1949 WJO -- Willis

This will be my 2nd attempt at a build thread. I had big plans of going faster than Ricky Bobby in my first thread, then life. Moving on... Last Monday I took possession of a 1949 Willys Overland Jeepster. These. are. cool. Just ask any Shriner. Willis (I name all my vehicles Willis) has been in a barn....er, garage (it's cooler to say barn, right?) since somewhere around 1995 until last Monday. The old owner passed away last July and left everything to his son. Everything included a GTO, a 59 Dodge truck restomod that was more camaro than truck, a 79 Warlock and this old dusty jeep. The jeep did not run and had been in the same spot for as long as the kid could remember. The jeep was more a burden to the son as he had running mopars to play with and this jeep was taking up space. I made an offer, he accepted and these pictures were of it being rolled into the sun for the first time in 20 years, a week ago: The Jeepster seems to be pretty original. There were only 19K of these built over a 3 year period. As the story goes, Willys built the Jeepster because they were really only selling Jeeps to farmers. They wanted a vehicle that would appeal to the younger GI's returning from the war who loved their wartime jeeps, but wanted a hot rod. Willys didn't have a lot of money to invest in new tooling, so a lot of the Jeepster is actually truck / panel wagon parts. The idea never really took as the car was under powered and there were cheaper options out there. They sold the last few Jeepsters they built in 1950 in 1951 and killed the idea. As found, Willis is missing the head to his flat head four engine. The engine itself is seized, but everything else seems to be in good working order. I've never dabbled with a 6 volt system, this should be fun. I've spent some time cleaning it up and have been pouring a cocktail into the cylinders. I was able to pull all of the head studs, but there was one pesky guy who didn't want to let go. I was able to get it free'd up though:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/hWcXOGrKeDw

I'm pretty excited about this project, I've always wanted one of these Jeepsters. I'm hoping to get the engine running so I can drive it around a bit and then I'll evaluate my build plan over the winter. If I have to replace the engine, I'll be putting something in it that is more in tune with what the GI's were expecting back when Willys developed the Jeepster.

Love it! looks like a nice garage you've got, too.

This is super cool. Is that the same basic flathead four that was in the Jeeps of the era? In fact, how different is anything under the skin to jeeps? Not that a period correct 4x4 conversion would ever cross my mind or anything.
I would love to see all the little details on these. It would be impossible to take and post too many pictures.

mazdeuce wrote: Is that the same basic flathead four that was in the Jeeps of the era? In fact, how different is anything under the skin to jeeps?

Yep. The Jeepsters built in 1948 and most of 1949 received the same "engine that helped win the war" as all of the GPW/MB/M38's. The engine is usually referred to as the Go Devil. The engine itself has a pretty neat history when you look at why Willys (and then Ford) was awarded the big Army contract. The Go Devil made 60HP where as Ford's engine of the time (which was the engine in the Ford 9N tractors) only made 40HP. If it wasn't for the engine, we wouldn't have a Jeepster. Pretty neat, eh?

The engine in Willis turned out to be interesting. The serial numbers are stamped into the front of the engine block above the water pump. Typically, the serial number is a 6 digit number. With last nights excursion under the hood, I found this:

4LR154752 ... 4LR ... What does 4LR mean?

With some bourban led research I've found that this is not the stock engine. The 4LR designation represents a factory replacement engine. 4 (cylinders) L (L-Head) R (Replacement). The 4LR blocks started with a serial number of 100000. The highest recorded is somewhere near 195,000. All 4LR engines were painted red on the inside and out. When I read about them painting the engine red, I went to the garage to inspect Willis and bumped my head on the hood which knocked me back into my bench where I then spilled oil down the front of me. ... I still don't know if my engine is red.

Neat car. I have a picture somewhere of my cousin back in the day, she was high school homecoming queen and rode in the homecoming parade in a yellow Jeepster just like that one. Looks like cosmetically it's in great shape, hopefully you can get the engine sorted out and make it into a nice weekend toy.

Wow, these don't come around often.

At least as of 10 or so years ago, ARP made head studs for those if you called them and asked for them by dimensions and thread pitch.

