My 1976 Wagoneer Build

bbuenger71 · Post by **bbuenger71** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 10:05 pm

Found a set of wheels/tires on Craigslist and they are a 16x8 wheel with 4.5 backspace with 265/75 BFGoodrich KM2s. Would those fit with an AAL?

bbuenger71 · Post by **bbuenger71** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 10:07 pm

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Nikkormat · Post by **Nikkormat** » Sat Nov 22, 2014 1:36 am

Those will be about 32x11. I've got no idea on backspacing though. http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp ... mpare1=yes

bbuenger71 · Post by **bbuenger71** » Sun Nov 23, 2014 11:46 pm

Well I went ahead and bought the set of wheels and tires. A deal I couldn't pass up. They are 16x8.5 wheels with fairly new BFG Mud Terrain KM2 tires with 15/32 tread left. Size 265/75/16. I got it all for $300... The wheels have a backspacing of 4.5 so we will see if those fit when I put them on. Anyone run this type of set up?

I also did a little bit of clean up work on the waggy this morning. Will post more with pictures tomorrow.

bbuenger71 · Post by **bbuenger71** » Mon Nov 24, 2014 9:21 am

So after I finished doing some honey-do's and painting the baby's room I was able to work on the Jeep for a few hours yesterday. I started to clean up some wiring behind the dash since I already had the cluster removed. That wiring is a bit of a mess. There are probably 5 connectors that aren't connected to anything and I found about 3 different wires that were just zip tied to other wires and weren't connected to anything on either end... I removed said wires and found a home for one of the random connectors. My under dash courtesy light now works!! Woohoo! No if I can only get the domes to work. I'm going to have to spend quite a few more hours/days going thru the wiring. I also found this large black wire that was cut and frayed under the dash. I followed it thru the firewall and the other end went to the starting solenoid (see picture below, small red wire). Anyone know what this is for? I cut the end off and covered it with tape and heat shrink to eliminate any fire hazard. When I re-installed the cluster I also by-passed the ammeter. I did the quick way of just putting both red and yellow wires on a single post of the meter.

Onto the engine bay... Again, lots of random connectors not plugged into anything. Any insight on these would be helpful. They don't seem necessary since the engine starts up immediately and has no trouble idling. While poking around the engine bay I found the source of my exhaust leak, one of the exhaust manifold studs where the exhaust pipe bolts up to is broken off. Anyone have a right side exhaust manifold for sale?

Interior... I finished ripping out the carpet in the front passenger area and only broke 1 seat bracket bolt. Guess I was rushing too much. Ill be attempting to extract that this next weekend if time permits. Besides that the floor is in great condition. No excessive rust, just surface rest that can be cleaned up with a sander pretty quickly. I am planning on coating the floor with a bedliner until I get carpet back in there.

Tatsadasayago · Post by **Tatsadasayago** » Mon Nov 24, 2014 11:17 am

That black wire in the first photo is RG-58 radio coaxial cable. Looks like someone used to to get battery power into the dash for something.

bbuenger71 · Post by **bbuenger71** » Mon Nov 24, 2014 11:20 am

Tatsadasayago wrote:That black wire in the first photo is RG-58 radio coaxial cable. Looks like someone used to to get battery power into the dash for something.

That's what I thought it was. Wanted to make sure before I ripped it out. Gotta love jimmy riggin. Any ideas on the underhood connectors? I'm guessing smog equipment... Most of the smog stuff has been ripped out by PO.

Tatsadasayago · Post by **Tatsadasayago** » Mon Nov 24, 2014 11:32 am

The green wire appears to be for the carb solenoid. It closed the throttle fully to avoid engine run-on after the ignition was turned off. The square plug is the ignition control unit connector: Red/Green/Blue/Yellow that was on the passenger side fenderwell.
[EDIT] Two of those wires, the blue and yell I recall, made their way to the distributor after that plug. I would assume it was removed when the HEI was installed.
Hope this helps!

66stepside · Post by **66stepside** » Mon Nov 24, 2014 8:48 pm

Sweet score!

bbuenger71 · Post by **bbuenger71** » Mon Nov 24, 2014 10:45 pm

Tatsadasayago wrote: [EDIT] Two of those wires, the blue and yell I recall, made their way to the distributor after that plug. I would assume it was removed when the HEI was installed.
Hope this helps!

It doesn't have an HEI installed. Still has the old style dizzy, factory looking coil and prestolite ign module.

Tatsadasayago · Post by **Tatsadasayago** » Tue Nov 25, 2014 1:33 pm

Now that is weirdness...

I have been known to be wrong a few times.

The wire colors on that square connector correspond with the 76 wiring schematic so I am at a loss to tell you what that plug is for.

bbuenger71 · Post by **bbuenger71** » Tue Nov 25, 2014 1:53 pm

Tatsadasayago wrote:Now that is weirdness...

