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In the next few nights I will be going through my computer and my phone pictures to start the thread of the Grand Wagoneer Cummins Swap. I will take you through a world of cutting, torching, welding, and magic It was a month-long project of just nights after work. Followed by six months of screw this I don't feel like doing another three hours of work to finish it. I got sick of the build and walked away from it for a a few month after taking 28 hours to design and build a new heater core and blower motor housing.
That being said pictures were dated all over the place.
The Grand Wagoneer was originally purchased at Stahls Jeep Eagle dealer in Derby, Connecticut (a family tradition since 1917) a job transfer then forced the original owner to move to Dallas, Texas. Where it spent 9 years, Another job transfer borught it back to New Jersey Where it was then acquired by my friend. He drove it his senior year of high school, graduated and took it to Georgia to college. He graduated college brought it back to New Jersey and went to work for a landscaping company.
On the night of a snowstorm he was on his way to his shop to grab a plow truck and slid off the road and went through an 8 inch tree. The Vehicle went down an embankment and into an open field and stalled. With a bent bumper, grille and hood looking like a praying mantis he Cranked the engine it fired back up and he continued on his way. He took it home and parked it in the driveway where it sat for seven years.
Mark (the owner) And I became friends around 2005. Mark and I became friends because I helped him work on his CJ5 He never talked about the Grand Wagoneer. One day he needed a hand at his moms house, so I drove over. I saw this ugly vehicle with three flat tires sitting in the driveway. That's when he told me the whole history of the story I am relaying to you now. I said well this thing sure is ugly, He told me $500 it's yours. I said no way.
Let's be real who is a fan of wood paneling? It looks like a getaway car for a serial pedophile on a bad episode of CSI. I just saw its weight and scrap price was up. $500 that's ludicrous.
A year went by he called me and said his mom was moving he needed to get rid of it $200. I agreed. I took a truck and trailer over to his house with a machine to pull the CJ out of the woods also. We used the machine to push the Wagoneer up onto the trailer also. He said thanks for the help don't worry about the 200 here is the title. The Eyesore was legitimately mine now. Off to the shop, with junkyard tomorrow on my mind. Parked the truck with the Wagoneer on the trailer and went home. I Went on Google to research the weight of the vehicle so I could expect how much money to get at the junkyard. I then saw how sought after and valuable these vehicles actually were. Hmm this is intriguing..
The next day I went into work Pushed the old girl off the trailer shook my head and said what am I doing. I put a battery from another truck in it, put five gallons of gas in it, sprayed starter fluid and cranked. REE GIH GIH REE GIH GIH REE GIH GIH BLUTT BLUTT VROOOOM
Son of a bitch...
Walnuts flew everywhere, mice scattered, rust came off the fan. And it ran. Holy hell, after sitting for years it ran.
It ran like crap, but the vacuum four wheel drive worked and we drove it up snow banks and did donuts with it in the parking lot hahahah best free car ever. While driving up the snowbanks I looked around me inside it I felt like I was on a living room couch, there is so much room in here! Wow, power seats, power windows and locks, air conditioning, Dana 44s, compass and temperature display Keyless entry, SHAG CARPETING!!! Ehh not so much.
NO, I can't keep this its scrap money, no more projects Bryan. I parked it shut it off, got out and closed the door. Click, I opened the door and closed it again. Hmmm, I have never felt a door close so tight and have feeling to it. This thing is sweet. The patina of the vehicle had me. I felt like I truly American in it. Like I was going on a family road trip to Vermont to go camping. Just a very strong feeling back to when it was built in the factory. I walked away, and went home to shower and go to bed. Telling myself no more projects.
Next day I reluctantly called the auto parts store hoping a carburetor rebuild kit was no longer available but it was so I ordered it. And a fuel filter rebuilt the carb. Got it running perfect. Tail lights and parking lights were not working. Found the short fixed it good to go.
Found a body of another Wagoneer on Craigslist for two hundred, picked it up, put the hood and bumper on mine,
Got it registered, license plates lets take it out on the road. Crap, I ripped the smog pump out how am I gonna pass state inspection, I took it to a private shop that did inspections I used to work at, The head mechanic that worked there used to work at a Jeep dealership, He hated Grand Wagoneers and said they were the biggest piece of shit with nothing but vacuum problems And he always got stuck with them because nobody else wanted to work on them at the dealer. Followed by him going to his toolbox and saying I have your inspection right here and grabbed a large ball Peen hammer. He went up to a certain area on the frame known to rot through from rust and pretty much total Them out. He smacked it and the hammer bounced back and he said "holy shit, we gotta get this thing to pass emissions" We tooled around with the distributor to get the timing just right so it could pass the sniff test and a fresh sticker was on.
