ProTouring Wagoneer?

[fleetus macmullitz]

Seems very well thought out.

[57hemicuda]

I do love these old trucks, they were run for quite a few years without much change. Did a J10 with a small block Chrysler conversion about 10 years ago, was one of my favorite trucks.

[ProTouring442]

Well, the weather has not cooperated. Still, I had to get something done...

First up, mirrors.

A bit of looking turned up a mirror head I liked, so I bought a couple off the dreaded Ebay. They are from a '91-'97 Toyota Previa.

At first, I had planned on making a spacer to adapt them. But after some thought and a bit of guessuring, I decided I could install the mirror head on the original base. Of course, if I was wrong, the attempt would lead to the destruction of both pieces, but when has anything like that stopped me?

The result.




I don't think they turned out too badly. The transition between the new and old is a little obvious, but I have an idea to fix that. Of course, I will also be painting the base to match the mirror head.




Since the humidity made even a small job like the conversion of one mirror a way to sweaty endeavor, I decided I should do something inside where it is air conditioned. So I will be sitting down shortly to design the new dash layout.

Here are the gauges I will be using.


They are made by Speehut. They have LED lighting, and are built to order (about a week). You can customize their look too! These have red pointers and white numbers during the day, and red pointers with red numbers at night. The speedometer and tachometer are CAN-BUS, and derive their information from the ECM. The quad gauge is not yet available in CAN-BUS, so it will require individual sending units.

The speedometer.


Tachometer.


Quad gauge with oil pressure, coolant temperature, system voltage, and fuel level. The fuel level gauge can be used with any sending unit that works in any range below 300 ohms. I had them preset mine to work with the Suburban sending unit. All the gauges feature an LED warning light that can be set to your specs.


A slow day, but at least I accomplished something!

'Till next time!

[ProTouring442]

We have more progress!

Here is the radiator "module" all put together. I'm using a Lincoln Mark VIII two-speed fan (moves something like 4,500 cfm on high!), along with a triple-pass A/C condenser and a 30,000 gvw transmission cooler.



Here you can see the outer side. The transmission cooler has its own fan, and I will run the oil through a thermostat to ensure the oil reaches operating temperature quickly, even in cold weather.

H

The radiator "module" has been bolted in place. The assembly sits a lot further forward than original!



As you can see, there is not a lot of clearance between the fan and the water pump! You can also see how much further forward it all sits.



I had to modify the hood release bar, raising it to clear the radiator. Here you can see I had to shorten the pull lever. I'll use a Lokar hood release lever to release the hood. It will give me more leverage than the original.



Driver's side latch. You can see how much I raised the cross bar.



Passenger's side.



Marked the front valance so I could cut it to clear the radiator assembly.



Once the valance was cut, it bolted on with no difficulty, as did the grill.



I bought an early style hood, but wanted to use my late style grill. As you know, the hood hits the grill at the corners of the "scoop" section. A little cutting and a little hammer and dolly work, and it fits pretty well. I also think the center section of the hood is more squared off than the early style, making the "scoop" section seem taller and more defined.



The straps in the picture above are to hold the shelter down in wind. My calls them "Jeep Bondage." :shock:

That's all for now. My FI harness, cruise control, and remote start module arrived today. Tomorrow I hope to get the front valance finished (trimming to fit around the new radiator/condenser/trans cooler), and maybe install the harness. Naturally, pics to follow.

[Ron in SoCal]

Looking good Bill!

[Rick D]

Keep going Bill!! Looks great.

[ProTouring442]

Worked on laying out the dash. The center stack will hold a Stereo/cd player with navigation, a scanner, the A/C controls, and a CB. I need to extend the wires between the chassis and the face of the CB, so I can remotely mount the chassis as it is too long to simply mount.



In front of the driver there will be three gauges, a speedometer and tachometer that will operate of the '08 ecm, and a quad gauge that will use sending units mounted on the engine. The dash pad and vertical sides of the center stack will be covered in black vinyl. The dash fascia will be covered in brushed aluminum.



This is where and how I will mount the airbox. I need an elbow to come out of the box and pull air from in front of the core support. Once I get everything mounted, I'll cover the hole in the inner fender with fiberglass.



I made a heat blanket to protect the bottom of the evaporator case from the heat off the exhaust manifold. The manifold already has a heat shield as well, so the evaporator case should stay reasonably cool.



Until next time!