wheel bearing was shot, the T-case was low on fluid, the oil hadnt been changed in months, the carb was running like crap, and the roof rack had started surface rusting and dripping rust down onto the paint.

I spent the next 2 months cleaning, repairing, rebuilding, washing, buffing, waxing, and cleaning again. It ended up being a good thing because the Jeep is not better than ever.

Rebuilt carb
re-set the timing
new plugs, cap, rotor, and wires
new valve cover gaskets
Smog equipment cleaned up
complete removal of seats and carpet to clean interior
all rust in floors repaired and sealed with POR 15 and new seam sealer
Replace the front wheel bearings and seals
new windshield
new 35' spare
new heater hoses
hand rubbed out the paint and waxed the whole Jeep
and so on................