"Secret Willys Revival" (My chopped '53)

[Snake Farm]

Here's a little update on my Willys. Tonight I will be switching places with it and my car![cl[cl .......... my daughter and son-in-law are here to help me make the switch and we have a break in the weather (both vehicles will have to be pushed outside to do it) so I can't pass up the chance to make the switch. And besides it's New Years Eve so it's only fitting to do it tonight seeing how it was 28 years ago tonight that we chopped the top on this thing. So I guess my wife will find out about my "Rat Build" tonight but it will still be a secret to the rest of my friends and family. Wish me luck

 

[Snake Farm]

Whew, what a night!

........slept in till almost eleven but I'm one step closer to getting back to work on the Willys after a "ten year lull" Snapped a few pics of the evening's events.....

From a truck covered with boxes to a car stuffed with boxes!
The Chevy II loaded and ready to roll.......when it comes to wheel/tire combos I've always liked big and littles but this is taking it to the extreme I think LOL

The Willys loaded up and ready.......

A little indoor traffic jam!

The car outside for the first time in nine years.....the Willys 13 years!

We missed the Times Square "Ball Drop" but we did take a break at midnight and launch a few spuds.......found the "Tater Hater II" in the cab of the Willys when I started cleaning it out........takes a pretty big tater for this one but it's fun and belches five or six feet of fire in the dark[ddd

When I built my garage I couldn't afford a concrete floor and I already had some rough sawn framing and lumber so that's the route I went. Granted it's not the best surface for welding on but it doesn't kill your back to stand on it like concrete does. Anyway, the floor boards have shrunk up and left some cracks so we took the opportunity to put down some plywood......at least where the truck used to sit.

Wow, look at that!.........bet it won't look like that for long LOL

......see, I told you.

.................

 

[Snake Farm]

3:00 AM January 1, 2011

Happy New Year! I have high hopes for 2011 but this has to be one of the slowest projects in the world, LOL
Here's a pic from about 2:00 AM Jan. 1, 1983..

...and here's one from twenty eight years later...3:00 AM Jan. 1, 2011
I don't have a son but if I did I'd want this guy to be him.....me and my son-in-law.

.....he was less than one year old when the first pick was taken and my daughter wasn't born yet, see what I mean about slow

So there it sits and my mind is swirling with ideas. Next New Year's Eve party will be a "Midnight Cruise"........weather permitting of course.

Oh I almost forgot, Momma knows my secret and she's excited too!

To be continued,

Ray

 

[gopower]

Glad

I'm glad that Mom's happy with this Rat. But the best was what you said about you Son-in-law. That was cool. Good job Man!!!

 

[clamor]

That's the coolest stereo shelf I've ever seen!
Do the lights work? That'd be a sweet place for a couple speakers...put gray/silver mesh over 'em.

-Chaz

 

[Snake Farm]

......... the best was what you said about you Son-in-law. That was cool. Good job Man!!!

Hey, I just tell it like it is man I really am blessed when it comes to my daughter and the fine young man she married

That's the coolest stereo shelf I've ever seen!
Do the lights work? That'd be a sweet place for a couple speakers...put gray/silver mesh over 'em.

-Chaz

Thanks, it's nice to be able to see it again I have had the lights working with a model train transformer but it burnt up and I haven't replaced it.....need to do that though cause it is pretty cool with them lit up.

 

[Snake Farm]

Okay, since getting the Willys dug out and moved to where I can work on it I've been looking it over and assessing the situation to see what move I should make first. One of my main concerns is the engine. Although the truck has never moved under it's own power I have had the engine running several times over the years.......but with the truck being stored cross ways in my tiny garage preventing the tilt nose from being opened it hasn't been turned over for nine years now

My question is, how should I handle it?? Should I stick a breaker bar on it and give it a try? Should I pull the plugs and shoot some WD-40, PB Blaster or ??? in the cylinders and let it soak awhile first? This engine has sat two or three years before and turned fine..........but NINE is a lot Hope it's okay because getting another motor would be a major setback on a project with "no budget"
Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Thanks,
Ray

 

[ratchet041]

Pull the plugs spray wd or pb don't matter let it set for a couple days then spray the cylinders again. Wait a couple more days then try to turn it over with the plugs out. If that don't work pull the heads and hit the tops of the pistons with a small hand sledge use the bottom of the handle not the head. Or you could damage the pistons best case is it will brake loose and run ok most likely it will burn a little oil. Either way what do you have to loose. If it works cool if not your back to square 1 used to do it with junk yard motors. Just to beat the hell out of our junkers in the fields when we where kids. All in all I recomend rebuilding the motor or finding another.

