FUEL INJECTED, ONLY 50,443 miles, new partial restoration, just paint and ride!

Jeep Wagoneer 1989 Description

Distress sale! Not really.... but I'm honestly tired of it, I started a new job, and I really need to work and have my plate "clean" for a while. I intended on finishing a full frame on restoration, but I have yet to have it painted, and the interior is still mostly dismantled. I could snap the interior back together in 1/2 a day, but that seems silly to do so, since it most people will take it back apart to paint (the door handles need to be removed when it is painted). EVERYTHING is there, all of the nuts/bolts/clips are categorized into zip lock bags and labeled. It should be semi-idiot proof to find everything. Same story with the bumpers. The window felts still need to be replaced, and I have not purchased those yet.

I do have both a CARFAX and and AutoCheck, they both show 18,000 miles in 1990, and just registration renewals other than that. There is a gap due to no registration renewals from 2008 until 2015. I am completely confident that this vehicle's mileage is accurate, it's tight, there's little wear.

I purchased this vehicle from a friend who had owned it since 2009. He had bought it from the original owner, which from what I understand is an older guy. The original owner’s house is only a mile or two from mine…. He had 4 garages, I feel sure it spent most of its life in one of them. The second owner’s intentions were to take it to his mountain house, but after the typical carburetor/older vehicle woes, he ended up using another vehicle that he already had. He occasionally drove it around town and on weekends, but it eventually ended up siting by the edge of his driveway in partial shade for 3-4 years. I bought it in October of 2015 with intentions of fully restoring it, I’m sort of a perfectionist, and I went a little overboard on the portions of the restoration that I completed.

Engine:

I siphoned all of the old gas out, cleaned the fuel lines, and drove it around the neighborhood. It ran about like most of the carburetor vehicles on the road, and instead of wasting money on carburetor rebuilds/emission system component replacement, etc, I opted to rid the vehicle of all of that stuff, and installed a complete Howell fuel injection TBI system. It was a by the book install, the oxygen sensor was professionally installed in the exhaust down pipe, and all new vacuum hoses(routing per Howell specifications) were used. I also replaced one of the exhaust manifolds, and used threaded plugs to cap the air injection ports in both manifolds. I removed the rest of the problematic/space taking air injection system, the removal is legal in most states due to the use of the upgraded FI system. The EGR valve, PCV valve, and CTO valve are also new.

At that point, I was able to assess the engine condition. One or two of the lifters were making a ticking sound. I have owned a few of these before… and have found one more than one occasion that these tend to have sticky oil pressure relief valves. So I attempted to check/clean the oil pressure relief valve. I found that one of the oil pump gears (the one with the shaft) was stuck, it would not come out of the timing cover. Therefore I dove in and replaced the oil pump, water pump, thermostat, timing cover, timing gears/chain, and camshaft and lifters. I used quality OEM parts, and of course all new gaskets. At the same time, ALL new coolant/heater hoses, belts, and valve cover gaskets.

I decided to go with an HEI distributor system… it has a much hotter spark, and takes the place of many old components, with just one reliable new component.

Only ~50,000 miles, so nothing major needed to be replaced. I physically removed both the front and rear axle housing assemblies, since it had lots of grime, surface rust, and all needed to be repainted. I used all new u-bolts, and I added ¾” to the rear springs to get rid of that saggy butt look that most of these have. That will not negatively affect the ride quality or the performance. That also gave me the opportunity to inspect the ball joints and steering components separately, to insure that everything was satisfactory and safe. Everything was painted separately, reassembled and torqued back to manufacturer’s specifications. I did have the transmission professionally serviced, consisting of a fluid change AND new filter.

Brakes:

ALL flexible brake lines were replaced, front pads, front rotors, rear shoes, rear wheel cylinders, rear springs (install kit), and the brakes now work perfectly.

Miscellaneous mechanical:

The front wheel bearings were like new, so I only cleaned and re-packed. I of course replaced the front wheel bearing seals. All of the original u-joints are tight, and were re-greased.

