The Battle Wagon

[Mr.Blue]

Nice...........what gear does it have?

[pantera77]

3.55's + a trac-lok

Even though I have everything needed to do an HO swap 3 times over, including that 0 mile LMR short block, I see no reason too as this lopo keeps happily chuggin away.

[mrltd]

16.3 is impressive. Best I got from one was 16.03. In a much lighter car. I'm hoping to get my new wagon to be a nice reliable beater like yours.

[Mr.Blue]

Cool..........never saw where you listed what gear it had.......good numbers.....

[pantera77]

Why do I love this car more then anything else?

Very long, long, story short, it just made a 1300 mile round trip. Except about halfway through it, it overheated bad. I mean, blew the petcock out of the rad and had no coolant at all in it bad. I was in a situation where I had nothing I could do but push on until the lopo was making some bad noises. I mean[ i]bad, bad[/i] noises. It made it until the no oil pressure light was on, the check engine light was on, and some other random light came on. At the verge of stalling, I had too neutral drop it from 4 grand, cut across the wrong lane of traffic, over some train track, and into a parking lot the wrong direction. It was at this point it pretty much locked up. Were talking no longer turning over locked up.

Long, long, short, story made even shorter, after cooling down, one new rad, and a parking lot swap later, we are back in business. An 800 mile trip back home, through the hills of PA, still pulled down 21mpg and I was beating the shit out of it. Rolled 251k miles laughing.



And that is why, the Battle Wagon gives no fucks. You can drive it till it's engine's locked up and it just gives no fucks.

[marquisman]

If mad max owned a box wagon, this would be it!

[tjc78]

Awesome! Reminds me of my 79 Town Coupe, couldn't kill that sucker.

[purplebomb302]

That's one hell of a wagon! I would've crapped myself if that happened to me.

[Mr.Blue]

Lol..............why i love pushrod 5.0's.........cannot kill them............

[pantera77]

Battle Wagon gonna battle. Still get's over 23mpg on the highway. Also rolled 252k.

[pantera77]

Updates, trying to get everything I want done before winter hits,

Swapped the cheesy 15" 80's saw blades back on. I honestly think the fit this car better then the HPP's.

Swapped the Cobra valve covers back on, again. (only because they won't fit the 89 anymore and the HO aluminum ones I had on here needed to be painted again)

Swapped the mechanical fan and 90 TC fan shroud back in - more reliable, no bullshit

Swapped in a mid 90's Ford single DIN cassette deck that actually functions

Re-plasti dipped the grille and headlight surrounds - they were starting to flake here and there

Added some Summit electric gauges. They are a little ricy for my liking, but they were the cheapest electric gauges I could find that weren't complete crap. Now I can watch the oil pressure gauge hover just above zero hot @ idle - like I care, we don't need no stinkin oil pressure (still is 15-25psi cruising hot). My $20 junkyard 3g is still pumping out 14+ volts @ idle 30k miles later!

Washed it and cleaned the interior the best it's probably ever been. There's a point in time when things will just no longer get any cleaner, but it still looks decent.

Had it's yearly oil undercoating done.

And a bunch of other minor stuff


Cobra valve covers back on for the 2nd time now. (yes it's dirty, ugly and rusty in there, winter beater, remember)






Mechanical fan and 90 TC fan shroud back in:





Gauge install:
I removed the ash tray (never used it), took out the metal frame that screws to the dash, and riveted the gauge pod to it. Solid as a rock. Nice and simple to remove in one lump sum.




Found this handy connector (for the non-equipped power antenna I recon) which lovingly supplied key'd power, illumination, and ground. All connections soldered and heat shrinked as always. Can also see the slightly newer, slightly improved radio.





Finished product:






Interior cleaned:












Gave the underside a very good cleaning before I took it for undercoating. I always wash the underside off as best I can come spring, and flush out the frame rails. Much to my delight the frame rails were perfectly clean inside, though I flushed them again anyways. Everything else looked pretty solid too.




One oily booty.






Freshly dipped front end:





Exterior like fish eggs

















I know, a lot of boring pictures with not much excitement. But I honestly use these threads to document my work as much as I do to share it.

[purplebomb302]

I actually love those wheels. I'm considering getting a set for thd merc. Where'd you go to get it powder coated? I've gotta get my truck done. It was done by the previous owner at some point and needs it again.

[packman]

Nice. There is something so satisfying when you got a good running beater. When does the HPP box go to sleep?


Packman

[87gtVIC]

Nice work Zach.

[TecNickal]

My cargo area floor pan looks worse than yours - mine's got holes bigger than the grommets that fit into them :-\

Battle wagon is the truth. I've had a number of people comment to me on how strong the 302/5.0 was. Similiar stories (not as extreme), such as a guy on another board I frequent who'se son popped a rad hose, lost all the coolant til it overheated, taped the hose up, filled the rad back up with some water in a storm drain and kept going!!!

How come the wagon has only 1 cornering light?

Brings new meaning to the phrase "Built Ford Tough" when you have a vehicle that can survive that amount of abuse!!! Keep it going.