Willy's Resto Mod Wheeler

So I finally got around to buying a Willy's. I had my eye on one from a friend for a while, but he ended up wanting to part out that one.

I found one on CL with a Buick Motor, titled as a Ford GP but says willys overland, it has the Over Drive, 11" Brakes, Saginaw steering and a GM Column, Bestop seats and a Bestop soft top that is in rough shape. Its on 31"s.

The body is in rough shape, needing some major work and some of the rust needs to be sought after.











Since most of the desired resto-mods are complete. I am planning on reworking the cage, cleaning up the body, adding hanging pedals and an overall clean up on the resto-mods. The motor needs a new cam shaft as one of the valves are stuck...that may wait to be winter project.

The front part of the frame appears to be boxed. As it goes I would be interested in boxing the rest, maybe once the rest of the body work is done.

Eventually I plan on replacing the suspension with YJ leafs and adding 34x10.5 Super Swampers.

Any more info or input anyone could provide that would be awesome.

 

A few more

 

Man...this would be my next project, and already has the mods I want!

 

Should work fine as is with 31's but if you go 34's, you will either need a very light touch on the skinny or new axles. Neither the 2 piece rear D44 (could be a D41 also) or the 25 front are going to live well with 34" tires. The T90 will not be too fond of those big tires either.

 

Good to know. I'd like to be tall and skinny, so I might end up trading the ones for a little bit narrower...in time

 

Drive it and enjoy before you do anything other then safety checks. You will be amazed at how much fun it is to run. It is way to easy to tear it apart with big plans and never get it put back together.

 

Good advice, that is one of the main reasons I got this one...the body work is enough to keep me busy, but to keep it running. I do plan on driving it to work next week...just need a seat belt

 

Just curious, what ya end up giving for it. I think a lot of us would like to start with something this nice.

 

i have the engine if its a buick 225. it is good for parts or to fix, it either needs a rod or crank. i was told by PO that the first cylinder didnt turn but havn't looked into it yet, mine has roughly 18,000 miles.

 

Way cool!! I want one of those.

 

Good Find!

The stuck valve may not mean it needs a new cam. First unstick the valve, then if the cam is actually worn out replace it and its lifters. I really like your plan of running it as is while you do some body work. This way you can see what you really want out of this rig. Then you can do the mods you want over the winter, IF you stay on track with the repair/mod that is. These projects can take 2-3 years if you are not careful.

Good Luck, Matt W.

 

Started ripping into this over the weekend. I ground off the bondo and body filler on the passanger side- roughly 1/2" thick at the bottom of the rocker holding the floor pan to it. I will need to make or buy patch panels, any suggestions. I will post pictures later tonight. The side of the Jeep looks like swiss cheese! The front fenders are just as bad if not worse.

My plan is to repair the floor first then the rockers, but I needed to see how far the bondo held the two together. Once the rockers are repaired I will be making a rocker guard/rock rail out of angle iron. I plan on scrapping most of the front fenders in place of home built tube fenders to still have the rolled edge. Any suggestions?

I also pulled the valve cover and tried to free the valve. With the lifters loosened, the valve moved freely, but once tight it would not move at all. Any input on where to go from here?

 

Sorry for the delay in from the other week for who ever is following it. I got tied up prepping the XJ for a trip to the Iron Range


Back to the Willys:


Lots of Bondo, up to 1/2" filling the holes, including holding the floor to the rocker panel.


The front fenders aren't much better

 

I'd fix the tub and replace the fenders. The fender could be repaired, but you'd end up nearly building a new fender to fix that one right.

May as well go with repop fenders, at about $300 each. Tube fenders make sense to replace the biscuit fenders, but when you make tube fenders for a flatty you're basically building the same fender with a tube in its edge.

If you are ambitious and skilled, you could maybe cut the original fenders back to the inner fender (or to a flange), make your tube for the outer edge, then skin between the tube and the inner with new metal. Lot of work, for not much different from the original fenders.

 

I'm leaning towards one of these two methods, probably the second one.

 

Got some time over the last couple of days to do a little work here and there. Pulled off the rest of the paint and started to mark out for removals



Going to start removing whats above and attempt to patch back in. I assume I should remove the tub supports first, which means removing the tool box and the cage....

I have to remove both anyways,
Tool Box Floor:


Ugly rusted out Cage support:



I'll keep posting I know its a little slow, but with a 4 month old and winter coming upon us in MN, there is enough time in the day.

 

Got some work done this weekend. Cutting out the old and sizing up for how much repair I need to do.

Removed the Tool Box




Found this little guy living in the tool box




Rocker cut out, may need to straighten that cut



Floor cut out:

 

You will want to rebuild the tub side first and then fit your floor patch. Remember to duplicate the seam between the quarter panel and the cowl side. Classic enterprises and other places sell a hat channel kit which will be very handy in keeping the floor solid. It is tough to keep everything in the right place if you cut too much off at once. If you are going to keep the tub on the frame for your rebuild do one side at a time. If you end up pulling the tub, weld or bolt in a lot of cross bracing to keep everything aligned.

 

I am planning on only doing one side at a time, both due to space and complexity. Th driver side is better in this location, but worse under the feet.

Good point on creating the tub side first. I was going to recreate the seam. I also need to rebuild the tub support at the crease. As far as the hat channels go I was planing on using rectangle steel, as this jeep is not intended to be a true restoration

 

Did a little work early this morning, I had some time away from the jeep so not much has gotten done. I ordered parts for the passenger side I figured for the cost of these, I would the time and fit vs cost was worth it to order the parts. I got the front floor panel for the passenger side, the support gusset between the front and back and the lower rocker panel. Here is the rocker panel:



At the pinch seam, on the outer edge of the tub, I am going to create a sub bracket with 1/2" angle iron so the floor pan can rest on it and the side panel can abut to it. I am also going to use two 1" angle iron with a plate periodically to create the hat channels. This will allow for the support to be there at the body mounts and drainage to be there from mud/water. Here is a sketch of what I am trying to depict:




I also decided I need a wiring harness for the ignition. The original one fried last time I had the heep running. Any input on wiring harnesses. I was thinking of one from ebay http://www.ebay.com/itm/Jeep-CJ-wit...Parts_Accessories&hash=item1c185b9f54&vxp=mtr
Any input or advice would be helpful.