Reviving a 79 DL wagon in Michigan

[Cloner240]

Ok, so I am looking at buying a 79 DL wagon as a project for my dad and I. We would get it up and running, and hopefully revive it to it's former beauty. However, my question is how easy is it to find parts for these cars? If it's not too hard to find parts to get it going, I'm thinking it would make for a good project. If anyone could provide any insight on this, that would be great, thanks!

[moosens]

This isn’t that expensive brown wagon is it ? 
 

Parts , most folks will tell you it’s an uphill battle. But there’s parts out there. Some more difficult to locate than others. 
 

What sort of parts are needed to get it going ? 79 is electronic distributor, so no fiddling under the distributor cap. 
 

To me , if it’s all there , not rotted away , and not a complete mouse nest , AND cheap enough then I would be all over it. But I’m older and have been around these cars since they were new. Maybe your dad too ? 
 

Assuming it’s been sitting a while so you’ll want a carb kit which there are some out there. Around $15-30 on eBay and such. 
 

If you’re not pumping fuel it could well be the alternator and/or voltage regulator. Both can still be found.
Alt - $25-50

V/R -$10-25

Can’t recall which year all USA went to internal regulators but if a CA vehicle it may well be so equipped.

Those should make it run. Float bowl of carb - clean really well and thru sight glass on left side of carb check float level. Carbs are best soaked if you can. 
 

Don’t want to carry on if dad knows most of this stuff. But I’ll try to help with costs of parts. 
 

When I have a little more time I’ll add more info. 

 

[Cloner240]

@moosens My dad and I actually went and had a look at it a few hours ago. The exterior and interior are in fairly good condition, and apparently it ran 3 or so years ago. Current owner claims in only needs a starter and new battery to get it running. Unfortunately, some subframe parts are pretty rusted, and so are the rockers. Not sure how bad it would be to fix that. It's not terribly rotted out though, and the owner would basically be giving the car to us if we want it.  As for the starter... It actually looks like maybe rockauto sells a compatible one? Not sure though. 

[moosens]

Sounds like maybe a perfect parts car. That is if free or dirt cheap. 
 

Body repair on these up north in the salt/rust zone can be time consuming and if paying someone very expensive well beyond the value.

 

Solution is to get a nice solid body from out west. Pay the transport , it’s worth it , and several of us have done it. 
 

Budget would be happier over trying to repair that body. 
 

Maybe get the car you mention and use it as a practice run and then parts car for your future solid body. 
Have fun learning it and making it run well. 
 

Then you’ll have experience and extra parts like a carburetor, engine , transmission , etc

As great of a project this is with dad we wouldn’t want you to hit a dead end and be discouraged. 
 

As of Sunday I had four starters laid out while trying to sort out and clean up storage. Guys like me are out there with excessive spares. So don’t worry too much when it looks like you can’t find some part.

Meanwhile , check the usual places for a solid body. Washington , Oregon , Idaho , Montana , Nevada , NM , CA , those states will yield the most. 
 

 

[Cloner240]

@moosens, thank you for the advise. It is much appreciated. Your idea of using this car as a "practice run" is excellent... Perhaps get the car to run and move under its own power, then find a clean one from out west. We will see. If we decide to do something like this, I'll update the post or even make a new one. Thank you so much! 

[Subasaurus]

if there's no spark, it may be the ignition control module (small cube computer attached to the ignition coil), seems to be sort of common to not have spark because the computer decides to liquify itself internally.

the rust you want to look out for is where the front door hinges are, where the hood hinges from, and underneath where the driver seat sits all it's weight at, if those have holes through, that's structural, and if you seem to not be able to find another one to make the best of two, perhaps start chopping it and make it into some sort of dune buggy?

it's okay to have alittle rust and some holes where the spare tire is since 90% of all first gens suffer from this, same underneath where the batterymounts, and same where mudflaps attach to underneath. if the vehicle leaks water when it rains, you have pin holes in the cowl.

post pictures when you get a chance, ill be able to tell you more about it, and im sure others here will too.