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About eWillys
Welcome to eWillys.com, a website for vintage jeep enthusiasts. I update this website nearly every day with jeep deals, jeep history, interesting reader projects, jeep related info, and more.
These quick searches can help you find things on eBay. People list in the wrong categories all the time, so don't be surprised to see brochures in the parts area for example. This section used to be split into jeeps, parts and other categories, but recent changes to eBay will require this information to be recoded.
The links to posts below show jeeps grouped by models, condition, and other ways. Some of these jeeps are for sale and others have been sold. If you are unsure whether a vehicle is still for sale or not, email me at d [at] ewillys.com for more info.
Importantly, the allure of buying a project jeep can be romantic. The reality of restoring a jeep can be quite different, expensive and overwhelming without the right tools and resources. So, tread carefully when purchasing a "project". If you have any concerns about buying a vintage jeep, or run across a scam, feel free to contact me for help, comments or concerns .
After repairing a few more sonny-do-items around my parents’ house, I got a chance to pull the engine, transmission, and transfercase. As usual, a variety of expletives bounced off the less-than hallowed walls of the garage.
During the removal process I discovered that power steering box moves some when turning to the right. I *thought* it was a good idea to use the stock ’73 CJ-5 mounting unit to mount the steering, since I would have thought Jeep’s engineers would have been able to get that right, but it seems my place was misplaced. So, part of the rebuild process will be improving the mounting bracket.
On a side note, my father was busily managing the process from the kitchen. Everytime I went in the house he’d ask, “Is your transmission an automatic.”
“Yes, I’d say, but I’m changing to a T-18.”
“You know,” he’d say, “the manual is shorter than the automatic.”
“Yes, I’d say.”
“Ok, well good. You just need to be aware of that.”
By the time we had our third conversation about it, I was WELL aware! 🙂
Here are a few pics:
The cobwebs and dust on the hook suggest the garage’s engine pulley hasn’t been used in decades.
The engine is about to be freed.
The jeep sits just high enough to allow me to pull the tranny and tc out from under it. I’d like to say it was stellar planning, but it was really dumb luck.
There she sits, looking like she’s bleeding a bit. She and I had some good times, but our divorce will soon be finalized. Time for some thing different.
After I fixed my parents’ mailbox, repaired two broken outlets, and rewired some lights in the garage, I was finally able to start dismantling Biscuit for the tranny (and possibly engine) swap. Once I undo a few more bolts, the engine should slide right out. I have a few more things to do before the tranny is ready to come out. But, that will be delayed a day or two as I begin work on several more house-related sonny-do projects.
One thing I learned as I drained the water from the radiator . . . it was much browner than I expected. There’s definitely some oil mixed with it.
Last month I discovered a letter I wrote in 1986 during my first summer at Roche Harbor. I sent it to my parents, who promptly put it a filing cabinet. Looking for some personal records, I discovered the letter. For anyone who hasn’t read my book (Finding Virginia) the following letter probably won’t mean much. For those that have read it, there are many familiar themes throughout the letter that also appear in the book. That fact my letter covers jeeps, cooking, and a girl shows you that I remember the summer of 1986 pretty clearly! However, one event I didn’t include in the book, because I didn’t remember it, was going on a date and having the jeep breakdown. That’s so classic me.
Before I get to the letter, below is a picture of my first jeep two months after I wrote the letter. Cullen and I had come over the Naches trail the previous day, damaging the fiberglass front passenger fender in the epic battle against gravity I describe in the book. We slept that night at the Beverly Dunes. In the morning, we drove towards Moses Lake. Around noon, we stopped and took this picture. After the picture, we proceeded to Moses Lake, then on to Idaho. We stayed in CDA for a couple hours, then started back to Anacortes by way of Stevens pass to catch the 6AM ferry back to the islands. It was a long day.
On the front of the jeep you can see a large chain, which, among other uses, was the shovel tie down. Behind that is a trusty warn winch that saved me many times. The grill is fiberglass and, though already patched once, split into two during this trip. The headlights are 5 1/2 rather than 7″. The smaller size and a wiring problem insured lighting at night wasn’t very good. As you can see, bungie chords were a must for holding down the hood. Wedged between the passenger seat and the roll bar is an old canvas collapsable bucket. It’s still in my parents garage. We carried an extra red gas tank, which is attached to the roll bar on the passenger side. If you look near the rear wheel well you can just make out the racing number from the 1985 summer convention.
Poor Biscuit has been run so little this year that we had to get him a new battery for xmas. That perked him right up! We took him for a spin between rain showers and snapped some pics. There might be some updates on Christmas day . . . or there might not be.
Just a few updates today. Part of the reason is that we are heading back to Pasco today. The other reason is that there just aren’t very many old flatfenders for sale at the moment. I guess everyone is enjoying the heat wave?