I have been known to be wrong a few times.
The wire colors on that square connector correspond with the 76 wiring schematic so I am at a loss to tell you what that plug is for.

Haha how dare you be wrong!! I guess looking at a schematic would be a good way to find out. I'll be digging a little deeper in these mysterious wires this next weekend. In the meantime... I'll be scouring my dealerships records room where we have TSM's all the way back to the early 60s. I know these are all available on the oljeep website but I can't read what have the schematic says. I'll be pulling out all of the wagoneer and GW TSMs.

bbuenger71 · Post by **bbuenger71** » Wed Nov 26, 2014 9:05 am

Finally got to drive this thing!! Got off work early yesterday so I was able to put in a little time on the waggy. Replaced a headlight bulb, master cylinder cover and topped off trans and engine oil. She started right up after sitting for a few days and we took off down the road for our first adventure. We made it maybe 200 yards...

I swear I heard the waggy say "Welcome to owning an FSJ" right as it shut off... lol. This was actually a pretty simple fix which I anticipated, we were out of gas. Looks like the fuel gauge is correct. Luckily I wasn't too far from home, so I hoofed it back to the house and grabbed the gas can and the second car. Got her all filed up and started up pretty easily after that. From there we went straight to the gas station to finish filling her up. This was a chore in its self due to the fact that I think I got more fuel on the ground than in the tank. If I pressed the handle too much it would all come bubbling out the neck. Think I might have a venting issue? I gave up after 5 gallons. So she has about 10 gallons in her tank right now.

After that we drove down the road a couple miles to see how it ran. It ran decent. Definitely needs an engine tune up and a carb tune. The exhaust fumes are pretty intense inside the cab so the exhaust manifold will need to be fixed or replaced. Anyone in the socal area with an extra pass side manifold?

I also found out I need to tighten the roof bows up and also the roof rack. Driving down the road it sounds like I have a gang of monkeys up there beating my roof with pipe wrenches.

Today I'll be driving the car in to work to test fit the wheels/tires and finally get it up on a lift and do a thorough inspection. Maybe I can shove those wheels in with no lift?! I'll post pics this afternoon when I get them on.

bbuenger71 · Post by **bbuenger71** » Wed Nov 26, 2014 11:03 pm

Got it in the shop and checked everything out. Found the transmission dipstick leaking (thought it was a front seal) and took care of that. Changed the engine oil and serviced front and rear diffs. No surprises there. All looked good. Test fit the new wheels and tires. The fronts fit with no problems but I will have to trim a little from the rear fenders to get them to fit. I was planning on trimming fenders anyway so might as well do it now. Anyone have any tips on trimming the rear fenders?

bbuenger71 · Post by **bbuenger71** » Wed Nov 26, 2014 11:04 pm

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Tatsadasayago · Post by **Tatsadasayago** » Thu Nov 27, 2014 1:55 pm

Looking good!
Regarding the trimming in the rear...
It might just be the photo, but I sense some bondo in that rear quarter after looking at the rounded wheel well lip. If you cut into that with a cutoff wheel you're probably going to see filler come flying off. Having done this once or twice I know it can turn into a bigger deal that one might be expecting.

Here is a picture of the lines I used to cut. The red line is the cut and the red is the fold. I would do this so there wouldn't be that sharp edge left over.

bbuenger71 · Post by **bbuenger71** » Thu Nov 27, 2014 6:05 pm

Wow thanks for that info!! I didn't even think of just cutting the corner off. I was thinking of doing a cut along the entire wheel opening area. I'll try your suggestion first and if I mess it up I'll just cut more. Lol. And ya it has some bondo... Dreading the day I do body work. Working on getting it mechanically sound first.

Also, you were right about the 4 wire plug. It's for the presto lite. The PO hard wired everything... That will be all gone with the future addition of a 6A box

bbuenger71 · Post by **bbuenger71** » Fri Nov 28, 2014 8:26 am

Found that my transmission leak is not coming from the front pump but from the dipstick tube hole. Super stoked that was all. Was dreading having to pull the tranny and transfer case.

bbuenger71 · Post by **bbuenger71** » Tue Dec 02, 2014 9:08 am

So this last weekend I went ahead and cut approx 2" from the rear fenders. As Tatsadasayago mentioned, I found quite a bit of bondo. Half inch thick in some places. So that will have to be added to my ever growing list of repairs. I do have about a half inch gap from the outer fender to the inner fender that I need to fill. Was thinking of some sort of foam... Any ideas?

I also got my right exhaust manifold off to put a new stud in so I can hopefully fix the awful exhaust leak. When I drove it home from my work on Friday I just about passed out from the fumes. They were crazy intense. Wondering if I have more of an issue besides the leaking manifold. Smells really rich.

Post by **Stuka** » Tue Dec 02, 2014 11:14 am

Do NOT use foam. It absorbs water. The only correct way is to weld in some steel to both seal it from moisture and give it some rigidity.

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