Thank you! The sun gives cool colors. And its dark enough to hide rust lol.
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So I'm planning to get a new exhaust. The one on it is completely shot. I've been considering getting the pipes from the manifold to the rear axle from kw. Since the pre bent is cheaper than buying pipe then having to weld and bent to fit. Id rather just spend the money and have it bolt right in. But I'm thinking of getting a different muffler than stock. Possibly a glass pack etc. Just wondering if anyone has experience with custom mufflers on the F head? And what muffler would sound good?
I have a Cherry Bomb glass pack on our Heep with the L134. It's been on there at least 30 years and was put on there by the previous owner. It is well seasoned regardless, and sounds like a regular Jeep muffler, if not a bit better. On ours, the Cherry Bomb was put on the end of the down tube off the manifold, then there is a "custom" tailpipe that exits at the right rear quarter panel, behind the wheel. I would go with the pre-bent exhaust kit. You may have to trim down the tail pipe to give enough room for the glass pack to fit in where the muffler would have gone.
I have the pre-bent system from KW. I agree with gm, it fits nicely. The muffler is pretty much straight through stock. The little 134 isn't very loud and if you are looking for that "race car" sound, I don't think you will get it. The little motor has mild compression and even milder cam timing. Not a real racy sounding engine. I have heard gm's run and it sounds great. Like a Swiss watch! The muffler that comes with the KW kit is similar in sound and a bit quieter.
Neither of the 134 engines has enough going on with compression and cam timing to give a lot of sexy noise, but I do notice that on the '48 (F-134, stock exhaust) when I go down a divided highway - up against the concrete barrier, at about 35 MPH the exhaust has kind of a "snarky" tone to the echo. Kind of nice.
It idles like a watch though - just purrs.
It's hard to beat a bolt on stock exhaust for ease of installation and simplicity.
Agreed Larry! I heard yours run too, it definitely just "purrs"!
Thanks for the info. I know I won't get it to sound like a v8. And i kind of don't want to. I still would love the smooth watch like or sewing machine sound. With just a little bit of extra noise on acceleration. Enough to be different, and unique. I think ill try a glass pack and see what it sounds like. But jeeps are never done, so I can always change and modify down the road.
Well today I used Flossy to tow my brother's 89 ford van around in the yard to get it out of the way of Christmas lights. (Hard to believe its that time already) And it ran great like always. Moved the heavy van like it was nothing. However it did smoke quit some out the exhaust. It started smoking occasionnly awhile ago. It first did when I was blazing trails for a friends party and was idling a lot then started smoking when I revved it to claim over a rock pile.
Fast forward a couple months, it never smokes on cold start. Only when revving and sometimes it does sometimes it dosen't. Also it has always had a dead spot when revving. Driving [mostly in low range) when you rev it it will die then come back. And holding at a certain rpm without load. Like in low first gear mostly will break up if you hold it at a continuous rpm. I was told all this is a bad accelerater pump. So I'm planning a carb rebuild soon.
Is it possible that the carb is giving it too much fuel. Almost flooding it and causing it to smoke from excess vapor? The thing is it never smokes on cold start. Like it should if its head gasket, valves etc. Also the oil has been staying clean. When I first got it the oil would foam. But never smoked. Now oil stays clean but it smokes.
Maybe I just need to stop being paranoid and except the fact that its a 60 year old jeep. But I hate to blow it up because of something simple to fix.
That statement " jeeps are never done" I think is the quote of the year, should be on a T-shirt.
I had similar experiences with dead spot or hesitation at accelerating. Was a carburetor adjustment or rebuilt. I think it's a common thing for the Carter carbs I was told. Sounds to me like a mixture adjust in carb. So some carburetor work may fix that. Did for me.
56, isn't it awesome when the old vehicle pulls the newer vehicle out of the way!
Smoke can be diagnosed somewhat by how it is acting, and the plugs. Step one is it oil, fuel or water (steam). If it has blue oil smoke under high vacuum, coasting or when you rev it and back off the gas, it is usually the valve guides. If it is smoking under load, or as the rpms build, it is usually the rings loosing their seal for whatever reason. If the smoke is black and smells like fuel, it is. The carb is suspect. If it is white and appears to be steam and smells like anti freeze, you struck water somewhere. A pressure check will help find the leak.
The hesitations and stumble do sound like a carb rebuild is in order. The stumble sure sounds like an accelerator pump issue and the lean stumbles sound like dirt in the carb. If the smoke is black, it could be your issue. When it comes to rich or lean miss fires, engines seldom miss fire when they are too rich, they smoke. They miss fire when they are too lean.
