51 Jeepster restomod

wunderwillys

Well Oiled
Apr 20, 2013
1,198
Cincinnati
First Name
Scott
Willys Model
  1. Wagon
Willys Year:
  1. 1953
After restoring a basket case wagon, I recently acquired this 51 Jeepster from a fellow Willys enthusiast. Modern drivetrain with original body & interior, perhaps even a Mercedes chassis, still measuring...,

I did start my paint and bondo removal, nothing too surprising so far, this has to be the thickest paint I've ever came across.

So far I see improperly attached patch panels, 3 colors of bondo, some bronze brazing, silicon caulk, fiberglass and finally what might be lead filler.

Once metal cleaning is complete, we will brace the body for removal and lotsa welding and grinding. Then I'll get started on the chassis and drivetrain swap, while my buddy chips away at the metal work.

Looks like most of the patch panels are available, anyone have experience with who makes the most accurate panels? I know with wagons there are several variations on the market....ImageUploadedByTapatalk1446808107.423104.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1446808121.560885.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1446808133.745250.jpg


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Looking forward to your updates Scott, looks like a fun project.

Pete
 
I think most of the patch panels are made by the same company and just resold by different sellers.
 
I'll take more pics soon, I am almost done scraping and stripping paint. It's slow going but satisfying nonetheless


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After a few more hours last night, we are almost done with the nasty stripping. It's clear at this point that a prior attempt was made at replacing the bottom portions of most of the sheet metal. Which is why this one isn't worth restoring. Although I will try and get it right this time...

Tomorrow night we brace the body and free the chassis. I'd really appreciate some feedback on replacement panels. I'm not confident that they are all the same.

For instance Willys America has inner and outer rockers that appear different and pricey, but then C2C sells them for a fraction of the cost?

http://www.c2cfabrication.com/collections/all/jeep+jeepster

http://shop.willysamerica.com/Inner-Right-Rocker-Panel-p/100045r.htm

Also I need the floor to frame brackets (6?) and cowl panels but no one makes either?



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I understand your frustration with sheet metal, you just really don't know where to go for GOOD parts ! Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with your Jeep. I would call Jeepsterman if I were you. I have gotten the best parts from them for both of my wagons, over a 12 year period. I can tell you that I have sent back more products I have purchased because of lack of quality, from some of the vendors right here on this site. I just won't go so far as to name the companies. Good luck
 
Well the body is now off the chassis, only broke a couple bolts lol. We braced the body and it was a 2.5 man lift, meaning my buddy picked up the front and I'm sore.

The frame looks great, one prior repair that looks OK and no hillbilly deluxe craftsmanship anywhere.

Time to order the sheet metal and commit to the new drivetrain.

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Congrats Wunderwillys. You're made significant progress in a short amount of time. :cheers:

What are you considering for the drivetrain?
 
Now is a great time to measure your frame and make sure it is square. Are you going to do any kind of chemical treatment to the frame? or just clean and seal it?
 
Chassis is off to a buddy's for us to do metal work, gonna build a chest high rotisserie with cart wheels.

Here is one of the motors I am considering, technically it fits but I'm worried about oil pan clearance and front suspension....

Sheet metal is ordered and on the way from JeepsterMan

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Sheet metal is here from jeepsterman and frame is just about cleanImageUploadedByTapatalk1448444534.673485.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1448444548.450362.jpg


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Still working hard, our cart is done, nothing like recycling free materials and buddy's that could weld tinfoil...

Today we will finishing final body bracing and cutout the rot....ImageUploadedByTapatalk1448796142.601336.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1448796155.937713.jpg


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Still chipping away, had to order allot more sheet metal, both inside rockers, all floor braces and both long floor pans from willysamerica, ouch!

We are still bracing the body tub in preparation for cutting everything below the doors out, from cowl to rear fenders. I am going to need approx. the middle 10-16 inches of the entire floor pan front to back in order to get the new ones just right. The light from the arc actually shows just how bad the rockers were lol.

