Builds Project Woody (1 Viewer)

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Waggoner5

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Sep 22, 2003
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Location
San Clemente, CA
This is the 3rd one of these I have owned and the first one to really go under the knife. This ones an 1989 that I bought with the majority of the body refinished and the interior randomly refinished as well. My plan was to finish the restoration, then modify to my taste with lift, electronics, etc to be my daily driver. It was never my intention to do this level of work to it, but the more I dug into it, the worse it was. Although the body was finished off very nice, the interior and drive train was only half assed and so it begins....The day I bought it. Arizona truck all its life with 0 corrosion.

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This first update comes from 3 months later with lots of mods done. 4" BDS springs with Hydro shocks, deleted track bars and sway bars and added 33" BFGs. This was the way it was going to stay for a while as it was my driver and I really enjoyed it, but everything leaked, it ran like a 144hp 360 V8, and got really crappy gas mileage.

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Now comes this...after deciding that garage clean up and oil trails all over it was time to fix the drive train. I researched the LS family of engines and decided to go the 430HP version and do some mods to it to get it to 450hp and still be reliable and keep overall driveability. I am using the 6L80E and the 241C transfer case with minimal adapters needed. The first was to pull the front clip in 1 piece radiator and all to make the cleanup and install much easier. The 360 drive train was very heavy but came out without any drama.

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Now the pretty part....Crate LS3 with some performance parts and some bling. I went with Camaro accessories for their compactness and easy of install. The Wagon will have ac, with cruise and Tap Shift functions working as well.

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In the process I pulled the windshield, dash, and most of the interior for new modified parts. The dash was rebuilt and modded to accept flush mount tweeters. A console was sourced that fit the 89 style, color matched and a speaker system was installed along with new head unit and amplifier. The factory 3 speed column shifter was modified with the arm and switches from a new Chevy truck with tap shift and tow mode built in. More pics coming.

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One thing led to another and with the factory aluminum bumpers off already I decided to have them chromed to backdate the look of the wagon some and give the bumpers some protection from the elements. All brackets and hitch parts were sent to powdercoating at this time as well. This truck isn't going to be wheeled so no fancy bumpers at this time.

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I would have to make the front end 60's era with the vertical grill.....

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Thought about that, but finding a nice Razor Grill is next to impossible these days. The core support is the same though so half the battle is won.
 
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So awesome..

Don't roll it.
 
Very nice, I say hold out for the razor grille, still my favorite. Beautiful looking truck already, gonna be a screamer when you get the engine swap finished.

See my sig. We have one too, but it's been on the back burner a while.
 
Engine is in and electrical and plumbing has started. The Jeep harness although greatly improved on by Chrysler in 87 is still poor engineering at its best. Electrical power for the body has to travel via way too small of wire according to the load all the way from the passenger fender to the fuse block, then get distributed back out to lighting and rest of the truck. I ran a 4ga wire from the battery to a power distribution/fuse block right at the firewall close to the bulkhead connector. This will power everything in the truck with very little voltage drop still using the Jeep fuse box as the main source. It also gives me a high current 12 source for any accessories like electric fans, audio, lighting etc. All the plumbing will be AN fittings including AC, Power steering/Hydro Boost, and transmission cooling lines.

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