1967 CJ-6: First Build

I dared to venture in my receipt stash and found the receipt for the fuel pump...I have the wrong fuel pump!...no wonder it was so damn inexpensive...

 

Yup, will check pressure. I ordered the pump today and should be getting it tomorrow morning. My lines don't have the valve to connect a fuel pressure tester. Not sure if there was one originally but I bought the motor without any lines and I just bought regular ol' fuel lines from napa to replace them.

In the meantime, I'm re-doing the tranny tunnel. Grinding welds is not fun...

 

Installed the tailgate.

My latest experimentation was painting the tailgate using rustoleum and a $16 HF electric paint sprayer. The tailgate above was painted using this HF sprayer. I like the results and will use it for the inside of the tub. I used acetone to thin the paint. It took some test sprays to get proper pressure and mist.


I was expecting to pick up the fuel pump yesterday but it didn't get put in the delivery truck, somehow. I was promised it was going to arrive today. Picked it up this morning. This new pump even feels heavier than what I had previously. I kept looking the box sitting on the pass seat and taking it out of the box to look at it some more while driving home (crazy). anyways, here it is...





The fuel pressure looked to be a steady 12 psi (maybe even 14) during idle. As opposed to a vibrating needle at 8-10 psi with the other pump. The new pump produced more of a whirring sound while the other was more of a tapping sound. From what I've read, the cheap pump was a solenoid type. I'm assuming that means there's some kind of diaphragm that moved back and forth...not sure. I was also trying to find specs of the old pump and couldn't find any...even at the flaps. However, I found specs for something that was similar (looks like the same pump, probably even manufactured by the same company only re-branded). The old pump was 9-15 psi but flow was only 35gph. The new pump is 20 max psi with 50 gph...looks like the hesitation was caused by not having enough flow. The motor revs better. I will test drive it later this week to see if the hesitation is really gone...

 

damn! I was watching something on ebay that was nearing the end of the auction, was going to bid after I typed the update, and completely forgot about it as I was blabbing in this post...missed it by minutes...i was going to snipe at the last minute...

 

How's the jeep been running for you? I want to swap in a TBI 4.3 into my cj5 and was wondering exactly you had to do to make everything work? The wiring looks like a little of a pain too, I ordered a 14 circuit universal harness for my jeep. It shouldn't be hard to disect the engine harness and make it work nicely with the universal harness, right? Does that 4.3 have plenty of power with those big tires? thanks

 

so far i've only been test driving it around the block so it's difficult for me to judge the motor's actual performance yet. there's still a lot of loose ends that need to be worked on before i can do a shakedown run. so far, it fires right up and idles nicely.

it took me several months to get the wiring done. almost half of that time was just trying to research and figure how the wiring works. the chassis harness and the engine harness, for the most part were separate except for a few places where they came together; at the fuel pump relay, starter, alternator...i was lucky that the engine harness was still attached to the engine when i bought it so it saved me some time of trying to figure out, one-by-one, where each wire was suppose to go. so, i just left it on there for the meantime and started wiring the chassis harness. when the instruction finally called for hooking up the starter, alternator, fuel pump, etc, then i jumped to wiring the engine harness. when i got most of the engine wiring sorted out and connected, i went back to finishing up things i had left un-hooked on the chassis harness. as i'm typing this, i'm realizing what i did might not be the best method; jumping around. i'm sure you could complete one first and then start working on the other. it's pretty straighforward really if you think one circuit at a time, what is more difficult is wire management...there's just way too many wires to route and you have to make sure that you don't lose track of what each are...

there are many here that have done that swap so i'm sure you'll get a lot of help here...pm me if you have specific questions and i'll try to answer them.

after i got most of the wiring done, it took me another two weeks of troubleshooting and re-wiring to get it to fire up.

thanks for the offer, man. i'll keep that in mind. actually, i should just buy an hf gun because they aren't even that expensive when on sale. i don't know why i'm so drawn to experimenting with these unconventional ways of painting...lol.

 

Can you post some up to date pictures of the entire jeep? You have it similar to the way that I want to do my CJ-6. (about the same width axles, 36" tires, etc)
I'm in the early stages, though...getting the frame sandblasted right now.

 

These were taken last month.

 

That's really nice looking.

 

Wow, that looks great! Thanks for the updated pictures. I hope mine looks that good.

 

Finally mocked up a trans cover and accelerator pedal that works. Pretty satisfied with the positioning of the pedal; comfortable.

The new fuel pump solved the problem of hesitation...



(looks like it'll be in time for some (easy) runs in the upcoming summer...about time)

 

Frankenstein cover.

 

Looks good

 

Thanks, dude. Wasn't sure how it was going to turn out since the cutting and welding was improvised. The shape of the opening is a little off but it's going to get covered by the boot. Here's the finish product after some bondo and paint. Not perfect but it'll work...

 

After several weeks of on and off work, I finally finished modifying the floor cover to clear the tranny.




Speedometer is now hooked up. Approx. 3-6 mph off than actual speed.

Next up is parking brake. I pulled a dj lever and need to figure out how it's going to work.

Beginning to think about carpet and cage.

I'm barely employed this past several months. When things pick up, I will be saving for an arb.

 

BTW, being barely employed is bittersweet; more time to work on the build but no $$ for parts...

 

Took it out for the first time on the main road for a short spin...the brakes are damn freaky. I don't trust it yet to be going on longer rides. The brakes pulled to the left as I was approaching an intersection to make a right turn. I didn't get a chance to glance at the speedometer since all my focus was on not crashing but I must've been going a measly 35-40 MPH. I don't think I want to go any faster than that at the moment. I've previously messed with the rear brake drum adjusters to get the drum out and never adjusted them to the proper setting afterwards.

The 4.3 feels as if it has sufficient power for accelleration but I can also feel that the heavy rear axle is diminishing some of that accelleration power.

Gonna read up on drum brakes and adjust them...I'm sure the proportioning valve needs adjustment also. I need to focus now on improving streetability because I have to drive this to the trails; I don't own a trailer or a tow rig. Wishful thinking?

 

Looks like the problem with the brakes is fixed. First thing I did was buy a so-called caliper hardware kit. It comes with the clips that hold the pads to the piston, caliper bolt sleeves, and rubber o-rings. Yesterday, for good measure, I again bench bled the MC, bled the system twice and installed the pad clips (one of the clips is missing). I skipped the bolt sleeves and o-rings. I took it for a spin and it still has the left side pull when I hit the brakes.

Today, I was contemplating buying new calipers even though I had just cleaned and rebuilt them. but before i just buy parts...I removed the calipers again and removed the old sleeves and o-rings and damn!...the rubber was crunchy and the sleeves were gummed up. I replaced them with the new stuff in the kit and put a little lubricant on caliper bolts and it feels like the brakes are working great. We'll see what happens as I drive it even more.

good reminder for me: overlook something, do the job twice.

*edit
ps. adjusted the adjuster on the rear drums also.