With my son Karson’s help, I got everything ready to fire-up the engine.  So, we flicked on the switches and he pushed the button … and nothing.  Such is the wonderful world of projects.

So, it was time to start testing parts to see what I did wrong.  First, we discovered the start button was bad, so that was replaced.  Then, I realized I had a loose wire, which we repaired. But, the biggest issue I had was that I wired up the Starter Relay (aka Starter Solenoid depending on the source) incorrectly.  That took a little rewiring and refiguring (see revised schematic two posts above), but we did it.  Then we tried the start button and success, the engine turned over without any unexpected noises!

Next, I realized the fuel pump wasn’t working. However, it turned out to be another wiring issue and I got that resolved.

We got to the point where gas was getting into the carb, spark was reaching the spark plugs and the engine was turning over, but it didn’t fire.

The next step was to more closely check the timing. While taking off the spark plug off the number one cylindar, the spark plug broke.  I’ve never had that happen before.  At that point it was 10pm and we couldn’t run to the store to get another plug.  That was dissapointing as I had to take the boys home the next day (yesterday).

The good news is we got really close.  It is nearly ready!   I’ve promised to get video of the engine running so they can hear it (which of course I’ll post here as well).

Best of all, though, was watching 15 year old Karson get excited about working on the jeep.  He was asking to go out and work on it, he waited patiently for things to do, and asked questions when he didn’t know what he was doing.  That experience alone is worth everything I’ve put into this crazy project.