No updates today. I got too busy yesterday with the race jeep. Sway bar is done. The gas tank frame and battery box frame will be done by end of day today. After that, on to the floor and cowl.

Also, last night, we agreed to get a pair of kittens from a friend who fosters cats. We will pick them up after they are spayed next week. Hopefully, that helps Lizzy, as she is still dragging around Tom’s toy and looking for him.

Runs and drives.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/882110509737904

“1949 Willys Jeep halfway through restoration. Only driven 95 miles. It clearly needs body work but it drives. We rebuilt the engine, installed new brakes, and a new fuel line in 2019. It might have 25 miles since then. I haven’t had time to mess with it so the battery is dead. It needs either a trickle charge, new battery, or just to be trailered. My dad has the title. It is his so make an offer and I’ll relay it to him.”

We’ve moved up our departure date to Sunday. Though we have a pretty good, but narrow band, of good weather on the way down, we are going to reduce our daily drive distances. While there will likely be an occasional post, I don’t plan on doing any type of daily diary like we have in the past, mostly to reduce my work load and because we don’t plan on doing anything all that interesting on our way. We expect it to be a rainy cold drive until we hit Arizona. Instead, I’ll repost some posts from earlier years.

UPDATE: Comments are now fixed.

I hope everyone enjoyed the temporary break! It is easy to forget that a website is always one corrupted file away from going down.

Speaking of breaks, we have a week trip planned to Arizona starting Monday. It won’t be a slow winding trip, as 1) we need to get down and back in a week’s time (cows and home responsibilities) are a big reason for the quick trip; 2) we have a small not-bad weather window for coming back; and 3) we have reduced our social interactions, because both Ann and I had some sucky, lingering long-covid issues last year (so, we reduced our exposure to folks and take pre-cautions; I am finally feeling like my old self).

One of our objectives is to pick up a Muller top frame in California that Mike has been kind enough to save for me. I plan to rebuild one for Biscuit following the original plans (probably next fall or winter, which is likely when I’ll have time to finally address Lost Biscuit.

Our second objective is to test drive and purchase a new vintage jeep. I look forward to sharing the news should everything go as we expect!

It’s a project.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1217326612243711

“1948 Willys CJ2a. Good shape, yard runs and drives. Comes with a ton of extra parts. New tires, radiator, wiring harness, etc. Has early Ford GPW engine installed that is worth $$$$. Lost interest in the project and would like to see it go to. A good home.”

May have some parts value.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/492994446369073

“Willys tub, fenders, hood and frame. Have a Cj2a windshield frame for it as well. No axles, motor or transmission. No paperwork, good for parts. $500 o.b.o”

Well, I got too busy working on the jeep to write posts about them (and am behind on emails), so updates delayed until probably Friday afternoon or who knows ….. on the good side, I have a plan for the floor, almost finished the seat setup (have to finish other stuff under the jeep first), almost finished the tail light setup, and rebuilt the driveshaft safety loop. Good day for small stuff with plenty more small items to go, such as a YJ sway bar is on the way, so I will be able to install that.

UPDATE: **SOLD** Was $175.

These are very hard to find hubs which I believe were manufactured by the Dana-Spicer Corp

“Original vintage late forties – early fifties Willy’s Jeep Locking Hubs
10 Spline Dana 25 Axle
Appear to be in working order.
Will need good cleaning, lubricating, and new gaskets.

Have been in my garage in dry storage for more than 25 years.
I’m cleaning up and they need to go.

I have a Paypal account and will ship if you pay shipping.”

Seller indicates they must sell. Unclear how much value is here, but I doubt much over the asking price.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/854559672482215

“*800 dollars tonight!* *Selling for a friend* Need gone within a few days. 1947 cj2 Willy’s jeep with a 302 engine under the hood. No Transmission. Needs complete restoration from interior seats, soft top and exterior body work. Lost of rust on tail end with a dent by left taillight. Jeep enthusiast from Denver came to look at it and his opinion on value would be 3800 with transmission 2800 without. But said a serious buyer would probably start around 1700. Vehicle has No title as original owner ( 2 great grandfather never could find it) He Passed away in 1965 However it is a true Willy’s original make with a fantastic history behind it. He is willing to negotiate a bit due to condition but not willing to let a piece of history and family heirloom go for free. Please message me or let me know if you have any additional questions. Located in la junta and it will need to be trailered out. Potentially willing to meet Halfway from whatever destination for an additional fee if needed”

This is a project.

https://southcoast.craigslist.org/pts/d/foxboro-cj2a-project-jeep/7574351001.html

“This is a 1948 Jeep CJ2A. It is an unfinished project. It runs and yard drives.Needs brake work suspension work welding etc. It has a poor frame but comes with a good original CJ3A frame for replacement. Has new seats,water pump, fuel pump, ignition parts.Comes with a new master cyl. and has a clean Mass. Title.
Being sold as pictured. See pics. for information and condition and ask questions. Call or E-mail. No texts will be answered. Thanks”

Happy New Year 2023!

Normally I write a large rehash of the previous year, then provide previews for the coming one. However, jeep-wise I didn’t do a whole lot in 2022, other than post to eWillys every other day or so. I expect the posting trend to continue, that of new content every other day or so. What I really need to do is downsize my server (it’s $100/month), and move as much good content to a place where it can be preserved (though I am not sure where that will be).  But, I don’t expect to tackle that task anytime soon.

