Conference terri::cars_uk

1641.0. "JEEP CJ7, "The Real Thing"" by CURRNT::PACE::RUTTER (Rut The Nut) Thu Jan 02 1992 14:08

    Since there isn't a topic in this conference on Jeeps, I thought I'd
    create one, even if no-one else is going to contribute to it ...
    
    
    Well, I actually got the Heep back on (and off-) the road again over
    the Christmas break.
    
    
    Main reason I haven't used it much lately is because the exhaust
    manifold was blowing extremely badly.  Cause was two bolt holes
    that had stripped threads in the head.  This meant that the exhaust
    could not be tightened up properly.  With 'headers' which come in two
    parts, it meant that one part had a very poor connection.
    
    Anyway, my solution was to replace the head !
    
    I had one that had been cleaned up (decoke, valve seating etc) that
    did not have stripped threads (I bought it from another Jeeper, who
    had fitted a V8 to his).  I'll not explain all the details on how the
    actual head swap went, except to say that it was a 'rush job', that took
    two days on the front drive of my house (not enough daylight hours).
    
    One problem I did have though, was that there were no dowels to locate the
    gasket on the block before putting on the head.  Of course, when I did
    place the head onto it, it moved !  I got it all lined up using the
    head bolts in the end, but wasn't confident of a good job.
    
    
    Once I did get everything assembled, and reconnected the battery
    (which had been on charge) it was time to turn it over, without the
    plugs in first, just to see if it all seemed ok.  That didn't cause
    me any particular problems, so in with the plugs and connect all the
    leads prior to trying to start the thing.
    
    Well, it still turned over fine, but didn't even hint at firing up.
    Air filter was still not connected, so I had a nose down the carb,
    pumped the linkage, only to find no fuel had got this far.
    
    According to the guage, there was a couple of gallons in the tank,
    but the Heep had been parked on an uphill slope for some time, so
    it seemed that the fuel had drained back to the tank and didn't want
    to go back up to the carb (with a mechanical pump).
    
    I disconnected the pump outlet and turned over again, to see if any
    fuel would come out of it, still no joy.  I then got an extra gallon
    of petrol and poured that in the tank, hoping that this would help.
    Still no joy, so reconnected the pump outlet to the carb.
    
    Of course, with this continous cranking, the battery had started
    to get a bit tired, so I had to put jump leads onto my car and run
    that when turning over the Heep.  Still with no fuel being pumped to
    the carb, I went out and got another gallong.  I put most of that in
    the tank as well, but keopt some in the can for the next trick.
    
    I had decided that the cranking speed of the engine was not really
    high enough to suck the fuel up from the tank, so I poured some of
    it straight into the top of the carb.  Waited a few moments, had
    the car running, jump leads connected and turned the key.
    
    Vroooom !  It fired up - for a couple of seconds.
    
    Pour a bit more gas in the carb, try again and Vroooom !
    A couple more seconds of running, then chug, chug, chug, bang, clonk,
    chug...... as the engine seemed to run on like a single cylinder diesel.
    
    Probably caused by oil/grease in the cylinders from the quick decoke
    on the piston tops while the head was off.  No worry, try again...
    
    Pour another dose of petrol in the carb.  Ooops, all over the carb
    this time.  Turn it over, and   Vrooom, Pop, splutter, flames !
    
    A few puffs to put out the carb fire, wait a while to let the
    rest of the spilt petrol dry out, pour in a bit more and
    try it yet again.  This time -
    
    Vroom and TICKOVER !!!!
    
    At last it was running  :-)
    
    Turned it off after a short while, gave it a quick checkover, topped up
    coolant with anti-freeze, fitted the air filter and then tried for a
    normal (jump-lead assisted) start.  This time, I let it warm up for a
    few minutes before turning it off and trying again.  The battery now
    had enough charge to turn it over and start without jump leads too.
    
    
    After the various problems that cropped up during this job, I was very
    pleasantly surprised to get it running at all.  What was more, the
    exhaust manifold had clamped up nice, even and tight and was making no
    sign of blowing this time around.  Since that was the main reason for
    doing this job, at least it appeared to be worthwhile.
    
    By this time, it was getting dark on the Saturday evening, so I
    put the tools and associated bits into the garage for the night.
    
    The next day was to be the AWDC Christmas 'fun trial', which I was
    intending to go on.  I wished I had more time for preparation, but
    that had to wait until the morning - an early start was in store...
    
    I'll enter a report on the AWDC event when I get more time, but
    any comments on Heep's, please enter as replies here if you wish.
    
    J.R.

    So, Sunday morning I'm outside to start the Heep ready for further
    checks and tidying up before the day's planned event.
    
    Turn the key, no response - the battery was flat.
    I assume this is because I didn't give the vehicle a good run to
    recharge the battery the day before.
    
    Simple answer, put the jump leads on my car and start it up that way.
    It started OK like this, so pack the leads away and leave it running.
    
    Next job, collect together the tools I may require on the day, plus
    tow rope, hi-lift jack, WD40, rubber mats and other sundries.
    Whilst doing this, the Heep had warmed up and tickover started
    to get a bit high with choke on, so I push the choke in, only for
    the engine to show it's dislike at running with no choke by stalling.
    Pull the choke out part way, then restart it.  All seems fine.
    
    For it's next trick, I went to turn it off before going indoors to
    sort out other needs for the day (breakfast ;-), turned the key off
    
    and IT CARRIED ON RUNNING !    Aaaaaaggh !
    
    After all the hassle I had in getting it started, now it wouldn't stop.
    
    Switched the key a few times, it just carried on running quite happily.
    This didn't seem to be a good idea to me.  I couldn't stall it since
    it is an auto. box, so I had to disconnect the HT lead from the coil.
    I put a pair of gloves on first, though.  
    
    Having stopped it, I got a test lamp out to find out what was happening.
    All I could work out was that the coil positive feed was always live.
    This is where my knowledge of auto electrics started to run dry...
    There is a connection between one of the solenoid terminals and the
    coil +ve feed, but this (I would have thought) was switched.
    If permanently live, I've heard that the coil can burn out (also
    means that it will run regardless of ignition key switching).
    
    I could see my plans for the day fading away quite rapidly, so a simple
    bodge was in order.  Rummaging through bits in the garage produced an
    on/off switch, connectors and wire.  A quick cut into the coil feed,
    run the wires to the switch, now mounted in a spare hole in the dash,
    then I have a plain kill switch for the ignition circuit.
    
    Sure enough, start it up (on it's own battery this time), hit the kill
    switch and it stops.  If I get a floor mounted starter button, I could
    probably do without that key switch, what a forward step that'd be !
    
    All this frigging about with the electrics used up any spare time I
    may have had, so I didn't get to do a full check of the machine.
    It was then a case of getting final things together, not forgetting
    my AWDC membership card and cash for the day, then set off for Bordon...
    
    I'll put a write-up on the day's occurrences under the AWDC topic (1337).
    
    J.R.