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Readers: The links in this thread have been broken as of July 2017 due to the photobucket debacle. The photos have now been reloaded but can only reside at the end of the posts, which now makes for tough "flow". Posts after page 6 will hopefully look better...[/size]
I threatened to do this...and here it is: a post about this '50 CJ3A I have here. I got the thing for free, which sounds cool but I really just saved it from a trip to the boneyard. The body is really toast but it is complete; it appears to have been a snowplow rig all of it's life. Despite it's condition, I'm going to attempt to fix it (as shocking as it might seem to the Southwesterners.) Perhaps many of you have seen some amazing tub reconstructions on this (and other Jeep) forums, so I think it's do-able.
But before I drag it out from behind my shed, (I'm waiting for the grass to go dormant) I thought I'd start in the powertrain department. The engine the CJ came with was filled with water and I'm sure it's a goner.
see picture 1
So I sourced a replacement engine from a craigslister a couple years after getting the CJ in 2006.
see picture 2
It had a bulging and cracked head (presumably from freezing), but it turned over nicely and the son/father duo said it ran really well. I took a chance and bought it. And now, finally, it's time to see what I've got.
My goal was to just fire it up on a stand without any fuss. Well there's been fuss, but it has been fun. I used the original 1950 radiator (had to desolder and do rust repair to the mounting flanges), and mounted it to my "stand" with the shroud.
I got some help from the tech section and plumbed in some new oil lines and detailed an oil filter for it. I noticed the head bolt nuts were loose while fitting the filter bracket, so I tried to torque the nuts and one of them broke. BLAST. I removed the head and drilled out the stud and replaced it. I put the cylinder head from the CJ onto the engine because it had no cracks. It is an industrial head, and needed sand blasting and detailing, but it fit up nice.
see picture 3
Since I had the head off, I was able to see that the block bores are still "STD" and look pretty good. The valves have massive slop though, and one exhaust valve is obviously different. I noticed the intake valves had odd springs on the "tulip" end of the valve...I've never seen such a thing.
see picture 4
I sourced what was supposed to be a Delco 10si alternator from Pepboys to make this a 12V engine. The part number (Lester number) says it's a 10si, but it's obviously a 12si. Oh well, it's a better alternator, and it fits nicely. I made a mount with some scrap steel, and used the generator adjuster strap by connecting it to the waterpump bolt. I had another post in the tech section about using the generator pulley to accomodate a wide belt, but I lucked out and found an old solid steel alternator pulley that I was able to widen on a lathe and swap onto the alternator.
I wanted a charge indicator (idiot) light so I got the 3 wire style alternator and used an incandescent bulb/lamp from Radio Shack. I wired in a fusable link to the alternator output. A simple toggle switch turns on power (through the indicator lamp) to the field terminal of the alternator.
I wired the ignition coil wire with another simple toggle switch to supply battery power to the coil. (I didn't have a 2 pole switch around; so I just used two separate switches for ignition and charging)
With everything fitted up, I poured coolant into the engine and immediately coolant gushed out of the waterpump. Dang. I bought a new Airtex pump from Amazon.
Despite the leaky pump, I thought I'd at least try to fire the engine for a quick test.
It was a bust: I never even got a pop. I tested everything every step of the way and I got spark. I kept re-trying, and never got a pop. I gave up and went down to my parts store and bought a new coil and points. New coil, nothing. New points, BINGO, engine fired up instantly. However, it didn't run so good, so I was fiddling with the throttle and trying to mind the oil pump gauge. In those few moments I noticed I was getting spattered. I thought it was the leaky waterpump (and radiator) so I didn't look up. But after a moment I realized it wasn't coolant, it was oil. Gaaaah, oil was POURING out of the oil pump housing, and the fan was blasting it all over me, the engine, and the floor. What a mess! It took me an hour to clean everything up. I gave up for the day and waited for the new waterpump.
see picture 5
Next day I got the pump and fixed the oil filter lid. I got the engine started again but I had a * of a time to keep it running. I started to mess with the "progressive starter" (solex-speak for choke) and got the engine to run by itself.
So, all in all, the engine sounds great. Here's a video:
http://youtu.be/WdwnfoIc530So I must figure out this odd Solex. I have a frozen/stuck Carter W-O that was on the CJ when I got it...just not sure if these things can be brought back from the grave. So that's it for now....[reason]reparing picture content[/reason]
