58 Willys Wagon

[FINOCJ]

This followed me home on Friday....now what to do with it....

[Jim]

FANTASTIC!!


(MORE PIX PLEASE)




I can envision a black and white pic of it towing your CJ - either up a big I-70 grade or some scenic two lane.

[Tom]

Wow

[FINOCJ]

Jim previously posted:

[Getaklu]

Nice find James, should make for a great and fun project.

[The StRanger]

Just about anything you do to it will be cool...
id lean to scraping to frame & drive train.
Maybe a shortened 7.3 super duty body swap, or.
a 2WD LS pick up frame swap, lowered would be cool.

[FINOCJ]

Going to start by just getting it running a bit...which means getting the fuel pump and carb working better. Then drive it around for a bit...see how the v8 does and and how the power steering and brakes do. If its all good, I could probably drive it around as is for awhile with a 3 speed in it, but the tentative longer term goal is to update it enough to make it a good semi-modern driver for town and mountains, but not necessarily a wheeling vehicle (say that now, but....). In a dream world, I'd like to use this as my daily driver SUV. So the engine upgrade and power steering are nice steps in that direction. May upgrade the brakes to discs - at least in the front - and will probably modernize the interior. I kept my cj5 more period correct with the low back seats and lap belts, manual steering etc...but this one I want to a bit more comfortable and safe. In the long run, the t90 3 speed may get swapped for a 700r4 4speed automatic with OD - and it should bolt right up to a sbc. I'd like for Jen to be able to drive it some comfortably as well. It might even get a radio and some A/C some day.
The interior is pretty decent...and the seats were recovered at some point...maybe late 70s early 80s? - and the original seats and frames are there but the blue and yellow plaid is not my favorite. Honestly thinking of selling those off to someone who is doing a true restoration and putting in new high back seats in the front and figure out 3pt seat belts. Pic of the sbcv8 and the original owners manual and paperwork as well.

[Java]

Nice! The body looks really good, love that plaid interior. Maybe swap the body on to a TJ frame down the road?

[FINOCJ]

The StRanger previously posted:

[Jim]

Did you get the motor running / fuel issue tended? Driven it around the block yet?

[jayson44]

buy a wrecked Tahoe or the like and swap the body onto that. modern v8 w/fuel injection, modern IFS, modern 4x4, stronger frame...that's always been on my mind for one of these.

there's a guy up by me who has a Willys pickup that he swapped onto a 1st-gen Tacoma. basically just swapped the bodies and it's pretty clean.

J.

[FINOCJ]

Jim previously posted:

[Brian]

Nice score! Looks really clean.

[Hypoid]

Very nice, and all the heavy lifting is done!

[FINOCJ]

Quadrajet disassembled....(and a fuel pump sitting off to the side)...there was no inline fuel filter either before the pump, or between the pump and carb inlet. There was the inlet filter on the carb at least...time to clean more...

[Spieg]

Nice ride James! I'm a little jealous. Might be worthwhile trying to run temporary fuel lines to a jerry can until you are confident the pump/carb function well enough. Rust/debris is common in old gas tanks that can make trouble shooting tricky.

[alanmikkelsen]

That's a great find/project! All kinds of possibilities!

[FINOCJ]

Jim - would you mind moving this thread to member build threads....many thanks! I'll shoot you a PM as well.

[Jim]

I believe "build threads" is what you seek and where it now finds itself. Any change, holler.

[FINOCJ]

Allright...making progress.
Got the fuel pump in...its kind of a PITA given where the pump is located on the front of the block and the front motor mount adapter pieces make hand access difficult. And I am sure some of you are well acquainted with the sbc fuel pump pin that pumps the fuel pump arm - as it seems to fall down and block installation no matter what! As its been over 100 in my garage recently, vasoline just won't hold it up, and there isn't enough room with the motor mounts, my hand and a screwdriver to get everything together and get the bolts started.

Also doesn't help that the simple pumps seem to all have the fuel line ports on the front of the pump, and all the line come and go from the back. If doing this again, I would probably invest in a more expensive pump with better options for fuel line connection location. But a little time bending some new steel line and getting rid of POs complicated and leaking system wasn't too bad. I also learned that the fuel pump area is apparently lower the the fuel tank so every time I had to test fit or adjust the feed line, I got fuel spilled all over me - tired of my hair (and garage) smelling like gasoline for the last 3 days.

Carb rebuid is finished. I sealed up the fuel bowl wells using the slow setting Marine grade JB Weld as its specifically states good for petroleum and fuel. I couldn't make it look it all pretty - but so long as it works.


Everything put back together and it started up and runs! No fuel leaks.
Before:



After:


Now on to the next problem...generator was smoking and sizzling after running for a few minutes and got very hot. Had to disconnect the battery to stop current from flowing even with ignition switch off....

In case anyone is interested in Qjet rebuild videos - I thought this Harold Demes set was very good. I didn't do full rebuild of the baseplate and throttle and choke plate shafts, nor did I replate everything to make it look pretty, but goes to show the quality and attention to detail of the builder - also looks to have some videos of other Holley etc carbs:
part 1: https://youtu.be/nQYyBXc5tdk
part 2: https://youtu.be/eyTZP9zaHEI
part 3: https://youtu.be/tBDm9AUVQN0