[John Strenk]

Yikes, sorry for the pictures being rotated... I haven't had that issue a picture do that before

Seems like JF pictures always default to landscape mode. So when taking pictures, keep you phone horizontal.

 

[John Strenk]

I just got my '55 two-door post out of paint after 3 years (looooong story), and about $15K.

I couldn't find a single paint/ body guy to quote it under $20K. Thats where they ALL said they START at (and go up from there...)

The materials were about $3K total, and it amazes me when I see people post that they got there car/jeep painted for <$5K and complain!

Don't get me wrong, it still seems ridiculous to pay a half a years salary (for a lot of people) for a paint job, but that's what they charge for them. It's crazy.

Hoss

And I was upset because red paint is so expensive.
I paid nearly $500. to do it myself. 1 quart of primer, 1 quart of color base and 1 quart of clear.

Like you say, they really don't want to do it.

I wouldn't want to rewire someone's else's jeep but if you give me $10K and no time limit, well I'll spend a day or two on it. ......

 

[John Strenk]

Depends upon how far the nose of the CB/Radio sticks out. You can usually run two sets of nuts on the control shaft to hold it in the right position for the knobs to stick out and just the nose of the radio.

Be sure to add a brace to the rear of the radio for support unless you want to bend your dash a little with every bump.

 

[John Strenk]

Keith, I should have mentioned in the post above that the 3D printed material is flexible! I don't know what I was thinking when I typed it out lol My work has this flexible resin that is just a little stiffer than the OEM boot. I think it needs a little refinement but it's a really close match. I can get real creative if I need too and print a bushing.

Really all I need to do is get the bushing and a piece of metal to give the boot some strength to get bolted on but that's easy.

Sorry for that confusion with the 3D material... Most printers are hard plastics so I can understand a lot of folks scratching their heads :laugh:

Ooohhhh. I need one of those.

Feel like sharing the stl file?
What was the name of the material you used to print the boot. Soft PLA or TPU?

 

[John Strenk]

Maybe I should just set up a live feed in my garage?

Yes, That would work.

Maybe a couple of cameras?

 

[John Strenk]

Yep,
I have to keep an eye out around here also.
Even just walking into my back yard I've startled 3 bucks so far.
Soon my neighbors will start testing their rifles and they will all disappear.

So far the jeep score is

Jeep 3
Deer 1

 

[John Strenk]

The tail light grounds through their mounting. So yes, you need to ground it first before you go looking for any problems.

Their are ground straps, I think Keith knows their locations but I would recommend running a separate ground wire to each tail lights.

 

[John Strenk]

I have a few questions regarding the fuel return and air cleaner/ vacuum lines.

Let me start off with the basics of what I know. The engine is original to the Jeep (1985), rebuilt and has been nuttered by replacing the carb with a carter style reproduction carb. Currently everything runs and sounds great. See previous post for start up video.

Does anyone have a detailed picture of the fuel return line/ hoses? I have this "S" shaped metal line that I can not figure out where it goes. My return line seems to connect under the tub as if it is shorter than factory but fuel hose should make up the difference.

I'll see if I can get a better picture but mine connects to a steel pipe (Yellow circle) that snakes up through the intake manifold and goes down to arounf the engine mount. From there is connects to a steel line that goes back to the gas tank.


I'll get some better pictures tonight.

I was wrong, see picture below....

Because I have a brake booster, I have the offset air cleaner. Is it important to hook up the vacuum operated doors for the exhaust manifold/ air intake? All I have done is ran the Jeep in the garage and here in Ohio, it is now starting to dip in to the 30s but it doesn't start rough. I haven't fine tuned the carb so any rough running's is because of the lack of tuning but once it is warm, is runs very well.
If I don't need those vacuum operated doors, I'm thinking about taking those doors off and doing some welding magic to make it look less bulky.

I kept the one for the manifold stove for use up here in northern Ohio and removed the one that blocked off the air to the carb that kept the gas fumes enclosed.
I wonder how manu people know that this door block the flow of air to the carb?