I really want another Warlock

That's a cool jeepster, they are everywhere here in Jeepland!

Small Victory

The little Go Devil was seized. If what the old owner says is true about the car not having been touched in 20 years, It's been sitting without a head on it for the same amount of time. It begs the question, why. Why was the head off? Was it overheating? Did it blow a head gasket? What possibly could have been so bad that the owner said berkeley it and forgot about it for 20 years. This will haunt me until I finally have the "gotcha!" revelation. In the interim, I have been pouring a cocktail in the cylinders every night before bed.

I had a friend come over to check out my new shiny distraction from life. He's a good friend, and a bull dog. I was explaining to him that the engine was seized and that I had been giving it cocktail offerings every night and that I was pretty sure I was going to have to pull the engine to unstuck it. In true bull dog form, he grabbed a cheater bar and my crank socket in one hand and a 2x3 and 2lb sledge in the other and told me to quit cat footing around. (he sort of said cat footing....use your imagination). About 10 whacks later on the #1 and 4 cylinders with him hanging on the bar, movement! Sweet!

I hooked a battery jumper up and kicked the foot starter to have a listen. Have you ever been to an air show and listen to an old radial engine start? The sound of the starter turning the engine over has that whine to it before they start dumping the fuel in - that's what this sounded like. Victory.

Those ARE kind of neat, but a little Girlie, like the Miata of their day.

Always pegged them as a prosperous (but fair) rancher's daughter's ride circa 1952. She takes it into town to pick up some sewing notions and gets in trouble with some rowdy local yokels, her father's handsome ranch hand just happens to be in town for some seed, sees what's going on, and saves the day. She's got a crush on him but he sees her as just a little girl in spite of her being almost eighteen and having tits as big as honey dew melons.

That's kind of how I see those Jeepsters.

In reply to Two_Tools_In_a_Tent:

If I hadn't already named this Jeepster Willis, I would have to name it Honey Dew after hearing your depiction.

Let's talk titles.

Willis didn't come with one. I've never bought a vehicle without a title. I know that the general consensus is that you should run away but I'm one of those guys who touch the hot pan after you tell me not to touch the pan because the pan is hot.

The kid who I bought the car from (Jimmy) was pretty sure that when his father (Larry) purchased it, the owner (Bruce) signed the title over but that Larry never sent it in to the DMV. Bad Larry! I've done a lot of research on missing titles in PA, and this isn't going to be easy. But maybe not impossible. I've learned in life that the cheesy saying "Time and pressure makes diamonds" is typically true. We shall see. It also makes dust.

I started by going to the DMV. I'm lucky in that I pass PennDot on my way into work every morning. Say what you want about the DMV, but Harrisburg has their E36 M3 together. Rarely do I have to wait more than 5 minutes to be talking to the sassy ladies behind the counter. In PA, you have to start the process by requesting an encumbrance of the title. The encumbrance will give you the last owner of the vehicle and the last registered address. The sassy lady behind the counter told me that the title had only 1 record associated with it. I think Bruce bought Willis new in 1949.

The encumbrance will also show whether there are any liens on the vehicle. With the encumbrance and certification of no liens, I should be able to also take my bill of sale and the obituaries, showing that Bruce had no heirs, in front of a judge and ask that he write a letter that names me as the owner.

If Bruce was still alive, I would have to show the court I made an attempt to contact Bruce with a certified letter. Because Bruce is deceased, I need to ensure that none of his heirs have a claim to the car - which is why I'll bring the obituary. I also plan to show that the VIN is not listed with the NICB and NMVTIS, showing that it has not been stolen.

Wish me luck!

In reply to Willis:

Good luck! Bruce... Willis... Bruce Willis.... Can you get DIEHRD plates?

The saga continues...

I was paroozing Bruce's obituary and found mention of his sister. I googled his sisters name and found her Facebook account. Her facebook account led way to her city and state with which I was able to google up a phone number. I debated on whether to call it.

I called it.... and ... Bruce's sister answered. ...The internet is scary.

