2 December 2018
Last week we made a spontaneous decision to hire a car trailer, drive an hour out of town and rescue a rusty CJ5 Jeep from a collector whom had so many other projects (from WW2 Jeeps to 1950's Chevrolet Impalas and even a Californian Meyers Manx beach buggy), they had no time for the old Jeep.
Taking a look at the VIN plate and talking to the owner, we ascertained that the jeep was a US model, built 1974 in Toledo Ohio, privately imported to Australia and subsequently converted to right hand drive. This CJ5 features the AMC (American Motors Corporation) 232 cu in (3.8 L) engine with 3 speed Manual Gearbox, Dana 30 front and Dana 44 rear axle.
The Carburettor was missing and we noted the intake manifold fits the 2 barrel Carter BBD Carburettor and not the single barrel Carter YF that would typically be installed on a 232 motor, indicating that the intake manifold and carburettor were upgraded at some point.
We safely got the Jeep home to Tidworth Mechanical and the clean up began. The first step in any new project is a thorough cleaning to get rid of the years of grease, grime, and spiders... We like to use high pressure and hot water, so we connect a high pressure cleaner up to a mains hot water tap that is temperature controller to 55 degrees Celcius (131 degrees Fahrenheit for the readers in the US), sprayed a can or two of degreaser over the engine bay, axles and steering links, waited for the degreaser to work its magic and washed it all down. What you think would be a half an hour wash down can take up a whole morning if your not careful.
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