Mechanical_misfit

Nice work, and it looks pretty good! I would so rock a mustache bumper like that. I'm sure all the ladies wanted to go for a mustache ride!

Thanks man, maybe some day it will be as nice as yours! I've been driving this thing daily still. It's way better on gas than my `93 Olds 88. the 3.8L drinks way more fuel than the 1.8L This fox hates the rain. I wish I had a garage.

Dude, that is the most rad wagon I've ever seen! Welcome to USMB haha! My roommate said he has seen your car. He is from the Hilo area

Well, today is going to be the first major day of wrenching on this thing. I think she managed to flood it out somehow, so looks like I'll be spending some time fighting with that. Time for new: Air filter plugs wires cap and rotor various vacuum lines and some sea foam!

This thing is looking great! Nice fix on the fender, I would have done the same. I wish I had a garage! I'm imagining a kegerator with a dual range tap handle. One day haha!

Dude, that engine bay is looking sick!

Hah, I think we'll leave the AMC plate on there. It looks cool, and from what I've been reading Jeep was still under AMC ownership in `86, so we technically have an AMC here. Here's to hoping the V6 will work out. I've done some reading on the 4.0L swap, and as far as I can tell its a big job to swap between the two. The fire wall in the V6 jeeps is different and from what I have been reading it looks like it takes a lot to make the 4.0L fit. I did read that more than a few of the 2.8s were swapped for the GM 3.4L in the S10 trucks, which is a fairly easy swap. Either way, I hope I don't have to get quite that far in to this thing. Its main goal will be a safe and reliable daily driver, with little to no intentions of going off road. It might not sound fun, but if we were to go off roading, we would take The Desert Fox anyways. Hopefully she was able to get it plated today so it can be driven around a bit more, and we can start finding all of its little issues that will need sorted out.

After searching for about a week I was able to find what looks like a solid, safe, and practical daily driver for my friend Rachelle. I was looking around for a Subaru wagon, but nothing was coming up in her price range that didn't need a ton of work. Here is what we found. It's an `86 Jeep Wagoneer limited. 122k miles and still running fairly well. It came with all of the previous owners maintenance records. It does have a little bit of rust in the rockers and on the bottoms of the doors, but the rest of the paint is in great shape, and after waxing it today It cleaned up nicely. The red leather interior is mint, and complete with wood trim and power seats. So far it looks pretty good, and drives even better. It is a bit on the slow side. It has the lovely GM 2.8L V6 with a carb. I've only worked on ones with the 4.0L, and its easy to see why they did away with the V6. So far it seems to run fine, but maybe a little bit on the rich side when warmed up. I have yet to give it a proper tune up, but that will be happening this week. Any advice out there for these carbs? I will also be replacing the shocks all around. We ended up getting it for $850, talked the owner down from $1100. It's hard to find a decent driving 4x4 around here for under around $1500. He seemed like a very honest guy and wanted to make sure we knew what we were getting in to. Rachelle loves it, and I really like it too. It sure does look cool, but hopefully it won't take too much to get it in fighting shape.

Double post haha

I love this car! I wish I could find one that was 4x4! Or find a serviceable one to do the swap. Seriously though, that thing is sweet!

That grill looks great bud! Any pics of it installed? Edit: wait, I saw it a few posts back. It looks awesome!

So at this point it only seemed logical that I pulled the trigger on Pooparu's Desert Fox reproduction decals. and that pretty much gets this thread completed to this point. I still have tons of work to do, but I'm having a blast building and driving it. I'm also having a good time spending a little time here on the forum. There is so much useful info here, and so many great people as well. Thanks goes out to everyone who has helped put it together this far, and to everyone who has read my ramblings here.

at this point, I was still working at Silver Lake State Park. They have a large ORV scramble area there. I was having a good time after my shift taking the wagon out there and showing the big trucks how its done. and even had fun running around with several other subies.

The front seats were toast when I got it, so I went for the ford escort seat swap. I was able to find some that matched the color of my interior at a junkyard, for $25! :cool: If your old ea81 has seats that are as worn as mine were, and you want an easy solution, go this route. I used front seats from a `97 escort wagon, would have liked some from a GT, but couldn't find ones that would match. use your stock ea81 seat rails, and oval out the rear holes about an 1/8 inch. Then simply install them on to the escort seats. They fit great and are way more supportive than the worn stockers.

and here it is after all that buffing a while later I painted the bumpers and grill with 3m Bumper Coating. It was simple, I cleaned them with wax and grease remover, then scuffed them with a red scuff pad. I also added the chrome wheel trim then.