Not to mention the dry rot tires that were already on it that seemed to still hold air okay. On my way home one night I experienced a blowout on the front passenger side, I told myself this thing needs tires... Hmmm, How about a lift and tires, I mean. The old leaf springs are sagging and It needs four tires right?!? And my tax return just got here... Four inch and thirty threes nahhhhh six inch and thirty threes cause 35s won't fit. Ha sure. Six inch Rustys lift (lord forgive me) and 35" km2s. Perfect!
Everything came in, I approached it to do the lift and much to my surprise every suspension bolt came out with no problem. Mind you it had many small issues that made it add up to a basket case every little thing that I would fix on it that would work I would love the old thing more and more. New headliner, shampoo the carpets, trace shorts in the wiring, tailgate rear window switch bypass, all sorts of stuff. Little by little.
So the lift is in the tires are on it, damn this thing looks bad ass. Time to take it for a drive. Gutless, but sweet. Hmm 2.73 gear ratio not so hot. And it dropped from 12 MPG to 8. Crap this 22 gallon tank never seems to want to stay full. Ehh whatever. It's turning heads and getting thumbs up. Took it out to Rausch where I met most of you. It didn't do any noteworthy wheeling a small hill climb, because I was more worried about getting it back home. On my way home from Rausch creek the ignition module started to go. It would run rough and lose power. I was saying to myself "I have made this unreliable it can't handle these tires I'm an idiot and I'm going to get stranded" thankfully, I made it home but still paranoid driving it around. I started driving it less.
Then one day I had a customer come in to work, Telling me about a truck he needed to get rid of. It was a dodge, the frame rusted through. I said ok I will let people know. As he was walking out the door I yelled to him "hey what engine is that dodge" he replied, "oh it's got that Cummings Diesel" yes, Cummins with a G... I replied, I'll be there tomorrow with 800 dollars. He said "excellent" Now I bought that truck just so I could pull the engine out and sell it to make some money. I called my friend Andrew Who is a Cummins fanatic up and said hey I've got a Cummins what do you want to do with it. He jokingly said "why don't you put it in the Wagoneer" I said "you think it will fit" his reply was "I was kidding, but sure why not" Then it turned into a bunch of research and let's do it.
So with that short story I bring you the Grand Wagoneer build....
That being said pictures were dated all over the place.
The Grand Wagoneer was originally purchased at Stahls Jeep Eagle dealer in Derby, Connecticut (a family tradition since 1917) a job transfer then forced the original owner to move to Dallas, Texas. Where it spent 9 years, Another job transfer borught it back to New Jersey Where it was then acquired by my friend. He drove it his senior year of high school, graduated and took it to Georgia to college. He graduated college brought it back to New Jersey and went to work for a landscaping company.
On the night of a snowstorm he was on his way to his shop to grab a plow truck and slid off the road and went through an 8 inch tree. The Vehicle went down an embankment and into an open field and stalled. With a bent bumper, grille and hood looking like a praying mantis he Cranked the engine it fired back up and he continued on his way. He took it home and parked it in the driveway where it sat for seven years.
Mark (the owner) And I became friends around 2005. Mark and I became friends because I helped him work on his CJ5 He never talked about the Grand Wagoneer. One day he needed a hand at his moms house, so I drove over. I saw this ugly vehicle with three flat tires sitting in the driveway. That's when he told me the whole history of the story I am relaying to you now. I said well this thing sure is ugly, He told me $500 it's yours. I said no way.
Let's be real who is a fan of wood paneling? It looks like a getaway car for a serial pedophile on a bad episode of CSI. I just saw its weight and scrap price was up. $500 that's ludicrous.
A year went by he called me and said his mom was moving he needed to get rid of it $200. I agreed. I took a truck and trailer over to his house with a machine to pull the CJ out of the woods also. We used the machine to push the Wagoneer up onto the trailer also. He said thanks for the help don't worry about the 200 here is the title. The Eyesore was legitimately mine now. Off to the shop, with junkyard tomorrow on my mind. Parked the truck with the Wagoneer on the trailer and went home. I Went on Google to research the weight of the vehicle so I could expect how much money to get at the junkyard. I then saw how sought after and valuable these vehicles actually were. Hmm this is intriguing..
