1977 J10 Honcho "Magnum"

My friends didn't think that calling it a Honcho was enough, so they refer to it as the Honcho Magnum and even though they're mocking it, I kinda like it.

I didn't think I'd be making a build thread so my apologies for the lack of details and photos up to this point, but I'll be more thorough in documenting anything else I do to it. That way the people here who know way more than I do can point out what I did wrong before it falls apart on the road :)

The Honcho Magnum was a snowplow for a ranch in Evergreen since I believe the early 80's, before that I'm not sure. My dad bought it in Oct 2018. It drove for about a year but the engine had compression issues, so he sent it in to a shop to have it rebuilt including overboring (I lost the spec sheet :( so I don't know by how much) and a replaced cam shaft, and it has a 4-barrel carb.
Its been in the shop since November 2019 having the transmission rebuilt (and rebuilt, and rebuilt) but I finally got it out of the hands of those goobers and now I'm starting this build thread for whatever I do to it.

Attached is a picture of the Honcho Magnum getting loaded onto the trailer when my Dad bought it.

I don't like camper covers on pickups, personal preference. This one is currently in my yard, if you want it on your truck, come pick it up for Free.99!

The rear bumper is easily the ugliest thing on this vehicle, if you don't count the front bumper that held the snow plow. I figured I could pop it off and get it looking nice and rugged, but nothing is ever that simple of course. The bolts were super rusted out, one of them had the angle grinder taken to it. Then I used a sander attachment on the grinder to try and grind down the rust and get a good surface for painting. Underneath the bumper (sorry no photos) is in such rough shape that I gave up and decided to just put lipstick on the pig, and a friend of my manager has agreed to fab me up a custom replacement bumper. In the meantime, the Ace hardware rusty metal paint actually looks awesome to me. I have it mocked in place in this photo, I got some wrong bolt sizes so its barely held on there for now.

I'm also not a fan of the side steps, I want a rugged offroad look to my 4x4 truck. I think the side steps looked great if I was going for a road warrior look, but this isn't a Dodge (cool as they are), this here is a Jeep!
So the steps are in the yard.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]50449[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]50450[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]50451[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]50452[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]50453[/ATTACH]

sweet! those trucks are awesome!
J.

Thanks! I'm hoping to get it shaped up enough to bring it out for some of the easier club ventures, maybe Barbour Fork or Devils Canyon

The headlights that came with it were probably kept true to the original as it didn't see much street time, but since this is more of a resto-mod than a restore I decided better lights = better. A lot of the full size jeep forum posts online talked about Hella H4, and compared to an LED setup they were much cheaper and I think they look great. Here's a pic with them installed.

That is awesome. :thumb: Good looking dog too.

Thanks, that is the shop supervisor.

My neighbor has this one, not sure the year. Love the old Jeep's, got me a J-20. :)

[quote=glacierpaul;337958]My neighbor has this one, not sure the year. Love the old Jeep's, got me a J-20[/quote]

Nice! I've seen some in the yards of mountain towns but so far haven't seen another on the road. I love the FSJs. Saw a Grand Wagoneer doing the Georgetown Ice Races a couple of years ago, I'm hoping to take the J10 this year, maybe even stud some tires.

[quote=IceBox Ty;337831]Hella H4, and compared to an LED setup they were much cheaper and I think they look great. Here's a pic with them installed.[/quote]

Looks good. Common upgrade for a lot of willys and jeeps - as I clean up the wiring on the 58 willys will do a headlight relay and install the H4s.....Might have to go the same route on the cj at some point, but even the upgrade to Silverstar lights have done pretty darn well, and getting a good modern alternator that can put out decent amps at low rpm also made a big difference. Guessing by 1977, you would have a good internally regulated, low rpm excited alternator - not sure when headlight relays became standard.

[QUOTE=FINOCJ;337966]Looks good. Common upgrade for a lot of willys and jeeps - as I clean up the wiring on the 58 willys will do a headlight relay and install the H4s.....Might have to go the same route on the cj at some point, but even the upgrade to Silverstar lights have done pretty darn well, and getting a good modern alternator that can put out decent amps at low rpm also made a big difference. Guessing by 1977, you would have a good internally regulated, low rpm excited alternator - not sure when headlight relays became standard.[/QUOTE]

Yes this is often discussed in the FSJ forums so I was going to look into setting up another relay. I was worried about whether the existing electrical system could handle them, garage tests look good though. I'm waiting on some title paperwork to get it registered and take it out for some night driving.

