79 Volare Woody Wagon refit!

V

VWagon

Active Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2021
Messages
34
Reaction score
12
Location
Saint John, NB
I am new to the forum and hijacked Raff's cool wagon post. Best to start my own post instead.

Had a friend coming to Eastern Canada back in the Fall with an empty trailer and the opportunity to bring me a winter project. Scanning Craigslist and Facebook marketplace I was able to find this gem... It changed hands since this feature but only had a few more miles on it.

Premier Condition! 1979 Plymouth Volare Wagon
 
Home in the driveway! Then the work began!

20211107_165117.jpg


20211107_164712.jpg
 
The car turned out to be pretty good. Other then some pretty good rock chips in the rockers and some splits in the pleats of the seats....the car is pretty much completely original....70,000 miles and all original
 
Now for the plan...taking this wagon and making it a 360 cruiser.
Hope for good street manners with the occasional drag strip blast.
Something to pass the long winter months!
 
Hey, very nice car and a great project idea.

My recommendation would be: get some help (if need be) and get that hood off the car, it'll make any job that much easier...and boy, it'll brighten up the engine bay...light everywhere!!
 
M_Body_Coupe said:
Hey, very nice car and a great project idea.

My recommendation would be: get some help (if need be) and get that hood off the car, it'll make any job that much easier...and boy, it'll brighten up the engine bay...light everywhere!!
Click to expand...
Yes the dark green along with light placement in my garage doesnt help!
 
The A/C compressor (if good) can be used on an 318/360. Both /6 A/C hoses are longer than what the LA uses - but heard they will work fine (not seen this first hand, though) for small block conversions.

If you are planning on removing/installing the engine from above, then hood removal is VERY HELPFUL.

If you are considering headers with your 360 install, I might suggest dropping the engine/transmission/K-frame/front suspension down (as an assembly, as shown below) and lifting the body up. If will give you more room to tidy things (or clean) on suspension and/or engine compartment (if going that route) and a much much much easier time installing headers.
K-Frame cart.jpg
K-frame Jig 1.jpg


Even rebuilding the front suspension is a lot easier (if needed to be done, that is).
With the powertrain/suspension out like that, the front end of vehicle is surprisingly light (but not light as a feather).
BudW
 
I wish I could have done that. I am not comfortable that I have the ceiling height or the travel in my engine hoist to get the car high enough. With my luck....well we won't go there lol
 
Blank canvas! V8 Kframe conversion coming up next. Would love to have found some Shumacher conversion mounts but no dice.... So the wagon gets a freshly blasted and painted K with poly iso bushings and all new ball joints and control arm bushings. Do it once and should be good forever right?

20220118_080122.jpg
 
In the 80s that wagon could have been my daily driver, I had a 77 and a 80. They never let me down....
 
Cold weekend so it was time to put the interior back together. It's all original except for the seat bottoms where some carefully matched vinyl replaced the split seams. You can see a color variation in the pictures more then in person actually. Oh well best we could do. Mounting up a tach and will be moving on to an oil psi gauge next

20220118_080143.jpg


20220118_080320.jpg
 
Wood was good except tailgate. Must have lived in a carport or a garage that had the door open a fair bit. A few treatments of trim restorer did wonders though. Here is the comparison after one treatment

20211114_103058.jpg
 
Well it fit! My biggest issue was lining up a good set of proper pulleys. All in all I'm pretty happy with it. Exhaust and alignment and shes ready for the road

20220408_103110.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top