89 MJ

But imagine if you had tunes out in the garage working on the Jeeps!

It’s borderline a problem

I believe it would do it! Hopefully by then my MJ will be down here too.

Thank you! I think my build thread has the specific color codes if you want to do the same colors.

Welcome to the forum! MJs make for good high school trucks. I believe the sunroof would’ve been dealer installed or aftermarket. Though they are not common.

Long ways from home

Posting here to bring more eyes to it. Saturday March 28th is the 23rd Annual AMC show in Glendale, AZ. Jeeps are welcome and @eaglescout526 and I would like to see a few more CC folks and MJs there. It is definitely worth the drive, even if you are from a few hours away. I have seen CA plates there two years ago and I know that some people drive from hours away to attend. Here's the official thread on it: So far, I know eaglescou526 will be there, likely with his MJ, XJ, and Eagle, and I will be there with my Eagle making the drive up from Tucson.

I'll be there! No MJ, but my Eagle should be there, that thing is like half Jeep at this point. I know we have a few other folks on here from the Phoenix area on here, let's get a few more MJs there! Here's a few pics from last year: And some pics from 2 years ago because I can never remember to take pics

Believe me, I thought about it. I already have a pair of grey door panels in stock or I probably would’ve grabbed them.

I’ll take the spare tire winch for that. Could you please pm me a price with shipping to 85711?

Well, I spoke to Dad last night. He has put together a list of parts that the car needs. The radiator needs to be cleaned and have the leaks fixed. Being such an unmolested car, he is going to get the original one repaired as GM had date codes and such with their factory radiators. The water pump leaks, so that needs replacing. All three brake hoses. The ones on the car are still flexible and have no cracking, but they're original and he wants to be able to drive the car safely. Brake pads, possibly wheel cylinders. Carb rebuild kit (the video above was the car running without anything done to the original carb). He plans on pulling the top off and if it looks good inside, he's just going to put an accelerator pump in it because Quadrajets can be finnicky to get perfect. Belts need replacing because they're all original. Hoses are also original, so they need replaced. Battery because it is old. Grilles need replaced because there were a semi hard rubber that has just crumbled away to nothing. Window sweeps are all petrified. Door bumpers because they original and dried up. Right power window motor doesn't work. Battery hold down is missing. Honestly, that is not a very long list for a car that has been sitting for decades. It sitting uncovered and jacked up inside a garage probably saved this car. This should be a nice driving car too. The details for the 403 are as follows: 185hp@3600 RPM, 320ft-lbs torque @2200 RPM, 4.351 x 3.385 bore/stroke, 8.0:1 compression ratio. Not a race engine, but the torque at such low RPM should make it a great driver that feels fairly quick. Behind the 403 is a GM TH350, which are great transmissions. The only notable thing here is that it has the Buick, Oldsmobile, Pontiac (BOP) bellhousing bolt pattern instead of the common Chevy bolt pattern. Behind that is a GM 8.5" 10 bolt with 2.73 gears and a limited slip. This combination should result in decent acceleration, but also keep relatively low RPMs on the highway.

Looked like a fun one!

And here’s some build sheet goodness.

Also, I forgot to add pics last night, so here they are.

It lives!

I do like the 4:10s with 31s quite a lot. In traffic, it’s hard to beat the 4:10s for the ease of launching. If I could do my truck again, I’d either go up to 33s or drop down to 3:73 gears. My truck spends a lot of time on the highway and is turning roughly 2200 at 60 mph. That said, my truck has still gotten 20 mpg running 75 mph. Personally, I don’t think a 3:55 is quite enough gear when you’re in traffic. It would be great on a freeway, but a little lacking around town.

This seems very familiar. Is this David Tracy from the Autopian? I watched the video on this truck.

Case closed, the car is a WS7. The WS6 and WS7 were special handling packages. In order for the WS7 explanation to make sense, I think I ought to explain WS6 first. In 1978, Pontiac debuted the WS6 Performance Package. This consisted of a larger diameter rear sway bar (3/4" instead of the standard 5/8"), tighter steering box gear ratio, GR70-15 raised white letter Goodyear Polysteel Radials, and the 15x8 inch snowflake wheels. In 1979, Pontiac added rear disc brakes to the WS6 Performance Package. The rear discs were also available as an option on their own with the J65 RPO code, they were not exclusive to the WS6 cars. Because the rear discs were more popular than Pontiac imagined, they actually ran out of disc brake rear ends for a brief while. Rather than halt production on the popular WS6 cars due to the lack of disc brake rear ends, Pontiac came out with the WS7 Performance Package, which was identical to the WS6 package, just with rear drum brakes instead, just like 1978 had. The WS7 was a partial year option, so it is considerably rarer than even the WS6. This is one of those cases where rare doesn't necessarily mean valuable. Because of the handling package, it is probably worth a little bit more than a regular Trans Am, but I wouldn't say that it is probably worth more than a WS6 car. Its also worth mentioning that this is GM rare, not AMC|Jeep rare. Pontiac built 48,488 Trans Ams with a 403 in 79 alone. Its probably safe to assume that there were still a few thousand WS7 cars built. More pics of the car coming tonight.

That’s the hope! All signs are pointing to yours being a WS6, which is super cool!

I’m very surprised it’s so nice. Not yet at least. He hasn’t gotten it running yet!

They are really neat. He’s planning on keeping it for a while at least. Should make for a decent cruiser. Yeah, we do have a collecting problem. It’s a really nice car from the pics I’ve seen.

I swear @eaglescout526 and I don’t deliberately copy each other. My Dad was offered this car from the bus driver that my brother and I had through school for a price he could not pass up. What we know now: The PO bought the car in 1980. It has somewhere around 31k actual miles. The car has been sitting for at least 20 years. It has a 403, automatic, limited slip rear, rear drum brakes, AC, tilt column, cruise control, power windows, power locks, and the Body by Fisher T-Tops (the Smokey and the Bandit cars had the Hurst T-Tops). The car did get painted sometime in the very early 80s due to hail damage. Cowl tag decode: The A in the trim tag means it was built the first week of the month, but I can’t read the month which is the character before that. 2FS87 is Pontiac Firebird 2 door coupe N is the Norwood, OH plant 196129 is the Fisher body number Based on the pictures and seeing the N on the far left of the tag right above the screw, I believe the interior is 12N Oyster Vinyl 15L is Platinum poly on the lower body 15U is Platinum poly on the upper body L is lacquer based paint A51 bucket seats CC1 is removable hatch roof A31 power windows WS4 just means trans am Not sure what GR2 is Now here’s the weird part about the car: It has the 15x8 snowflake wheels that were typically reserved for the WS6 special handling package cars. Because this car has rear drums, we know it is not a WS6. It turns out that there was a WS7 package that was nearly the same as the WS6, but it had drum brakes. Could this be one of the very rare WS7 cars? The build sheet and diameter of the rear sway bar will tell us more, but that will have to wait for a little while. What it needs: It has old paint and sat uncovered in a garage (which likely saved it), but it needs buffed The radiator leaks The exhaust system needs replacing Likely some metal brake lines and all of the rubber ones New rubber vacuum and fuel lines Its safe to assume it’ll have a few leaks that need fixing Pics from inside the PO’s garage: Loading it up: In the trailer:

You’ll lose some departure angle too. I’d carry a plug kit and a little battery air compressor for daily driving and strap a spare in the bed for roadtrips and wheeling.

Ok, that’s actually pretty awesome