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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.
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Just a few updates for today ….
Friday was another day of blasting. And, with Ann’s help, there was plenty of scraping, too. This photo describes my day:
But, all that work wasn’t for naught. See the much cleaner steering box:
And, some of the blasted parts … clutch linkages, pedal levers, column shift parts, and more:
All work and no noodles makes David grumpy! Good thing I found a new Ramen noodle place just a few minutes away from my parents. I had them add some pork belly. It was awesome!
More progress on Rusty, one part at a time. I wanted to remove the u-joints so I could sand blast and paint the driveline.
To remove them, I used my favorite vice, something that’s been around longer than me. Using two different sized sockets (one to slide through and one to catch the u-joint as it slides through, I pressed it through. Make sure the grease nipple is NOT on the side you are pressing or it will cause you problems. This shows the u-joint after the springs are removed, but before I began pressing.
This shows the u-joint after pressing it through. 
Short update. On Tuesday, after buying some parts and fixing some wiring, I got mom’s riding lawn mower running. She’s happy. I am happy.
On Wednesday, after buying a new motor and then upgrading the wiring to 230 … (It sure wasn’t plug and play) … I got the compressor working. I am even happier!
Compressor done? Check …
Parts ready? Check …
Parts blasted? Check …
Nice to be making headway again.
There’s nothing like disassembly to reveal all the problems that remained unseen. Once the body came off, the realities revealed themselves.
The front cross member is cracked on the driver’s side (no surprise there — funny how I didn’t notice it with the body on it). The transmission is so packed with muck that I doubt any oil could leak through it. There are also some odd bends, like the mid cross member, which had something hit it with enough force to bend one side. Maybe the driveline broke at some point and flew up into it? Of course, there were rusty bolts, too, some which not even PB Blaster could save. At least it is getting closer to being disassembled.
The first big event was the removal of the body. I used a block and tackle to pull the body off:
With the rain staying away for a few days, I booked it over to Renton for a few days to work on Rusty. Here are a few of the things I did today.
I did a little more straightening to the body. This time I wanted to remove a bow along the top back. I’ve mounted a board as a straight edge. You can see the cancer in the rear.
You can see there’s a gap between the board and the back.
After some clamps and some sweet talking with a 5lb sledge, I coaxed the back into line.
Then I played doctor and removed the cancer.
No updates tonight other than this one.
We made it to Seattle a couple days ago. I made some more progress blasting some smaller parts yesterday. In order to blast the t-handle parking brake, I had to disassemble it. The last thing to remove was a screw/pin so I could remove the brake lever from its housing. I didn’t know whether to unscrew or press out the screw/pin, but as I examined iI felt pretty sure it should press out. Still, I thought it best to text a friend: Chris McKay. He said he thought it was pressed out, too. So, I set out to remove the pin.
Here is what the brake looks like assembled.
Here’s the top of the pin:
This shows the back side. I had to line up the hole in the housing with the back of the pin:
I grabbed a small socket to catch the pin and an object that could press through the hole:
This was meant to be a longer, more glorious post about the trials and tribulations of setting up the blasting process (and I’d planned a second post on Alaska’ Paul’s blasting). But, this evening my mother needed rescuing after her battery died, so I shall have to skip the day’s drama and Paul’s efforts in favor of a short summation: I ran through three different compressors (a portable pancake, a portable contractor, and finally the 26 gallon wheeled Husky) before getting one that would work. Of course, the Husky had to be repaired, which further delayed work on Rusty.
Once the compressor started pumping, I started blasting. After considering various options, I went with fine coal material made by Black Diamond designed for blasting.
I tackled the headlight buckets first. The photo below shows one side blasted and the other not.
I was able to prep a number of parts, but forgot to get a photo of them lined up on my work table. I’m bringing them back to Pasco with me today to paint them.
One reason I need to return home is so Ann can return to our bedroom …. she had a freaky experience at 2AM a few nights ago. Our dog Zollie woke her up, growing at something. He never growls at night. She said he was looking all over as he growled. Once she calmed him down, the Amazon Echo on her side table unexpectedly announced “that’s not a very nice thing to say”. Knowing she hadn’t said anything, she used her Amazon Echo app to determine what the Echo had heard. When she brought it up the echo claimed to have heard the word “die”. As you might imagine, that was enough for her. She went downstairs and slept on the couch. She hasn’t slept in the bedroom since.
