willysmjeeps.com

After working on this thing for a year and a half, with lots and lots of ups and downs, we finally fired up the motor for a test run.

The weekend before, my son in attempting to adjust the distributor, successfully drained all of the smoke that was stored in the batteries. After they were completely drained of all the smoke he took a hammer to release the wrench that had been welded to the hot line on the starter.

So, this time, he started the engine, and I adjusted the distributor to get it close for now. The smoke off the motor and the exhaust system totally filled the shop.

Take a look! I'm still really pumped about it all!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmLC6bUKCIg

We found a leaky oil line, so the drive out has been delayed a little.

It is always a very good feeling when the come to life the first time.

A few things I noticed on the video:

1-She turns the starter slow. May be timing advanced to far, or bad grounds or weak batteries. On the battery install did you tighten the terminals with a wrench?

2-Several times I heard the belts squeal because they are not tight enough.

3- A 5 to 7 minute warmup is minimum before punching the throttle so hard.

4-Looks like you were trying to time it by ear. Better to do it right and get her where she belongs. 5 to 7 degrees before TDC #1. You can do it with a timing light or try the simple method I posted on our downloads page.

Looks good! I went to Aberdeen one year that had an M38A1 being driven around that got many curious onlookers. One of the guys commented what made it of interest was that most people have never seen one with a running engine let alone being driven.

Your getting ahead of everyone...