Went down to my buddy Stu's to pick up the Hi-Lift jack that we initially purchased for the rally car. Its a 36" incher, which I'll bet you didn't know Hi-Lift actually made. It is just under the length of the DJ's front bumper, so it will fit perfectly. Here's a pic:
And here it is being used to fix the tub:
I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. The back of the tub is still rough, but at least it just looks like a rough jeep now, and not a dented one. The upper lip is actually pretty darn straight. Here a pic of the dent, followed by the fixed tub:
I think the Jeep either took a shunt, or backed into something pretty hard in the past, as the left bumperette is fractured, and that side of the rear bumper and crossmember is bent in a little. I've got replacement bumperettes, and am looking into sourcing a rear crossmember that will allow me to install a combination pintle hook and ball.
If I get enough stuff on the back, I may be able to disguise the condition of the rear pending sending it to a body man.
Went to Buford, Georgia, last Wednesday to pick up an engine. I had contacted the seller about a bantam trailer a few weeks ago (which he had sold for $125, sob), and he indicated that he had a Kaiser Supersonic head, which at the time I knew nothing about.
I came across a thread on L-head performance at one of the Jeep sites, and found out that the Supersonic head was a high compression head. I also found out that I could get headers for the L-head engine from Clifford Performance, http://www.cliffordperformance.net, and that Weber makes a 32/36 DGEV set-up for it as well. Coming from my racing and rallying background, the decision was made to do the Jeep with period go-fast mods, which will include the above in addition to the Supersonic head.
Here's a pic of the engine:
And of the head:
Checking out the serial number, it looks like the block is a CJ2A block. PO said that his son had looked at the pistons, and that the engine still had its original pistons in it. He also said that it was frozen. I pulled the head, and sprayed a bunch of PB Blaster on top of the pistons, on the valves, etc. I figured that the engine would continue to be frozen, but was pleasantly surprised when it turned over by hand the first time I checked it, which was about a half hour later. The head had been machined by the PO as well.
After doing some inquiring, and speaking to the principals, I will be taking the engine to Arrow Engine Machine in Chattaboogie for an evaluation and hopefully rebuild. I did drop the engine about 2 feet from the back of my wife's minivan to the ground when I was unloading it by myself, but nothing appeared to break except the distributor cap. I hope that is all the damage I did.
Got some other spares as well:
Last Friday, I mounted the spare on the side of the Jeep. I don't like it there - the sheet metal is bent in a bit, and it rides awful close to the rear wheel. The DJ has reinforcement for a center rear mount, but if I use it, then I can't get a gas can on, which I want to do to complement the spare. Still figuring it out. I may use an MB style mount, so that I can use a Beachwood Canvas Summer Top meant for an MB or GPW, which is designed to work with spare and gas can placement on the rear. Beachwood Canvas does all sorts of Jeep canvas, and has other parts as well - www.beachwoodcanvas.com. They make the canvas in a number of colors, and I have requested samples to look at before choosing. Here's a not-very-good pic of the spare taken in the dark tonight:
And here's a couple of pics (not the best) of the rear set-up and top:
Last Saturday I took my youngest to the Model A Hillclimb on 6th Street in Chattanooga. Here's a couple of pics:
Sunday found me picking up a towbar from the Chinese Prison Labor Tool Store, which I installed yesterday and tonight:
Since I need to straighten out the rear of the tub before mounting a spare, I started to do so today, but couldn't finish because of the fact that neither my floor jack, nor a bottle jack that I have will work horizontally. Here's some pics:
I'll see if I can do with a 36" Hi-Lift jack that we purchased for the rally car, but which hasn't been used because of its weight, but I've got to pick it up from one of the other rally car owners tomorrow.
I haven't decided on the rustbucket yet. I do like its engine. I posted on G503 and willystech regarding parting it with someone, but everyone is just really looking for parts, not looking to share parting a jeep. At a cool grand, I figure that if there is a market, I might be able to get about half that back. $500 is not bad for engine with all ancillaries, but I am a cheap bastard.
