Seems to have intermittent spark

Just to start out.

How about a picture of your distributor.

Fill a squirt bottle up about 1/3 of the way with fuel.

Adjust it so that it shoots a mist.

Do this outside, away from anything you deem dear to you, keep a soaking wet towel and a fire extinguisher handy. You will probably be fine, but things can and will happen at the worst of times!

Crank up the Jeep and see if you can "nurse" it along shooting it in the carburetor to keep it running as long as you can.

If this works well, we will chase a fuel issue.

Send results!

The Medic

Maybe this has been Frankensteined?

This looks to be a Motorcraft distributor.

This would be an upgrade to be more like a '79 CJ (which is a good thing!)

If that is the coil a few inches up at 12 O'clock, it is not the correct/ normal one for a '79.

I don't like electric pumps, expensive, can overpower the carburetor needle/ seat/ float. It might also become a constant flamethrower in a wreck. If your carburetor is "normal" a cheap (like $20) mechanical fuel pump is more than adequate. Many folk's friend's talks one into "over engineering" their Jeep, actually making things much harder to work on.

Take a pic of that carburetor too!

I have a 4 barrel 390 Holley mounted on an Offenhauser intake on my 258 6 cylinder, the original mechanical fuel pump works just fine.

When I upgraded my '77, I changed everything ignition to be as close to a '79 as possible. The only additional item I "had to have" to make it all work was a ballast resistor. This was needed because the '77 had a plain Jane wire feeding the coil (the '79 had a resistance wire)

The major reason I made it all be like a '79 is so that when I needed any ignition tune up parts (for maintenance), I simply asked at the parts store parts for my 1979 (instead of confusing them with a '77 w/ Prestolite) or any other "oddball part" that "could work" but complicate the process maybe five years down the road when this might not be so fresh on my mind.

Let's get a better pic of your coil and ignition module too!

As far as spark testing, this little booger is cheap (around $15) and so easy to use, and is hands free too. It snaps onto your installed spark plug and the spark plug wire snap onto the other end.

You can get this at a parts store, I think mine came from Advance Auto Parts. See pic below.

The Medic

P.S. Don't let that rust take over (it can get out of hand quick!), You have a nice looking Jeep.

I have two tests for you.

First) Voltmeter hooked to the positive side of the coil-negative side to the negative battery.

Key "on"

What is your voltage?

Now carefully, not going crazy,

Jiggle and move around your wires as if you were idling or riding down the road. Especially where they meet items such as the distributor/ coil/ module. Maybe do some jiggling on the column on the other side of the dash where the ignition switch is located. Do it everywhere while watching the voltmeter for glitching (turning off) You might even have someone else do the watching so you don't miss nothing!

2nd test) Take your ignition module to a parts store, I use Advance Auto Parts, have it tested 5 or more times in a row. If it fails once, replace it. Test the new one the same way before you leave. Not doing this might bite you in the butt, as it did me one time.

As nasty as your coil looks, I'd replace it just for preventative maintenance. If for getting the correct coil you might ask for one for a 1979 (for use with an external resistor) Regular/ cheap/ plain Jane coil. Don't let your friends talk you into space shuttle technology, there is really no benefit! (This will apply to most of your Jeep!)

Pics below

The Medic

Wonderful!

Now let's get serious.

Fire it up and then start the jiggle testing all over again.

Go slow, wait a bit between jiggling different items, at first, be gentle and try to re-create bouncing, swaying, and the amount of "G"s the wires and harnesses' might pull.

You are looking for stutters and shutting down with the test. Go slow enough to be able spot the problem.

The Medic

My preference is the inexpensive, non-electric, pretty much bullet proof mechanical fuel pump. Always less than $25.00, usually a parts store stock item. I do keep a spare one in my Jeep, along with a coil and ignition module. It's tough to break me down!

If everybody here would chip in, I could get me a Shell Valley body for "Mr. Jeep"! I have the video on how to install it.

Yes, I love my fiberglass body on "Willy". It came from T.J. Vanderbosch somewhere near Chicago. I had to find and make my own cuts and holes in the body with nothing but the old rusted out body to go by. It is lighter, it has not rusted since 1991, it's quieter than a metal body. The best part was for $950, body work became a lot simpler! All of this happened before there was internet. Lots of phone calls!

Here's a few of before and after.

The Medic

So, you think you got yours all ready to go?

After your riding around, did you climb out and commence to strutting around like a Bantam rooster?

Keep us posted as you progress.

Ole Willy was sitting maybe an 1/8th of a mile behind "Whitey's" house (a Korean War vet who let us hunt on his place).

Willy was sitting near a dead tractor in a field that the trees were taking over.

We probably walked up to and right by them maybe 50 times when we hunted.

Whitey said he was going to restore it one day.

We sort of knew that would never happen seeing his health condition.

One day I guess he crawled back into the real world and asked my friend and I if we wanted to buy it.

I thought I did okay for a hundred buck investment!

The entire neighborhood laughed when we brought Willy in on a trailer.

After two years in my rented duplex's one car garage, no one laughed at Willy again.

All I have is VHS footage, I converted to digital, these are screenshots of my restoration. Hence the poor quality of these pics.

I had always wanted a Willys, I was 27 years old and convinced myself that it was now or never!

I'm still tweaking on him (since 1991), he's pretty much looking the way I want him too

The Medic

If drilling and cutting may be involved.

Go ahead and make you one of these boogers.

Short and sweet.

1/4 x 1 aluminum stock (hardware store)

2 nails about 8 penny

3/8 bolt x 3/4

Plastic knob w/ 3/8 metal female nut (mine was off of an abandoned stationary bike)

Hose clamp and pencil are optional, but highly recommended

Always make 2 or more marks from different locations, 90 degree or close to it angles make things more accurate.

I also used these "CJ MEDEVAC super dividers" when I cut access holes to my heater core and heater fan. I can now drop my battery tray out and be at both items come out in minutes through the firewall. I did make a graph/ diagram of the measurements.

No more taking my dash out!

A new fan motor is now made larger than the OEM (measure the diameter of one at a parts store if you doubt me!) So, it might be a good idea to make the hole the new size, even if you stay with the old one for now, and choose to remove the heater box to access your stuff (the regular way)

This too, is another modification I made. The '77 heater was crap, so I replaced it with an entire '82 ('79 on up to '86 was the better heater/ vent.) It fit well in the correct spot, however some of the '82 did not line up anchor-wise, so I had to tweak things to make it work.

Posting just a few of many of the pics.

The Medic