The spark plugs will help a lot here. Look for:
1) Black oil on the threads of the plug. They should be clean. Black oil is un-burned oil from combustion getting pushed passed the threads. This is Thee Best first indicator of heavy oil fouling in the cylinder. Steam cleaned plugs are hitting water.
2) Read the plug. https://willysjeepforum.kaiserwillys...d-a-Spark-Plug
3) If it is steam, look for bubbles in the radiator water. Take the cap off the radiator and warm the engine until the thermostat opens and you see water flowing in the radiator. Once the water is flowing, look for bubbles in the water. There should be none.
4) If it is steam, get a pressure checker and test the system. You will hear or see the air escaping into the water.
5) If the plugs are black and sooty, the carb is too rich.
Some things off the top of my head 56. Give it a look over and we can keep looking. Shoot a pic of the plugs. Usually when the rings start to go, the oil starts to color quick, within 1000 miles. It may or may not show it is using oil on the dipstick, because it doesn't take much to create smoke. My first guess from what you described was rings, the clean oil however makes me wonder what you have there. If the plugs show oil, a compression test will tell more.
Now if its just burnin' a little oil...... She is an old girl!
Ha ha it is true though. I always think about it. It doesn't have to be perfect now. There's always room for improvement down the road. No matter how much I do there will always be something that still breaks. Or I decide to change. I can't take credit for that quote. I read it back when there were still print magazines. Like JP and Petersons 4 wheel.
Thanks Bmorgill. So the smoke is mostly white with gray. On startup and idle it never smokes. If I'm cruising at stable rpm it's good. But when I give it a sudden rev to accelerate it puffes smoke then clears out when i let off or it gains speed. And sitting in neutral it smokes when ever a rev it. Then pulling the van it smoke when ever I throttled up. When it smokes it normally smells rich. I'll try to get some pics of the plugs. Last I checked them there was oil on the threads. The porcelain was brown and everything else black. That was a good bit of running ago so I'll check again.
Update on the smoking. Today I pulled it out to do some snow wheeling. And it smoked a tiny bit on start up. But it was 25 degrees and I haven't started it in a couple weeks. So probably just moisture in the muffler. Then I drove around for a while and never noticed any smoke. Maybe it was just too rich and now with the air being colder the carb tune is better?
I am thinking it hadn't been run long in a while and you had a ring or two, sticking in the piston if it was blue smoke. It sounds like running it freed it up and it is now doing a better job. A lot of black smoke would be way rich like the choke was stuck on. I don't think the air density changed enough with the temp change, to "smoke" or not "smoke". It would be difficult to have the jetting of the carb rich enough to smoke. Maybe stink like un-burned fuel, but not necessarily "smoke". I think you need to drive it a bit more and see how it does. If you see it smoking, pull the plugs and look for oil on the threads and electrode. If the smoke is white steam and dissipates quickly in the air it is water in the exhaust. If it smells like ant-freeze you have a pressure leak.
Thank you for the help. the little bit of smoke now on startup was white and was barely visible. so probably water in the exhaust. Before when it smoked it would smell like gas. Your probably right on needing to drive more. Being not entirely legal its hard to get actual miles on it. I can mostly just run in our pretty small yard in low range. And occasionally go up my road a couple miles. I'm planning after the holidays to take the body off for rust repair. Which unfortunately will result in the engine sitting for a while. But if I get the body solid then hopefully this spring i'll get licensed and start getting some real road miles on it. Which should help it and expose more problems. My buddy got a TJ that had sat for a while. and the more he drives it, it just keeps running better and better.
I got to give rides in Flossy on Christmas. Ran about 10 miles. The only time i noticed it smoking was once on acceleration. My uncle drove it, Therefore i was able to watch for smoke. It puffed out a cloud of white smoke. When He pulled out of the driveway and reved it up for second gear. As soon as he let off the gas and just cruised it stoped smoking.
Merry Christmas and happy new year!! Hope everyone is having a great holiday!
Great news! Happy New Year to you! Hope you had a great Christmas.
Your probably right about the rings. Do you think some oil additive would help it? I don't really want to get into a rebuild just yet.
I will take to tub of soon. And patch rust over the winter. So I won't be able to really run it much until spring. Hopefully then I can do the exhaust (probably get the main pipe from kw then adapt a glass pack) and a carb rebuild. Then look into the engine more.
Had a wonderful Christmas for sure! Now just need to look forward to more jeeping on 2024!