This got posted on Ebay today. A beaut:
Went on a shopping spree with the girls in tow on Monday. Got my spare tire, some side steps, and bumperettes for $50 and have made a good local contact on jeep stuff. Tire was wire wheeled and primed this evening.
Then I went to Harbor Freight, and picked up the battery charger for the electrolytic cleaning, as well as tools that I don't need (actually, I got some combination wrenches, a new wire wheel for the angle grinder, and some other miscellaneous stuff).
Started the electrolytic process Monday p.m. with a saw blade and some electrician's pliers that I had, and it worked. I had to use baking soda because I could not find washing soda. Looking for something to clean, I seized upon the many layered spare tire holder. The process over 24 hours took off 99% of the paint, and turned the rust to black. I pulled it out today at lunch, and let it sun dry. Then I wire wheeled it when I got home and primed it:
Here is a picture of the bucket. A virgin no more:
Went to look at a M38 parts jeep this afternoon while my wife had the girls. It was adverstised on the Hotlanta Craigslist. Spoke to the owner who represented that it was solid, which it was if you count all the riveted in patch panels. It was a real rust bucket body wise. This learned, of course, after a 2 and a half hour drive.
However, its engine was rebuilt less than 150 miles ago, and I need an engine, and rebuilds are expensive in the scheme of things. Furthermore, I need the ancillaries to the engine from the clutch up to the radiator. I have posted ads at g503, www.g503.com, as well as willystech, www.willystech.com, to see if anybody wants to split the jeep as a parts jeep for the $1K the owner is asking for it. I could use all the parts to convert the DJ to 4wd, but I really don't want to do that right now. Here's the object of my desires:
Got home about 8:00 p.m. after stopping at the Lowes in Ft. Oglethorpe to get the hardware needed to make an electrolytic rust remover to use in rebuilding the DJ. Google electrolysis and rust removal and you'll find a bunch of sites. Here's one for example: http://jterrio.home.comcast.net/RustRemoval.htm. Basic gist is that you dump your rusty part in an electrolytic solution (washing soda and water) with current going through, and are able to get rid of the rust. It does work, and is a minimal labor procedure, which we all like.
My daughter came down and helped me make it.
Here's some pics:
Hi. My name's Wilson, and my buds and family call me Willy, and I've got a new old Willys Jeep that I plan to restore and play with, and so welcome to Willy's Jeep.
Here is a pic of my new toy:
I found her on the Atlanta Craigslist for $700. She was complete except for engine, and is in remarkable condition.
Here's what she looked like when I first saw her:
She had lived in that shed since at least 1992, as that was the date of expiration on the license plate. She has minimal rust, just some odd surface areas, and the hat channel outside of the frame rails. One big dent on the rear panel, and a small one below the left door opening.
I purchased her, believe it or not, from a Baptist preacher. It had been his son's, who had died of a heart attack in his late 40s.
I got my bud Mike to haul her up to Lookout Mountain. He lives in Canton, Georgia, outside of Hotlanta. Here's a pic the day she arrived:
The thing at the back of the Jeep is a 6 cylinder engine that I have not been able to identify. I'm thinking about dropping in a Dauntless V6 instead of an L134, but from what I can tell, it is not a Dauntless.
She was delivered on Saturday, August 18, 2007. Today is August 31st. I haven't been able to do much to her yet, other than to clean up the crap sitting in the back of her, remove the seats and spare tire holder (the latter to fix some torn sheet metal), and get some new tires mounted so that she would roll instead of squatting on two rear flats.
I got the tires from Coker Tire, who are local. They are "Firestone" 7.00x15 NDCCs, which is military nomenclature for "Non-Directional Cross-Country." I put Firestone in quotes because what they are in reality are tires made by Coker using old Firestone molds. That is how Corky Coker has made his millions. You can find Coker Tire at www.cokertire.com. I like the tires because I think they scream Jeep.
