Novak Conversions 50th Anniversary Gathering

Pete

Founder/Owner
Staff member
Administrator
Sep 17, 2009
7,928
Hailey, Idaho
First Name
Pete
Willys Model
  1. Wagon
Willys Year:
  1. 1960
Check it out if you are in the area-

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Visit https://www.novak-adapt.com/50th-anniversary to register.

Joseph and I are going to make the 500 mile round trip with both of our wagons... hope to see some of you there!

Pete
 
Had a fun road trip with Joseph down to Logan, Ut to join the Novak 50th Anniversary event.

Getting ready to roll out-
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Saw this at the local Country Store getting fuel on the way out of town. For the asking price, I was wondering where the rest of the Jeep was...
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Rolling through the lava flows near the Ice Cave in Southern Idaho.
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About 35 miles south of home, we started to get into the blanket of smoke from all the wild fires burning in Idaho.
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After a couple of hours of motoring along in the Southern Idaho desert in 100 degree temps, my wagon started to show signs of fuel starvation... We stopped a couple of times to fiddle with the carb, which seemed to help a bit, but the symptoms would return after a few miles.
Losing power, and only able to go about 40-45mph, I finally pulled over and decided it must be a plugged fuel filter. I have three of them on the wagon, one right at the tank, another that is on the electric fuel pump inlet, and another at the inlet to the mechanical pump. I changed the two at the rear when I installed the electric pump about a week ago, and all was fine. I also left the mechanical fuel pump in the loop, figuring that the electric pump would push through it.
We pulled the fuel filter at the engine, despite the wicked temps of the exhaust manifold... I burned my thumb with a quick brush of the hot manifold trying to reach the filter. I put on some gloves to help, and got the filter off. The pressure on the line (as indicated on my pressure regulator) didn't release when I pulled the filter.
The filter was mostly plugged, so I replaced it with a new one. Then, pulled off the fuel line into the mechanical pump. The mech pump was holding the pressure, and not letting fuel through to the carb. It had gotten so hot that it was boiling the fuel anyway, despite the electric pump's efforts. We re-routed the fuel line directly from the electric supply to the carb, and hit the road. The engine ran better than it has in years, more power and no hesitation from the heat soaked mechanical pump.

Me wincing at the heat cooking my arms...
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We took back roads and frontage roads to avoid the interstate. One section was dirt, connecting two two-lane highways.
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I had never been this route before, and the valley south of American Falls to Malad was really nice. Motoring along a rural two lane road through the farmlands was a treat despite the smoke.
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We rolled in to Logan just in time to get in line for the "Technical" trail ride. We weren't planning on doing this trail, but got there just in time so we decided to go for it.
This was the only other Willys in attendance that wasn't an early CJ. It is sitting on a Jeep JK frame and running gear.
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We headed up Logan Canyon to the trail head, and Joseph's fuel pump started having issues... It seemed like it was going to be ok, so we kept going. After a couple of miles up the trail, it quit completely.
We got it turned around, and coasted back down to the trail head.
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We let everyone go on, and decided to try and get it fixed before the parts places closed for the day. We drove my wagon back to town, found a new pump, and took it back up to Joe's wagon.
Once Joseph got the old pump out, we discovered that the fittings on the new pump wouldn't work with the fittings on the wagon... So, we put it back together with the old pump and decided to try and limp it the 20 or so miles back to town.
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Since the old pump had cooled down for a couple of hours, it started working fine. It didn't give us any trouble the rest of the trip. I think it got so heat soaked in the stop and go traffic in Logan on the way out that it gave up. Once cold, it was fine.

