Just got this 1984 gem in Texas

Texxxan · Post by **Texxxan** » Wed Nov 24, 2021 4:53 pm

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I just got this 84 Grand Wagoneer. I love it and always wanted one since binge watching Breaking Bad on Netflix. She runs good, has 120k miles and needs interior work. I need to check some light bulbs but other than that I think I could daily drive this. Starts right up with no problems. Any advice on why I should do to make it better, please feel free to let me know. Thank you in advance.

will e · Post by **will e** » Wed Nov 24, 2021 8:58 pm

Welcome to the board!

What are your plans? Daily driver? Forrest trails? Offroading? Occasional cruizer?

There are lots of areas of improvement but much depends on what your plans are.

The drive train is fine. It will have a 360AMC, a torque flight 727 transmission, a NP229 transfer case (most likely) and Dana 44 front and rear axles.
It's a pretty reliable combo but won't win any speed or MPG contests. The ignition system can fail and there are options to 'upgrade' it.

It looks like it has a carb on it, hard to tell from the pics, but the fuel line isn't coming from the front of the engine which makes me wonder if it has an electric fuel pump. A couple more shots of the engine bay and one with the air cleaner off would help.

Some folks like to swap engines, others have tossed in 4 speed transmissions and there are various transfer case swaps you can do too. Best to put together a plan. Don't spend money on a 4 speed transmission if you plan on doing an LS engine swap later for example.

Of course since you don't know the service history, change the oil, drain the radiator and put in new fluid. Might to the same for the transmission, axles, TC. Check how the brakes look.

It's a good solid looking rig! I like it!

dodgerammit · Post by **dodgerammit** » Wed Nov 24, 2021 11:40 pm

Looks solid. That is a great start!
Might have an AMC 20 rear axle. My 84 does. Easy to tell. Round cover. Either axle is as good as the other.

I rocked the 360 for about 5 years on mine. Just wrapped up a LS swap. The 360 did perfectly fine.
First thing after buying it, I put a new radiator, hoses, and thermostat in it with fresh fluid.
After that, an electric fuel pump, msd streetfire ignition box, and tfi conversion made leaps on reliability.
Took many vacation drives over 100 miles from home in it.

Yeller · Post by **Yeller** » Thu Nov 25, 2021 5:33 am

Great looking start and Welcome! Great bunch of folks here.

Texxxan · Post by **Texxxan** » Thu Nov 25, 2021 5:41 am

will e wrote: ↑Wed Nov 24, 2021 8:58 pm Welcome to the board!

What are your plans? Daily driver? Forrest trails? Offroading? Occasional cruizer?

There are lots of areas of improvement but much depends on what your plans are.

The drive train is fine. It will have a 360AMC, a torque flight 727 transmission, a NP229 transfer case (most likely) and Dana 44 front and rear axles.
It's a pretty reliable combo but won't win any speed or MPG contests. The ignition system can fail and there are options to 'upgrade' it.

It looks like it has a carb on it, hard to tell from the pics, but the fuel line isn't coming from the front of the engine which makes me wonder if it has an electric fuel pump. A couple more shots of the engine bay and one with the air cleaner off would help.

Some folks like to swap engines, others have tossed in 4 speed transmissions and there are various transfer case swaps you can do too. Best to put together a plan. Don't spend money on a 4 speed transmission if you plan on doing an LS engine swap later for example.

Of course since you don't know the service history, change the oil, drain the radiator and put in new fluid. Might to the same for the transmission, axles, TC. Check how the brakes look.

It's a good solid looking rig! I like it!

I plan to daily drive it. I don’t have a set plan yet but as soon as I come up with one I will certainly share it. For now, I plan to drive it and fix the interior up. I don’t plan to make it original or perfect, just better. I will take more pictures and post them. So far, everything is solid. I haven’t seen rust yet.

Texxxan · Post by **Texxxan** » Thu Nov 25, 2021 5:43 am

dodgerammit wrote: ↑Wed Nov 24, 2021 11:40 pm Looks solid. That is a great start!
Might have an AMC 20 rear axle. My 84 does. Easy to tell. Round cover. Either axle is as good as the other.

I rocked the 360 for about 5 years on mine. Just wrapped up a LS swap. The 360 did perfectly fine.
First thing after buying it, I put a new radiator, hoses, and thermostat in it with fresh fluid.
After that, an electric fuel pump, msd streetfire ignition box, and tfi conversion made leaps on reliability.
Took many vacation drives over 100 miles from home in it.

Great advice! I will start with the fluids and a tune up. I want to fix up the interior some and decide on what direction I will go with it. LS swap sounds great but I’m not sure yet.

Texxxan · Post by **Texxxan** » Thu Nov 25, 2021 5:44 am

Yeller wrote: ↑Thu Nov 25, 2021 5:33 am Great looking start and Welcome! Great bunch of folks here.

Thank you! I’m excited to have it. I’m looking forward to sharing what all I do with it.

will e · Post by **will e** » Thu Nov 25, 2021 7:10 am

Are you a bit handy with older rigs? The fact that it starts right up is a great sign. Toss a vacuum gauge on it to see how much vacuum you get and how steady it is. This will tell you a lot about how well everything is working. If you have decent vacuum with a steady gauge and it runs fine then you don't have to mess things like spark plugs, wires, etc, for now.

