1967 CJ5 fixerup

A few months ago I purched a mostly original,1967 CJ5 with a 225 v6. It appears as if it's had a hardtop since new because the interior is nice (relative to sitting uncovered for 50 years). The car didn't run and I have no idea what I got in to. I bought it as a project for my now 14 year old son as he has talked incessantly about Jeeps and it just struck a nerve with me since I've never owned one.

The current plan is very simple. Get it running, make it reliable and safe. So, I started with attempting to get the engine running. Knowing nothing about it we started slow and my son's attention span is short. Removed the plugs and put copious quantities of Marvel Mystery Oil in all the cylinders and let it sit for a week. I then put a wrench on the balancer bolt to see if it would move and it moved very easily. I decided to leave it linger in the event the rings might be stuck in the grooves. So, I rebuilt the distributor and carburetor. The front two carb studs broke because of the exhaust heat riser that almost ate through the bolts entirely. We also changed the oil and filter.

Last weekend I thought I could get it running. So I turned it over fully by hand without incident. I then put a good battery in and tried the long dormant starter. Fortunately it worked great. I decided I would do a compression test before trying to fire it. Bad news...all cylinders were between 100-120 psi except number 5 which was 30. I measured the gross valve lift and it was the same as cylinder #3 so I'm pretty sure it is a valve issue. So that's where I am today, waiting to pull the heads next. While there I'm going to replace the timing chain, fuel pump, water pump and rebuild the oil pump if the cylinders and pistons look good.

Since I told my son that I wouldn't work on it without him, the updates may come slowly.

I will have to set up the photos I have in my Photobucket account and add next.

 

Looking forward to updates!