For the most part, our winter and spring 2023, will mostly involve us staying around our place. With the new lighting (see below), I should be ready by early next week to begin work on the racer again. We also have one quick trip planned for 2023, a jaunt to the Southwest, to hopefully pick up a new jeep (we still need to test drive it). Assuming everything goes as planned, I know you all will be excited to see what we get.

In other news, one thing I’ve been wanted to do since we bought this place is replace the dying fluorescent lights in the shop with LED lights. Well, yesterday I began that process.

I was going to rent a lift to do it, but then I realized I could use my tracier+fork lifts with a tall aluminum ladder to reach the lights. You may notice that the ladder is strapped to the forks, which made it feel very secure (the garage floor is sealed and kind of slick as a result, so securing the ladder was important). The whole setup worked really well and was simple to reposition.

I elected to go with the LED replacements that removed the ballast and required rewiring, but in the end I felt they would be the simplest (no more ballast) to maintain. To complete the replacement, besides the lights, I also had to buy replacement holders. So, I swapped out the old holders, wired up the new ones, and inserted them where the old ones were.

For bulbs, I went with stock# PLTS-11961 from https://www.1000bulbs.com
5400 Lumens – 42 Watt – 4000 Kelvin – 8 ft. LED T8 Tube Lamp – Type B
And for new holders I went with these from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XT7ZJLV

One of the tools I acquired a few months ago to work on my cage was a metal chop saw. After doing some research, I settled on the Evolution chop saw, as it had a bunch of good reviews. I found the best price through the manufacturer site itself: Currently it is priced at $379.99

A couple days ago I finally had time to pull it out of its box and give it a test on a piece of angle iron. Holy Smokes! It cut right through the mild steel angle iron, faster than I expected. I don’t know how long the blade will last, but this tool will sure come in handy! It sure beats a hacksaw!!!

I should note that I am just reporting on my experience. I have no association with Evolution nor do I receive anything for promoting this product.

Listed as a 1948, it appears to be a CJ-3A.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/5316472551796412

“Willys Jeep for sale or trade. Selling my projects and this cool Jeep is one V6 motor and 3 speed Has lots of rust on body but frame looks great Was told starter is not working but have not had any time to work on it Would make great hunting rig or Completely restore it I don’t know much about the Jeep”

Andy shared this boat (a Hacker) that sports a Willys 4 cyl engine. Unclear whether it is an L-head or F-head.

https://nh.craigslist.org/boa/d/milton-wood-project-boats/7543342274.html

“Early 18′ Hacker design 2 cockpit aft, engine forward 4- cylinder Willys $8,500.- 1935 18′ Chris Craft model 301 split cockpit Gray Marine 4 -cylinder $4,000.- 1949 18′ Ventnor with Chrysler 6 -cylinder. $1,500.- Hacker and Chris are in N.H the Ventnor is in Ct.”

(<– See pics from the westward trip here, Part I)

A few days ago, the intrepid Team Qualls reached the western destination: Ventura, California. This pic celebrates that achievement:

Wasting no time, they turned north along Highway 1, a magnificent coastal drive I’ve had the pleasure of making several times, but never in a topless jeep!

It appears Randy and Carson kept driving north until they crossed over the Golden Gate Bridge. There, they discovered first hand the thick summer fog that often inundates the central coast, turning the weather from warm to near-frigid and the views from beautiful to a grayish-soupy-fog (where I lived in Aptos, California, from 2003-2006, the afternoon fog arrival was a near daily summer event).

Eventually, the pair turned east towards Yosemite National Park. Here are a few pics:

Continue reading →

Parts or project jeep.

https://salem.craigslist.org/wto/d/salem-1964-jeep-fc-pickuup/7537139420.html

“I believe this 1964 Jeep Truck is a Kaiser FC170. My dad was working on the rebuild before he passed away. If you love jeeps this would be a fun one to finish the rebuild project he started.

Comes with new fuel tank, fuel pump, breaks windshield and more that are waiting to put in.

We have the title and would love to pass this on to someone who would enjoy the vehicle.”

UPDATE: Price dropped to $12,000.

(06/22/2022) Looks like a solid build.

https://kalispell.craigslist.org/cto/d/kalispell-1954-willy-jeep/7512462882.html

“1954 CJ3B Hi Hood 327 v8
3-Speed with two speed overdrive plus high/low range power steering.”

Our broadband home router was down most of Wednesday. I checked for outages, but none were reported. Eventually, I contacted support. Support could find no issues, so they scheduled a tech to come this morning. Then, mysteriously, the router connected properly around 6pm. We’ve had no issues since (so I cancelled the tech).

No pics provided. Sounds more like a 1946.

https://vermont.craigslist.org/cto/d/orleans-1947-willys-jeep/7509659858.html

“1947 3 on the column shift
Very good restored condition Vintage vehicle
Original Engine
No rust underneath
Missing tailgate hinge
Needs backseat
Runs very well.
New battery”

More updates later today. I need to get outside and get some work done this morning while it is still relatively cool.

It should hit about 100 degrees today here (which isn’t bad compared to elsewhere in the US), so I’m going to work outside this morning. I will do updates later today.

I read this book over the last two days. I highly recommend it (thanks to Bill for suggesting it). It’s a compelling read about the factors surrounding California’s Camp Fire in 2018, the one that tore through Paradise, California. The author approaches the story from the view of some of the folks who lived through the events, which makes the story that much more effective.

Has a variety of mods. Has on overdrive.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/378176780968170/

“1947 willys 4×4 with chevy 350 v8 runs and drives 3spd with overdrive 9k winch new tires asking 6200 obo”