Jeep Enthusiast Forums banner

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.
 
See less See more
5
#667 ·
bahahahahahahaha!

It's alive! it's alive!

Rolled it out of the garage for the first time in a month.

Yes, i got the new booster in, and redid the timing, it's purrin' like a kitten now.


__________________
 
#668 ·
Sweet. I'll bet it's nice to take it down the road. I've been driving my jeep around town the last 2 weeks after i fixed some vent hoses on the gas tank (filled it up when I finished). So now I'm running all the gas I put in it. It's hot as balls but I love driving my jeep.
 
#669 ·
Had her out driving around all weekend, runnin' like a top! Real smooth, no issues, seems like the timing is dialed in pretty well and it's happy.

Woo! Hopefully go wheelin this coming weekend.
 
#672 ·
Here's a helpful pointer...

dont leave your keys in the ignition and in the "on" position for a week. It will cost you time and money.

Just hopped in the truck to go for a ride this morning, realized my battery was dead because of this. Wouldnt jump start. tried a different battery and the truck would fire but not stay running.

My battery wouldnt hold a charge at autozone, so i had to buy a new one. $100 bucks.

Still wouldnt run. Took some testing to find out which component it was, but it burned up my duraspark ignition control module.

Replaced free under warranty, and picked up a spare coil and solenoid. Plugged in the new module and turned the key for half a second, VROOM.
 
#673 ·
just got done reading this whole thread... took a day or three. but i thoroughly enjoyed it. you sir, have done a great job thus far. keep going, this thing looks great and is making a lot of us jealous of you.... btw a pic of your jeep in the desert is on my background on my computer....:2thumbsup::cheers2:
 
#675 ·
Thanks! It's honestly the occasional compliments that keep me going, the thing gives me so much trouble sometimes i dont think its worth it.

Now, that was just plain silly to leave your keys in the ignition... :nono:

Sucks about the battery and such, but I'm glad it's running again.
I leave the keys there so i can find em next time.

So, it's super far away from passing emissions, i dunno what i'm going to have to do to get it to pass, probably drop it off at our shop and see what they can do, fiddle with the timing and whatnot to get it to pass.

I'm getting mighty frustrated with it, but as I just said, sometimes the occasional compliments that i get make it worth it.

One of my mechanics that was smogging it was all obsessed, offered me his 96 camaro (real good shape) with an LS1 PLUS cash for the jeep.

It'll all be worth it when i can get the old motor rebuilt and have it running like new.
 
#676 ·
Denatured alcohol my friend.
 
#678 ·
Thats great and all, but I don't live where you live, and they cannot fudge a test here, so I dont care. Yes it sucks that in Clark County 1967 is the cut off date, even the Nova has to pass smog.

I cant stand when people just say "that sucks! no emissions testing here!" I dont live there. Just like the price of gas in europe has no bearing on the fact that 4 bucks a gallon sucks here.
 
#680 ·
Just do what I do, drive down the street with headers and O2 sensors. Who needs a downpipe, cats, and mufflers?


:D









Really though, I need to get some pipes put on it. I'm afraid to drive it because I'm sure I'll get pulled over with as loud as it is.
 
#682 ·
Something weird just happened. The jeep was running beautifully on Monday, I drove it all over the place, and after a day of driving i retarded the timing a little to eliminate some pinging I heard, then parked it after a test run.

Timing was set at 12 degrees, doubt that matters though.

Went to start it, it woudnt fire. I kept cranking, but no go. I couldnt smell hardly any gas either with the air cleaner off, but figured it'd be reeking at that point.

I shot some starting fluid into it, and VROOM it ran for a few seconds and i shut it down.

K, so it's not getting fuel. I put some more gas in the tank in case it was lower than i thought, no go.

I then pulled the fuel line from the carb (edelbrock performer) and a little bit came out, as is normal, and a little flooded back out from the carb nipple. I put the line in a can, and cranked the truck to see if i had fuel pressure. The thing fired up instantly and ran, so i shut it down. It ran without the fuel line, and the can had a bunch of gas in it.

I put the fuel line back on, and it ran like normal.

What could have caused that? I don't see how there could have been a vacuum strong enough to keep the truck from getting fuel, even though it was super hot when i shut it down, and its alot cooler...but it's 4 days later. This seems impossible especially seeing as the fuel came back out of the carb when I pulled the line, the tank venting system is hooked up and i had the gas cap off.

Ideas? Is my carb just being funky?
 
#684 ·
Could be, but there's a filter about 1.5' from the carb.

I guess it could have evaporated the fuel out of the bowls if the carb is leaky and because of the heat, apparently those eddy's have massive bowls that take a while to fill up if they drain out.

I probably need a rebuild anyway.
 
#689 ·
No, lots more head aches.

Still gonna get the 2'' body lift?
Eventually, but the nuts on the body bolts have broken loose so i need to get a 2" hole saw and cut holes in my tub from the inside to re-weld the nuts...so, maybe.
 
#690 ·
I was going out to try to smog the jeep with my retarded timing and after getting it heated up, but the smog station was closed, so I took the jeep and my girl on a little ride, out to the Kodachrome area. Real pretty colors out there. Maybe thats why its called Kodachrome?

Snapped 1 decent pic with my cell, and just thought I'd share.



A few others that are not as good. It started raining so I figured I better go home, seeing as i drove through like 5 washes.



 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top