It runs it finally runs, and runs well

Bill_F · Post by **Bill_F** » Sat Aug 30, 2008 9:28 pm

My brother and I worked all afternoon on my m38. About an hour ago we got it to fire. fired right up and ran great. No strange sounds. Very smokey right now but that should clear. About $1000 later my engine is good to go. I couldnt believe how it went on the first try. Never had that luck before

m38olddog · Post by **m38olddog** » Sat Aug 30, 2008 11:10 pm

Waytago ! It's alive...ALIVE!

Post by **wesk** » Sun Aug 31, 2008 12:45 am

Great news Bill. I sure hope that means you're going to keep this one around longer than the last 3!

Bill_F · Post by **Bill_F** » Sun Aug 31, 2008 5:29 am

Wes,

The funny thing about that is my brother last night told me I was not to sell this one ever. He said he was tired of me getting them almost done then selling them for another project.

GIJOE290 · Post by **GIJOE290** » Sun Aug 31, 2008 6:07 am

Whoo-Hoo! Congrats!

Post by **Ryan_Miller** » Sun Aug 31, 2008 6:13 pm

Glad to hear thing went well.

Photos?

Bill_F · Post by **Bill_F** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 5:23 am

Yestarday It drove on its own from the garage we worked on it in to my parents house. Everything went fairly well. Only had a couple of little problems. I have one fuel leak to fix, my spedometer stopped working after 1 mile of this 8 mile trip, It does stumble a little bit, still need to get a timming light on her, and the transfer case leaks everywhere. My brother and I got tired of trying to get the orginal vent lines to work so we made out own. I will try to get some pics of it today. Also I think my oil pressure gauge is messed up. It pins the gauge but last night I started the jeep and the gauge was at 0, I tapped the gauge a couple of time and it pinned to 60.

Post by **wesk** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 7:41 am

I wouldn't fool around with that oil pressure gage. On a fresh engine the most critical parameter you must monitor is oil pressure. Driving 8 miles on what may have been only 2 or 3 pounds of oil pressure would set up the destruction of your lower end. You should get a simple direct reading gage installed before you even fire it up again. You can play with the electrical gage circuit later after you have satisfied yourself the engine is performing well. Same with timing. If far enough off it cam damage your fresh engine. You don't need a timing light to set basic timing. It can be done very accurately with a small piece of paper. I've listed all the timing methods here and on the Yahoo group.

Bill_F · Post by **Bill_F** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 7:41 pm

She is now running like a top. We put a timming light on her, adjusted the carb a bit and you couldnt ask for a better running engine. Still have not figured out what is wrong with the speedometer and my time with the jeep has ended for now.

My brother took the jeep up to a friend of mines today, he is a state of NH licenced vehical inpsector, he looked it over and said I need new tie rods and the bell crank needs to be rebuild other than that it is already for the inspection sticker.

My brother said he put about 50 miles on it today.

Only oil leak on the engine it out of the Mil JR canister on the top, the oil filter I got did not come with a gasket, we tried to make one but it did not hold.

We are also going to pull the transfer case at some point and put new gaskets and seals in it to try to stop some of the leaks.

No new pics yet. I left my camera at home when I went up to work on the jeep.

Bill_F · Post by **Bill_F** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 4:35 am

Wes,

One more thing that I forgot to mention. We are having some problems with the brake light. It seems to like to stick on, or at least some what on, when you press the pedal it does get brighter but not much. We are thinking it could be the pressure switch, it is a civvy pressure switch. The wiring harness is all new along with the taillights. Do you know of any other things we should check?

Post by **wesk** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 8:58 am

Poor grounds! Using a heavy duty alligator clip test lead to augment grounds will help clear that up. If not then disconnect one wire at a time from brake switch and see what happens. If it still stays lit on one of the wires then look at the main light switch.

Bill_F · Post by **Bill_F** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 10:03 am

Thanks wes I will have to give that a try. All the other light function as they are supposed to.

Bill_F · Post by **Bill_F** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 7:12 pm

Ok found out why the speedometer doesnt work. The cable broke right where it goes into the speedometer. It kind of sucks because it was a brand new cable. Is it possible to buy just the inside cable or do I have to get the whole thing?

Post by **Ryan_Miller** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 8:10 pm

Bill,

Those new cables are usually not oiled properly. Wes told me a person should oil them before installation.

I don't know if anyone sells just the parts.

Glad to hear things are going well otherwise.

Bill_F · Post by **Bill_F** » Thu Sep 04, 2008 6:41 am

I thought I did oil it when I first got it but I might not have, been so long.