'58 CJ5 'Willie' project

Got replacements seat springs in and installed for both front seats.
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Now on to prime and paint then hopefully drop off to the upholstery guy Monday.

One primed and one primed and painted.
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Like pulling teeth......the upholstery guy said week to 10 days max. That was back on April 12th. Supposed to get all 3 seats back Friday, but he still hasn't gotten the rear seat springs in to repair the bottom, let along getting it back to me to prime, paint, let it dry, put it back together and get it back to him to do his part......just venting.

Here is the back of the backseat all cleaned, painted, and extra layer of felt added to support the thin places on the 58 original felt that goes between the springs and the pan (remember I'm using a wagon drivers seat to make fold and flip rear seat). The bottom is all ready except for the springs themselves.
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Oh well, can't drive it yet anyways as the carb is pulled to rebuild.
 

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Went to pick up the 2 front seats and......you guessed it. Wrong. First didn't do double stitching on backs or even line it up. Didn't put heated seat pads on. Didn't line up bottom/back edge and even tried to convince me that was the way the originals were. Put in way too much padding thus raising me too tall and too far forward. now to see if it becomes a hassle or if he makes it good. Not a good way to start my vacation.
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Most people come home from a vacation trip to Yellowstone with a coffee mug, key chain, etc., not the wife and I.
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It sat for over 4 years in a guy's covered shed in Idaho. Added some air and grease and pulling it home to Texas. Making a pit stop for a few days at its eventual home, our cabin in the mountains of southern New Mexico, before the final 600 miles to Texas to add to the restoration work. Gonna name it Tubby.
 

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After repeated promises of when the seats would be done, I just told him I'm taking them back. He refunded most of the deposit. Over 2 months of wasted time. Unfortunately I think it goes with the territory. You assume the surgeon is competitent but don't know til you either die on the table or wake up. I died.
 
Sounds like your cabin can't be too far from Jaurez, I'd take my seats there without hesitation, especially if you have a native friend to bring along to make things easier.


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Sounds like your cabin can't be too far from Jaurez, I'd take my seats there without hesitation, especially if you have a native friend to bring along to make things easier.


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No not too far. I grew up in El Paso and use to go over there all the time (even when I should not have :beer: ) but it's a different world there. Would never even consider going over now. In fact, I only go to El Paso if using the airport. It's not the same place I grew up in.
 
Not much update. Was having problems keeping it running so had a local mechanic rebuild carb, which needed to be done anyways. Then still having issues above idle so found fuel pump not consistent. It needed to be replaced as diaphragm cracking. But still would not run and local mechanic not returning calls. Good thing he's not been paid yet. So I decided to start looking myself. Long story short, is I discovered accelerator pump check ball not in right place (actually doesn't use one), missing gaskets and for the weight he used a piece in the kit actually for a type of float needle. Bottom line is he clearly didn't know what he was doing and didn't even do a good job cleaning the thing. I decided to send it to a place in CA that specializes in old carbs and they do a complete rebuild, replate, tune on a flow machine, etc. should have had to buy a $40 rebuild kit to get the correct missing parts anyways, plus time, etc. it will be back in couple weeks and I'll post pics and results.
 
Just got the carb back from J&J Carb from Fullerton, CA. Here is a before and after. One interesting point is that some linkage pieces were the yellowish color and I doubt it was ever replated before, yet was returned shinny metal. I called them about it and was told they actually looked it up in the book to verify which parts are to be plated and what color, etc.
 
Oops
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Had to send carb back as they forgot to replace the torx bolts PO had previously put on, with the correct slotted ones. Got it off right before I went to cabin and it's now waiting at home for me when I get back. I also decided to send the distributor off to Pertronix at the same time for their 'custom' fit as they don't have a kit for the Autolite IAY-4012. They quoted no more than $250 and their kit for the the wagon was at $175, so I decided to just do it. Then I got notified the one for the wagon in my Amazon cart dropped to $147, snapped it up. Monday I called to see status on the CJ one and was told it ended up only $115. Wow, that's like regular kits almost. It arrives tomorrow so both carb and distributor will be ready to install when I get home and hopefully get to drive Willy for the first time in months. I'll post pic of each this weekend when I get home.
 
Got home and installed the returned carb and Pertronix 'custom' distributor tonight. Went smooth and once fuel finally got going up to the carb, Willy fired right up. Ran pretty smooth. So far I'm impressed with the Pertronix unit. Tootled around the area for 30 minutes and all was fine. Just need to set the idle mixture and idle speed. It felt good to drive him again.
 