We got a chance to drive biscuit in the pasture a few days ago, but didn’t get any pics. Kasia took her turn at doing some technical driving and did pretty well. Karson handles the jeep well. Colter still prefers to ride.
I was messing around with Biscuit yesterday, testing out my paddle tires. It turns out, rather than holding air for a day, my paddle tires only hold air for about five minutes. This is a problem.
I guess I will need some inner tubes if I want these old tires to work for longer than five minutes. That’s low on the list. But, they do look cool, though they need a bath and some paint on the rims.
During my last visit to my parents’ house, I tried starting Biscuit. The engine would turn over, but wouldn’t fire. It didn’t take long for me to figure out that the electric fuel pump no longer worked. So, I decided on my next visit I’d change from the electric to the stock manual pump.
Today, I took on that project. While a very simple changeover in theory, the practice turned out to be more of a challenge than I expected. For example, the first step in the process required me to break into my tool box, as the keys to my tool box disappeared during my move last summer. After spending an hour searching for the keys, I finally gave up and ‘removed’ the lock’ (with hammer, screw driver, and little finesse).
It was surprisingly easy to remove the lock. However, it was surprisingly difficult to get the lock portion of the drawers to unlock. I won’t bore you with the embarrassing details, but let’s just say that it took us about an hour and half to finally get the tool chest unlocked. Oh, good times!
Next, I had to start pulling off the electrical pump and installing the manual one. It just seemed like I dropped every socked a hundred times, grabbed the wrong wrench with each reach, had to search through the barn to find rarely used tools I had stowed away, and more. Nothing seemed to be easy about the project.
Finally, about 5pm, Ann wandered out to see how I was. I was not good. The socket has just slide off my socket wrench extension again, which meant I had to climb down onto the tarp, scoot under the jeep, and retrieve it, again. I shared some choice words about Biscuit with Ann. She decided to take a picture and post it on Facebook Here is the picture and what she wrote:
Today, under a cloud of tools, grease, and a broken fuel pump came the flood of curse words and the exclamation from Mr eWillys.com himself…. David Eilers “hates Jeeps” 🙁
It took me until about 7pm, but I did finally get the fuel pump installed and the hoses attached. Even better, everything worked. So, now Biscuit and I are all lovely dovey again.
So, I’m done with jeeps for today. Updates tomorrow.
Despite some sketchy weather this Memorial Day weekend, I still managed to get into the hills. Sunday proved to be the best day, so I chose to head out of Boise on 8th street again — otherwise known by me as trouble road. You see, every time I’ve headed out that road, something has happened (one time, the fan stopped working .. last time, I broke the fender and almost got stuck near the hill top). This trip was no exception.
Fixing my Carb
First, let’s talk carbs. I thought I had gotten the carb running well, but hesitation problems continued over the past week. By Friday of this week, I was getting ticked off at not being able to floor it and go — instead, I had to accelerate slowly.
My solution: find a Carter/Edelbrock manual and get instructions. Sure enough, I found one online that described my problem. What I thought was the result of too much fuel was actually a problem of too little fuel. So, I increased my primary jets to .86. I also re-routed my PVC valve into the base of the carb. Those two changes made ol’ Lost Biscuit much much happier. Nothing like reading the manual ….
Now, onward and upward until …
So, with the carb functioning correctly, climbing out eighth avenue into the foothills went smoothly. As usual, I checked my gauges frequently, especially my temperature gauge. So, it was quite a surprise when I looked down and saw that the temp gauge had lept to 260 degrees! SHIT! I pulled over immediately and shut down the engine. I jumped out to lift the hood to let the engine cool more; however, much to my surprise it turned out the engine was holding down a ready-to-explode radiator hose. As soon as I lifted hood, the hose separated from a connection tube and a geyser that could be seen from Yellowstone NP let loose. If I wasn’t so pissed off, it would have looked pretty cool.
So, there on the trail I sit scratching my head. After letting things cool just a bit, I quickly found the cause of the problem — a wire had come loose at the base of the fan relay that was part of the original connection. So, I spliced around that loose connection and the fan started working again.
Now, how to get some water into the radiator? I had a total of one bottle of water on me, so I poured that in; unfortunately, I needed another 20 bottles or so. That’s when lady-luck arrived in the form of a puddle around 20 feet behind me — I think it was the only puddle along that entire road.
So, I took my bottle, gathered water from the puddle and filtered the muddy water through a shirt. After many trips back and forth, I got the radiator filled, cringing the entire time. But, I figured it would work until I got it home to drain and clean it.
Now, onward and upward for real …
But I was sure about one thing in particular … I was getting to the top of that road this time! And I did get there, all the way to the ridge road — finally! Once I got to the top, I was having too much fun, so I just kept going and exploring. And so, here are some pics from the trip.
First is a composition of images taken from the ‘road’ that ran along the mountain ridge.
