In the tread about the cluster swap, Orlen Brown Asked about seeing more of my wagon. I got it from a local school's bus garage, where it was used to get parts and other errands. The price was right, it was free, but it needed work. All the doors were rusted out and the rocker panels were also rusted too, you could look down at the road through the bottom of the driver's door without opening it.



I ended up replacing all 4 doors and putting new rocker panels on, along with replacing the damaged rear bumper cover. The dog leg behind the left rear door was also rusted out and I made a pattern and fabricated a new piece. On the right side the quarter was dented by the taillight, and I worked the dent out.


The original bronze color was too ugly for me so I went with red which was about the only other color that would go with interior.
I decided to go with the RS scheme with black on the bottom, and since I was doing this, I also replaced the original 13" wheels with the
14" rally wheels.

With all the work I did on the car I didn't do anything about the engine compartment. There was a rust around where the wiper motor mounted, and it turned out to be more extensive than I thought.

I ended up dropping the engine and transmission so I could repair the firewall, and went to the junkyard and cutout a replacement section and fitted it in.



The lower radiator support was in bad shape, and I replaced that with new panels.


With everything replaced I repainted the engine compartment and decided to upgrade to a 2.8 V6.
I had previously dismantled an 88 Z24, that extensive rust in the rear, and had saved everything from it, so I had everything from wiring to dash and steering rack.


The last and final thing was I replaced the sagging headliner and recovered the sunvisors with material that was an exact match, that
I got from Stock Interiors.

Looks great man! Great work!

It came out looking really good.
Solid too, since you fixed what needed to be correctly, rather than just patching it up with fiberglass or something and painting over it.

Thank You for the tour Frank!!

I thoroughly enjoyed your photos , descriptions and truly admire your experise

You work is proof positive that many a vehicle that goes to salvage or scrap can be repaired and enjoyed again. This is a project that is to be proud of and to provide many miles of smiles.

As you probably know these little wagons are great little haulers. Next to the Hatchback 1st gen style they tend to be the rarer body style as well. It is great to see one saved from the trip to China!!


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Thank you. The other repair job I had to do, I didn't take pictures of. That was the repair to the inner wheel wells in the back, the left side had the bottom two inches pretty much rusted through and the right a few spots. For the left I made and flanged a piece that I welded in, with the overlap step flang on the inside, so that it wouldn't trap water. I treated it with zinc rich primer and undercoating.

wow @!#$ nice work . Never seen a 2nd gen with a tan interior.

Nice upgrades you made along with tons of replacing metal.Since your car is still a 2nd gen if you need something you can't find just ask.We all have experience is various areas of restoration on the first and second gen boards.Looks good to me.Continue on.

The tan interior is not that common, the only other two cars I have seen with the tan interior were convertibles. The blue interior seems to be more common in most of the cars I have seem, four of mine have it.

WOW - I Love your "collection" !!

Like your style!! - I wanna be like you when I grow up - Hahaa!!

Coupes, Sedans 'Verts and a good ole wagon tossed in for good measure! I can only imagine how busy you must be trying to keep up with everything! I have 4 - J's counting the misses plus an old Ranger and I keep busy myself. How about your spare parts bin? I bet you have quite a bit of neat stuff in there Hahaa!!

Gonna add a Hatchback sometime in the future to round out the fleet?

Ok...so they are calling for gorgeous weather tomorrow.....how do you decide which 'Vert to use for the day?

Well you definitely qualify for J-Body Enthusiast of the year my friend! Your Vast and Varied experience in working on all of these is priceless here on these forums. I'm sure you have discovered many subtle similarities and differences among these fine examples that comes only with having the variety that you are blessed to have.

Thanks for sharing Frank!!


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Very nice. I've only seen a total of three tan interiors now. Yours, a picture somewhere else, and one mint Bird vert in a junkyard.

The white four door, in the group shot, I lent to somebody and it got rear ended, so I replaced it with this.


One other thing about the wagon interior, when I replaced the dash, after I put the 2.8 in, I only had a black one. One of my customers has a body shop so I mentioned it to them, they were able to get me the correct interior paint by the production code. I used that to paint the dash and the pod that the heater controls and radio goes in. I even repainted the steering wheel, and it all matched the console, which I didn't touch.

Now that many j's in one area is just sickness.Of course I approve!! I would ramble on but a long 12 hr day of trucking at 540 miles takes the go out of me.I to get excited in the junkyards just seeing a solid J worthy of taking parts for saving.Tired I am.

FrankD wrote:

One of my favorite years, and colors.




PRND321 Till I DIE
Old Motor: 160whp & 152ft/lbs, 1/4 Mile 15.4 @88.2
M45 + LD9 + 4T40-E, GO GO GO

Love the wagon. You did a lot of work to it.

Hey Frank D, I have a question. I was interested in maybe swapping a dash from a '93 into my '90. I have the entire car so I assume this can be done. My biggest question is, Can I use the existing mounting points or bolt holes or whatever you want to call it? Will I have to swap the engine harness since they are both 2.2? All Information is helpful thanks!