I stop in my buddy's shop when I have spare time and work on additional paint removal, small dents, firewall cleanup and general work area stuff, I try to ensure were never in the way.

Since I have the frame at home and it's 85% clean, I've gotta get it flipped over somehow. Finally I am really close to getting my hands on the new drivetrain...then perhaps a mustang II front end, but I'm too cheap, but that's half the fun of it
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1449577660.449499.jpg



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Picking up my drivetrain today, depending on wet/dry compression, I'll bring it home. It will be a gas Mercedes M130.980 eurospec inline 6 w 4 speed auto. Looks like it makes about 200 horses and gobs of torque, since the jeepster is about half the weight of the Mercedes wagon.

I did get my frame stripped, flipped over and we have a bit of repair work to get done on the bottom plates and some other areas before rough mocking the drivetrain.


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So my project has been dead in the water for about a month now thanks to Willys America, what a joke.

After my discovery that my inside rockers couldn't be saved and since Paul makes the only available sheet metal, I sent an e-mail on November 26 requesting a detailed cost and shipping estimate, with no response after a week, I placed a phone order on December 4 and specifically requested an eta on shipping price and delivery date.

Never received any confirmation whatsoever and waited until December 12 and called for a status and was told that "we ran out of packaging materials and are waiting for resupply." Again asked for order total and confirmation with tracking, nothing received.

Sent e-mail on December 16 for another update and was told they had already been shipped and would arrive any day, still no order confirmation, receipt, total or tracking.

Leave town for Xmas holiday, send yet another e-mail December 28 and get reply that it would be delivered that same day and finally my first access to a tracking number, which clearly shows it is marked by them as signature only, which sucks when you are a few states away, a heads up would have been nice, especially since it was actually shipped over a week after they said it was.

So I drive many hundreds of miles to retrieve items at FedEx hub, open the poorly assembled and packed boxes.

This is a disappointment to say the least, I will let the pics speak for themselves.

You can can clearly see the passenger floor pan is defective, with one of the body mount indents completely torn through the stamping. This is clear as they had circled the defect and actually wrote on the piece "torn indent"

The inside rockers were slathered in packing tape, which is pretty inconsiderate to force me to clean residue from half the surface. Furthermore the metal stock for the floor mounts was obviously improperly stored and are much more rusted and will force me to invest unnecessary additional labor to prepare them for use.

What kind of business wound send a customer a factory reject/second these are 300 each! More than 4 times the cost of the competition

Judge for yourselves, but in my book, they are no better than the others, so don't pay a premium for the same old song and dance.

Thanks for putting me a month behind and taking a thousand bucks out of my pocket, it won't happen again, ever.

Update, I did finally get a receipt and after much bickering they removed 90 bucks shipping, nothing yet on my issues with the parts