I had taken Willie to the tranny guy here in town to look it over. He's an old hot rod guy and has been good AND honest the past 30+ years I've used him. He adjusted the clutch and it seems to have solved the occasional great grinding when shifting. Said seals looked good, fluid great and greased the transfer case shifters. Those shifters are still finicky so we will see if using them more helps. His assessment of the tranny was good to go and not worth the expense to pull it now for total inspection. He said when I pull the body, he'll look in the top plate to verify. That's the nice news. Next week it's supposed to go to the roll bar guy.
 
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While waiting on roll bar guy to get pipe bent, I decided to do a few small things on Willie. Started to look at dead guages and speedo. So labeled wires and pulled it out.
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Sure enough a little oil and work got the spinner going. However the needle was flopping and beyond my pay grade as I studied it. Ohms on the guages showed they were dead and temp sensor not responding. I checked with several restore places, but they were wanting $500 and up to do the whole cluster. The replacements guages are the Omix plus $50+ so not really interested in that if I could avoid it AND would need speedo $150ish. But I did find a NOS on eBay for $200 and it should be here this weekend. I already steel wooled all the connections, bulb bases, cleaned dust off bulbs, etc., so it's already to put in as soon as it gets here.

While in the dash, the light switch was flakey as far as dash lights consistently so I pulled it out.
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Took it apart and sure enough crustys where something had leaked into the switch, plus old dried nasty grease. In the rush to show the wife the problem, I forgot to take a pic of the condition before I did my magic. In any event, gave it a good cleaning in side and out, steel wooled the connection spots on the board and slider, added some dielectric grease and it works perfect now. You can even feel the detents as you go from off to parking to headlights and all connections work great. They don't make stuff that good today. 58 years worth of use, couple hours restoring and now ready for another 58 years.
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Notice the 58 year old wire connectors. The insulators around the connectors are crumbling apart. They look like old rubber. Plus wires are pretty stiff. Insulation is ok for now. In any event, a new wiring harness from Walcks is probably not too far in the future.

I also installed the used original horn under the hood, cleaned all connector, replaced the rusty steering wheel nut, installed new rubber cap and now I have a functioning horn.

Next on the list, while the dash is opened up, install defroster duct and heater.
 
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So over the weekend I got the new cluster installed. It was exciting to see the speedo move, gas guage register and see a water temp. For those looking, the guy on eBay has several more NOS and from what I got, it was great. $200 but worth it to me.

So far:
I now have speedo and gauges
Working horn
Working headlight switch
Installed a tac
Replaced the rubber between cowl and windshield and now softtop door fits right with windshield
Got the new plastic glovebox finish installed

More to cone this week/weekend......
 
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Dropped Willie off at the guys place doing the roll bar lady Wednesday. I gave him deposit to get pipe and bends done early November. He promises I get to pick him back up Tuesday. Welder guy in background.
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Update.....picked up Willie from the roll bar guy just before we headed up to the cabin and it's in but I've got massage it. But a step forward. Will post a pic when I get home. But while at the cabin I found a Koenig PTO off Craigslist and a Ramsey winch. The PTO looks brand new and $315 shipped. Would have preferred getting it for a little less, but considering the condition, I'm happy. The chain and gears inside look like no wear. The winch looks ruff, but turns smoothly and it came with the fairlead and frame, all for $100. Fairlead rollers spin and looks straight. Now all I have to do is get the shafts and joints. The PTO frame is not a CJ5 so I'll probably make my own.
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Well I decided to temporarily mount Wilbur's wheels on Willie to see how they rode, felt, etc. these are 16" truck wheels with Goodyear DuraTrac 215/R85's. The ride height is 1 inch taller. The ride did feel softer and quieter, but when making turns, I could feel the body sway some. Not sure how much of that was just my imagination vs the radials vs the extra inch, but it made me a little more of a feeling of top heavy, slow way down or possible flip in turns. I do like the color (off white/cream) and the look. But it does take away from the 'old vintage' Willys look in my opinion. I'll keep them on for several months as Wilbur the wagon is being worked on and see how I get accustomed to them.

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Finally back to doing something on Willie. Got the 11" self adjusting brake kits in yesterday so now just time to find time to start. Game plan is to install these on all 4 corners and see how they work. I'm also looking at a Geo Tracker disc conversion and was able to pick up a set of the backing plates which have to be fabricated from a guy who did this along with his buddies jeeps for a reasonable price. The rest is stock Geo stuff. Then decide depending on the how the bigger drum work.
 
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