Here's what she looked like through a decent camera lens. The paint was faded, it was dirty, and looked about as good as you could hope for an ea81 that got stranded outside the junkyard where all of its family went to rest long ago. The door pillars were pretty well faded, so it was the first thing I set out to fix So I sanded them down and painted them. I added a matching spare. And then I buffed the entire vehicle with Meguiar's brand compound you can see the progress in this shot.

Here's some more info on the Fox and how It got started. I picked it up back in Feb. A friend of mine had gotten the car through Craigslist. I had seen the original craigslist posting, but didn't bother to call on it because I didn't have the extra money. I was stoked to hear he picked it up, and even more excited when a month or so later he offered it to me. I paid $1150 for it. These are the two first pictures I took of it. these were taken at the tail end of February, a day apart.

They sure are dude and you're the one responsible! I'm more than pleased with how high quality they were. I was actually going to PM you about maybe making me a couple more of the hood/hatch ones. I'm thinking about putting them on my parent's BAJA. They really make this car what it is. I was also wondering if in the future you would be able to make another complete set. I don't plan on re-applying them at any point, but it would be nice to know I could get replacements if some joker were to smash in to me.

Thanks man, I know they're pretty hard to come by. It's a small world, I seem to meet ex-muskegoners everywhere. TC is awesome, there are some sweet breweries up there! If you're ever passing through on your way up there, I'd love to see that convertible of yours. I plan on making a similar trip at some point to find a clean BRAT So, my drivers door window crank stripped out on the way to work yesterday morning. I'll need to figure that out pretty soon. It might actually be the regulator. The crank spins freely with no resistance. I have not taken it off to check it out. I have finally pulled the skid plate off, and plan on powder-coating it white to match the wagon wheels. I'll have before and after pics of that once its done. I'm still waiting on funds for some more needed parts. I want to get some snow tires before winter, and mount them on my H alloys. I am now a painter in a powder-coating shop so I'll slowly be powder-coating all the little bits and pieces that I can. It's free so I figure I might as well. I still need to sandblast these before I can paint them. I've got the center caps too. I payed $40 for the set. It seemed like a great deal because I've only ever seen one other set here locally. Another goal, which I'm sure will take a while, is to score some of these wheels. They fit with the look I'm going for. They remind me a lot of the old five slot mags that you would see on vintage custom van or muscle car.

Your wagon is sick dude! Everything is so clean, and the mods are all so tastefully done. Awesome work! Would you happen to have any more pictures or info on your storage/sleeping platform? I would love to make something similar for the Desert Fox.

Thanks for the positive feedback guys! I'm still unsure of what exactly I will do for wheels. I really like the idea of the four spoke Keystones. I think they would fit the retro feel of the car, and give it some more weird factor. I guess we'll see. Anyway, I finally got a battery, installed a new axle nut, and got it fired up! Now it's time to roll!

I know I've seen a hatch too, but after multiple searches I couldn't find it. It was an ea81 light blue hatch. I have access to a couple different sets of similar wheels. The one set is universal, but I've never tried it on a Subaru to see if it will fit that large of a bolt circle. I wouldn't be too opposed to drilling to a different size 4 lug pattern if it's possible. I have a friend who works at a machine shop, and I need to get a hold of him to see if he could do it for me. I don't have a drill press and I don't want to waste a bunch of good hubs.

It's been a while since I've been able to do anything with the Desert Fox. I am just about to the point of being able to spend some money and get it rolling again. I got some new Wheel Bearings from bratman, and have those installed. Thanks dude! My passenger front axle had been replaced with a junkyard one, but when I pulled the axle nut off, it took most of the threads with it. I don't want to risk running one that might lose its nut, so I've had it parked. I am ordering two new front EMPI axles in 2 weeks. the driver side has a ripped boot, and I'd rather just run two new fronts. Next up are wheels. I don't know how much I will drive this car during the winter, but I want it ready to go if we get more snow than my K-car can handle. The tires on it currently are kinda worn, so I will be replacing them, but I have a couple options. 1. Buy new snow tires for the stock wheels 2. would be the 6 lug swap, and going up to a 15 Like OCD did with his BRAT or, what I would really like to do Has anyone ever put some old school 4 spoke mag wheels on their subie? I know I've seen a picture of a hatch with four spoke cragers. I'm pretty sure I've seen a BRAT done that way too. Does any one know if these fit up to a 4x140 bolt pattern? I know some of the Keystone mags were universal. I assume they did the cragers the same way? Am I just dreaming here? I really think those wheels with some raised white letter tires would make it way cooler.

Your BRAT is cool as hell dude. That wheel and tire combo is awesome. I'm going to do the same setup on The Desert Fox. I think the only bummer to owning a BRAT would be having to drive while all your friends would be having fun in those jumpseats.