The first few minutes were very akward.

Willis: Hi, my name is Willis and I believe I now own a car that your brother used to own.

Sister: My brother is dead

Willis: I believe he died in 2011, correct?

Sister: Yes, what do you want

Willis: I was hoping to find the executor of his estate

Sister: It wasn't me, Bruce and I are only relatives. (She goes into details, that don't need shared but also provides the executor)

Willis: Thank you for the information. Before I go, I was hoping to hear of any stories you may know about the car?

Sister: I don't know what car your talking about

(I'm an idot for never mentioning what car I was talking about)

Willis: Oh, I'm talking about the old yell....

Sister: JEEPSTER?!!!

We talked for over a half hour where she told me tales of getting towed and of engine parts being painted and then baked in her mothers oven. Her father was the original owner of the car, bought new in 1949. She described it as her fathers pride and joy. When her father passed, her Mother wanted it to go to her brother, Bruce. She remembers wanting the car for her sons, but that they were too young at the time.

I'm hoping that the executor is as nice as Bruce's sister. If so, I will be able cut through a lot of tape. We are communicating through facebook a bit as I promised to share a few pictures. She's funny:

PS: In reply to Two_Tools_In_a_Tent: Apologetically, I didn't verify her fathers ocupation.

With the engine spinning freely, it's time to start thinking about starting it. I pulled the carburetor off and set it aside for later cleaning and started working on taking off the exhaust/intake manifold. You have to do that to adjust the valves that are in the side of the block. These old flat heads have a 2 piece intake / exhaust manifold with a heat riser in the middle. The heat riser is pretty interesting in how it works. When you separate the two halves, there is a flap in the middle that will, when cold, direct warm exhaust air up to the base of the carburetor to warm the intake air so that fuel atomizes the way it should. As the manifold warms up, so does a bimetallic spring which expands and causes the flap to close, directing the warm air out the exhaust. Here's a diagram:

You can see above the lolly pop looking counterweight thingy. Mine does none of the things mentioned above, it's frozen.

More importantly, one of the intake manifold ears broke.

I went to craigslist and found someone who thinks they can fix it. I would attempt it myself, but I have nothing to practice on.

Also - what do you do when your copper pipe feeding the PCV system fails? If you're the previous owner, you tape it back on.

Sorry for blurry^

Nice! I recently spotted this 1951 Jeepster on its way home after the Alaska Or Rust road trip. Vintage Jeeps drive the entire 1500 miles of the Alaska Highway.

www.deilers.com/AlaskaOrRust/2016/10/12/russ-lawton-his-1...

In reply to Dave:

I know some of the guys who went on that trip. Insanely jealous. I switched jobs about 7 months ago and just couldn't swing the time off to make it happen. I had big dreams of breaking down half way there.

I'm 12 miles west of Gettysburg and might be able to help you with that manifold. I've had good success welding cast iron with nickel rod. My # is 70ne7 two53 5 zero 77

Gross right? Meet cylinder #3. His 3 friends look awesome, but this little guy has me tinkering with other stuff while I ponder what to do. The engine has never been rebuilt that I can tell, so it’s a good candidate for some machining. However, if I’m going to spend money on an engine, I don’t know that I want to invest in a 60 HP engine. What to do…

While I ponder, I tinker. Thank you for the offer Don49, however my craigslist guy was able to weld up the exhaust manifold. He said it was the single hardest thing he has ever had to weld.. I post video’s to FB for a Jeepster group, here is a video of the me fiddling with it – you can see the heat riser in action at the end of the video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/rqBt_yBRK94?rel=0 Those not wanting to bore themselves with my rambles above: After finishing the exhaust manifold, I decided to take the front tires off to investigate why Willis was so hard to roll. I found the original tire iron …excuse me… lug wrench, that came with the car and decided to use it. Whenever I’m using old tools, I always wonder about the folks who used them before me. Old jeeps have left handed wheel stud threads on the driver’s side. I did not know that 2wd jeepsters were the same. You’d think the L stamped in the wheel studs would have jumped out at me after spending a few minutes trying to break them free. Durp. Anyway, with the wheel off I found that the wheel cylinders are going to need rebuilt/replaced. They were….gross. https://www.youtube.com/embed/HEixk95ufc8?rel=0

While the wheels were off I spent some time cleaning up the tires. I have no idea how old these are, but they aren’t weather checked/dry rotted. They actually look new after some cleaning:

Before After

This is my new Favorite Thread on GRM.

