The "You're an Idiot" restoration

:iagree: Unmolested CJ's are far and few between. I'd say your not even 1/3 as dumb as she says

Looks good!

 

Good luck on your build, at least you are not in a bar drinking and tucking bucks. Tell your wife you are going to a junk yard to look for parts, you can burn a day up easy and have fun

Steve

 

If your engine cranks up and runs good then I would change the fluids in it and put a junk tire on it that holds air and drive it around the back 40 for a while. Flex some of the rust off the underside and let the kids enjoy. They will then be sure to prod you along on the build. There are a few jeeps around here that are daily drivers and are in far worse condition than yours. Congrats on the great find.

 

You have a great looking Jeep. Looks like it will clean up easy. Make sure to change all the fluids and anything rubber if it's been sitting for very long.

 

Show her this:
http://www.hudsonhawk.net/jeep/jeepmain.htm

Then tell her it could be worse... R)

 

That's funny about the junkyard. I will turn 40 in about 6 weeks and I am sitting around fantasizing about making a trip to a pull a part junk yard. Again, my wife thinks I am crazy but she's also glad I'm not sitting around thinking about other things :drool:

Thanks. I had planned IF it fires and runs for 10 seconds to then drop the fluids and replace. The motor oil looks good on the dipstick so I don't think it has any major water etc in the oil. Should be OK to start and convince myself it runs before I do an oil change only to find out there's a bigger issue.

That is part of the plan. I will need to rig some kind of gas tank or just put a new one on but I hoped to wait until the actual full takedown to put on a new tank. My old one was shot. I can probably rig a lawnmower can somewhere to pound around the back 40. I've got it up on all 4 tires now. Pictures to come soon but I have it on OEM style rims. She's not much of a looker now but will be driveable if it starts.

Nice! That looks like a pretty clean starting point too.

 

That jeep is in great shape. Also, you have a beautiful home on what looks like a nice piece of land. The trees in the background changing colors makes me nostalgic of NC. Good luck with the project.

 

you have a great Jeep, I'm looking forward to seeing more progress pics

 

my wife tells me that every day an I dont do nuthin to provoke her.LOL

 

awesome jeep to wrench on!!

 

OK, I'm getting some time to work over the Holiday. The engine wants to pop but my fuel pump is shot I think. I have a new one but have a problem. The steel formed fuel line from the fuel pump to the in-line filter and carb is corroded at the fitting. I have it off, but can't get the fitting to freely swivel to put on the new pump. Does anyone know if this part is sold or do I need to just get some tubing and bend a new one? It is steel I think, not sure is that easy to bend or does anyone have a suggestion on how to proceed?

 

You can either buy tubing/flare tool/fittings and make your own or most FLAPS have rubber fuel line with swivel ends that will connect. Without a photo I can't recommend which way would be best for your application.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. Update, I got the fitting lose on the tubing. I had to use a little heat but I was able to free it up. I cleaned it up and shined the tube with some emory paper. Put on the new fuel pump, hooked it up and BAM - a couple turns and it was running. As far as I know, this is the first time it's run since 2001. It idle's great. I strapped a 1 gallon gas can to the front bumper and tooled around the yard. My wife got a pretty good laugh. A few pics coming soon.

 

Congrats !! It's alive.

 

OK, now that it runs, my alternator is shot. It has the original alternator with external voltage regulator. I've been doing some reading and it seems the strong consensus is to upgrade to the delco-remy 10si or 12si. Ok that is great, I got it. Now, I've read about 25 posts on this and what I don't see is the clear conversion post with pics for my rig (72 with 232). I'm sorry and don't mean to sound like a fool, but man I can't believe the different number of accounts I've read on something that seems fairly simple I guess. I have alot of questions on wiring and on mounting. In particular what to do with the current wiring and how to wire it up to the new internal regulated atlernator. Also if there is a good suggestion on what I'll need to do to mount the thing so it lines up with my other pulleys. Does anyone have a clear build post on this alt conversion? I've read some of these posts that are then negated strongly by others because of the lack of fusing etc. This is the kind of stuff that makes me nuts. I am somewhat clueless so at the mercy of the folks posting. I am really looking for a good quality set of guidance here so I don't burn up a new part or burn up an old jeep! Thanks. Having fun!!!

