She's really coming together, looks so much better being a little taller!

AZCA jeeper wrote:She's really coming together, looks so much better being a little taller!

Yeah. Loving the stance now. Funny what a big different a little lift and bigger tires can make.

That turned out awesome.

Well, it's been six (eventful) months since my last update, so I'm sorry for all the threads, but there was a lot of activity, then no activity. LOL.

--- Dec 2015 ---

Next on the list after the lift, was body work. My goal was to strip it, paint it, and get the new wood trim on prior to King of the Hammers.

Step one: Removing the 30 year old vinyl. Here was the condition I started in:




I started out using an erasure tool from my friend Jimmy. Tedious, but effective.







For the most part, no surprises. There was a tiny bit of surface rust just under where the trim was on some panels, but nothing cancerous...




That is... until I found the frickin' BONDO. I was really disappointed, but there was a ton of bondo on both front quarter panels. Evidently, there is more to the story of this vehicle the seller told me. :-/




Part of the tear down for paint was to remove all the chrome and trim pieces. Fairly easy and no surprises under stuff. Yay!













So, with all the vinyl removed, I took it (like it is below) to a local chain paint store the had quoted me a great rate with a "special" going on. Well, long story short... they are crooks. I showed up to drop the Waggy off and the price was TRIPLE what they had quoted me on the phone. Dirty rotten bastards. I will not be ever working with them again. I should have stuck with my original plan (and paid the money that was well worth it) and have my friend Geoff (outstanding paint and body man) do the work.




Long story short, I had run out of time if I was going to get the Waggy white with new wood in time for KOH... so I decided that the next step was to just strip it down myself, primer it, and get go to KOH with a bit of "character". It was NOT worth it to rush the paint simply for KOH. This is a longer term restoration, so better to do things in stages than to rush it.

Since the plan had now evolved, I headed over to Daniel's house (on Bob's work day for his Cherokee Chief), and we stripped it even more and applied the primer. Again, the goal was simply to protect the bare metal and get ready for King of the Hammers.

Stripped and taped up:







Post primer and on the trailer. STOKED, actually, with how it turned out. Not a "final product", but pretty cool for KOH.




Once I got home, I also completely undercoated the whole thing with rattle can undercoat. This is what I used.




So... over the last couple of years (actually, my whole life), I've dealt with short jokes. They kinda became a "think" once I started doing more photography at races and was everything from the "shutter hobbit" to the "rock gnome". After a few laughs and some gifts (like a lot of garden gnomes), I finally just owned it and accepted the fact. LOL. Hence, the Waggy has been named "Gnome 1".










AND... to top it all off, my official Welsh garden gnome from Wales is the new dash ornament/mascot:




After all this work, I had to drive her to church. Very happy with the lift, the tires, the ride, and the car. Next steps: continue KOH prep.

In prepping for KOH, I wanted to build something that would protect and hide my camera gear as well as transform into a sleeping deck once the middle seat was folded forward.

While not fancy, this worked great for KOH. I simply built a frame with a removable top. Final version had TWO sheets of plywood on top. When I folded the middle seat forward, the top sheet of plywood slides forward and creates a sleeping deck that I put my air mattress and sleeping bag on. Gear still stores beneath. Best part? It's all removable for when I'm not on trips. Again, not fancy, but functional. I used some left over headliner material to cover the top of the thing so it matches. Not seen in these photos, but I pulled it tight and clued it down, so when everything is buttoned up, it looks like factor cover in the back, just slightly lower so I can put things on the top and the back of the seat keeps them from sliding forward. Very useful at KOH.

If you've ever been to Johnson Valley or Baja, you know it gets dark FAST in the middle of nowhere. I mounted a 20" LED light bar on the front bumper. Obviously, I'm not going fast in a Waggy, so having good visibility in front of the vehicle down low was most important to me (hence the bumper mount instead of a roof mount decision). The light and mount are removable and have a quick disconnect, so when I'm not out in the desert I can maintain a factory look.










Again, with an eye toward portability and keeping the Waggy factory as much as possible, I opted to make a "center console" - again, just functional for KOH, I plan to do a better center console long term, but same concept applies - that would hold my Rugged Radio race radio, as well as house the switch for the LED light bar. Also... um, no cup holder, so I wanted a place to put my Monster. haha.

Everything quick disconnects behind the center console, so the entire assembly can be easily removed with no permeant evidence on the Waggy, yet the wires are neatly tucked away for quick assembly when needed.











