On Tuesday afternoon, Patterson sprang to life with it’s new transplant!

We started Tuesday morning working through the wiring. I asked Ann to rewire the low-beam/high-beam floor switch, since much of the fabric had fallen away. That led to rewiring more of the harness than expected, which in turn delayed messing with the engine.

Once I could focus on the engine, the first thing I did was swap distributers, as Patterson’s engine had newer internals (and I knew for sure it worked). When installed, I tried starting the engine a few times, but didn’t have success. So, I rotated the distributor wires 90 degrees. When that didn’t work, I rotated them another 90. When that didn’t work, I rotated them another 90. That’s when I got the engine to fire, but not run. At that point I began rotating it a few degrees, then cranking the engine, then rotating again, so I could get a feel for which position seemed to fire the best. But, after trying this a few times, we still didn’t get it to run.

At that point, Ann suggested we try different spark plugs. I’d forgotten I hadn’t installed the ones that had been on Patterson (still attached to the head). So, we pulled them, checked the gaps, then installed them in the “new” engine. We got it to fire again, but then, mysteriously, it stopped firing no matter where the distributer was located. That was puzzling. About that time, ann noticed some heat at the generator. I suspect the regular got stuck, causing the battery to discharge into the generator, creating heat (at least that’s what I determined later of after doing some reading). So, I pulled the battery cable and let the system cool.

Once it was cool, I rotated the distrbutor back to teh position where it had fired the best, then climbed into Patterson to start the jeep, simultaneously working the choke and gas pedal. Sure enough, Patterson just needed some physical presence in the driver’s seat, because he started right up. At that point, I climbed out and played with the distributor to locate the sweetest sounding spot. (see the video on Facebook … I can’t seem to make it appear on eWillys … it lacks a muffler, so it’s a little noisy).

So, Patterson runs again. But, we discovered the temp gauge and oil gauges are not working, so those will need some attention. Unfortunately, we had to return to Pasco last night, because Ann has a doc appointment Wednesday. I accompanied her back to Pasco, as I have some updating to do to the website and need to organize the sale of some Alaska Or Rust t-shirts. More on that Thursday morning. We plan to be back in Renton early next week. My mother has knee surgery scheduled for the 5th, so we need to be around to help out.

Now, if only it sounded like a jeep. It seems the timing it off, so I’ll be working my way through that Tuesday morning. One fun fact I didn’t know … there’s no top center on an L-head. I wished I’d known that BEFORE I assembled everything. I didn’t check to see whether my flywheel has the flywheel marks.

Anyway, Patterson is all assembled. We only had one oil leak, but that was only because someone forgot to tighten the inlet line at the block. We also had a minor gas leak at the carb, but that was a trivial issue. Some plumbers tape solved that.

So, now I believe it’s down’ to timing. For those looking for a good resource on L-head timing strategies, this thread on the CJ-2A page is helpful: https://www.thecj2apage.com/forums/l134-ignition-timing_topic13819.html. The also may be helpful: http://www.cj-2a.com/techtips/timing/howto/l134-timing.pdf

Here are a few pics from the day:

This rewiring is Ann’s handiwork.

Ann also produced some seat covers that have pockets at the front for things like a phone or wallet.

The grille installed.

The radiator is installed. Just need the driver side fender installed.

Continue reading →

Patterson has a Harrison Heater, common in the early DJ-3As. Attached at the bottom of the dash is an Ark-Less four position switch (Off, Low, Medium, High) that controls the fan speed. The switch wasn’t delivering current, so I spent the day figuring out how to pull it apart and clean it up in the hopes that the switch could be resurrected.

The switch is held together by a long pin in the center. The switch also rotates on this pin. To remove the pin, the rounded edges on the pin must be drilled/pressed together/or someone modified. I chose to drill out the ends.

Here’s what it looks like to begin (not my switch .. I forgot to take this pic .. thanks to the cj-2a.com page)

Note the small hole. That pin must be pushed out

Now, here’s my switch. It received some paint when Patterson was repainted (I believe the paint was touched up some at some point). Once I drilled out the end of the pin a little, I used the nail to push the pin through.

Here’s the other side of the pin. Now that it is sticking up, I can remove it.

Pin removed. I didn’t put much pressure on the pin when I first pushed it through, so I *think* the pin was already bent somehow.

Continue reading →

In case anyone’s curious, this is how Patterson’s vacuum reservoir is setup. Based on what I’ve read, a reservoir was important if running dual wipers. The vacuum begins at the manifold, then winds down under the body.

