Rob's 1988 Baltic Blue & Tan Grand Wagoneer Restoration

[MysticRob]

Duplicated post, so deleted...

[MysticRob]

I still need to remove the old woodgrain glue and install the new woodgrain appliques to the tops of both front doors, then install the panel top-rails. Then I'll do my cut shower curtain moisture barriers after verifying power door lock and power window switches all still work.

Continued the rear door panel theme to the fronts. I had to piece together some portions of a donor panel to my original, but once done I was able to paint.
IMG_20200409_173944 by Robert Stone, on Flickr

Driver side mostly done:
IMG_20200413_153508 by Robert Stone, on Flickr

Passenger side back together and mostly done.
IMG_20200413_201508 by Robert Stone, on Flickr

Arm rests and speaker grills painted.
IMG_20200318_222733 by Robert Stone, on Flickr

[MysticRob]

Some shots of the fun I had taking all the HVAC, blowers, and associated plumbing apart to inspect, clean, and repaint:

The 'benefits' of open cowls. Amazingly, there is zero rust anywhere that junk settled, and I also found the remains of the missing radio antenna in the passenger side cowl:
IMG_20200421_180836 by Robert Stone, on Flickr

Took me a long time to blow all the crap out of the voids. Thankfully I had the front fenders off to cram my air compressor wand in on both sides and blow stuff out from different angles:
IMG_20200421_195231 by Robert Stone, on Flickr

Glad I took everything out to inspect. Heater core was absolutely trashed:
IMG_20200421_194946 by Robert Stone, on Flickr

Under-dash vent assembly and evaporator stuff. Glad I took it all out to paint, it was pretty nasty up in there:
IMG_20200421_135648 by Robert Stone, on Flickr

Assembly out and ready for cleaning.
IMG_20200421_195250 by Robert Stone, on Flickr

[SOLSAKS]

beautiful dye work,....

you definitely know what you are doing,....

I can tell you prepped,

& cleaned until they were "hospital clean " before dyeing them.

what brand of dye did you use, and what color ?

dave

[MysticRob]

Bits and pieces all cleaned up and ready for paint. Took forever to clean the vents once I got them removed, and tape off various things to avoid overspray.
PXL_20200925_232553950 by Robert Stone, on Flickr

4WD selector switch cleaned up and ready to mask:
PXL_20200926_011818047 by Robert Stone, on Flickr

Painting begins, finished 4WD selector switch assembly:
PXL_20200926_021718675 by Robert Stone, on Flickr

Another angle and unmasked:
PXL_20200926_032747184 by Robert Stone, on Flickr

Everything painted up:
PXL_20200926_033912754 by Robert Stone, on Flickr

Vents done. This took much longer than expected because of all the angles and movement:
PXL_20200926_212529691 by Robert Stone, on Flickr

Saw this idea somewhere online to keep the vents from flopping around. Bought some o-rings from the check-out counter at O'Reilly's that fit the vent assemblies. Then I cut the ends a bit and pried the things apart, slipped the rings in, and wedged it back together. Just enough friction to keep things pointed where you want!
PXL_20201004_183842310 by Robert Stone, on Flickr

[MysticRob]

beautiful dye work,....

you definitely know what you are doing,....

I can tell you prepped,

& cleaned until they were "hospital clean " before dyeing them.

what brand of dye did you use, and what color ?

dave

Thanks, Dave.
I did some research and thought about SEM, but it's so expensive I figured I'd try the Dupli-Color Vinyl and Fabric spray in Desert Sand, which has a great color to it, and stays on very well as long as you PREP properly. It also goes on thicker than a normal spray paint, so it's forgiving when it comes to runs, or difficult spots to get. It also dries very fast so I can handle and flip parts just minutes later.

I use a ton of good quality white cloth rags and acetone to remove all the crud before I shoot anything.

[MysticRob]

Once I got all the HVAC stuff painted I figured I should tackle the dash too. I had to sand a LOT of rust and bad spots. Not sure if these spots are normal wear and tear, or if it was just abused, but this by far took more time than anything else.

Driver side dash:
PXL_20200927_205116439 by Robert Stone, on Flickr

Passenger side dash:
PXL_20200927_205050639 by Robert Stone, on Flickr

Had to mask off a LOT of stuff to avoid overspray, then cleaned one more time, then did some dash repair, that came out pretty good. I'll protect and hide the old thing with a dash cover anyway:
PXL_20200928_045611562 by Robert Stone, on Flickr

PXL_20200928_045633230 by Robert Stone, on Flickr

[MysticRob]

Pretty happy with the end product after removing the masking tape and reinstalling the big HVAC stuff:
PXL_20201004_012037599 by Robert Stone, on Flickr

Bought the TGW plastic kick panels, and had to do a lot of reshaping and cutting to get them to fit. Good grain look to them. Passenger side:
PXL_20201003_164542370 by Robert Stone, on Flickr

Driver side kick panel:
PXL_20201004_175510398 by Robert Stone, on Flickr

[MysticRob]

Glove compartment door was pretty beat up so repainted it:
PXL_20201004_021838843 by Robert Stone, on Flickr

