Sixty-seven pattern Jeep progress log

[maple_leaf_eh]

Well, I towed it down the block to a now abandoned hospital grounds and tried starting under compression. No luck! But it does backfire. Merde!

I had it in the driveway afterwards and a half-ton pulled up. The driver dismounts and approaches with the fixed eye gaze, swaggering rolling gait of a gunfighter. Eyeballing the Jeep.

Smart alec me sez, 'You're not from these parts mister. You must be here for the Jeep.'

After trading one-liner questions, 'fifty-three?', 'seventy', 'runs?', 'nope', 'good shape?', 'yes and no', etc. We introduced ourselves and it turns out I've corresponded with the fellow over parts. He wasn't selling, but offered to stop by for the next few nights to help. I'll take any free advice given.

All 4 spark plugs and leads fire nicely. Gap tested and put into spec.

He brought a compression tester one night. #1 is 90 psi dry/96 psi with oil; #2 is 60/96, #3 is 110/114, and #4 is 90 and 104. The manual says 120 psi preferred.

Another night he interpreted the engine block dataplate. Bored 40 over, Mains 30 over, Rod Ends 30 over. Rebuilt Jul 84 by Bennett and Hanson in Smiths Falls, ON.

The backfiring and pulled plugs suggest it is running too rich. Time to teach myself about timing.

On another topic, how can I function the starter pedal mechanism from under the hood? A short bar or a long screwdriver?

[jim fraser (RIP)]

hi terry.a old piece of a broom handle.those bennett and hanson rebuilts arent a very good rebuilt.they were slapped together very quickly.no quality control.i have at least five of them here in arnprior and none of them are real good.all the jeeps i have had and those rebuilts gave me the most trouble.regards jim.

[jim fraser (RIP)]

hi terry.did you loosen the dist and turn it a little to see if it hits.regards jim.

[maple_leaf_eh]

My neighbour, who had been talking me through some steps, suggested I pull the carb and look for mouse nests etc in the intake. Stranger things have happened he suggested, leading into yet another rendition of his story about 1 of the 3 carbs on an outboard engine being plugged with mouse fluff, pink boat house insulation and old kapok life vest filler. As he says: spark √ ; black plug electrodes; strong spark x4 √ ; fuel √ (gassy fumes from the cylnders when turned with the plugs out); backfires √ ; enough air, dunno. Maybe there isn't enough air getting into the cylinders because of something in the intake?

There were mouse turds and leaves in the heater box where the big hose fits. The carb intake isn't very far away ...

[maple_leaf_eh]

The Jeep sat mostly untouched from end of June to first weekend in October, when MLU's favourite Jeep Whisperer (Rob Love) laid eyes and hands upon 70-08876. For a seat at the supper table and one serving of BBQ back ribs and salad, he got the engine running! Tick another box on the work list.

The problem was the oil pump had been reinstalled incorrectly at some point, and the distributor would never fire as shown in the manuals. The firing order was off from the diagrams. He tweaked the timing a bit, and then with a mist of ether in the intake, COUGH COUGH VROOM!!! and great clouds of smelly smoke exhausted as would be expected from a long idle engine.

He inspected the rest of the vehicle for obvious mods distinctive to Central Canada, observed various things that I will need to address and a couple of fixes that need to be undone. But overall he gave me the nod of approval and wished me well.

[rob love]

After sitting in classrooms all week, with the only exception of visiting the gas hut, it was nice to be able to get my hands dirty again. I was actually surprised at the body condition overall. It was not nearly as bad as I thought an Eastern vehicle would be. It does make me appreciate the condition of our vehicles back in Manitoba mind you.

Feel free to PM me anytime if I can be of assistance Terry. And thanks again for the dinner.


As Terry mentioned, I may have got his engine running again, but unfortunately, I discovered several more faults for him to correct before the vehicle could ever be safetied. Still, it should be a nice truck when he is done.