It winds up underneath to a reservoir tucked in between the frame and the spring for the parking brake.

This is a close up look at the TRICO valve on the reservoir.

This is a not so perfect illustration of how it mounts. Because of the support channels on the floor of the body, the reservoir had to be shimmed down about an inch. The solution was a set of three nuts between the body and the reservoir. Continue reading →

I pulled the head on Patterson last night. I don’t see any cracks in the block nor do I see any obvious signs of coolant, though there might be a tiny bit of residue on the tops of pistons 1 and 2. My initial reaction is that coolant is entering the oil elsewhere. The engine does appear to have a recently replaced water pump. Anyway installing that incorrectly would result in mixing coolant and oil??

The first two photos show how the pistons and head gasket looked right after pulling it. 

Then after pulling off the gasket and vacuuming up the dirt:

The head gasket:

The bottom of the head:

I made an puzzling discovery about bell cranks the other day. I ordered a rebuild kit for Rusty’s bell crank. When I began assembling it, I discovered the original and new bolts were different. So, I had to use my old bolt (which fortunately was in good shape). Going back online, all the bell crank rebuild kits show the left hand bolt below (anyone need a new bolt .. I don’t). Do any other jeeps use the shorter bolt in their bell cranks?

Both of the DJ-3As have the same setup. The bolts they use lack an indent (used to secure the bolt to the bell crank mount). They are slightly shorter and 1/16th larger in diameter than the replacement crank. The DJ bolt lacks the hole at the end.

Here it is reassembled. The horizontal bolt clamps the unit together, but does not anchor the bolt.

UPDATE II: Add are some instructions (thanks Terry!) for installing DJ-3A seats:

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ORIGINAL POST UPDATE MAY 2017: I’ve added a couple pics at the end and included a discussion on the extra channel DJ-3As have.

Last fall, when disassembling Rusty, I thought it was odd that the 2/3 1/3 seats had been mounted on wood blocks. I assumed this had been done by the previous owner to raise the seats.

Yesterday, I discovered that Patterson’s passenger seat was loose. When I examined it more carefully, I learned that it was loose because one of the wood blocks under the seat had broken. I can only conclude that all DJ-3A’s with 2/3 1/3 seats were mounted on wood blocks? Or maybe only the early ones?

The photo below shows the passenger seat tilted forward. The front of it is mounted in a way that allows it to pivot forward. The mounts are bolted through a piece of wood, then through a piece of cloth, through the body, and into a welded bolt. The rear of the seats rests on the two mounts at the back of the well. The long piece of wood is a well-seasoned (at least 45 years old) and stained piece of oak that will work perfect for replacement blocks.

Unlike the passenger seat, the rear of the driver’s seat rests on two posts; slide onto the ends of the posts are rubber feet. Those rubber feat sit on blocks of wood also. 

A close up of the rubber foot. The hole is 1 inch in diameter, so I ought to be able to find rubber feet to replace these tired ones.

This shows how great the floor on this DJ is.

Another angle. Blocks 1, 4, 5, and 6 were the same size. Blocks 2 and 3 were larger and screwed down to the body. The rear 2/3’s seat rested atop those blocks.

I’ve drilled cut and drilled the blocks. They are ready for installation. I plan to add a thin piece of rubber under the blocks. Once I remove the rusted end of one bolt that broke, I’ll be able to reinstall the seats.

If you take a look at wood block #1 and block #6 there’s something curious. While the body area under wood block is similar to a CJ-3A, the body area under #6 has an additional channel (btw, we’ve yet to document any under DJ-3A body channels with wood in them).

This is the passenger side with the extra channel and a welded bolt.

No channel on the driver’s side even though there is a bolt welded there. 

Finally, the DJ-3As used wood blocks between the frame and transmission crossmember.

Another item I tackled yesterday was Patterson’s windshield, specifically the twisters and a rear view mirror.

It wasn’t until yesterday that I realized Patterson didn’t have a rear view mirror. Fortunately, I had the mount from Rusty and a nearly correct mirror thanks to Chris McKay. This is before I added the mirror:

And after the mirror. 

Next I addressed a couple of broken twisters. These are one of the unique features of a DJ-3A Convertible. The windshield is nearly like a CJ-3B, accept for the way the convertible top is supposed to attach to the windshield. Instead of a sliding mechanism, it uses those twisters. Two of Patterson’s twisters were broken. I had a few that I removed from Rusty (most of Rusty’s were broken), so I installed two of those onto Patterson. 

The windshield is now complete and ready for a convertible top.