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I would like to respond to this post to perhaps offer your viewers a different viewpoint, as there is always two sides to every story. I have reviewed the 23 e-mails going back and forth over 6 pieces of sheet metal. On multiple dates in November you did send e-mails to us requesting information about a 7th passenger seat, but no e-mail on November 26 on record requesting information about sheet metal. I do however have an e-mail from Dec. 1 with that request at 10:18, which I replied at 11:06 with a photo of the very braces you are having issue with above. On Friday, Dec. 4 you did place a phone order with Gina (after a lengthy conversation with me) for the sheet metal and your order was put in the que in order with other customers who had orders ahead of you and would be processed in that order. You stated that on Dec. 12 you called for an update, unfortunately, we are closed on Saturdays, so let's say it was Friday, and yes, your package was 58"x26"x6" 53lbs and we had our oversize new box shipment to us delayed by heavy holiday freight traffic. You were informed of this and had no complaint at that time. Our freight box order finally did arrive that following Tuesday Dec. 15. You state that on the 16th you sent an email requesting an update, and was told they they would arrive any day. No such e-mail is in our records, but that e-mail does exist for the 21st, and I personally told you that they had shipped the prior week, but due to the holidays it may not have arrived yet. (I was out of the office and replied from my cell phone, you did not reply). On Dec. 28, you called to track the package with Gina, and were, lets politely put it, very short with her. She agreed to refund the shipping at that time, and the package was out for delivery on the FedEx truck at that time. FedEx had put out notifications that there were extensive delays due to weather in the Midwest. When FedEx arrived, they found a note left on your (admitted) behalf by your neighbor cancelling the delivery. You then wanted FedEx to redirect the shipment to your office as you were out of town, but still would not pay for the freight. You then e-mailed a threatening note to us to refund your credit card the full amount, or you would contact the card company for a chargeback. Gina immediately refunded the entire amount and sent you an email notification. On Dec. 29, you called to say you were driving back to the FedEx dock to pick up the package and Gina recreated an invoice for the parts less freight charges. No one forced you to pick up those parts, they were on the way back to us, yes we are confused! One more thing, FedEx automatically puts on packages valued over $500 that signature be required, that's not our doing. Now on to the parts issue. Since you have explained verbally to Gina that "you restore one Willys vehicle per year for the past 5 years" I assume you know that all metal parts should be washed with metal prep solution to remove oils, light surface rust and impurities to insure good clean welds. That being the case, and with the picture sent ahead showing some light surface rust on the sample, you should not be negatively challenged. And also with your extensive experience, you now remember to install crush sleeves in the mounting pockets of the floor pans to prevent collapsing of the pan into the support. And you appreciate that we marked the hole to let you see where that sleeve needed to be placed. As far as them being higher than the competition, Carl Walck 4-WD lists them for $341. Each. And Kaiser-Willys has them for $344. The C2C company product is not for a full pan, only a 1/2 pan. We wish you the best in the coming year and your latest project. Let us know if you need any technical assistance from our 40 years of repairing and restoring Willys vehicles.
 
I appreciate the public response and fully realize that I invited it by posting in an open environment. If I am wrong I will own it...

I also fully comprehend and understand that this may not be the proper forum for this discussion. However clearly we are at an impasse and your past, current and prospective customers deserve to know how seriously you care about their projects.

On the shipping issue, your own website terms and conditions state that the customer will be contacted within 10 days if items aren't shipped, furthermore it also says that the shipping total will be provided.

It took you over 3 weeks to provide me with a itemized total, shipping and tracking, that is inexplicable and inexcusable and against your own stated policy.

However, now the real matter of contention is that you have failed to accept responsibility for sending me a defective part, to further compound the error you are now attempting to mislead me as to the condition of the part and its intended purpose. We all know the indent isn't circled for my benefit, why aren't the other 7 indents similar? Why did you write "torn indent" and circle both sides?

The indent is clearly stamped through, this has been confirmed through high resolution photos provided to at least 6 different known vendors, 3 of which have already confirmed that this indeed a defective stamping that they wouldn't represent as new. I will be sure to update should the other vendors respond indicating any agreement your explanation of the crush sleeve.

Obviously we're not looking at the same photos of the torn indent, that's not my handwriting and the tear is clean through. Send me a return authorization and prepaid return label or I will take this up with my card issuer. This is not a threat as you indicate, rather the terms and conditions of my fraud coverage require that I provide the vendor with a opportunity to resolve the matter satisfactorily before any chargeback can be initiated.




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Scott and Paul-

Thank you for keeping this somewhat civil, but I would appreciate it if you would take your dialog off line. Airing out a grievance in a public forum will surely not resolve the issues at hand. In my judgment, this will quickly become a public pissing match that no one "wins". There is nothing the forum can do to help either party come to a solution in the matter. Folks tend to pile on, take sides, and things get ugly. The reality is that no one but you two know what has transpired, and you are the only two that can make it right, whatever that may be. Everyone is human, and everyone makes mistakes on one way or another. It's my opinion that a rant from one side or the other, or both, will only create a more adversarial relationship and make it harder to come to terms with a solution. And, the forum is not the place to negotiate your resolution.

Thank you for your understanding.

Pete
 
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