My Dad was an electrical engineer and it used to have a snowplow rigged up so there is a lot more electrical wiring under the hood than I think is standard. I'm slowly pulling out what I confirm to be dedicated to the plow controls.

[quote=FINOCJ;337966]not sure when headlight relays became standard.[/quote]

Yes - 1990 & 1993 Honda Accord
No - 1990 Jeep Wrangler

[QUOTE=Jim;337968]Yes - 1990 & 1993 Honda Accord
No - 1990 Jeep Wrangler[/QUOTE]

leave it to jeep to be behind the curve....Dodge trucks/Chrysler into the 80's was still using full load amp gauges in the dash cluster, so maybe that carried over to jeep in the early Chrysler years (would guess that the Chrysler redesign of the YJ in 1992 or so is when the relays went in). Can't use relays with full load amp gauges - of course, most other manufacturers had gone to voltmeters by the mid-70's. Back to regularly scheduled programming....

Next for the build thread will be a lame fix. Couldn't pass emissions today, found out that somehow there is a missing Air Injector Reaction system (which seems to be a popular "delete") with everything that used to supply it plugged up. So I finally found out what the remaining plugged up tubes are supposed to go to. I can find a replacement pump online but from my repair book, it looks like I'll need some kind of connection hardware that will probably be super fun to find. If anyone has experience with this kind of system, I might need some help!

[QUOTE=IceBox Ty;337977]Next for the build thread will be a lame fix. Couldn't pass emissions today, found out that somehow there is a missing Air Injector Reaction system (which seems to be a popular "delete") with everything that used to supply it plugged up. So I finally found out what the remaining plugged up tubes are supposed to go to. I can find a replacement pump online but from my repair book, it looks like I'll need some kind of connection hardware that will probably be super fun to find. If anyone has experience with this kind of system, I might need some help![/QUOTE]

Got a pic? Can you post a schematic diagram of your air pump system - like the one that would be found the the FSM? I used to know more AMC era stuff, but its been awhile since I worked on AMC jeeps. Looked back through the thread - maybe I missed it....this a 360, 304 or 258? saw something about 4bbl carb, so v8 I would guess?

[QUOTE=FINOCJ;337978]Got a pic? Can you post a schematic diagram of your air pump system - like the one that would be found the the FSM? I used to know more AMC era stuff, but its been awhile since I worked on AMC jeeps. Looked back through the thread - maybe I missed it....this a 360, 304 or 258? saw something about 4bbl carb, so v8 I would guess?[/QUOTE]

This one has the AMC 401 (slightly overbored, I'm told by my brother, so I call it the 402 sometimes as a joke).

Sharing images as links to maintain resolution:
[URL]https://photos.app.goo.gl/YVtChpW7tvgrXLDK8[/URL]

Included are photos from my Haynes manual, I'll look for the FSM straight from AMC/Jeep.

Thanks in advance!

Edit:
Found this link for FSMs but I couldn't download it at work, I'll be checking it out after.
[URL]https://oljeep.com/edge_77_tsm.html[/URL]

To anyone who might be looking into it for me, and James specifically, my Dad somehow got the J10 registered as a collectors item. What started my hunt for the air guard system was someone at the DMV telling me I needed to pass emissions to register. I called in this morning to make double sure, and got a different answer. She said that the collectors status of the vehicle remains so I can apply for collectors plates, which I think means I will be emissions-exempt. To me it makes sense that once a vehicle is emissions-exempt, it would be ridiculous to require it to pass emissions later on regardless of current owner. So I will be pursuing going this route and check back in here with the results, hopefully I don't need to go hunting down power-sucking parts :)

Awesome...both my 1970 and 1958 are collector vehicle registered and emissions exempt. Not sure what the cut-off date is for 'collector' status....how that is determined has been changed a few times - especially for 1st time collector registrations - but I think they grandfathered in any vehicles already registered with collector status could continue/renew with the collector status. Hopefully that will work for you...its both nice to not have to deal with the DMV but every 5 years, and especially nice to not have to worry about emissions - except maybe some guilty conscious about pollution. Of course, for the 58 with the road draft tube, there is no oil capture or burn off, so it just leaves its trail along the road - and I do feel that one a bit.