 

The alternator wwent bad on our CJ as well, I took it to a local electrical rebuilder. They rebuilt the alternator that came on our JEEP for les money than one of the big box auto parts retailers could get one for. Just an option to consider.

 

Outstanding find! I look forward to following along in future posts.

 

OK, time for some more pics. I haven't done too much other than tinker but I have some pics that may be helpful to someone and I want to continue the story for myself anyway.

Back at T-giving, I got some original rims, or at least what I think are originals. I paid $80 for 5 rims. 4 match and one is odd. I had some skins mounted on the rims and installed on the jeep so I had a roller.

Here are the rims.



One mounted on the front left.



Here is what was stamped on the rims.



Here was the spare (still not tire on this one).



inside of the spare


Finally got the Jeep off the trailer. I had to in order to use the trailer in a Christmas parade for my kids school.



Here it is on it's new wheels. Sort of looks weenie now , but I think will be OK once I get some new tires and repaint these rims at the end of the job.







It's now in the shop bay, probably its home for the next 10 years at my rate of work! It still wasn't running at this point, so man moving that around was all I wanted by hand. You see my father in some of the pics, he just turned 75 and it is a great source of info. He worked on the predacessor to these as a mechanic in the Marine Corp in the late 1950's in Okinawa Japan. I think he too thinks I'm nuts for buying this thing but he hangs around and helps alot.

 

I almost forgot. During the wheel changeout, Benny got to do some wrenching.





With the front wheel off





Tons of thick surface rust on everything, but it's all solid I think.

 

So with it on 4 tires that actually hold more than atmospheric pressure of air, I had to see if it runs before I do any serious tear down.

I put a new batt in the thing and turned the key and nothing! &*#$&*##Q*. I got ticked and was really rattling the key and saw the alt light flicker. Ah, just a loose connection. I worked my 270lb backside around to see up under the dash and the multiprong connector for the ignition switch was barely handing on. Amazing it even bumped over once with jiggling. I got that on and it rolled over. OK, I had power.

I just put in a crappy battery which was still outrageous in price.



Since I had the gas tank off, I put a line in a mower can directly to the fuel pump. I cranked the engine with the fuel line off the carb and NO FUEL! another $&%*$*#$# moment. OK, so I bought a new fuel pump. I got an airtex pump at autozone. No idea if that is crap or not but I got it. About $22 I guess.

Here is the old one taken out.



and new one installed.



Dad and I had a fit getting that formed steel fuel line off the old pump and getting the fitting freed up to put on the new one. I used a small propane torch I had, worked like a charm. Dad shined it up with some emery paper, good as new. Well I hit the key again and new we had fuel spurting out the steel line in front of the carb.

I popped on a fuel filter and Dad shot a bit of gas right in the carb and I hit the key. It fired and died a couple times. I blew a damn chipmonk winter supply of nuts and some rust out of the tail pipe and left a 15 foot streak of crap on my nice clean floor. I wish I had a pic, but dad swept it up too fast. It was hilarious. The old girl took a big dump on the floor.

Hit the key again and it was running. I revved for a minute or two and then it was idling without a miss or anything. I was shocked how smooth it ran since it had been sitting for almost 10 years.

Here is a pic of the new fuel filter, I put a new air filter in (STP SA184) and put the air cleaner assembly on.



Here is the makeshift gas tank.



Once I got it going, I had to run around the yard. My shop is behind the house and my wife was inside making dinner. I buzzed her with the Jeep. She asked my dad as I was driving by what the red thing on the bumper was - he answered, that's his gas tank (1 gallon capacity). It was a great laugh.

The transfer case was in 4L I think. Man I turned the bald tires big time with it. Another good laugh and then I had to fill the holes in my gravel drive but it was worth it.