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Marn's 73 Wagoneer Thread

432K views 2K replies 196 participants last post by  Marn 
#1 · (Edited)
Hello!

My name is Dr. Marneaus. You may remember me from such threads as the original "100,000th post wins" and "97 TJ's 'Build Up'" as seen in my signature.

This was the little jeep that could. It inspired many, and gave me many good times. I have kicked myself every day since selling it almost 3 years ago...but everything happens for a reason.
http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f22/97-tjs-build-up-335660/

Today I'm coming to you with something a little bit different. I'm no longer a poor college student who daily drives his mildly built TJ.

I'm now a poor college graduate who daily drives what used to be his mom's station wagon, but rolls weekends in a slightly different style.

I picked this up today.

Introducing "THE BEAST" as it has been named by my friends and family.







1973 Wagoneer. Epic.

Okay okay, it's still a station wagon! But I'll be doing more than grocery getting in this beast.

Here's the low down...

The good:
-360
-Part Time 4wd with Warn Hubs up front
-BJ's Offroad 4" Spring lift. Still SUA. Less than a year old.
-33x10.50 BFG KM2's...less than a year old with warranty paperwork.
-It drives fantastically. Had it on the highway all day in he 100+ degree -heat doing 75 keeping up with traffic.
Seats and most of interior is in awesome shape

The bad:

-It has a ton of leaks from what I can tell...but doesn't look like anything too serious.
-Has an auxiliary fuel tank installed, and the original tank is in my back yard. So, I have no idea how big this fuel tank is (only the aux. is in the jeep). There's a switch and whatnot, but I dont know how any of that crap works.
-A little bit of rust, but I'll be trimming it off to fit the tires.
-Bumper rubs tires, i'll put it on and trim it this weekend.
-Buncha gauges don't work. Speedo and fuel and oil work though.
-Headliner is ripped and falling...oh well, gravity happens.
-All weather stripping is dry rotted to hell.
-AC stopped working this past year...I dunno why or what to do.

I'll keep this thread going as I advance down the list.

It already feels GREAT to be back in a jeep. I'm psyched to have this bad boy at my disposal. I think it'll be a lot of fun.
 
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#148 ·
What's the engine? It's true Chevy's have to be running to adjust them, Ford, I don't think have to be. But from my little experience, it should be one straight spec. You should be able to back them off and adjust one part to tighten the rocker, then torque another part to make sure it stays that way.

Some of the ones I've seen use and allen and nut sort of deal. You take and lossen the nut so you can turn the allen, and when you do it tightens the rocker down. Then you tighten the nut back up to lock it.
 
#149 ·
AMC 360.

There's 1 bolt inside each rocker, it goes rocker, pivot, bridge, bolt. I didn't see anything that's adjustable. It's 3 parts then 1 bolt.

Lemmie get some pics uploaded.

Edit: Instructions from a 1974 TSM:

1. Install Pushrods.
2. Install Rocker Arms
3. Install bridged pivot assembly
4. Install Capscrews and tighten to 19 Foot-Pounds of torque.
5. Install cylinder head cover and gasket.
6. install retaining screws and washers. tighten screws to specified torque.

OH and it looks like the PO missed step 6 there. I have 1 broke off valve cover bolt. *******it. The forward most bolt on the passender side is snapped off in the hole. Atleast I know how to deal with that now :rolleyes:
 
#150 ·
Here we go.

Apparently this is the newer style rocker, which seems to come on 74's but not 73's....so again more evidence that this truck was probably rebuilt a while ago.

So, see, rocker, pivot, bridge, bolt.



Even though I didnt technically do anything today other than poke around, it was satisfying. I atleast found what i THINK is part of the noise. I cleaned up the old cork gaskets and installed some rubber ones because I couldn't find cork locally. Hopefully it'll leak less now though.

Anyway, learning about stuff is fun. These old trucks are so simple it seems.
 
#151 ·
Alrighty, also tore into the dash today for a few reasons. I bypassed the ammeter and also tried to clean everything up in an effort to correct my headlight issue. I couldnt find much wrong back there, but cleaned it all up and replaced a light bulb or 2.

I also replaced all the vacuum lines for the heater control. Even though it doesnt matter...but you'll see why in a min.

But anyway, got it cleaned up back there and didn't see any major issues on the inside of the firewall, and i fixed my emergency brake light too! Go me! So, I was productive and at least learned a ton today. Here's some more pictures.

Rates nest...no literally, there were pieces of terry cloth and leaves and stuff on top of the steering column. Something was living in my jeep. I've found the same terry cloth in the headliner with a ton of twigs and stuff.


The almighty FSJ instrument panel


pretty simple, i can actually follow the circuitry haha.


heater controls, kinda cool how it all works


Bad vacuum lines


Not that it matters that i replaced those vacuum lines... This duct wasnt even connected to the defroster vent, but i think that was the least of its problems. haha.
 
#152 ·
Alright. Well I just learned of another style of rockers. :thumbsup: Those you just torque to the 19 ft lbs and call it good.

Another reason you could be having problems there is you don't have enough oil pressure. I know you've been fighting problems with it. Do you have an actual oil pressure gauge on it?
 
#153 ·
Yes, and my pressure blows ***. Idles around 12-15, when cruising while heated up its around 25 or 30 I think.

However, everything seemed plenty oily to me!

I might eventually rebuild my oil pump (huge PITA it seems) but who knows. maybe just rebuild the entire damn motor so I can paint it the right color! (wrong color...another reason I think it's been rebuilt...no one pulls a motor just to paint it)
 
#155 ·
I know my pressure sucks, but its okay.

