83 CJ7 Finally out of storage

I was tracing out the manifold heater circuit and I see how it was supposed to work. But then there is this…

Some mechanic has put a jumper across the wires going into the oil pressure switch effectively removing it and triggering on ignition on instead of engine running. Begs the question; do I fix the wiring now while I am in wiring mode and expect to replace the pressure switch once I have it running again and can check it. Or put it back the way it is and come back to it later?

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I think I finally fished up the wiring cleanup and Sniper ignition install this evening. That took way longer than I think it should have, but I’m pretty satisfied with how it came out. Going to have to wait to see if it works. The spark plug wires I bought for this upgrade were for a stock ignition which doesn’t fit the new ignition. I’ll have to see what I can work out with Magma or.

I got the plug wires back after Magnacor replaced the terminals and made me a new coil wire, so I was finally able to try it out. After re-running the Sniper wizard so that it would control the timing I cranked it over and nothing. Not even trying to fire. So I pulled the #1 plug to confirm I had the distributor installed correctly; it was. So I pulled the fuel pump relay and clamped the #1 plug to the alternator with the wire installed to see if it was sparking; it wasn’t. The LED on the module was glowing yellow, so I new it was getting power, but it was clearly not command a spark. So after sleeping on it I could finally bring myself to open up all the wiring and loom I had so diligently tucked away and secured. Nothing seemed to be obviously omis. So I started looking at the connectors to Sniper to be sure I had landed everything correctly. Somehow I had managed to connect the white points output to the yellow coil -, and had not been concerned about no wires being connected to a 10 pin connector. So after moving the points output to the correct place, I was getting a good spark. After reinstalling the spark plug and plugging the fuel pump relay back in it fired right up on the second revolution. I then went to setting the timing per the instructions with the timing locked at 15 deg. At 750, 1500, & 3000 rpm. I need to increase the inductive delay because the timing advanced to about 17 deg at 3,000 rpm, but that will have to wait until I can get it outside. Note to others: a shop vac hose is not suitable to use to vent exhaust outside.

I’ve also picked up a pair of NT axles that have 3.54 gears in them this past weekend. The rear axle tubes are wasted as the u-bolts have worn deeply into the tops of the tube, but the gear sets are what I was really after. They came with 2-1/2” lift springs but they look like they are going to be stiff and may be ProComps. I am probably going to go ahead and install them, so that I can comfortably install 33” tires and replace the 30 year old rubber it is currently sitting on. My budget doesn’t support doing all this now with new parts, so compromises are the name of the game. I have the axles all pretty well broken down and with the exception of to tube damage, they were in amazingly good shape. I now have a pretty good start on extra/spare parts. Anyone have any suggestions on getting rear axle flanges of the shafts? I have damaged 3 pullers so far without any movement. I’d like to salvage the drum brakes and I am just about ready to try cutting the bearings off and trashing the shafts.

I quit procrastinating today and did the wet sanding. I plan to do the polishing tomorrow so that task will be complete.

I was able to finish the wet sanding and polishing today. It’s no show paint job, but I’m OK with it. Found a few spots on the body where I should have blocked the primer and an area the color is a bit thin, but then I just spent 10 hours going over it closely.

I’ve been making steady progress over the past several weeks, I just haven’t actually finished much. One of those projects has been a replacement glove box for the water damaged and distorted original fiberboard box. I had a guy from work use the original as a template and folded me a new box out of sheet metal.


I have had this idea that it would be more useful with a shelf to separate the document storage from the general use clutter. I also thought a USB port inside could be useful.

After painting the interior black I figured some LED lights would be cool.

By the way, I have the paper label for the tire size & inflation that is missing from the door. Does anyone know what I should use to re-adhere it?

If this doesn’t work I’m going back to drum brakes. A couple years before I quit driving this Jeep I put disk brakes on the rear for SSBC. The brakes themselves worked fine, but I couldn’t figure out how to connect the parking brake cable to make it work. I have had the bracket on every bolt available but couldn’t get the pull angle correct for it to generate any real grip.

In a final attempt I welded the bracket directly to the axle tube so that the pull be over a tight angle. I got it adjusted and it seems like it is going to work.

I can finally call this little project complete. I have been racking my brain trying to remember where I put the plastic thumb nut and rubber cushion for safe keeping. They finally turned up today when clearing off the table saw so I could cut some aluminum.

I’ve been waiting for weeks to get the last 2 plastic push retainers so I could install the trim panels. The wife pointed out last night I still had about 10 of the originals. So I just finished that up. The decals went on a while back which really moves it toward looking complete.

2 weeks ago I noticed some condensation on the inside of the windshield while I was driving home. After changing clothes and coming out to work on the Jeep I noticed a puddle of a new fluid forming underneath. Most of you already know that the heater core has started to leak. So dash back out so I could take it to a local radiator shop so that they could re-core it. 2 days and $120 later I’m back in business. I guess I could have ordered a new core for less, but never even considered it because they are all aluminum. So with the dash laying on the seats, that was the opportunity to put LED bulbs in the gages, replace a broken bulb holder, land rear speaker wires on the amp, and install the glovebox. Re-installing the dash and checking out the LEDs, I start smelling something warm which is never good around wiring. Turned out to be the original headlight switch dimmer was literally falling apart, so a simple replacement to fix.

Oh the joys of working on an old vehicle… seems every time one fix one thing, two more rear their head. I still have to sort out what I did to the oil pressure gage. Before the heater core, it was working fine; now it shows 60 psi without the engine running and pegs when it is running. I guessing I connected it wrong, but the amp is mounted in the way of getting my hand up there, let alone seeing.

I was going through a box of stuff my wife drug out and found this gem. Now I know for sure how it was originally equipped. Didn’t release it left the factory with no top, I had always thought is was originally a soft top.