Interior:

There were no rips or excessive wear on the carpet, seats, headliner, etc. It was musty from siting under trees, and it had the usual used vehicle dirt on the carpets. It is no longer musty, and the interior just needs to be reassembled. THE CARPET IN THE CARGO AREA DOES NEED TO BE REPLACED, I threw it away becuase of some stains. The front and rear are perfect. The mats are surprisingly almost perfect. Both power seats work as they should. The headliner is perfect, but the "board" that it connect to does have a touch of sag, but I wouldn't touch it, it should be good for another 20 years.

Body:

It had ZERO rust! It had been undercoated when it was new, and most of that is still present. The undercoating on the frame was cracked, stained, and looked bad, so I removed most of it and primed/painted the frame(update, I only did the portions of the frame basically between the leaf springs, when I had all of that out). The fender wells and underneath of the body are just 27 year old well preserved paint/undercoated. The vehicle received a cheap re-spray when my friend bought it in 2009 it… and it faded pretty quickly.

Woodgrain:

Most of it is above average, but there's some peeling spots on the back, and on the driver's side. the woodgrain on the rear air dam is basically gone.

AC: ? I removed the condenser to replace the cam, and the condenser will need to be reinstalled. I was going to wait until the very end of the restoration to do that.

Stereo: It came with an aftermarket, but I removed it. I do have an original that was operable a couple of years ago when I took it out of the 1987 that I had.

Tires: Were installed last week, brand new stock sized Coopers.

Miscellaneous:

I have all of the washer reservoirs, air intake duct, the metal duct that goes from the manifold to the air filter housing, the dash bezel, etc.... no problems. I also have 4 new side marker lenses and bezels. All of the parts are there to make this vehicle complete, except for the window felts, door handle gaskets, and probably the roof rack gaskets.

I have an original AMC Jeep hitch receiver that just needs to be re-installed. It has a 7 pin O.E. connector that is still on the vehicle.

I have the spare tire (new, but old) and mounting hardware.

Problems:

Back window isn't operable, I haven't spent much time trouble-shooting it.

Driver's side window flex channel is broken

All other windows work, and semi-slow... would probably be best to completely disassemble and lubricate.

Door lock actuators work OK, could probably use some time/lubrication

Interior "dome" lights don't come on with the door, but they come on when the vehicle is started... and are on the whole time you're driving.

The muffler is a little loose, and I had to cut some of the tail-pipe off to remove the rear leaf spring. It really needs new exhaust from the converter back.

I don't know why the panel underneath the carpet in the back looks like it has water damage, the vehicle doesn't leak a drop.

These vehicles are becoming more and more desirable…. But most of them have the woes of being carbureted/plagued with archaic emission systems, and just no fun to drive. Stalling at a stoplight is no fun… this one starts perfectly regardless of the temperature, gets better gas mileage than a carbureted one would, and should be relatively trouble free for years. There has been a few thousand dollars’ worth of preventative work down to this one, that most have not had. Plus, I doubt you’ll be able to find one that look as new underneath as this one does.

I realize that this listing is a little quirky in nature... please fill free to ask any questions you would like, I typically respond quickly.

If this listing doesn't sell... I'm going to chip away at finishing the restoration (even though it's taking up my only usable garage spot), and I'll sell it after it's 100% finished.

On Jun-29-16 at 18:51:08 PDT, seller added the following information:

I mentioned that the "window felts" need to be replaced, but those are really OK. What I was referring to are the felt/wiper things that are on the exterior of the 4 windows, that needed to be removed for paint preparation. The interior ones could be replaced too. A set of 4 inner and outer cost less than $150. Also, I purposely took a picture of the rear portion of the engine, there is a trace of oil there, but it has not been enough to run back to the transmission pan, or to drip any on the ground.

On Jun-29-16 at 19:41:49 PDT, seller added the following information:

GRAND WAGONEER ..... Just so it will show up correctly in eBay's search engine.