[quote=FINOCJ;338057]Not sure what the cut-off date is for 'collector' status[/quote]

Website says 1975 and before, but with of course some confusing exceptions and other options. This is a '77, so somehow my dad got collectors plates. I was there when he took it in Nov 2018 to get emissions tested, he passed and I have the paperwork on my desk currently. So there is a subsection that says if it is at least 32 years old (check!), and you pass emissions within last 12 months, you can apply for collectors plates. So that's the only way he was able to do it I think, but what that means for me is, I think, that I can apply for them as well.

There is some writing that says if it was registered as a collectors vehicle before '09, you get grandfathered in. However, once it changes owners, you will have to re-apply without grandfathered in status, so you'd have to meet some of the other criteria. This case does not apply to me because it was only registered a collectors vehicle in late 2018, so the changing of the owners shouldn't matter, since it wasn't grandfathered in from the '09 "clause."

As for the guilt side of it, I feel it a bit but I won't be daily driving it so that makes me feel better. Also the engine is rebuilt and running "clean," and the only missing system would inject in air to cause a reburn before the catalytic converter. I'm not sure how much that actually did.

If I'm emissions exempt, I'm going to put on a nice performance exhaust sans-catalytic converter since it is missing that AIR system anyway, all I'm going to be doing is clogging up cats left and right. I think my move from an '05 5.7L Hemi w/ average mpg as about 12 on a good month to a 2020 2.0L Turbo as my daily driver is enough positive emissions karma to offset me hauling a dirt bike around in the Honcho occasionally :)

Edit: the 2.0L Turbo, including the wheeling trips (I don't reset my avg mpg counter), is sitting around 19mpg average over the life of the vehicle so far. Not bad!

Is there as max vehicle miles per year restriction with Collector plates?

[quote=Jim;338059]Is there as max vehicle miles per year restriction with Collector plates?[/quote]
There is a subsection that presents another set of conditions to apply under, this is the only one that mentions miles per year restrictions. I'll post the whole text and bold the section I'm referencing, it won't be the one that I try to register through because I don't meet the other qualifications, but I won't be doing that many miles anyway.
[COLOR=#000000][FONT=&amp]About: Vehicles must be (a) Model year 1975 or earlier; or(b) Model year 1976 or later that was registered as a collector's item prior to September 1, 2009; except that a vehicle so registered is not eligible for registration as a collector's item upon sale or transfer to a new owner; [B]OR (c) A model year at least thirty-two years old unless the vehicle was registered before September 1,2009, and meets the requirements of paragraph (b) of this subsection (2). if the vehicle is being registered under this paragraph (c) and in the program area, as defined in section 42-4-304: (i) The vehicle must have passed an emissions test meeting the standards of part 3 of article 4 of this title within the last twelve months before being initially registered by the owner as a collector's item; and (ii) The owner must sign an affidavit DR 2839 that the vehicle will not be driven on roadways for more than four thousand five hundred miles per year.[/B] All taxes and fees shall be five times the annual taxes and fees normally assessed.
[/FONT][/COLOR]
The last sentence scared me a bit but I guess if I'm good for 5 years then the 5x taxes makes sense.

Been off the grid for a bit and just found this.... very, very cool Jeep.

As for emissions, he's got a brand new jeep to drive as well. I think JL+SJ <= TJ when it comes to greenhouse gasses.

I re-read the first post thus the ask: What's it have for engine, drivetrain, axles.

Any underhood pic would be nice.

Any interior and dashboard pix handy?

Thx!

[QUOTE=Jim;338074]Any underhood pic would be nice.[/QUOTE]

Careful, you'll have to put an "I am over 18" login page up with content like that.

:D Probably - he already said there's a 4BBL under there...

We know its got a 401!....that's why it's not just the honcho, but honcho magnum!

Hi everyone, I didn't see notifications of posts to this thread. I cleaned out the engine bay recently to an extent knowing that I'll probably be spending a good deal of time in it. Here are some under the hood pics!