Have tools, will travel...
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Friday early, we were back at Novak for the morning trail run. Most of the Jeeps there were modified late model rigs, totally capable of anything. My wagon looked a little out of place...
This Gladiator nose JK pickup has rear steer.
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One of the nice CJ's that went along for the trail ride.
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Hanging with the big dogs...
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Out on the trail, there were around 20 Jeeps that did the run.
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Joseph bringing up the rear.
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More in the next post-

Pete
 
More shots from the trail.
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My wagon blew a nice coating of oil all over itself and everything inbetween Idaho and Utah, and then collected all the dirt from the trail ride on top...
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Lunch stop.
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The trail ride was about a 70 mile loop, up one canyon, over the top, and down another, then back to town. We stopped at the car wash and cleaned up, and then headed to the show and shine.
Joseph discussing his 5.3L swap with the crew from Novak.
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After a few hours looking at all the Jeeps at the show, Novak provided a nice catered dinner and then movies in the theater next door. The premiered the War Hero film, about the first annual War Hero event in Sand Hollow, Ut. Check it out here, looks like a great event.

Saturday morning, we packed up and hit the road after stopping for coffee and food.
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Hard to tell in the pictures, but the smoke along the way home was terrible... The last 80 miles was mix of crazy head winds, 90-100 degree temps, and heavy smoke. We took a different route home, which had better roads, and avoided the worst of the fires. Two of the fires started the day we left home, and were a couple thousand acres on the way down. One the way back, they had exploded to 45,000 acres or so, each.
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The home stretch, a couple of miles from home. Super happy to make it home without any mechanical issues!
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The old mill made one more trip. Already looking forward to the next one.
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Round trip we drove 600 miles, including the trail runs. My wagon averaged about 10-11 mpg, with sustained speeds of 50-55 mph. Joseph's 5.3L powered wagon got about 22 mpg...
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It was fun to finally meet the guys from Novak after all these years of buying stuff, instagram correspondence, etc. We had a great time. The best part for me, was motoring down a lonely two lane highway in the middle of nowhere, for hours on end. A little slice of what life must have been like when times were simpler and the pace was slower.

Until next time,
Pete
 
Very cool adventure. People share Willys stories all every time they see one. My dad used to call B.S. when there was no mention of tools and finding a parts store. We even had the stinking flatbed trailer hauling a Willys lose a wheel bearing 50 miles from the nearest resemblance of a town. Great memories in this simple old iron.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
 
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Pete-
Love reading your stories and checking out all the pics/videos !
Ur living the dream for sure.
ken
 
Hey Pete. My wagon needs an easy trail ride, and the Logan area is close by. Do you remember the 70 mile route that went up one canyon and down another? Which canyons?
 
Sounds like a great trip Pete. I have a 5.3 in a Modern Mid size SUV and I'm lucky to get 15 MPG. What's Joseph's secret.
 
Hey Pete. My wagon needs an easy trail ride, and the Logan area is close by. Do you remember the 70 mile route that went up one canyon and down another? Which canyons?
David,
I'm not sure exactly where we were, but I think we went east up Logan Canyon, then south through the hills, and back west out Blacksmith Fork Canyon into Hyrum, then back up to Logan.
Pete
 
Sounds like a great trip Pete. I have a 5.3 in a Modern Mid size SUV and I'm lucky to get 15 MPG. What's Joseph's secret.
Tall highway gears in the Wagoneer axles... and running slow following my snails pace on two lane highways.
Pete
 
David,
I'm not sure exactly where we were, but I think we went east up Logan Canyon, then south through the hills, and back west out Blacksmith Fork Canyon into Hyrum, then back up to Logan.
Pete
sounds about right. I did that route the opposite direction: 5 brothers in a subaru. Road was fine. The ride was not!
 
thanks for sharing the adventures.
I remember those early 200* something rear-steer 4x gm pickups. aha gladiator

I bought my T-18 to jeep T-case kit from Novak in 1984. Still doing great today in my '77 CJ-7 renegade w/304.
Garnered me 16-successful treks in and out of the Rubicon without fail, and that was Loaded with wife and 3-kids, 1-airdale and 1-shnauzer, and packed for 4-days at Buck Island Reservoir. Loaded to the hilt and beyond. hahahaha
Oh, i did purchase from Novak early 2020, a T-90 front sealed bearing. Thank you Novak family !!!
 
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