Now, this may sound goofy, but as I kept looking at the Waggy with the grey primer and the white top, all I could think of was an old timey delivery vehicle - like an old milk truck or something. Those things always had the company name on the side. My media and marketing company is named White Collar Publishing, so my friend Michael D'Avy - who also designed the logo, is a graphic artist, and owns a print shop - crated some vinyl for the side of the truck. Armchair Crisis Design to the rescue!










Finally, I had done everything I had time to do and it was time to load and head off to Johnson Valley for the King of the Hammers 2016 week. We had lift, 33's, lights, radio, sleeping arrangement, new headliner, and sweet hand painted center caps... despite the paint and wood not being complete, I felt great about the progress on the Waggy. It was running great and we were off to the great wide open for an adventure!

King of the Hammers in Johnson Valley was a BLAST. The Waggy hauled all the gear and often times up to four full grown men all over the desert.









Bouncing through parts of the desert, however, I did have rubbing issues. We did simply, non-invasive fixes to get through the week. The permanent answer is a body lift, which did arrive this week and will be installed in the next week or so. Here is Jay threatening to SawzAll the Waggy, but then doing modifications with a trusty hammer.







Now.

I know what you're saying to yourself...

"This whole build has been entirely too easy... I mean, it's a WAGONER for crying out loud! Where's the anger? Where's the frustration? Where the...

.... FIRE!"

yep. Fire. Thank goodness for Shawn Smith and his quick thinking. Something in the electrical (imaging that... a Waggy with an electrical issue) caught fire. Thanks to Shawn's quick thinking (I was away shooting race photos but Shawn saw it in the parking lot on Chocolate Thunder), the whole thing didn't burn down... but it was nasty, that's for sure.

More fire damage...










So... after the fire, the next issue was how to get her home. We were able to roll her downhill and tug her onto Bob's trailer (my truck was 2WD and couldn't get back to where it was left), then we had to figure out how to move it between trailers... gravity is our friend. We set up a suspect bridge system, then just rolled her downhill from Bob's trailer to mine.










Even on the trailer, our HG4x4 found time to camp and have a great time out in JV.




So far, I have replaced the master cylinder so that I could have brakes...




I also realized I am NOT a electrical guy, so I connected with my friend Shawn Hurst - an electrical genius - ordered a full wiring kit from the block back from BJ's, and made arrangement to send the truck to Shawn's for a complete re-wire.







and that's where she stands as of today. Wiring kit is in, she's being re-wired, and should be home soon.

Next up (order and/or arrived already):

Body Lift (2" BJ's) to eliminate the tire rub
New gearing from Yukon Gear and Axle for the 33's
Front selectable locker
Solid axles shafts for the rear
Locking front hubs to eliminate the vacuum system
Fix the additional fire damage
Begin the fall body work cycle to get ready for real paint and the wood!

Now, you too are up to speed as of July 1st, 2016.

I'm sure there will be more updates as the year continue.

Wow. I heard the full fire story. That's crazy, can't wait to see it running again. I'm around the corner whoever you need a hand.

I wish I could say I've been behind in updating this thread, but I'm not. It's just been sitting for month.

Finally decided to go with an HEI conversion since we've been having so many issues sourcing parts for the Waggy. With the conversion we can use the Painless harness I ordered and move forward.

Brandon Green (mechanic at LetzRoll) is now doing the work as Shawn as passed on it.

Old stuffs...




Out with the old...




All the old dash wiring pulled and labeled in case it's needed in the future.




In with the new...







Vacuum hose work up next after wiring. POSSIBLE carb conversation to a Holley.

Any updates on this? It gonna make it to Moab?

While it could/should make it to Moab, I will more than likely be in the FJ with the family. Wiring is almost done, then on to the vacuum hoses, etc... and we'll see.

21 months of bullshit.

That is all.

LS Sawp.

That is all.

Avis wrote:LS Sawp.

That is all.

Like we didn't just chat about that for the last 30 minutes via text... haha.

Thank you for going by this week and checking the actual status. I'll continue my research as well.

big shout out to Daniel for swinging by and taking stock of the situation yesterday...

... evidently 12 months with Brandon gets you a pile of old wires in the back, a rats nest in the floor board, and plugging in the HEI conversion and plug wires.

Operation "Take Back Possession" is underway. After TBP is completed, I'll make plans for next steps. Operation "LS Swap" is on the table, but I really need to find out the condition of the rats nest first. If it's as bad of a cluster as it looks, operation "Send Daniel a Signed Title" might come into play.

So bad... That's just wrong on so many levels.

Tattoo 'em and leave 'em.

Pick up is scheduled for Saturday morning. Thanks Daniel!