Also there is a pic of the "universal" torque converter dust cover that I was able to modify enough to get attached. Its just plastic but I wanted something keeping debris out.

As for the kind of axles and transfer case info, I don't have much. I can try decoding the VIN maybe, and get some pics of it soon. I do know that some previous owner had installed the part-time 4wd conversion kit which is pretty cool. And this might be obvious but its leaf spring suspension all the way around.

Edit: might be worth noting that it has the GM Turbo 400 automatic transmission, that I had fully rebuilt by a shop. It even got put into a "new" case under the warranty from the rebuild, since it kept leaking and failing. Now its working great.

Thx - Interesting to see the heater box in the engine bay. It takes up a bit of space - I can see why they're moved into the passenger area.

What's the item in green? Oil fill & dipstick????

Its some kind of overflow vent, I think I've seen a tube going from that into the air cleaner somewhere. The repair book calls it the "Crankcase Breather"

I have no idea how I have 0 interior photos but here's a sneak peek from when my dog and I took it for a joyride (that turned into the transmission cooler lines failing and shooting tranny fluid everywhere) back in February:

Its part of the pcv system....I am not that familiar with the AMC v8 family, but I would guess you have a pcv valve in one of the valve covers that allows excess pressure/blowby gasses to be released into the base of the carb (sometimes even into the air filter housing as on the later AMC I6 258). On the flip side, if the crankcase needs air (has too low pressure), there is a breather or direct air inflow into the crankcase (sometimes through a valve cover) that allows filtered air to bypass the carb/throttle plate/intake manifold and go directly into the crankcase (the breather goes 'through' the intake manifold and into the 'valley' with shared air volume with crankcase). Typically, the breather nipple would have been connected via hose to the air filter housing to get fresh filtered air before going into the carb - most of the time, that gets removed, and people put a straight breather 'cap' that sucks outside (unfiltered) air from the engine bay and filters it as it sucks it through a small filter in the cap. This way, any air taken into through the breather into the crankcase does not come at the expense of air going into the carb and combustion chamber. Remember, that with performance engines, its often harder to get enough air flow into the air/fuel mix than fuel.

Here is a basic diagram of what I am trying to say....in the case of the pic, the intake breather is in the valve cover on the left, but it could just as easily go through the front of the intake manifold into the valley:
[IMG]https://www.agcoauto.com/content/images/engine/pcv_system_extracting_moisture.jpg[/IMG]

Thanks James. My pause is - I'm not seeing any dipstick (aside from what I believe is the trans dipstick) or oil fill cap on either valve cover.

Yea, a small issue - nothing that needs attention - I'm in curious george mode (not wanting to do paperwork in the office).

I appreciate all the curious eyes I can get on that engine bay, since I don't know these at all besides what I've already seen for myself. And that isn't much at this point.

Ty can answer exactly where it is, but I'd guess it back by the rear cylinder on the driver side - lower down than you think under the heads. Often its hidden under the spark plug wires/boots. I think you can see it under the #5 plug boot in the last engine bay photo he posted...

Yep that's it with the blue handle

So I finally got a DMV appointment. I had called in to confirm that the Collectors Vehicle status should stay with the vehicle in my case but the employee I had an appointment with today disagreed, which I was expecting. However on a technicality, I am able to drive it through Nov 2023 because my brother's name was on the title when it last passed emissions, so if I kept the title in both of our names I can keep that same plate. So I have a little over 3 years to collect the missing emissions system components and get them installed.

Nice when a technicality actually works in your favor.

Yeah that's for sure. Also I was able to find most of the parts at a site called Team Grand Wagoneer so I'm going to collect them and try to install them. I've seen some forums actually claim that they kept the engine running cooler with this secondary air injection system kept on the vehicle, which is surprising to me.

[QUOTE=Jim;338059]Is there as max vehicle miles per year restriction with Collector plates?[/QUOTE]

Yes, but nobody ever checks it.

From what I had read, you only had to sign an affidavit that you would only drive x number of miles in a year if you registered as Collectors Vehicle through a certain way. I believe it was the way where it was not 1975 or newer. 1975 and newer I don't think there is a mileage limit.