Willys CJ-3A Is Finally Home

After 8 hours, 200 miles, and tank of diesel later, the Willys is home.

Overall, the pickup went ok. The newly rebuilt starter looked great, went back in with minimal effort, however the thing just would not start. After doing some troubleshooting, we traced it down to a possibly bad, although recently replaced, coil. After a trip down the street to the auto parts store we bought a new coil and got it installed.

Unfortunately, there still was no starting, and more importantly no spark. We traced down the wiring under the dash, which was hardly helpful. The wiring was converted to 12V, but using whatever wiring was available, so tracing a white cable or a red cable from one side to the other would be useless since it might be blue or black by the time it gets to that side. After a while we found one cable that was coming out from the firewall and the ammeter. Unfortunately, it was connected to anything else, so the circuit was never completed, hence no spark.

After getting it attached properly, the start turned over and the thing started right up. There is plenty of work to be done still. The electrical will all be replaced, lots of body work, the engine, transmission, transfer case, axles, etc. all need to be dismantled and rebuilt. All in all, it’s probably going to be a nice 2 year project. I figure I’ll start with some of the body work, get some of the accessories put back to normal, and hopefully by the winter be ready for my tear down.