The next day I went into work Pushed the old girl off the trailer shook my head and said what am I doing. I put a battery from another truck in it, put five gallons of gas in it, sprayed starter fluid and cranked. REE GIH GIH REE GIH GIH REE GIH GIH BLUTT BLUTT VROOOOM
Son of a bitch...
Walnuts flew everywhere, mice scattered, rust came off the fan. And it ran. Holy hell, after sitting for years it ran.
It ran like crap, but the vacuum four wheel drive worked and we drove it up snow banks and did donuts with it in the parking lot hahahah best free car ever. While driving up the snowbanks I looked around me inside it I felt like I was on a living room couch, there is so much room in here! Wow, power seats, power windows and locks, air conditioning, Dana 44s, compass and temperature display Keyless entry, SHAG CARPETING!!! Ehh not so much.
NO, I can't keep this its scrap money, no more projects Bryan. I parked it shut it off, got out and closed the door. Click, I opened the door and closed it again. Hmmm, I have never felt a door close so tight and have feeling to it. This thing is sweet. The patina of the vehicle had me. I felt like I truly American in it. Like I was going on a family road trip to Vermont to go camping. Just a very strong feeling back to when it was built in the factory. I walked away, and went home to shower and go to bed. Telling myself no more projects.
Next day I reluctantly called the auto parts store hoping a carburetor rebuild kit was no longer available but it was so I ordered it. And a fuel filter rebuilt the carb. Got it running perfect. Tail lights and parking lights were not working. Found the short fixed it good to go.
Found a body of another Wagoneer on Craigslist for two hundred, picked it up, put the hood and bumper on mine,
Got it registered, license plates lets take it out on the road. Crap, I ripped the smog pump out how am I gonna pass state inspection, I took it to a private shop that did inspections I used to work at, The head mechanic that worked there used to work at a Jeep dealership, He hated Grand Wagoneers and said they were the biggest piece of shit with nothing but vacuum problems And he always got stuck with them because nobody else wanted to work on them at the dealer. Followed by him going to his toolbox and saying I have your inspection right here and grabbed a large ball Peen hammer. He went up to a certain area on the frame known to rot through from rust and pretty much total Them out. He smacked it and the hammer bounced back and he said "holy shit, we gotta get this thing to pass emissions" We tooled around with the distributor to get the timing just right so it could pass the sniff test and a fresh sticker was on.
Not to mention the dry rot tires that were already on it that seemed to still hold air okay. On my way home one night I experienced a blowout on the front passenger side, I told myself this thing needs tires... Hmmm, How about a lift and tires, I mean. The old leaf springs are sagging and It needs four tires right?!? And my tax return just got here... Four inch and thirty threes nahhhhh six inch and thirty threes cause 35s won't fit. Ha sure. Six inch Rustys lift (lord forgive me) and 35" km2s. Perfect!
Everything came in, I approached it to do the lift and much to my surprise every suspension bolt came out with no problem. Mind you it had many small issues that made it add up to a basket case every little thing that I would fix on it that would work I would love the old thing more and more. New headliner, shampoo the carpets, trace shorts in the wiring, tailgate rear window switch bypass, all sorts of stuff. Little by little.
So the lift is in the tires are on it, damn this thing looks bad ass. Time to take it for a drive. Gutless, but sweet. Hmm 2.73 gear ratio not so hot. And it dropped from 12 MPG to 8. Crap this 22 gallon tank never seems to want to stay full. Ehh whatever. It's turning heads and getting thumbs up. Took it out to Rausch where I met most of you. It didn't do any noteworthy wheeling a small hill climb, because I was more worried about getting it back home. On my way home from Rausch creek the ignition module started to go. It would run rough and lose power. I was saying to myself "I have made this unreliable it can't handle these tires I'm an idiot and I'm going to get stranded" thankfully, I made it home but still paranoid driving it around. I started driving it less.
Then one day I had a customer come in to work, Telling me about a truck he needed to get rid of. It was a dodge, the frame rusted through. I said ok I will let people know. As he was walking out the door I yelled to him "hey what engine is that dodge" he replied, "oh it's got that Cummings Diesel" yes, Cummins with a G... I replied, I'll be there tomorrow with 800 dollars. He said "excellent" Now I bought that truck just so I could pull the engine out and sell it to make some money. I called my friend Andrew Who is a Cummins fanatic up and said hey I've got a Cummins what do you want to do with it. He jokingly said "why don't you put it in the Wagoneer" I said "you think it will fit" his reply was "I was kidding, but sure why not" Then it turned into a bunch of research and let's do it.
So with that short story I bring you the Grand Wagoneer build....
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