1973 Wagoneer - Full Size Camping Goodness

Zeep

Adventurer
Great to see old iron like yours on the road. FSJ's are getting pretty rare up here in the rust belt. I'm always just "enjoying the moment", and never think to pick up my camera.
So, I really enjoy all the pictures.
Being St.Louis born and bred, I'm a Bud man myself, when on the cheap.

Cheers!
 

Dr. Marneaus

Station Wagoneer
Well, I havent been doing too too much in the way of work, just driving the thing on weekends and trying to avoid screwing anything else up.

So, a few weeks ago we made a repeat of that trip. I took my woman, her parents, and brother camping. Her sister joined us for the day.

Truck exhibited the same issues with the altitude and puttering out near the top of the hill. Same exact thing, pulled over, let it sit for about 1 minute, checked fuel and carb, neither were hot so it aint a vapor lock issue, and then got back on the road going slow. Never died or anything, just wouldnt pull for crap.

Recently I tuned the carb, 1.5 stages lean in both power and cruise, I plan to drive up the mountain and see if that helps because It was likely running very rich in its stock configuration. I also started chasing leaks because my HOA is getting on me about a drip pan i keep under the truck. Replaced the oil pump seal, and in the process discovered what happens when you install your distributor 180* off......BANG. worlds loudest backfire.

also in the process of getting quotes and info on interior work. my headliner is getting worse and worse by the day, only quote so far was $600, kind of hard to stomach. Also want to do the front bench seat and I will do carpet on my own.



But anyway, here, this is a video i made from the camping trip, this one is a little special....something interesting happened.

 

beags86

Adventurer
Congrats man! I asked my wife to marry me on a mt top too. The only way to do it I think. Getting married has been the single best thing I have ever done in my life. Enjoy the ride my friend.
 

Dr. Marneaus

Station Wagoneer
Thanks again guys.

The first artist is Mark Knopfler (front man from Dire Straits) and the song is Border Reiver. I like it, its about a trucker in the UK in the 60's who drives an Albion Reiver (trucks built in scotland known for their reliability "sure as the sunrise" was their motto...unlike FSJ's lol)

Second would be Shovels and Rope, performing 'Birmingham'

Lastly we had The Band, performing 'Atlantic City' which got cut short.
 

Dr. Marneaus

Station Wagoneer
Pretty sure it's not vapor lock in any way shape or form.

I have an electric fuel pump to that's one big thing that helps. Also I have routed the gas lines up the firewall away from any heat sources.

On this trip when I started having issues I pulled over. I put my hand on the (secondary) glass fuel filter that is on the firewall and it was ambient temp. I wouldn't say it was cool considering it was like 90 outside but it didn't even feel warm and by no means hot. Felt no different than touching any other part of the jeep's body.

I also put my hand on the base of the carburetor. The carb was also ambient temp. Not hot at all. It's got a big phenolic spacer under it.

I'm thinking its a combination of the carb running too rich, altitude, and regular 87 octane gas. I have had similar issues in the past at altitude.

I re-jetted the carb so it's running more lean in power and cruise mode. I will see if that makes any difference. I also reset the timing last week when I had to prime my oil pump so we will see how she runs. Been driving fine around town but haven't had the chance to take any longer trips with it. Will be doing a 200 mile round trip in a few weeks
 

rxinhed

Dirt Guy
Our old 401-powered Cherokee had a habit of retarding the timing, until I found that the distributor mount had been over-tightened and didn't seat properly. I drove that around the SoCal mountains once, didn't like elevations over 6000 ft. My Ramcharger does not seem to care, the Rochester just seems to plug along on the 87 juice. Your secondaries open on grades?
 

Dr. Marneaus

Station Wagoneer
I have no idea when the secondaries open. Vacuum controled and I can't tell when they kick in because its seamless. I would assume that when headed up the mountain under heavy load vacuum would pull open the butterfly valves and is be running 4 barrels but again I have never tested to see if they open or under what conditions they open. Perhaps they were and were contributing to a rich condition?

When I would step on the gas the truck would grumble and stumble and cough and pump out some super nasty fumes. Didn't smell like raw gas though.

I would be interested to drive the truck up the same hill in the near future now that I leaned it out a bit.
 

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