So it's been almost 3 years since I last posted here. Got divorced, been concentrating on some other hobby stuff ( Renodemona you know what I'm talking about ) but for the last 6 months I've been slowly working on the Wag.
She's been a bitch the whole time I've owned her. Reliable is not a word even remotely used with my jeep, and it hasn't been for a long time. The 440 itself is fine, the TBI has always been janky, and the transmission gave up after about a year behind the big block. The truck hasn't moved since the very end of 2017, the Transmission came out at the end of 2018, rebuilt the trans with a friend in my garage and a youtube series by some australian guy as a guide (so we have no idea if it works or not).
Tired of half fixes and idiot college kid duct tape rig jobs, I wanted to really give the Jeep the love it deserved to try and fall back in love with it. Four major projects were in order at the start of this "falling back in love with the Jeep" endeavour:
First, the Cosmetics. My Jeep has never looked good. Honestly, its a woods truck, I don't care that it doesn't look good. But I wanted it to not look like a POS. I spent September -> November of 2019 chemically and mechanically stripping the truck down to bare metal, priming it with Red Oxide Farm Implement primer, then painting it with Valspar Tractor paint in Ford Blue. Originally I was going to use Massey Ferguson Grey (MF'ing Grey, hah) but after a very scientific trial comparing colors on the Jeep and asking my friends/extended family/etc to vote, I decided on Ford Blue. Then it was two-toned with Duplicolor Bedliner because I like the fine texture vs the thick globs of others. This part was the lowest priority, but I needed to work on what I wanted to work on...not what the Jeep necessarily needed to be driving again. Some people may think that's silly, but some of you absolutely understand what I mean.
My most recent exterior pic, with all the lights/etc back on:
Yes, the pie plates are not chrome. They're actually 3d printed plastic, and yes the screws are in the wrong spots and I don't care.
Another pic with a better view of the paint job, slightly older:
The custom decals I had made to try and emulate the 440 Magnum badges you'd find on an older Chrysler muscle car:
Second, the Great Replumbening. All fluid lines have been replaced with Summit Racing 3/8 aluminum hardlines and -6AN stainless braided flex hose with black anodized fittings. I wanted this to be clean and last, the money spent wasn't a big deal to me if it produced a quality end product. Also as part of this was a return to carbureted, due to issues with the DIY TBI system. Eventual goal is a Pro-Flo MPFI kit, so the whole plumbing project is built with that in mind, hence the expensive billet fuel pressure regulator which was the cheapest I could find to go from 4~PSI up to 65PSI.
The underside pic shows off my ugly motor mounts, the wiring rats nest everywhere, the surface rust on literally everything. Please ignore. The Jeep hasn't been moved in 2 years, give it a break. The motor mounts (like many things on this Truck i'm currently trying to address) I'm not happy with and I want to completely do-over, I'll get there.
The Third thing that needed doing was the transmission. Its been rebuilt and is currently re-installed, but I have no clue if it works right. It's got fluid in it and isn't leaking yet, so that's a plus.
The final thing is electrical. I hate all the electrical stuff in this Jeep. I long for the simplicity of manual windows and locks. Currently I'm at this stage of the project. I am using the 1990 TSM to trim out unused circuits all over the Jeep and remove superfluous equipment like the fire hazard rear wiper and defroster, the overhead console junk, the electric mirror crap that never worked, etc. All wires are being removed "properly" all the way from their beginning to their end including pins in master connectors. The engine bay is being rewired with this guy I got on Ebay/Amazon (Amazon sells it but due to COVID it was faster shipping to get it from ebay)
https://www.amazon.com/ONLINE-LED-STORE ... 07MR64XK1/
The idea is to use the original Jeep "yellow wire" to act as a relay trigger, instead of getting spliced 47 times to feed different key on loads. So in that 6 gang relay box will be Fuel Pump, Electric Choke, Ignition Coil, Alternator Field, and thats all I can think of right this second. Two extras could be used for accessories. In the future when I go back to EFI, the Choke circuit can power the EFI computer.
Thats all for now. Dont know how often I'll be back here to update, but I will drop in from time to time.