On the north side of the ridge there is plenty of green, while the south side is pretty brown.
Here’s a bunch of sheep munching along the hillside.
I wanted to make sure I can get through the snow. Without a winch, I don’t want to get stuck.
Finally, near the top of the highest mountain, too much snow filled the road to allow passage. So, I have to save the very highest roads for some warmer weather 🙂
And here is the view looking west of this road. You can just make out Bogus Basin road which carves upwards to Boise’s ski area, Bogus Basin.
And yes, once I arrive back home, I immediate drained the engine of water and flushed it with additional water. I also changed the way the fan relay was mounted and simplified the wiring so that the damn fans won’t ever shut down again!
I am proud to announce that “Finding Virginia” is now for sale at CreateSpace. It has been the culmination of a year’s worth of writing and editing (and 46 years of living). Please shamelessly encourage your friends, family, and neighbors to purchase this book. Give it as a present to your spouse (really, they will enjoy it), your kids, other jeep lovers, car lovers, or whomever you know. It is also useful for filling spaces in bookshelves.
What’s the book about?
It’s about jeeps, love, the history of the jeep, love lost, the San Juan Islands, my dad’s health fight, how to get kicked out of college, how to grow up in a jeep club, how not to sail, how to get stuck in the woods, cooking, my thoughts on a variety of subjects, and the reasons why I started eWillys.
Who’s the target audience?
Readers of eWillys are first and foremost the target. People who like adventure and travel should enjoy it too. Women especially enjoy the ‘love’ story aspect. People who are frustrated with the economy will, I believe, relate to my frustrations with it too.
The book can be ordered through CreateSpace and, later, through Amazon, though Amazon pays me less. The price is $18.39. If you want a signed copy, I will need to order some books, sign them and then mail them to you. You can email me for more info — d@ewillys.com and put “signed copy” in the subject line. These will cost a little more due to the cost of me shipping to you. I will take a check or paypal as payment.
I am willing to both sign books and attend signings. I can even bring Biscuit if necessary, depending on the weather and distance.
UPDATES: Next updates will be on Sunday 11/25/2011.
Though chilly, the weather was sunny yesterday, allowing for some fun in Biscuit. Karson (17) and Kasia (15) took turns driving while Colter (13) decided he was fine with riding in the back. I supervised and drove, while Ann photographed.
The day’s highlight was when I ran out of gas. In my defense, I knew the tank was low and didn’t want to use up our time running to the gas station and back, so I hoped to let the kids play AND save a few drops for the drive back to the side of the garage . . .
We almost made it.
The kids thought this was hilarious, noting that not only did I run out of gas, but I also got stuck in the ditch. Ann countered that I only got stuck in the ditch because I ran out of gas. However, the kids saw it as an ‘and’ situation. So, I’m sure I will never hear the end about the time I both ran out of gas AND got stuck in a ditch with Biscuit.
On another note, since I’m about to begin a month of traveling and will be away, I’m going to remove Biscuit from the ‘for sale’ category. Hopefully, between now and the end of November, I will finally get a job offer I’ve been awaiting. If that occurs, Biscuit won’t be re-listed any time soon, which might just please my mother more than anyone for I think she was the one most upset about me selling it!
For the record, I think Steve’s Jinx worked; I never received a single call about the my ad either off eWillys or Craigslist.
Good news, for the next two days you can admire my new top! That’s because I will probably not do any updates until then. I had hope to get some updates out, but it has gotten to late and I have to get up early for a very long drive to Boise and back tomorrow.
It is a Kayline canvas — yes not vinyl — top that I bought for $200!!! It is in beautiful condition, having sat unused for nearly 10 years. I am very pleased. I bought it from Daryl, who is a full time firefighter and part time jeep nut in the Bonney Lake area of Washington and whom repairs flatties. If you need any work done and are near him, let me know and I will forward his number to you.
He was also kind enough to give me and my son Karson a tour of his jeep collection, which includes a recently purchased FC-170 and a jeep truck converted to a tow truck. So I want to send a big thanks to him!
Here is the top draped on the jeep. Of course, the rear seat and spare tire unbolts and will be removed when the top is mounted; I have an alternative mounting bracket to mount the spare inside the back area when a top is installed. I am pleased that the contrast in colors doesn’t look too bad (he was selling it cheap because few people want that color).
The weather has been perfect for driving in the jeep. So, the boys and I have been cruising around Renton. I have to say it’s a bit surreal to be driving along both the backroads and city roads in Biscuit, many of which I last drove 25 years ago in my last jeep. No doubt my kids are tired of me saying things like, “I remember when ….” at which I go into some tale from my youth.
Yesterday I put the jeep into the horse pasture, or at least what was the horse pasture and is now an area full of grass, trees and bushes. Karson got to explore a bit in the jeep, testing out the 4wd and learning to dodge trees. He seemed to be having fun. Here are a few pics.
