1948 Willys CJ2 Jeep re-wiring part 1

One of the bad things about old jeeps are the fact they originally had cloth insulated wiring. The next bad thing are all of the bubba-fixes that are patched in there later. So now I have a jeep with a mix of both barely-insulated wiring and many wires for unknown functions that have accumulated over the years.

Fortunately about these old jeeps is that if you have a diagram and the proper tools you can rewire these babies in one day, front to back. Now that I have my new 12V charging and solid state ignition installed, I want to start cleaning up all the horrible wiring under my hood. Look at this mess:

My jeep has since had a keyed ignition installed, there’s some sort of light on the dash I have no idea what is for, and want to get it straightened out if not for aesthetics, then for knowledge of what did what under there. A fellow Cj2 owner provided me with a great diagram that he used with the same exact keyed ignition. (Thanks Captainpattson).

With this, it made a LOT more sense of what was supposed to be going on under there, what could be removed, what needed to be changed, re-routed and connected correctly. I bought wire that matched the colors of the diagram, got a generic box o’ wiring connectors at the parts store and tore into it….

MUCH better! Next I’m going to totally rewire the front headlights and light switch so I can think about getting this jeep road ready!