1955 CJ5, it runs finally!

For the first time since bringing it home a few weeks ago, it runs. I shot a little mystery oil in the cylinders a week ago and turned over the motor by hand and then let it sit. I pulled the motor because I thought I had a leaking rear freeze plug, which was water that accumulated in the bell housing after hosing down the motor. I did some temp rewiring because of a suspected shortcircuit, replaced the starting solinoid, voltage regulator, ignition switch, rebuild the carb and installed a new on/off switch for the electric fuel pump. Before I could fire it up today, I had to clean the gas tank, replace a fitting for the gas line to connect to and blow through the gas lines to make sure they were clear. A new battery and a cleaning of the oil bath air cleaner and she was ready for a try. I dropped a little gas down the carb and with just a few turn overs it fired up. It was a little rough (no choke), but soon it warmed up and smoothed out. It perred like a kitten. It smoked until it burned off all the mystery oil in the cylinders. I needs a little carb tuning and possibly a change of plugs, points and the rest. I'm stoked!

 

congratulations. Sounds like quite a bit of work but was very rewarding.

Aaron
66 cj5a, 68 cj5 project

 

Just went through this same joy a little while back, except uhh mine still smokes...all the time...LOL

Congrats man that is great! :stout::stout::stout::stout::stout::stout:

 

Lucky for me a friend told me to put some oil in the cylinders before I try to start it, too many people try to start motors that have sat for years with dry cylinder walls, scratching perfectly good cylinder walls.
Somewhere I read about the mistery oil, which I am very impressed with.

There's still lots to do before I can drive this thing.

 

Yeah that stuff is indeed a marvel. In my case my jeep has been diagnosed a chronic smoker, it has needed work for a long time according to the PO, I will some day tear it all down and get it redone but that's a long way off.

 

Woohoo!

 

Love these success stories. Another saved jeep.

 

I went to the DMV and registered the jeep. Now it has the proper tags on the license plate.
Later I inspected all the brakes, bled them and tested them out in the driveway. Then it was time to venture out onto the public streets, so I cruised around the block twice, testing out the various transfercase speed and the Warn overdrive.
The carb needs additional work, it stumbles at the low speed circuit. I'll try another attempt to clean the carb tomorrow.

 

!yay!

 

Yesterday the Jeep ran rough, kept sputtering at low speed rpm. Today it wouldn't start, so I got my test light out and checked for voltage at the positive side of the coil to see if I had any power and there was voltage on the positive side but nothing on the negitive side. I read that as a open circuit in the coil, right? The position of the points shouldn't have anything to do with this?

 

I pulled the carb today and further cleaned it with brake clean. By that I mean I sprayed the brake clean through all the passages, removed both jets and the idle speed mixture screw and sprayed brake clean through those circuits as well.
I installed new spark plugs and a new coil and now the jeep runs like it was brand new. I sounds so "JEEP".
The brake master leaked fluid onto the garage floor over night, so it looks like it will need a rebuild or replacement.
The gas tank has a small leak at the fuel line connection, that's going to be a job to repair or replace the tank.
I'm not too impressed with the 9 inch brakes.
I took the jeep for a little ride downtown, but did not want to venture too far until I replace the fluids in the differentials and transmission and transfer case.

 

WOW you have been 1 busy guy. Sounds like you are getting that little jeep ironed out.

 

Indeed they do.. When the points are closed and you have 12V to the positive post on the coil, the negative post to the dist will read zero or very near zero. That is how they are supposed to work. If you have voltage on both terminals and the points are closed, that means the points are burned to a point that they will not go to ground. Good points will show ground when closed. zero ohms.

 

Thanks Walt, unfortunately I purchased a new coil and it tested out just like you say. Live and learn.

 

I want to know where you're getting these parts fast enough to keep posting new parts updates every day! LOL I wait days for shipped parts...

 

Well, I'm waiting now. I took out the gas tank today because my brilliant idea to fix the leaking gas line connection wasn't so brilliant, so I took it to a radiator shop to have the fitting brazed to the tank. They said it might take a few days to fumigate the tank before they can weld on it.
Additionally, I removed the master brake cylinder, it was leaking too, and ordered a new one from JC Whitney. My local Napa store wanted $85 for a new one and JC had one for $54.95. I filled out the order online and with tax and shipping it came to $70. It was only a $15 savings but I went with it anyway, then today I receive a comformation email from JC stating that they dropped the tax and shipping charges, so I'm back to a $30 savings. However, I will be waiting for the M/C for "who knows how long", maybe a week or so? Most of the other parts I was picking up for the CJ were either in the Napa store or a next day order. I don't mind waiting, I'm retired and I have lots of time to play.

 

http://walcks4wd.com/master-cylinder-late.html

$45 bucks. prob 9-12 for shipping?

Is that your style M/C? This is the one I bought, perfect fit, works great.

 

x2

 

Why did this get moved to trailriding and other events?