1942 willys project

DannyD

New member

• Jun 17, 2016

• #1

Hey guys so I recently posted a pic of this willys mb that we found in a shed at my grandfathers old fishing camp. Some guys wanted to see my attempt at a getting it going again so I'm gonna do my best at a write up. This will be a slow project and I am new here so you may have to be patient with me haha. Any and all pointers, thoughts and experience will be greatly appreciated! Here is a picture of what iv got
I will start by giving you the background. This jeep was used overseas in ww2 and was purchased by gramps from a surplus after the war, he wanted it for hunting/fishing. About 30 years ago he drove it across the ice to his fishing camp to take boats in and out. This is now a problem due to the fact that it is now landlocked between 1 mile of water and 10 miles of state forest... This will definitely make this project even more challenging. I hope to get it in pretty good shape to drive it across the lake come winter and trailer it home to complete. Let me know what you guys think am I crazy or should I give it a go??

Also last it ran was 5-6 years ago so that's not too bad

 

piginajeep

The Original Smartass

• Jun 17, 2016

• #2

With that grill I think it's actually a prewar jeep, I could be mistaken. But those slots look like you could have a very rare one. I'd do some research first

 

DannyD

New member

• Jun 17, 2016

• #3

I think my grandfather did that with the grille it has a service date in it of mid 1942 iv done a lot of research but I could be wrong

 

piginajeep

The Original Smartass

• Jun 17, 2016

• #4

.....

 

DannyD

New member

• Jun 17, 2016

• #5

I should be going up in the next day or so I will look closely and get some more pictures I'm pretty sure he took the grill of to work on and replaced it with chicken wire

 

piginajeep

The Original Smartass

• Jun 17, 2016

• #6

DannyD said:

I should be going up in the next day or so I will look closely and get some more pictures I'm pretty sure he took the grill of to work on and replaced it with chicken wire

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Haha, that was my next thought, either way it's a cool GPW.

Still have the original flat head? I bet it fires right up !

 

wayoflife

Administrator

Staff member

• Jun 17, 2016

• #7

Sweet!! What an awesome project!!

 

trailraider

Active Member

• Jun 17, 2016

• #8

awesome find for sure.

it'll be a fun build for sure.

 

stormtroopedjk

New member

• Jun 17, 2016

• #9

Subscribed ! Excited to see this build hope that one day I can find a badass Willys in a barn somewhere too! Can't wait to see more !

 

DannyD

New member

• Jun 17, 2016

• #10

Thanks guys last week I pulled the gas tank out and have been working on it the past few days sorry I didn't take any before pictures of the tank but when I got it home it wasn't hard to find the leaking spots. Used muriatic acid and a can of bolts to get the rust out and clean it up and get it ready for sealer and it worked great then I rinsed it out with lacquer so it would dry quickly and not have a chance for any surface rust to reappear before the sealant.
After it dried I put in tank sealer this was a pain because you have to rotate the tank for 45min to coat whole inside.
After the sealer I repeated the muriatic acid process on the outside and primed and painted with rustolium that's where I stand right now only thing left is to put gas in and make sure I really fixed it!!

 

DannyD

New member

• Jun 17, 2016

• #11

piginajeep said:

Haha, that was my next thought, either way it's a cool GPW.

Still have the original flat head? I bet it fires right up !

Click to expand...

It's still there!! I sure hope it does but that would be too easy lol

 

DannyD

New member

• Jun 29, 2016

• #12

Hey guys so I finally got a chance to look over the willys again and after putting the tank back in and turning the key surprise surprise I couldn't get her to run. The sound did seem like it wanted to so I opened the and cleaned the carb out then tried again still with no luck. After looking online I saw that omix Ada makes a distributed tuneup kit and ignition coil that would come out at about $100 which I think is going to be my next route. before I buy anyone have experience here and should I get these regardless just for the good of the jeep?

 

piginajeep

The Original Smartass

• Jun 29, 2016

• #13

DannyD said:

Hey guys so I finally got a chance to look over the willys again and after putting the tank back in and turning the key surprise surprise I couldn't get her to run. The sound did seem like it wanted to so I opened the and cleaned the carb out then tried again still with no luck. After looking online I saw that omix Ada makes a distributed tuneup kit and ignition coil that would come out at about $100 which I think is going to be my next route. before I buy anyone have experience here and should I get these regardless just for the good of the jeep?

Click to expand...

Is it getting spark and fuel ?

 

DannyD

New member

• Jun 29, 2016

• #14

Yeah it is which is why I thought it would start the only other thing I know of would be the points and the tune up kit has a new set

 

DannyD

New member

• Jun 29, 2016

• #15

DannyD said:

Yeah it is which is why I thought it would start the only other thing I know of would be the points and the tune up kit has a new set

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Wait I stand corrected just went back out and checked again it's getting gas but no spark I think the only spark I saw before was in my imagination[emoji6]

 

DannyD

New member

• Jul 5, 2016

• #16

Hey guys so I was looking to purchase a new battery for the jeep and a friend of mine mentioned a 12v switch and that it was pretty simple and all I would have to change is the alternator so I figure while I'm under the hood it may be worth it. My question is, is this correct? And if now what els would I need?

 

2nd.gunman

Caught the Bug

• Jul 5, 2016

• #17

DannyD said:

Hey guys so I was looking to purchase a new battery for the jeep and a friend of mine mentioned a 12v switch and that it was pretty simple and all I would have to change is the alternator so I figure while I'm under the hood it may be worth it. My question is, is this correct? And if now what els would I need?

Click to expand...

I don't know what you would need specifically for a jeep but generally the gauges and switches are voltage specific so may need to be changed or have the voltage limited to them. You would also need a 12v coil and alternator.

 

DannyD

New member

• Jul 5, 2016

• #18

Thanks for the input I figured it would be a little more complex then just an alternator but doesn't sound too bad I shouldn't have any trouble with that

 

B

Bingobelle

Member

• Jul 13, 2016

• #19

How is it going? Have you fire it up yet?

 

DannyD

New member

• Jul 23, 2016

• #20

Ok guys sorry I took so long between posts I haven't had time to work on the jeep unfortunately but today I had a long day working on the willys. I finally got the parts I ordered from omix-Ada and had a chance to put them in.
I started with replacing a section of the old fuel line that went into the tank it looked like it didn't have much life in it I used a break line from a local auto parts store and a regular pressure coupling to do that it was retry straight forward and easy.
Here is the old hose I took out
After that was out of the way I got to the fun part under the hood. I decided to stay with a 6v system because I got a battery pretty much for free (like $10 from a buddy who was selling a tractor). I first put in a new ignition coil which was pretty tough to get out due to the fact that the holder was probably the rustiest spot on the jeep but after a few scrapped knuckles and a break to calm down I got it out and the new one in.

Next was the distributer, now my knowledge here is extremely limited so I was a bit nervous going in but once I took the cap off and saw how simple it was I felt much better. Then it was just wires and spark plugs.
After putting it back together it was time to test it turned over much better with the new battery and after a few cranks and a shot of starter fluid it fired up but I couldn't get it to stay running more than a few seconds it seems as though it's not getting gas now I tried again a few more times with the same result. That's where I stand now any thoughts on what my next step should be?? Thanks guys and will also get more general pics of the jeep up soon too.