Little Red Wagon

[eaglescout526]

And American Motors said: LET THERE BE LIGHT!!

 

 

 

 

 

Was not too bad to install. I got this done in about thirty minutes with a slight screw up. This only happened because I took the carpet out to pressure wash it. It is still dirty but a lot better. And yes there will be before and after pictures on that.

 

 

This was done around 17:03 and yes I waited till it got darker just for that picture. lol.

[eaglescout526]

As stated here is before and after on the carpet. P.S. It looks way better in the cab!

Before:

 

After:

 

30 years of dirt and other crap came out of this carpet. I honestly contemplated just buying a new carpet kit after spending about and hour and a half pressure washing it.

[Pete M]

On 5/7/2019 at 7:33 PM, eaglescout526 said:

And she is done!

 

 

 

like stepping back in time  

[eaglescout526]

57 minutes ago, Pete M said:

 

like stepping back in time  

Aww darn. I missed a chance for a great pun. Too excited at the time. 

But it very much is a trip back. 

[eaglescout526]

Done a few things. Nothing terribly exciting.

 

 

Added a factory hood light. It's neat.

 

Went to AMC Salvage to look around. Returned with new door handles and a bunch of nameplates to practice restoring on and I have to say they came out great. Thus leading to this:

 

Before and after. I'm almost certain I got this idea from the wilderbeast Comanche build. Where ever I got it from, it is a fantastic idea! 

Not sure how to achieve that reflective lettering though.

[eaglescout526]

I think I have always been a stickler for detail. I can't just leave well enough alone at all on Little Red. So I painted some screws!

Now I'm not sure how detailed our trucks were when they left the factory but I can't help to feel that maybe the screws that held the door handles in place were black at one point. can't confirm that. So the screws got painted black to "blend" in more. It was at this point I realized the handle buckets are faded and no longer black like they used to be(thanks AZ sun).  So I replaced 5 of the six screws (left one for an example)with ones I painted from new handle assemblies I got from AMC salvage to replace my worn out handles. I like the black screws. Hides the fact that the handles are held in by screws from afar. 

Here's the old ones for comparison:

I also detailed the vents(I can get a picture later) back to factory silver. I noticed more trucks that have the chrome trim dash bezels also have the chrome/silver trim painted on the vents. I'm sure the AZ heat and sun obliterated the paint, but I found faint traces of the silver paint so score!

[Minuit]

Welp, guess I'm going to paint my door handle screws now.

[eaglescout526]

2 hours ago, Minuit said:

Welp, guess I'm going to paint my door handle screws now.

Lol. It’s worth it. I cleaned them up with vinegar. Then used primer(optional) with flat black. 

[eaglescout526]

 

Well I got something done that has been needing to be done for over a decade:

 

These look beautiful. The upholstery shop that I gave these to did a marvelous job. They basically made me new visors. And all this for 50 dollars. I am pleased

 

Side note #1, The slave cylinder failed me today. Time to bring Little Red down and get to work.(Done. Started at 18:00 and finished before 22:30.)

Side note #2,

Snagged a take off set of JK suspension from work. I saw the write up for them and I'm gonna make free work for me.

[Pete M]

15 minutes ago, eaglescout526 said:

Snagged a take off set of JK suspension from work. I saw the write up for them and I'm gonna make free work for me.

 

keep us posted on how the rears work out.  

[eaglescout526]

Just now, Pete M said:

 

keep us posted on how the rears work out.  

Will do! I just had the metal sleeves pressed out today so we will see what happens.

[eaglescout526]

Well after one hell of a day at work and all that jazz I decided to go out and replace the rear shocks. I think a week of owning these things is enough prep time to install the shocks. As per the DIY of installing the JK shocks, you do absolutely have to replace the top rear bushing. Good thing my skyjacker shocks happened to have those exact bushings still in good shape. So they got swapped and are now installed. I'll get a picture tomorrow when the oven light turns back on.

[eaglescout526]

Drivers and passenger:

[eaglescout526]

Aaaaaaaannnnd the fronts are done with ease.

 

No need for a bar pin eliminator. Just a good ole socket and some sort of press(or clamp) and grease and it went in like butter. 

(passenger side looks the same, no need for that pic.)

[Red Mistress]

Bonus... Shocks match the truck.

 

Also like interior trim silver paint detail.

 

 

[eaglescout526]

21 minutes ago, Red Mistress said:

Bonus... Shocks match the truck.

 

Also like interior trim silver paint detail.

 

 

They do indeed! They look good and ride pretty good. Ain’t no Wagoneer but I’ll take it for the nice ride on the street. 

