Hi Scotty,
I've got a bone stock Jeep J10 which was my daily driver till 09 when California decided she was a gross polluter. She's sat since then, now that I'm retired I want to get her back on the road again. What sequence of steps should I take to make sure I can get her back on the road again without damaging her.
Thanks
Chuck
California is batsh*t crazy when it comes to this kind of thing.
You might want to first do a compression and a leakdown test on the engine. If it's not in good shape internally anything else won't do you much good.
Since it's been sitting so long you'll need to clean out the entire fuel system, clean (or better, rebuild) the carb, change oil and filter, and the brakes are going to need attention. Basically all major systems should be examined and attended to as needed.
Beyond that on a '78 you'll want to do a complete tuneup, check for vacuum leaks, and set everything to factory specs. Make sure all emission gadgets are working properly. I'm not sure if AMC was still using that lousy Pertronix plastic electronic distributor in '78, but I think by that time they changed to the Ford Duraspark which is much more reliable. If it is the Pertronix, it is very susceptible to the plastic vacuum advance blowing out and signal problems from the pickup to the electronic control box. (Factory fix for the signal problem was to cut off the connector and solder the wires together.)
If the engine checks out and everything is set to spec but it still doesn't pass it's always possible the catalytic converter is worn out if so equipped.
get a fresh battery and some fresh gas and see what happens