No, when the truck starts i have close to 60 PSI, and it still makes the noise. when The truck is hot and idling (read: lowest pressure) is when it makes the LEAST noise. If i park it in the driveway and let it idle it sounds perfecto. No noise hardly at all.

The noise comes in at higher RPM's, like when driving. The only times i can really hear it though (due to road noise) is when it high idles on a cold start. or I sit there revving it by hand. Weird, huh?

I'm pretty sure its the rockers, as it clatters when i let off the throttle, and the clatter is super audible from the top of the engine...and thats exactly what it sounds like when i wiggle it by hand.

As mentioned earlier, i think i'm hearing a few different sounds and this is just one of them.
 
#157 ·
Apparently they DO click like that.

I guess it's normal unless they are under tension (push rod = up) for them to wiggle a bit like that.

Next time i have a chance I'll give it a run with the valve covers off to see if i can isolate the sound.
 
#159 ·
AMC V8s are notorious for low oil pressure, but as long as there is lots of flow it's fine. To adjust the bridge style rockers, you have to file down the bottom of the rocker pivots. I've done that on lots of worn motors it get that clickety clack out,

Oh! And another cool mod I have done to the heater control is add a switching valve so you can join the defrost and heater vents together and have both on at the same time. Something the factory techs NEVER fixed, even in the late model years!
 
#161 ·
Thanks for the info!

So, I was under it playing around as usual, then took it for a ride. It was acting insane! Not shifting, engine revving super high, slippery shifts, then THUD, it would about throw me through the windshield when it finally shifted.

Found this! Oooooh look at that, good ole vacuum line came off the modulator on the tranny. I was burning a TON of ATF on my exhaust, so I replaced the vacuum line and checked my tranny fluid. WAY low. I added a quart and its just barely "full" I think the modulator is leaking, so that'll get replaced, and I'll replace the seal on the dipstick tube as well.



On a side note, BFGoodrich is pretty cool. I asked them for a sticker and got the following within a WEEK of emailing them.



Easiest mod so far, haha.
 
#162 ·
Man, the jeep gods must have been smiling on me tonight...

I had a 6pm estimate in the opposite corner of town from where I live...The lady showed up to her own house late, and kept me there for 30 minutes.

it was 6:45 and getting dark!

I was driving the Wagoneer for work today...and my headlights dont work...I had about 25 miles of city between myself and home...I was racing down the highway...

got off, made it a few miles on surface streets, then it was just too dark...turned on my headlights.

They flickered a few times like they always do...but then...by some grace of the jeep gods, the lights stayed on at full brightness for a good 10 minutes of driving.

No bump, no swerve, no pothole could make them dim!

Then the second I pulled into my driveway and got out to open the garage...they started flicking and flashing and wouldn't stay on.

Someone must have been looking out for me tonight!
__________________
 
#163 ·
Glad to hear the lights worked for you when you needed them most. Now get a pair of aux lights wired up in case of emergencies and figure out what is wrong.
 
#166 ·
On with the updates...

I may or may not have fixed my headlight problem. I figured there was only one way to find out what was causing it...

Gotta go through it from headlights to firewall to switch.


Apparently 37 years can do alot to wiring...especially ****ty AMC wiring. I found several instances of this just behind the headlights, all across the grill.




I taped them up and cleaned up the grounds as I made my way from left to right. Cleaned the contacts a bit, made sure all plugs were tight, etc.

I found some "interesting" wiring to say the least, but behind the grill and radiator, everything seemed normal all the way up to the firewall plug. I checked to make sure everything there was tight as well.

This was my favorite part of the day. What you are about to see is real, do not attempt this at home. This is not fake, in any way.

Behold, the pinnacle of American Vehicle Manufacturing. Factory installed duct tape wire splices.


Yup, you read right. From the factory, AMC covered the splices in the wires with freakin duct tape. Great build quality there!

Finally, while working on the magnum, I let my radiator drain after running radiator flush for a week, then topped it off with water and coolant. I might need more coolant. We shall see.

Oh and I removed my windshield wiper fluid reservoir.
 
#168 ·
I left them on with the jeep sitting in the driveway for about an hour while I was finishing up some stuff, and i didnt see them flicker.

I took a daytime drive and turned them on, with the dome light on as my indicator, hit a ton of bumps and whatnot, drove for about 15 minutes and didnt see the dome light flicker.

It could just be fooling me, but, it seems way more stable than before. I'll take it for a night time ride tomorrow around the neighborhood. Woulda done it tonight but I had a beer or 3.
 
#170 ·
Decided to give the lady a little face lift...

all the black trim on the front was lacking badly! I took care of it.

A few of these along the way helped out!


As you can see, spotty and chipped and faded. Ad the dent in the aluminum is very apparent.


High quality masking job!


Half way there!


Done!


And...revealed!



OH and dont hate me but...I washed the jeep and applied tire shine!!!!!

Edited to add some pics that show a good contrast between the grill before and after my paint job.

Before:


After:
 
#172 ·
Marn, you truck really looks great clean.

So how long before we get sweet clean fender trimming?
 
#173 ·
Thanks for the compliments, but its not in THAT great of condition. Its kinda wavy and has a "some" rust....but anyway...

Must...not...trim.....

Maybe a 1" BL eventually.

Hell, I don't need anything until I actually wheel it.
 
#175 ·
#176 ·
I had 2 firsts today....breaking down on the trail, and body damage.

The plastic line to my mechanical fuel gauge popped. Sprayed oil everywhere...lots of smell, lots of smoke. Couldnt find the leak, turned it back on, and the line was spraying like an artery.

DAS NOT GOOD!


you can see the little spot where it popped.


Just cut it, folded it in half, zip tied it, taped it, and finished the 95% of the trip that remained. No issues!


And, my chrome WAS perfect...but not anymore.



Think I rub a little?
 
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