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Thread: New member here with a new to me Willys Jeep

  1. #1
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    Question New member here with a new to me Willys Jeep

    A few weeks ago, I bought an unknown curiosity. According to the title supplied, it is a 1961 Willys Jeep. According to information on the plate, it is apparently a 1960 CJ5, made by Willy's Motors, Inc. Looking at it visually, it is an oddity! I uploaded 5 images of it. Any ideas on what was added to enclose the Jeep like this? It kinda looks like the cab of an old pickup truck with the original rear window cut out and replaced with the sliding rear window from a small pickup truck. A portion of the smaller original opening is visible under the center of the top edge of the rubber gasket.

    It has the Hurricane F134 engine with what matches photos of a Solex single barrel carb. We drained 2 gallons of water and 4 gallons of bad gasoline from the fuel tank and lines, removed the tank, scrubbed it out, reinstalled it, and filled it with new gasoline. Replaced the fuel lines and filters, then turned attention to the carb. The float bowl had obviously been filled with water previously, as it was corroded and the float stuck down. I worked it loose, and my friend used a brass bristled brush on it while I cleaned out the float valve, drain plugs, and passageways that I could find. When finished, it would fill up the float chamber with fuel and turn off the fuel flow as designed. It had been converted to 12V, so bought a new battery. I had to clean out the accel pump openings and passageways in order to restore operation to the accel pump. A full replacement of all ignition components allowed it to fire off. It still suffers from idle circuit and high speed circuit flow issues, most likely corrosion in uninspected orifices. Time for a full rebuild on the carb. I bought a rebuild kit, but the jeep is at my friends shop, hundreds of miles away from TN. I talked to the seller (a car collector) to find out what else he has, and ended up closing another deal on a 1952 M38A1 that had been partsed out. My friend told me that it had been delivered, but I have no photos of it yet. He has another half dozen military vehicles growing rust, as well as several dozens of vehicles from the 20s on up to and beyond the musclecar era.

    Bob
    Attached Images Attached Images

  2. #2
    Super Moderator bmorgil's Avatar
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    Welcome Bob! A nice top on that. It looks custom made. There were some tops like that made by various companies. gmwillys or LarrBeard might know.

    Unless your in love with that Solex carb, I wouldn't put a lot of money into it. You would be better off finding a Carter for it. Often a brand new Solex will exhibit idle and part throttle issues all on its own.

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    Quote Originally Posted by bmorgil View Post
    Welcome Bob! A nice top on that. It looks custom made. There were some tops like that made by various companies. gmwillys or LarrBeard might know.

    Unless your in love with that Solex carb, I wouldn't put a lot of money into it. You would be better off finding a Carter for it. Often a brand new Solex will exhibit idle and part throttle issues all on its own.
    Thank you Bob. While waiting to have my account activated, I spent much of the weekend reading threads. I was unable to see photos until today, so I went back and looked at photos of other members vehicles that I had read the threads about.

    No love for the Solex, it was what the engine had on it. I was just trying to keep it original at the time. The original intent was a small 4WD to use for accessing the mountaintop at the back of my property. The clay ground here gets really slick when the humidity gets high, which is most of the time here in the smokey mountains. After finding rusted through panels in the passenger side floor and rear, I bought a replacement body kit. The trucking company that delivered the body transported it with the crate laying on its side. Needless to say, the damage to the new body was found to be unacceptable once the damaged crate was removed by the body shop that it had been shipped to. I'll attach a few photos of the damage. My body shop guy wants to just fix it and move on. If I had not paid more for that body than I paid for both jeeps, I would not be so upset. LOL

    image10.jpg image13.jpg image14.jpg image17.jpg image19.jpg

    The M38A1 is what I chose for a chassis for a project vehicle. It was delivered to the body shop, and I'm trying to get over there and get my hands dirty stripping it down to the frame.

    Bob
    Last edited by BobBoyce; 10-05-2020 at 07:49 PM.

  4. #4
    Super Moderator gmwillys's Avatar
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    Welcome Bob!

    Your '60 doesn't look bad at all! The top looks partially home made with some bits of aftermarket bones. Check out EWillys.Com. David Eihler has spent years gathering aftermarket information on all things Willys. Post a picture of the cab, and he just might have all the information on what and where the cab was made.

    A parts source that I strongly recommend, and is close to your location is 1/4 ton and Military.com. They are located in North Georgia, just south of Chattanooga. I buy a lot of NOS parts from them for both my military projects and my own. Plus they are close to my location, and they ship to my door within a day or so. Kaiser Willys is my second go to, but number one for their sheet metal repair panels.

    We look forward to seeing your A1 purchase as well. Check out Pelago and his most visited page on this forum of his journey of his M38a1. His is "The darn thing is out" in the restoration section.

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    Thank you gm. Already been reading Pelagos thread. Now that I can see the pictures, it gives it a whole new dimension! Will check out that site. Twice I chose not to bid on a surplus Army HumVee that had caught my interest a month ago. My instinct warned me away, and the first high bidder bailed. It was partsed out too much but not shown in photos first time listed, added photos second time around showed that.

  6. #6
    Super Moderator gmwillys's Avatar
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    Humvees are dicey. If you bid on one through the government, you take a chance on parts being harvested between purchasing and picking up, although they should be locked in a fenced lot. Engine issues and portal axles have kept me away from wanting one, not to mention the real estate they take up. I can fit two heeps in the spot of one humvee.

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    I agree, which is why I have not bought one yet. I'm in central NC again, working to reduce the M38A1 to a bare frame.

    As delivered

    IMG_20201009_104729928_HDR.jpg

    Body

    IMG_20201009_170912758_HDR.jpg

    Chassis

    IMG_20201009_171018141.jpg

    Engine (L134) is out and inside of the shop, ran out of daylight and rain started. Will post more.

    Bob
    Last edited by BobBoyce; 10-11-2020 at 07:44 AM.

  8. #8
    Super Moderator gmwillys's Avatar
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    I like your method of cleaning out all the collected junk from the floor board. The roll cage worked well to turtle shell the body.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by gmwillys View Post
    I like your method of cleaning out all the collected junk from the floor board. The roll cage worked well to turtle shell the body.
    It was not our original intent. I was trying to remove the body undamaged, in case someone wanted it to use for parts or a restoration project. I used the shop crane to lift the front of the body, and we manually maneuvered the body rear to work it up and over the rear tires. When we slid it far enough rearward, it tipped up on the front. Holding the front down, I disconnected the chain ends from the firewall. Once released from the weight of the shop crane booms pull, when I let go of the front end, it tipped over backwards and rolled onto the top of the roll cage! We are going to have to turn it sideways and put it right side up again to remove the dash plates and instrumentation that should be kept. The floors on the body are extremely rusted through, but looking through the Kaiser Willy's catalog showed those pieces can be bought and replaced.

    I attached a few more of the many pictures taken.

    Bob
    Attached Images Attached Images

  10. #10
    Super Moderator bmorgil's Avatar
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    Bob, I flipped mine straight up on the tailgate end, and propped it up at a slight angle so I could stand under it. I was able to get to the back side of the dash with ease, nearly standing up. Of course LarrBeard will tell you I am not exactly tall!

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