Still not too clear on this, but is there just supposed to be an open hole on the left for the light to just shine thru?
PXL_20201004_175448802 by Robert Stone, on Flickr

[MysticRob]

Detail work and masking off gear selector indictor housing:
PXL_20201004_024643446 by Robert Stone, on Flickr

Discovered the gear lever return spring was broken. I luckily have a donor column that I was able to swipe things off. Not so lucky I didn't discover the problem till I was putting everything back together after painting, so had to be very extra careful.
PXL_20201004_211449520 by Robert Stone, on Flickr

Had to pound out the dowel pin to remove the shifter to get to the old spring and to put in the new spring:
PXL_20201004_211629763 by Robert Stone, on Flickr

Indicator housing painted:
PXL_20201004_031320272 by Robert Stone, on Flickr

Pic of the column and indicator housing light bulb:
PXL_20201004_175431191 by Robert Stone, on Flickr

Donor gear shift knob and lever. Old lever was was pretty rusted up:
PXL_20201004_214843023 by Robert Stone, on Flickr

Donor tilt wheel lever. Old lever was was again pretty rusted up:
PXL_20201004_214948501 by Robert Stone, on Flickr

[MysticRob]

Main reason for buying the donor column was the correct steering wheel and properly functioning gear shift indictor, among some other things:
PXL_20200927_003201133 by Robert Stone, on Flickr

Disassembled and awaiting cleaning:
PXL_20200927_003120251 by Robert Stone, on Flickr

All painted and awaiting reassembly on the column:
PXL_20200927_015532677 by Robert Stone, on Flickr

Indicator back together with a new bulb. Still need to cut something soft between the housing and column though. Original foamy stuff was done for:
PXL_20201004_214855964 by Robert Stone, on Flickr

By far the best moment of the entire restoration process:
PXL_20201004_221357623 by Robert Stone, on Flickr

2nd view.
PXL_20201004_221558065.PORTRAIT-01.COVER by Robert Stone, on Flickr

3rd view.
PXL_20201005_021104675 by Robert Stone, on Flickr

[SOLSAKS]

AWESOME dash work,....

NOTE:
saw the question about the lines of rubbed off paint etc on end of dash

that comes from the "cord" trim on the door panels

( you can tell it is in the shape of the two cord lines that come in contact with dash frame )

it touches that area when closed, after just a short time, it rubs paint off, etc, etc

a BIG pet peeve of mine,..... CANT STAND IT,....

I did as you did,....

dyed dash and column in wagoneer, thought I had fixed it,

rubbed off after new paint,....so I re did it, and covered with 3M clear paint protector vinyl,....

no dice,....failed.....it still wrinkles and embosses the clear protectant film,....

so,...I have just ordered carpet, and plan on putting carpet in that

"triangualrish" area of metal dash frame,....

we will see if that works.

[MysticRob]

Almost done with 'past' work, getting close to being caught up to present day stuff. The driver seat that was in mine was not only wrong (no headrest), but had multiple frame welds broken, plus the motor frame was pretty rusted and didn't work right.

Earlier this year I bought the correct power driver seat (with headrest) with a good base for my GW. I decided it was time to test it all before spending any time restoring it.
Discovered all the motors worked well, but the switch needed cleaned out. I Brake-Cleaned the heck out of it and that did the trick.

As with everything else, there was a lot of gunk and rust:
PXL_20201010_190304254 by Robert Stone, on Flickr

Testing everything:
PXL_20201010_182605089 by Robert Stone, on Flickr

Ready for paint after sanding and prepping:
PXL_20201010_221456160 by Robert Stone, on Flickr

Ready to go back onto the seat after lubing all the moving bits:
PXL_20201010_224934144 by Robert Stone, on Flickr

[MysticRob]

AWESOME dash work,....

NOTE:
saw the question about the lines of rubbed off paint etc on end of dash

that comes from the "cord" trim on the door panels

( you can tell it is in the shape of the two cord lines that come in contact with dash frame )

it touches that area when closed, after just a short time, it rubs paint off, etc, etc

a BIG pet peeve of mine,..... CANT STAND IT,....

I did as you did,....

dyed dash and column in wagoneer, thought I had fixed it,

rubbed off after new paint,....so I re did it, and covered with 3M clear paint protector vinyl,....

no dice,....failed.....it still wrinkles and embosses the clear protectant film,....

so,...I have just ordered carpet, and plan on putting carpet in that

"triangualrish" area of metal dash frame,....

we will see if that works.

Crud, that's what I was worried about. I think I'd seen where someone had glued microsuede with upholstery adhesive to that area, but didn't really understand why when I saw it.
I thought the wear marks on mine were just from the old door panels being so beat up and hanging off the panels somewhat.

[MysticRob]

Caught up to this week. Tackling the original passenger side power seat base. First thing I noticed was the massive amount of rust, and a hog ring basically rust-welded onto the bottom of the frame foot. You know it had some bad water intrusion issues when the base looks this bad.

PXL_20201010_225128226 by Robert Stone, on Flickr

This base is pretty bad, but mechanically good, so I'll spend the time sanding it down, painting, then lubing up all the moving bits.
PXL_20201010_225143363 by Robert Stone, on Flickr