Thanks! That reminds me, I need to post all the restored paint details I did to the vents and the new dash bezel I got. Nice part was that the paint chipped easy, so messing up slightly was no big deal. 

[eaglescout526]

I’ve been meaning to post these since I have done them. I successfully restored all the silver on the vent trim using some Chrysler touch up paint. The paint chips easy so making mistakes wasn’t a big of a deal. Now time to show off my hard work on that.

 

 

I recently restored a dash bezel using the same method that will go in along with a factory radio at some point. 

[Red Mistress]

That looks fantastic, I plan on doing my silver trim.

 

Did you use a hard tipped artist brush, toothpick or paint pen marker to apply ?

[eaglescout526]

26 minutes ago, Red Mistress said:

That looks fantastic, I plan on doing my silver trim.

 

Did you use a hard tipped artist brush, toothpick or paint pen marker to apply ?

I used a touch up paint pen from Chrysler. Color I used was PS2(silver). I just used the paint brush on the pen itself. The brush is soft but if you mess up don’t worry about trying to remove the mess, just let it dry and if you take a small pick or flat head you can just chip away the excess. 

[Minuit]

Dang, I'm gonna have to do that. And the chrome on the dash bezel on the '89 too.

[eaglescout526]

Went to heber today to visit my girlfriend at the camp she works. 

 

Look who decided to tag along and prove she can get up here.

 

She made the trek. I don't know how some of y’all do it but I can not stand to be inside for that long struggling to go up hills and not have AC(yet) while worried out of your mind on a drive like that. But she did it and I’m proud 

[eaglescout526]

Well. After Friday evenings trek and Saturday afternoons trek home, I did an inspection and everything is in great shape. No loss of fluids anywhere of any kind, I am impressed of what little red can do. She desperately needs AC before I go do anything like that again. Otherwise the trip wasn’t too bad, climbing hills though is not fun. 

I keep looking at RPM and gear ratio calculators with the current tire size I have, but I almost believe they are all wrong. Unless I truly don’t have 4.11 rear end, but this truck is mostly untouched and unmolested as far what she left the factory with. Which could bring me to a possible replacement of bearings and such in all the axles if they are indeed slowing down and increasing the work load. Brakes are fine so those are out as a possible hold up. 

2.5L with 4.11 gear and AX5 at 65 for me in fifth gear is turning roughly around 3000RPM. And the REM shows me that my tach is accurate and google maps shows me speedo is accurate.  So I’m quite unsure but I’ll do some research. (Upon further research it seems a lot of the 5th gear ratios are based on what the AX15 has and not what the 5 has. So after using a quick calculator already set up for such and using the fifth ratio of the 5, my RPMs are accurate. Won’t need to do anything about the matter now) 

 

here's what to expect in the future after this past trek:

AC, Factory radio, Tow hooks, Rear bumper replacement, Lighted sun visor/vanity mirror, Tightening of the gear box, Hunting down the last of suspension vibrations(possible front spring replacement). 

Possible ideas for the future:

factory style fog lights, Renix metal front license plate bracket, Replacement of bearings in axles. 

Edited July 14, 2019 by eaglescout526

[eaglescout526]

like Christmas! 

 

I can see why the owner got rid of this engine. A dreaded fram filter. This shall be fun.

Also that valve cover is the same hard plastic Chrysler uses. So why do our replacement ones suck? China. 

Oh and stay tuned for AC

[89 MJ]

[eaglescout526]

Oh god. I’ve only had the crate for a week now and these parts are just soaked and caked in gunk. I don't know what the owner had happen to everything but dang. I spent thirty minutes pressure washing the crap of the trans. I think it is an AX4. Won’t shift into fifth so it could not have a fifth. Every other gear is fine.

 

AC bracketry and all the bolts and stuff took me a few days to soak and clean. Got fed up and pressure washed all those parts and hoses from the thirty years of crap. I swear my engine was not as gross as all these parts when I got Little Red. Now I just gotta look at the parts diagrams and figure out which bolt goes where. 

 

Scored a Renix CPS out of this. Cleaned it up and let it soaked in the mix I made with the other parts and installed it on a gamble and sure enough she fired right up. Awesome. Another original sensor. 

 

I still have to buy a good chunk of new stuff for the system. Probably will gamble on the original hoses. 

 

Here's what to expect to see;

clean parts to be restored. New parts to be acquired. And within a month or so should come the install of everything under the hood. 

Ill post a bunch of before and after pics of everything that I have chosen to be cleaned and restored.