Texxxan · Post by **Texxxan** » Thu Nov 25, 2021 8:57 am

will e wrote: ↑Thu Nov 25, 2021 7:10 am Are you a bit handy with older rigs? The fact that it starts right up is a great sign. Toss a vacuum gauge on it to see how much vacuum you get and how steady it is. This will tell you a lot about how well everything is working. If you have decent vacuum with a steady gauge and it runs fine then you don't have to mess things like spark plugs, wires, etc, for now.

I’m ok enough to improve it some. I will definitely put a vacuum gauge on it to check. I didn’t even think about that. Thank you. The PO installed a new carb on it. It idles great and runs ok in my yard. I’m going to take it out and test it a few miles close to home just to see how it does. First, I want to change fluids just for added insurance. The oil in it looks pretty good and no leaks on my shop floor yet.

BaldBeardedBastard · Post by **BaldBeardedBastard** » Thu Nov 25, 2021 9:20 am

Nice find and welcome!

I would give the tire date code a check, as it can be a shocker at how old the tires are. When I bought mine the tires looked good with a quick glance but they were 11 years old!

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

dodgerammit · Post by **dodgerammit** » Thu Nov 25, 2021 9:57 am

BaldBeardedBastard wrote: ↑Thu Nov 25, 2021 9:20 am Nice find and welcome!

I would give the tire date code a check, as it can be a shocker at how old the tires are. When I bought mine the tires looked good with a quick glance but they were 11 years old!

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

Agreed! I forgot about tires. Usually any vehicle I get gets fresh tires as well. Tires on mine came immediately after the radiator and tune up. I can recommend Kumho AT51s in the 235/75/15 flavor for stock height. They work great on mine and are snow rated.

tgreese · Post by **tgreese** » Thu Nov 25, 2021 11:46 am

dodgerammit wrote: ↑Thu Nov 25, 2021 9:57 am
BaldBeardedBastard wrote: ↑Thu Nov 25, 2021 9:20 am Nice find and welcome!

I would give the tire date code a check, as it can be a shocker at how old the tires are. When I bought mine the tires looked good with a quick glance but they were 11 years old!

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
Agreed! I forgot about tires. Usually any vehicle I get gets fresh tires as well. Tires on mine came immediately after the radiator and tune up. I can recommend Kumho AT51s in the 235/75/15 flavor for stock height. They work great on mine and are snow rated.

Old tires touted as "excellent" from the PO. This happened while sitting in the driveway.

BaldBeardedBastard · Post by **BaldBeardedBastard** » Thu Nov 25, 2021 11:57 am

[quote="tgreese"
[/quote]
Old tires touted as "excellent" from the PO. This happened while sitting in the driveway.[/quote]

Obviously this was your fault- tires weren't rated for that type of driveway

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

Texxxan · Post by **Texxxan** » Thu Nov 25, 2021 1:06 pm

BaldBeardedBastard wrote: ↑Thu Nov 25, 2021 9:20 am Nice find and welcome!

I would give the tire date code a check, as it can be a shocker at how old the tires are. When I bought mine the tires looked good with a quick glance but they were 11 years old!

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

I got lucky. The PO just bought brand new tires for it.

Texxxan · Post by **Texxxan** » Thu Nov 25, 2021 2:41 pm

I’m trying to add more pictures but no luck. Keeps saying the file is too big.

BaldBeardedBastard · Post by **BaldBeardedBastard** » Thu Nov 25, 2021 3:25 pm

I use the Tapatalk app on my phone and it downsizes the pictures automatically. Maybe that would work for you.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

dodgerammit · Post by **dodgerammit** » Thu Nov 25, 2021 3:29 pm

Texxxan wrote: ↑Thu Nov 25, 2021 2:41 pm I’m trying to add more pictures but no luck. Keeps saying the file is too big.

Set up an imgur account. Upload your pics as a post, but keep them as private/hidden.

There is an icon on the top right corner of each image after uploaded if you hover your cursor above it. It will have 3 dos. Like this: ...

click on it. Select 'get share links'.

The 3rd one down says "BBcode for forums''

Click 'copy link' next to that line.

Come here, right click, then paste.

Done.

The images will show up as html links as you edit post, but will show as pictures after you submit post.

dodgerammit · Post by **dodgerammit** » Thu Nov 25, 2021 3:30 pm

tgreese wrote: ↑Thu Nov 25, 2021 11:46 am
dodgerammit wrote: ↑Thu Nov 25, 2021 9:57 am
BaldBeardedBastard wrote: ↑Thu Nov 25, 2021 9:20 am Nice find and welcome!

I would give the tire date code a check, as it can be a shocker at how old the tires are. When I bought mine the tires looked good with a quick glance but they were 11 years old!

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
Agreed! I forgot about tires. Usually any vehicle I get gets fresh tires as well. Tires on mine came immediately after the radiator and tune up. I can recommend Kumho AT51s in the 235/75/15 flavor for stock height. They work great on mine and are snow rated.
Old tires touted as "excellent" from the PO. This happened while sitting in the driveway.

Ah yes, those people always ready to close that sale.....

Texxxan · Post by **Texxxan** » Thu Nov 25, 2021 3:49 pm

Let’s see if the Tapatalk app works.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Texxxan · Post by **Texxxan** » Thu Nov 25, 2021 6:58 pm

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Just a few more pictures.

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