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Might have finally found my scrambler

Will_Texas

Legacy Registered User
City
Longview
State
TX
I've been bargain hunting off and on for a couple years now, and I may have finally found one I like. I've missed a couple good ones at great prices because I didn't contact the seller quick enough, but that's a story for a different day.

It's an 82, chevy v8 conversion, t176, replacement fenders, no half cab but doors and good bulkhead are included. Seller says half cab is pretty shot but I can probably get him to include it anyway. As far as I / we know, its been a texas jeep its whole life and body rust is not too bad. Most of the bad stuff is shown in the pics. Asking price is 4500 but I have a feeling he's not very flexible on price. Maybe a little but not much. I would probably want to ditch the v8 for originality and fuel economy reasons, gas is a bummer. Everything else, I will let the pics speak for themselves.

My main questions/concerns about this one are:
1 Is it worth my time or trouble trying to swap back to the 258, or should I just keep looking elsewhere, or just pony up and pay the extra dime for gas. He does not have the 6 cyl motor still, so I would have to source one.
2 I am not planning to do a restoration or major overhaul on this one. Not in the next several years anyways. I'd want to swap the motor asap, then get on the road and start enjoying it. Then slowly fix the rest of the problems like bodywork over time. Similar to Joe West's rebuild in the forums. Is this a good candidate for this type of rebuild?
3 how much work would the undercarriage need? There's no frame rot or holes in the body (on the underside atleast), but as you can see surface rust has already taken it's hold. Not sure what the best thing to do about this is since I dont want to remove the body.

I've got all summer to make it reliable, swap the motor, and do whatever before school starts again in the fall. So plenty of time to get it road ready.:woot:

Thanks for everyone's opinions in advance:bow:
 
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Will_Texas

Legacy Registered User
City
Longview
State
TX
2 more

btw, I'm still searching through my friends and network of local jeepers I've built up over the last 3 or so years, but out of everything I've found(which isn't much) I like this one best. My criteria are it must be within reasonable distance to go pick up, and 6k plus or minus is the budget. Other than that no restrictions.
 

Randyzzz

Blown Budget
BENEFACTOR
Gold Member
Lifetime Member
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City
Redmond
State
OR
As far as the 350 goes, you should be able to get fairly decent mileage if you drive mellow. I had the same setup. I remember getting one tank at 18MPG- all highway mileage. It did better on gas than the 4cyl it replaced...
 

Will_Texas

Legacy Registered User
City
Longview
State
TX
As far as the 350 goes, you should be able to get fairly decent mileage if you drive mellow. I had the same setup. I remember getting one tank at 18MPG- all highway mileage. It did better on gas than the 4cyl it replaced...

I've done the research and another thing I plan on doing is running an hho gas setup. That should help mileage tremendously, and I plan on running a pretty big generator behind the bulkhead or maybe in place of it (custom made). It's the first green scrambler!:D
 

scrambler81

Basic User
City
Hammonton
State
NJ
Depending on the modifications and condition of the 350, it should get better mileage than the 258. Even if it were a little worse, how many thousands of miles would it take to balance out the cost of the engine swap? Unless you're planning a show truck, I'd leave the V8 and enjoy the Jeep. I've been running Chevy V8s in mine since 1987, and I've never felt even a little bit guilty.
 

CBRogers

Perpetual Parts Collector
Lifetime Member
City
Yorktown
State
Va
Leave the Chevy in it. Think about a Fuel Injection maybe.

If you want the best in MPG think of the 4.8/5.3 Gen IV Chevy motor upgrade. The rear bolt pattern is the same and it is getting pretty easy to find a 2000 or newer truck with an engine for cheep. They do really well in the MPG department with the CJ.

The 258/4.0 look good for originality or a 360 to keep AMC. But the newer technology is better for Daily Driving.

Get the 350 going for now and work on keeping up the body and paint.

BTW, never seen the HHO thing really work out for anyone. If you want to save $'s then you need propane but that requires you to have a big tank at home to get economical fill ups.



Carl
 

spankrjs

Scrambler Junkie
Lifetime Member
SOA Member
City
Biloxi
State
MS
If you don't take care of the rust issues now, they will be a whole lot harder to fix in the future:twocents:
 

bigwalton

Alaskan Postal nutjob
FORUM MANAGER
SOA Member
City
Dexter
State
MI
I wouldn't waste a second on a swap to anything if 1) you're in school 2) you have a running 350 already

Why bother with something that involved and spending all that money when you could be driving your Jeep? As was said, a 258 is very likely not going to get you any more, and maybe less, MPG.

Forget HHO. There's an old thread on here from someone with a Scrambler who had done all the research, posted all about it, defended it over and over despite everyone's warnings, said he was set on doing it and was going for it, that he'd come back and post all the mileage numbers to prove it worked, etc. Never heard from him again.

First thing I'd do to it is cut off the tube steps, they look dodgy (is one end held up with string?)

With all that said, for a running Scrambler with that few apparent issues, I'd be all over it :thumbsup:
 

T-roy

Basic User
City
Alvin
State
TX
Hho

I've done the research and another thing I plan on doing is running an hho gas setup. That should help mileage tremendously, and I plan on running a pretty big generator behind the bulkhead or maybe in place of it (custom made). It's the first green scrambler!:D

Good to here some one else is trying hydrogen

I am in the process of installing one now.

which one are you going with?
 

red mistress

Red Jeep Collector
City
Piney woods
State
tx
Yellow

Looks like front end has been painted, good to see what appears to be the origional decals.

