New 1951 Willys Wagon Owner

Hello all, I'm very familiar with my 1975 CJ5, essentially I know every nut and bolt on it. With that being said, when it comes to the old 50's Willys (1951 Military or Forest Service Willys Wagon), especially the Wagon I am in entirely new territory.

My Wagon is a true survivor with very little rust (the front floor pans) and few modifications:

1 - an electric fuel pump,
2 - a 110v converter
3 - ????? a water tank that can be pressurized with air under the drivers seat. ?????? Don't know if it works, but here in the desert South West (Tucson) it could be an interesting addition.
4 - A really cool dryer vent hose from the air filter to the carb
5 - It's a 12v

At this point it doesn't run. The PO says it did run very well, but after sitting since 2005 the carb is gummed up.
.................Why did he stop driving it? With very little contact with him I would not be surprised to find that prison got in his way. To say these guys are rough is an understatement, Good natured but deadly serious talk of being drunk, beating people with bottles, getting hit in the face with a brick, being stabbed, windows being shot out, lots of contact with the authorities ....... AND that was just his young daughter. But, they needed the money and were glad to take my $2500, I could have gotten it for less, but that would have been taking advantage of a bad situation. ...............

With all that being said I tend to believe the little 4 ran well before being parked. Right now it is in desperate need of a set of tires (to get her home), brakes that work, a cleaned fuel system and an ignition switch (someone tried to steal it) .... ) no it isn't stolen, the police say the title is clean.)

Of course the question will be, leave it alone and drive it or go the whole way with new drive train (engine, transmission, axles).
So, the adventure has begun and the bank account will go away.......

Welcome aboard. I vote for getting it running and then seeing whether to make the jump...

I'm leaning heavily toward getting it running and driving, at least at first. The thing pulling me toward upgrading is the fact that this thing needs to be running at highway speeds, Arizona doesn't have much of a secondary road system. To do that we are looking at different axles with better gear ratios. As you undoubtedly know that is the start down a lengthy upgrade road. Of course an overdrive would help a lot.

Any pictures? Does it was a black GSA plate on the glovebox?

My wagon came from Phoenix... before that somewhere in western Texas... allegedly. Might have been Border Patrol.

You probably already know the overdrive will really help. You'll gain some speed and also out a lot less stress on the drivetrain.

Yes, its got the plate.
If I keep it stock the over drive will definitely be a "must have". Unfortunately it is just expensive enough to make one think about it. With the going price being over the $1,000 mark I can't help but think that would be about the same as a couple Scout II or Wagoneer axles. Also unfortunately I've got a T-18a and D20 transfer case with Terra Low gears in it sitting in my garage that would be a great addition to a Willys Wagon and the over drive won't go on the D20. When I built the T18a/D20 I was hot to put it in my CJ5, then the Wagon bug hit.

Yup, I say drive it as well. I drove mine through the summer stock, except for the Ford 289 the PO had installed. I bought an overdrive, but never installed it, because I decided I wasn't going to be happy with the away it drove. So that started the long, long road that I travelled with this project, but I wouldn't change a thing. Loads of fun and satisfaction. You on the other hand might love it just the way it is and won't want to change a thing. So I say drive it and see.

Dan - I see you've got a scrambler, do we know each other from the CJ board? I've been having trouble posting pictures from my Photobucket account. It's a little upsetting.

Brian - I'm sure you know this already. The 289 or all V8's are Wagon drivetrain killers. Even when using the extra power sparingly. Before buying my Wagon I talked with Rob at Willys Works here in Tucson, he said people try to give him or have him rebuild drive train components from Wagons that were converted to a V8 even the ones that "Just need to be freshened up" were warn out on the inside.

The sideways pictures are from the internet, the others are mine.

This is cool, is there a limit on the number of pictures?

Does everybody see the pictures?

Already learning lessons. The drivers side lug nuts/studs are a reverse thread. Sure tightened the heck out of the first one before the PO grabbed the wrench and turned it the other way. Of course he instantly judged my skills and wouldn't let me touch a wrench again. ...... Good I didn't want to wrestle those nuts off anyways. WINNER!

One thing I really like are all the glove compartments. LOTS of out of the way room for tools, ammunition, knives and of course ......... (shhhhhh, don't tell anyone, hand guns).

Hi Hedgehog,

The system limits us to 10 pictures per post. That's a nice wagon.

Hedgehog said:

Dan - I see you've got a scrambler, do we know each other from the CJ board? I've been having trouble posting pictures from my Photobucket account. It's a little upsetting.

Click to expand...

The Photobucket thing is infuriating. An OWF member posted this solution.

And yeah, I have an '82 Scrambler with an NV4500, one piece axles, and a fuel-injected 350. Not too active over on the other boards... mostly a lurker. Same handle though... scramboleer.

Thank you. I'm still debating on the paint. He said he used a rattle can to paint it. But I paid attention to what he was saying and the story didn't hold up. I have considered doing like the rat rod guys using only a clear coat. Keeping the patina is very popular these days. Then again I do like red and white. ..... Just realized .... like yours.

Okay, how do you rotate the images. On my computer the images are correct, why they laid over is beyond me. It isn't clear how to rotate then once they are on the forum. Also yours are lined up top to bottom, mine are in a banner configuration.

Hedgehog said:

Thank you. I'm still debating on the paint. He said he used a rattle can to paint it. But I paid attention to what he was saying and the story didn't hold up. I have considered doing like the rat rod guys using only a clear coat. Keeping the patina is very popular these days. Then again I do like red and white. ..... Just realized .... like yours.

Okay, how do you rotate the images. On my computer the images are correct, why they laid over is beyond me. It isn't clear how to rotate then once they are on the forum. Also yours are lined up top to bottom, mine are in a banner configuration.

Click to expand...

I'm still learning about the pictures. It has something to do with auto-rotate on the smart phone. One way to solve it is to do a simple edit (like crop) on your phone. Then your pictures will all be right-side up. To rotate yours, I saved them, edited them, and then re-uploaded them. Not the most elegant solution. I'm sure there are others.

Phone ..... Phones can take pictures!!!!! Thought phones were for talking to other folks. ...... I've heard rumor that some phones are .... hmmmm what do they call it? ........ smart, or was that smarty pants ....... yes I'm a phone hold out maybe even a luddite. I do work with pictures everyday though. The rotation thing is clearly a hold over from the original phone pictures, why or how I do not know. Thank you for your help, being able to add pictures to a post is very cool.

howdy from ks.

Welcome to the forum,

Pete