New to the Willy's family

[Dorsey]

My wife recently purchased two 1953 Willy's trucks. One has the body with a Willy's car engine mounted in it the other was a frame with the original hurricane engine in it. Not sure what kind of car engine. we are new to the restoration world but wanted to know where to begin. Do we break down the frame with the hurricane or do we start on the interior of the truck. Or should we just strip the truck and work on restoring that first. I suggested the truck since the body was intact. But didn't want to get to far ahead of the wife on the interior. And do I take everything off the engine and just get it out of the truck?some help please.

[LarrBeard]

Your wife went shopping and bought TWO Willys trucks? Can I borrow her and let her go shopping for me? (Just kidding - I don't want to get shot!)

How bad is the metal on the truck? Holes, missing places? What do you know about the two engines? Is the "car" engine a flathead or a four cylinder with a valve cover?

If neither engine has run "in a long time", it really is a good idea to go ahead and pull the engine and do a tear down to see if there are any internal issues. Finding a cracked block (the crack is usually down where the distributor shaft goes to the oil pump drive gear) after everything else is done is a real bummer...

There is probably no real exactly correct answer, but - be careful with what you do with your wife's trucks...

The old trucks clean up really nice though ...

[Dorsey]

I have stripped as much as I can off the engine in the truck. By what I've been seeing it may be a Willy's roadster engine. I've also broken down everything on the frame that has the hurricane. It has a lot of work to be done. I'm not sure but I think I'm gonna have to check for cracks. Is this worth trying to rebuild?

[LarrBeard]

Awhhhh man..

That one does look rough, but - tear it down. It would all have to come apart anyway and tearing it down would let you see how badly the cylinder walls are rusted, pitted or worn. Ditto the crank. The valve gallery looks really cruddy - a lot of "stuff" in there - but it may just be dirt; it's hard to see from the picture.

Good luck - and keep those pictures coming.

[Dorsey]

Ok. I'm stuck. The engine and transmission that are in the truck wont come apart. I know there are bolts connecting the two together inside the bell housing. But question is how do I get to them. Or is it best to try to disconnect the bell housing leaving the fly wheel connected to the engine.

[LarrBeard]

Welcome to the Jeep world. Being stuck - either in a project or mud - is normal for all of us at one time or another.

The attachment is a left rear view of my engine and transmission. If you look at the front of the transmission, you can see two (of the four) bolts that hold the transmission to the bell housing. Remove those bolts (there might be a fifth one I can't see and don't remember) and the transmission 'should' come off. I do not remember any bolts that have to be accessed from inside the bell housing.

I checked the on-line copy of the Willys Service Manual and it confirmed that the bolts holding the transmission to the bell housing are accessible from outside. You may need to get a long screwdriver to separate the clutch release fork and the throwout bearing.

The two are probably rust welded together - or you have missed a bolt somewhere.

A piece of 2 X 4 and a 3-pound hammer have been known to be good persuaders to separate things like this. Loosen the bolts about 1/2" to support the transmission, put the 2 X 4 against the rear of the transmission and smack that sucker! Beating on the cast iron case isn't a good idea.

Good luck - let us know how its going.

[Dorsey]

Got it thank you! Removed the shifter and its cover and found the two bolts on top that were holding the bell housing. Engine came out without beating on it.

[Dorsey]

I'm trying to figure out what kind of engine the truck had in it. The numbers on the drivers side of the up high read:
PI8*I38I43* that's up behind water pump. The lower numbers along the oil pan read:
4*29*49 that's next to the oil filler. The rear numbers are 1119729*11. I'll try to add photos.14781478

[Dorsey]

1479

Does this look bad?

[Dorsey]

Will a small engine valve spring compressor work on this size engine or is there another way to remove the spring?

[Dorsey]

Ok so with a curved pair of needle nose and a 2x4 I got the valves out. "Crude but effective." Come to find out I think this is a 1949 if the date stamp on the block is the way I read it, Desoto engine. Flathead 6. We've(I've) decided to pull the Hurricane 6 from the extra frame and now see if that's rebuild able before I spend money on this one. I think the two froze pistons and the hours of beating on it really decided that for me. I logged on to Allpar.com forum to see if in fact that is a Plymouth engine. While I wait. I'll tear the Hurricane down( thank God someone put it on the top), and see if that's fixable.