Looks like a easy runner.
 

Will_Texas

Legacy Registered User
City
Longview
State
TX
Just spoke with the seller again. He threw the hard top away:(, and there is no spare tire carrier included, but I've got a couple extras. Mechanically, he said the only issues were that it needs a brake job, and something needs to be done about the holley carb. It idles rough, but does fine on everything else.

There are a couple wiring bugs, but they sounded like an easy fix.

Yes the front has been repainted but the original decals are still there underneath. except on the fenders, they are from a different jeep.

Another dash is included to replace that ugly piece of diamond plate.

For the body, I would neutralize any rust it has now, replace the decals on the hood and fenders, and leave it as is. Then repair the rust holes as time and money permits. He said there is some dents in the body but that's expected. And apart from the rust spots and rust on the underside there appear to be no other body issues. All these are pics he sent me, I haven't set up a time to go see it yet. Seller will be out of town till monday.

So, overall, based on what I've been told and seen there appear to be relatively few issues. I like it:D

I'm still going to experiment with hho, not on the scrambler yet but with smaller engines. I'll post up results and determine if its something worth fooling with on jeeps.

Thanks for everyone's advice:bow:
 

Will_Texas

Legacy Registered User
City
Longview
State
TX
I went and looked at the scrambler in person today and took it for a short test drive.
It needs a few small things before it's legal again, but nothing major.
After the test drive, there were a couple things bugging me.
The motor runs strong, and cranked right up even after sitting for a few days. It idles good, but the seller (we'll just call him Bobby) was very honest, and told me it didn't always idle this good (he mentioned lots of carb trouble in the past). The main problem, however, was that the motor lacks power and sputters on acceleration. Bobby thinks there might be a dry rotted fuel line somewhere that may be letting in air, or maybe another carburetor issue.
The other thing was, the t176 is very difficult to get in gear. Any of them, in fact. The shifter also has a lot of slop. I'm hoping this may be just something that's loose in the shifter tower and nothing that needs major attention.
Those are my two major drivability concerns. Anything to be worried about or should these be easy fixes? Bobby told me he had a hell of a time messing with that carb, and its still not perfect. He thinks the best thing for it would be to just buy a brand new carb and redo the non-metal fuel lines while you were at it. That "should get it going again."

Other than that, everything else is as you see it in the pics. One other thing, though. Bobby had a body guy come out and repaint the front clip(again) and the body guy got a little carried away and repainted all the stripes along the body. They look ok, but there's no point in trying to save the original decals now. Plus they are now red and orange instead of orange and yellow. He also bondo'd over that rust hole under the drivers door. Sorta a pain in the arse because all this will basically have to be redone again eventually. On a side note, the underside is solid, and exterior body appears to be mostly solid also. It's dented up, but not completely rusted.

Anybody have any recommendations for the two problems? I don't have any experience with the t176 or the 350, so any help is appreciated.
Thanks
 

bigwalton

Alaskan Postal nutjob
FORUM MANAGER
SOA Member
City
Dexter
State
MI
I'd be looking for vacuum leaks on the engine. Can't help on the T176...
 

Randyzzz

Blown Budget
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Gold Member
Lifetime Member
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City
Redmond
State
OR
The T176 shifters seem to mimic a truck shifter more than a tight car shifter. One thing that will make them heck to get into any gear is a clutch that drags or won't fully release. This coulds be caused by an internal clutch issue, or a master or slave cylinder that is leaky or bypassing. Or it might need bleeding... If you have the engine running, the transmission in neutral, and the clutch depressed, does it feel like it wants to grind going into gear? That's a good indicator of the above problem.

On the 350- what carb is it? QJet 4bbl carbs had passage plugs that leak causing idling problems, a sputter on accel could be an accelerator pump, timing, or a number of things. I guess if you have good oil pressure and no noises, maybe do a compression test. I'm betting carb/mixture issues myself. Chev's have a reputation for flat spotting cams, but that would seem like a dead hole.
 

02tj

Basic User
Gold Member
Member
City
Jeffersonton
State
Va
Might sound crazy but Id check the timming... alot of the aftermarket cams in the GM 350 crate motors need 19-21 degrees initial timming. sounds crazy but my nova needed that before it ran right. Ive since seen a few of the 350-383 crate motors from GM just like mine need this adjustment. It acts just like a cab issue but its not.
 

spankrjs

Scrambler Junkie
Lifetime Member
SOA Member
City
Biloxi
State
MS
On the T176, mine was really sloppy at first. It would go into all the gears just fine, though. On the top of the transmission, where the shifter goes in, there is a metal "cup" that is spring loaded to hold the shifter in place. Maybe the cup just came loose, like what happened to mine. Toward the beginning of my build thread I have some pictures:thumbsup:

Picture of the part that was loose on mine.

100_4428-1.jpg
 
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Joe West

Arizona Virtual Jeep Club
Lifetime Member
City
Laurinburg
State
NC
My T176 has mechanical linkage. I didn't know that any came with hydraulic clutches.
Did they?


The T176 shifters seem to mimic a truck shifter more than a tight car shifter. One thing that will make them heck to get into any gear is a clutch that drags or won't fully release. This coulds be caused by an internal clutch issue, or a master or slave cylinder that is leaky or bypassing. Or it might need bleeding... If you have the engine running, the transmission in neutral, and the clutch depressed, does it feel like it wants to grind going into gear? That's a good indicator of the above problem.
 
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