One last thing I did yesterday was to spend a little time straightening the rear quarter panels. Plenty of work left, but using some clamps and flat metal I was able to make them look a little better. Here’s the passenger side.
Plenty of work left …
I made it across the mountains on Monday, now that the snow and ice has let up temporarily. And, that reminds me. We traded in Henry, our red 2012 Laredo Grand Cherokee, for a slightly used blue 2016 Limited Grand Cherokee a few weeks ago.
Henry was incredibly dependable over the course of 100,000 miles, but he was due some maintenance and new tires. Once we considered those costs along with the equity, we decided to get something newer that had the upgrades Ann wanted (such as heated seats). Best of all, our payments stayed the same. We still don’t have a name for him yet: 
And now for a ramond photo. When Ann and I were last in Ellensburg, Washington, eating lunch, I ran across these urinals in the men’s room. I hadn’t seen kegs used that way, but maybe I don’t get out enough ??…
Yesterday (Tuesday), I spent the afternoon working on Rusty, triaging next steps (what needs what work done and fix-or-buy assessments). I’m also choosing some projects to bring back to Pasco. One thing I did was remove the bumpers and clean them up (not perfect, but good enough for the moment).
UPDATER: The 0-10 early CJ-5 speedos did make it into early DJ-3As.
I found this NOS King-Seeley 0-9 speedometer core on eBay. I show it below next to my 0-8 face, whose day-glow white paint flecked off as I cleaned it. I can confirm it is the same size and seems to have the identical parts (though the gears may differ slightly given it goes to 90mph).
The 0-8 speedometers (manufactured in mid-to late 1955) were installed in early 1956 DJ-3As (as well as a few other models, CJ-5 being one). Later in 1956, Willys moved to the 0-9 white face speedometer core. About a year later (sometime in 1957?) Willys moved to the familiar 0-9 orange face. The early CJ-5 0-10 speedometer clusters made it into a few DJ-3As. One side note, those early 0-10 CJ-5 clusters were almost, but not quite identical to the Aero clusters.
The seller has more units. You can purchase the 0-9 unit on eBay here:
On the Ann front:
She hasn’t gotten any better, but hasn’t gotten any worse. She still spends most of the day in bed. We believe that there’s a problem related to neck muscles, nerves, and upper vertebrae. Their interrelationship seems to be causing both the nausea and the pain in her head. She’s had several physical therapy appointments that have helped isolate the area that seems the root of the issue, but it could take quite a bit of therapy to loosen that area.
On the Rusty front:
A couple days ago I bought an NOS 0-9 1956-1957 speedometer face and engine on eBay. If for some reason I can’t get my speedometer fixed, I will go with this. And, if I do get it fixed, then I am sure I can easily sell this. You can see these are pretty close in style, even using the same pointer (which I wasn’t sure how I was going to find it).
0-9 that I just bought:
0-8 that I have:
While in Seattle the past few days I ran across a fantastic deal on a welder and blasting cabinet. I jumped on them and got both setup. The cabinet (a nothing-fancy Harbor Freight model) should work fine for cleaning parts.
Based on the reviews I found, this Clarke 130EN Mig welder should be good for repairs on the body. Apparently, anything thicker than a 1/4″ is too much for it, but I have an old-fashioned stick welder to tackle those issues. It came with everything you see, including a full bottle of Argon, an extra reel, two masks, cart, and other items.
On the Biscuit front:
I found this chevy scatter shield in Pasco a couple weeks ago. I took it with me to Seattle. It was by far the best price I’ve seen on one, primarily due to the holes in it. It was used by an old sand jeep dragger.
While I was in Seattle, I formed a cover plate for the hole that spans the bottom and bolts in place (plate not shown). I plan on patching the side with some 1/4″ steel. I’ve been waiting for quite some time to get a scatter shield. Now I can begin to reassemble it (with a few mods).