I think additives just cost money. At this point it sounds like its running OK, just a little smoke. I think I would keep it running maybe clean the plugs after a while, and rebuild it when your ready.
Run what you have. Like Bmorgil said, most snake oils out there are designed to separate you from your money.
Thank you guys for the insight! I'll wait till spring so i can get some real road miles on it. Then depending on how it handles that, i'll figure out a plan. Maybe with more running it will clean itself up, or if not I might try my hand at engine rebuilding next winter. But for now i need some body mounts...
I found a roll bar for Flossy. Not mounted just a mock-up. Not sure if i'll keep it on fulltime or just for offroading. Any event/offroad park near me requires a rollbar. It will hopefully lower the fatality of my Willys.
Well I did it. Fenders off, and everything else that connects the tub to the frame has been removed. Man, some of this feels like I just put it together. I already miss my jeep. But there comes a time when rust repair is necessary.
It's sure had a fight with the rust monster... The one picture is all that's left of one nut holding the fender to the grill. I'm going to have to make some temporary supports so it doesn't make a jeep taco when we lift it off the frame. Even though I like tacos, just with beef and tortillas not my jeep lol.
Weld some angle iron across it like it was in a Stryker frame to hold it in place - like a rotisserie.
I made a connecting frame that bolted in the dashboard mount bolts and then tacked it to the fender wells. It definitely kept the taco effect from happening.
Good idea there, Gmwillys. I hadn't thought about bracing like that, So i'll ad that into the plan. Then I'm planning a bar across the top of the tailgate opening. And another brace across the fenderwells right behind the door opening. That should hold it enough to get it off the frame.
My plan for repairing. Is I'll get some sqaure tubing. Maybe 1x1 inch. And make a framework underneath. like a racecar chassis. Basically going between whatever solid spots i can find. I have a repair panel for the rear below the tailgate. Probably order the mid floor riser from kw. then tie everything together with the tubing. Running some tube along the rockers to the firewall. Which will also act as rocksliders. And some from the mid floor riser to the back, along the bottom of the inner fenders. Then just keep adding tubing throughout untill its reinforced enough. Then i'll just weld sheet steel to the fresh tubing. Basically the only part of the front floor still solid is the top and walls of the tolbox. Everything else needs cut out.
I have access to some rough cut oak planking from a tree we had cut down. Maybe i'll make that into the rear bed floor.
No matter what, i am keeping my eye out just in case i find a different tub.
Sounds like you have a good plan in place, and the reinforcement tubing/rock sliders are a good idea. I have been there before with the tub rust, but there is nothing that is too far gone.
More photos;
I swear gm can bring one back from just the iron oxide left behind!
You are putting it back together the same way a competition vehicle is looked at. Reinforcing it for the work it is going to do.
Got the bracing welded in place. I did it simpler than planning. I was going to add the angles down from the dash, but I got these 2 in place. And did I trial pickup, and everything stayed solid.
I also measured and squared everything up. I didn't think it was so bad. But once I started measuring, man it was crooked. I had to stretch the middle about 3/4 inch. And squeeze the back about an inch. But now it's square (or at least as strait as a willys can be)
After talking to TJones. About buying a tub from him. I decided to keep mine and repair it. I do appreciate Tim working with me. But after more thought I think I'm better off with the original iron.
So with that said. The rust repair has commenced. The body is completely separated from the chassis.
Looking good 56. You'll be happy with your decision to repair what you have, although TJ's tub wouldn't be a bad second choice. The American made floor pans offered by KW are good panels to use. I've used them and they fit well and are of the correct thickness.
I could not help but ask about the Ole Black Ford Pickup in the background Jacob :confused::confused:
Like I need another Project;)
On your way now 56'! So much you can get your hands on once the body is off. They are like giant ATV's.
gm is thinking that tub is fixable I am sure. TJ is always hawking' the pic's for another project!
Doesn’t hurt to ask Bob:cool::cool:
If you can save the tool box and the "hump" for the transmission, the rest of the floor is flat steel! I drilled the spot welds out around the perimeter of the underseat tool box and removed it. Then use a cutoff wheel to cut the floor around the floor hump. Save the hump and keep it attached to the firewall. Buying floor pans will be far far more expensive than purchasing flat pieces of sheet steel. Brush-up on your "mig welding skills"!
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Mine will get cut out just like yours. My toolbox is good enough to stay, just needs the bottom floor. And the trans hump is solid, except i will have to repair some of it towerds the rear.
That complete front floor assembly from KW looked awfull tempting. But at $800 I think your right about getting my own sheet steel!