Wakefield Willys Update 3.19

Well as the air gets colder, the work on the Jeep slows down. But before it gets ridiculous, I am plugging along on some tub repair.

Body Work

Since the Front End is done, my next year or so will be focused on the tub, the rear section of the Willys Jeep. It is in bad shape and since I don't have $3K for a new one, we are going to fix this tub up. I am going to quite literally work by way around it starting on the driver side.

As previously mentioned, the floor under the gas tank was problematic and I thought with a few welds, I could repair it. I can not, too much damage and it really needs to be replaced. Fortunately Quadratec has a lot of floor replacement panels, so it looks like I am going to be picking some up over the winter. It will be a major project, so for now I will let it go and focus on other parts of the tub.

In the picture is the front tub corner where the windshield attaches. Both of my corners are in terrible shape and need to be rebuilt. I am starting on this corner, and so far so good, cutting away the rust and thinking through the steps to rebuild the first corner. I might have it done this fall, we will see.

Wakefield Willys Update 3.18

Fuel System

Well, the restoration has taken a bit of a detour. And there is a simple reason for that. The Willys has not been running.

I narrowed it down to the fuel system and began replacing parts. Started with the fuel filter (unbelievably dirty), replaced a fuel line, still nothing. Tested the fuel pump, working fine, it had to be the tank itself.

The tank was full of clay and that was the problem. It also had some pin holes on the top, so I thought I would replace it with another old fuel tank that I had repaired. I had purchased it some time ago when I bought the tailgate.

And this has led to a new axiom.

Axiom => Never replace vintage parts with vintage parts that need to hold fluids.

Even after my repairs, it is leaking somewhere else. I could try and repair it there as well, but will that do it and will I find another leak?

Given that the gas tank sits under the driver seat, and right over the exhaust system, I am going to install a new polyethylene tank.

Lesson learned. Wish I had discovered this when there were sales this past summer. Oh well.