Lastly, I have a standard cooling radiator with a 16 lb cap. I feel like I am gaining more pressure in the cooling system than I should. The hoses seem stiff and I have not seen any coolant go into the coolant overflow. Is this normal? I'm used to more modern cooling systems that don't have much pressure behind it to operate and I want to make sure there isn't a air bubble.

you may have the wrong radiator cap. There is one to allow expanding fluid to go to the collection bottle and draw it back in whe it coold down and one that only opens up to elieve too much pressure but doesn't let any fluid out at other times.

 

[John Strenk]

Yes, that one is the way I would of routed the return line.
Mine is off a '80 CJ. Maybe they got smart....

Maybe something like this:

 

[John Strenk]

I was wrong, my 84 fuel return line setup looks just like that.

 

[John Strenk]

I don't think removing 1 bolt would have much effect on warping the head.

 

[John Strenk]

Figured out the issue I had with my fuel gauge. It looks like the contact for the for the power side failed and broke away from the rest of the unit, leaving the gauge dead. In the picture, you can see my test lead holding the power lead away from the post.

I'm not sure what material this is and if solder can fix it. Any input from you guys would be helpful. I might have a small circuits person look at it because I have limited tools for electronics. It sucks that this NOS gauge is broken but the good news is I swapped another working fuel gauge in for now. Everything works good for now so I can cross that off the list!

I would try soldering it also.

It might of been spot welded originally backed up with epoxy.

 

[John Strenk]

Well mathematically, It ain't working out. You have a mysterious voltage drop in some connection or device.
Did you check the zero on the ohmmeter before taking the resistance reading?
With those readings, you should be seeing 8.09 Volts at the coil.
However if the ICM is starting to fail or poor connection, that is giving you some extra resistance in the circuit which could account for the 5 volts you are seeing at the coil.

Also check the black wire going to the distributor. This is the ground connection for the whole system.
The power comes from the switch>>>Ballast resistor>>>>Ignition Coil>>>>>Green Wire to ICM>>>>>>ICM output transistor>>>>>>Black wire>>>>Distributor case >>>>> Ground.
Any extra resistance in any of those components past the ballast resistor will lower the voltage at the coil.
You could check the voltage drop anywhere along that path to see where the extra resistance comes in. Anything from the (-) terminal coil to distributor case should be close to 0 volts with ignition on and engine NOT running.
Not knowing what type of Solid State switching device is used in the ICM I could see up to a 0.6 volt drop in the ICM.

So check voltage at the (-) terminal on the coil (green wire)
Check Voltage where the green wire plugs into the ICM
Check voltage where the black wire comes out of the ICM
Check voltage on distributor case.

Voltage readings are more accurate than resistance readings.

...

By the way, I will admit, I was reading the voltage on the coil wrong... The coil is getting 12v like it should. I was taking voltage from the positive terminal to the negative terminal on the coil... not the positive terminal of the coil to the negative battery post. whoops lol

Now I'm really confused....
If you are seeing 5 volts from (+) to (-) on the coil. or around 2.9 amps. 2.9 amps across the ballast resister is then only 3.6 Volts.
Check that voltage across the ballast resistor.

But if you are seeing 12 volts From (+) to ground on the battery, then you are missing 7 volts from the (-) on the coil to ground or around 2.3 ohms resistance. That's a little high.

By the way, 2.9 amps through the coil will be a weak spark.

 

[John Strenk]

@John Strenk is there a chance that the ICM grounds to the fender as well? I did some quick continuity tests and the ground wire from the ICM was weak on the tone. I am going to check voltages this weekend so I can spend time and open up the loom to see where things are going.

Thanks for the information in checking the ICM. If I have a poor ground, can I create a dedicated ground near the ICM?

I think I could solve this issue with by putting in an HEI... but Id like to figure this out

No, the case for the ICM is insulated from the circuit. There are some recommendations as to grounding the black wire from the 4 pin plug to ground at the case.
But if you fenders don't have a good ground, you can make it worse.
Normally the black wire runs all the way to the distributor before it is grounded. They certainly wanted to keep all the important circuits for the engine grounded on the engine.
A good idea to clean all the area around the distributor clamp to insure a good ground.

If you download the FSM, there is a series of test you can do to isolate any problems with the ICM.

Yes, an HEI will solve many problems.