 

[jfg455]

just pull the plugs, spray the cylinders good with WD40 or like oil, let it sit over night, turn it by hand 3-4 complete revalutions, fresh engine oil, spin it on the starteruntil it builds oil presure, put plugs back in, fire it up. SBC is a tough motor. it will run. [cl

 

[Rat33pickmup]

Marvels mystery oil or Trans fluid, they both help with any rust in cyl wall and will unstick the rings, wait 24-48 hours.... used this MANY times and only once it didnt work.....

Jim


p.s. done this on a 2300 pinto engine that sat in a field with no hood on the car for about 3 years. after it broke loose we fired it and it smoked like heck and has been in a friends 81 Mustang for about 10 years now.

 

[skull]

b4 turning over sbc

l know it sucks to have to mess with the timing, BUT, pull out the distrubitor and get a shaft or make one out of an old distrubitor that you can put down the distrubitor hole and spin the oil pump with a drill. this will pump oil thru the system and help prevent oil starvation so ya don't destroy the motor.

after ya get it oiled up you'll need to turn the motor over by hand to lube all the cam/crank and to get oil to the whole thing. in the back of the block behind the distrubitor l hook up a oil gauge so when the pump is spinning it will tell me if the oil pressure is good, you can get 40psi easy with a good drill.

make sure and mark on the distrubitor where it lines up on the intake so timing can be reset easier. l take a sharpie and draw a line on the distrubitor base and straight down to the intake. be sure to put the rotor back in the same way it was pointing or you will be 180 out on the timing.

also mark the plug wires for firing order. l use clothes pins marked 1-8 and clip them to the plug wires before taking the wires off the plugs.

hope this helps, l know it a pain to do all this, however, l have saved several
motors this way.

Later

 

[Snake Farm]

How can you say a chopped 4x4 doesn't look right? This one looks OK........

.......I'm glad to see someone building a Willys, looks good. Doing a nice job on it.

That's not just ok, that's friggin cool as all get out. [cl[dr

Agreed, I stand corrected!

 

[Snake Farm]

Thanks everyone for the tips and advice on breaking my engine loose......but I think it's going to be fine. I was looking at it tonight and thinking about pulling the plugs and shooting some oil in the cylinders and just for kicks I grabbed the balancer with my hands and gave it a tug.........it spun right over[cl[cl..I'll probably still run some oil down the cylinders and pull the dist. and spin the oil pump with a drill before I try to start it.

The last couple nights I have been messing around with tires and wheels. I have this pair of 295-50 T/A's that are NOS (have had them 30+ years) and although they have been mounted before they have never been driven.

They are a little hard but not all cracked up so I mounted them up for the rear of the Willys......

....changed the looks a bit.

I also have two of these 15X5's that a friend gave me a few years ago when I was thinking of dropping to 15 inch wheels on my then daily driver '54 Five Window Chevy.

.........I plan to reverse them to gain about an inch of outset....they have the riveted centers so they are pretty easy to line back up. I know I'm no ways near ready for wheels and tires but I believe it is important that the truck looks cool while I work on it

To be continued,

Ray

 

["Desert Rat"]

How can you say a chopped 4x4 doesn't look right? This one looks OK.

Ya what he said.

And for that what if I , look [dr

 

[clamor]

It doesn't sound like you're planning on it. But I would think twice before running 30+ yr old tires. Tires are not like cheese, they don't get better with age.

 

[Snake Farm]

It doesn't sound like you're planning on it. But I would think twice before running 30+ yr old tires. Tires are not like cheese, they don't get better with age.

Yeah, they're just for looks and rolling around right now...........I've been reading the thread on making white walls so I might also practice grinding on these.........also I predict that there will be a period when the truck will move under it's own power but still not be quite ready for the street and if so these tires will probably be reduced to "driveway smoke" at that time[ddd

 

[hotwrench4hire]

I like the 4x4 look

 

[hotwrench4hire]

 

[Snake Farm]

Not much progress on the Willys this week Work has gone wide open, have a project with a Feb. 14th deadline so we've been putting in the overtime........good for a little extra Rat Rod dough but bad for garage time. I did find this nice little bunch of goodies boxed away though.....

...a few years back I got to wondering if parts were still available for the '76 Chevy Luv chassis and I picked up new front calipers, brake pads and brake hoses. So I have a good start on rebuilding the front end.........wouldn't hurt to check again on parts availability though ie. ball joints, tie rod ends, rotors etc.

Also I hooked up a drill to this speedometer and tested it out. It was labeled '47 Dodge but don't know if it was a truck or car??

Anyways I like the looks of it and it works so I may use it. Hope to get in an hour or two on the truck this weekend.

To be continued,

Ray

 

[Sam_Fear]

Just keep pluggin' away...

Really like the speedo.