Also, I have those same shoes!

In reply to Woody :

Thanks Woody.  I'm weird - When I find something I like, I go all in.  I have 3 pairs of those shoes.  One to run in, one to wear around, and a pair for shop shoes when I'm not rocking my flippy floppies.  

Build, Bubba, Buy

I think the biggest reason I like this forum so much is that you crazies are a lot like I am. When faced with a broken part, our minds go to a DIY build/rebuild first. If we can’t DIY, then we bubbafy (it’s a word, trust me) it until it does work. When our bubbafied masterpiece’s fail, only then do we cave and buy a new part.

As I mentioned earlier, the Jeepster was hard to roll and I found that this was due to frozen wheel cylinders. Rebuild kits are 10 bucks per wheel and new cylinders are 26. Time to break out the break cleaner.

Both front wheel cylinders were………gross.

I degreased the wheel cylinders and tried to unstick the shaft. No movement. I continued cleaning the wheel cylinder with a few minutes in the blasting cabinet. (I love my HF blasting cabinet arrangement – best 250 I ever spent)

Still no movement.

I tried heat and a BFH.

Still no movement.

Begrudgingly, I went ahead and ordered new wheel cylinders last night.

I hate being defeated.  This is the face of a non defeated guy. 

...You may be thinking....  Were you really that excited that you went into the house and had your wife take a picture of you holding wheel cylinders?

Yes

...You may also be thinking...  Did your wife roll her eyes and tell you you're an idiot.

Yes

Engine Eviction

This weekend was spent extracting the engine from Willis.  You know those bolts that are in a tight space but still allow you to get a ratchet on them but when you back the bolt out you can't get your ratchet and bolt out of the tight space so you have to thread the bolt back in enough to get your ratchet out and then grab a wrench to finish backing the bolt out because your fingers aren't strong enough?  Willis had lots of these.

While unhooking the coil and distributor, I got a better look at something I'll have to address.  A lot of the ignition wiring looks this way.  By a lot of, I mean all of it.  

Because I didn't want to pull the grill, I went ahead and removed the water pump and fan.  The pump fins look  pretty bad.  It's almost as though kitty litter was dumped into the cooling system.  In fact, it could have been used kitty litter by the way it smelt.

I didn't get a lot of pictures of the actual extraction, but I did another video that has a time lapse in it.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/y3gSPt8bCxI

With the engine removed and on a stand, I started dissasembling the block.  I pulled the pan off it and oh my god.  The car has 78K miles on it, of which this engine only did some of.  Judging by the amount of...goo? that was in the bottom of this Pan, Bruce wasn't a big fan of oil changes.  Does oil break down over time and leave sludge?

Anyway, on to pulling pistons.  The #3 cylinder is the reason I'm tearing down the engine, so I started there.  The rod bolts were held on with a nut and then these odd smaller nuts.  You have to back the smaller ones off before you can get your socket on the actual nut.

The piston came out pretty easily and when I looked it over I found that it was packed full of.......stuff.  Rusty looking stuff.  Weird.

I borrowd a friends spring loaded cylinder measuring thingies and took some measurements of the cylinder. 

The spring loaded cylinder measuring thingies are easy to use but can't be that accurate because they rely on you holding them steady and level.  I'll question my measurements until the machine shop confirms but I found that the #3 cylinder was still standard bore and seems to be pretty straight.  That's a good sign, hopefully I can just have them bored .10 over.

I finished removing the remaining cylinders and started to remove the crank.  I always like removing the end caps because I get to see what the builder used to mark the position of them in the block.  I've seen X's and O's, but never a cancer ribbon.

I then removed the crank and found something interesting.  I'm still baffled by this...  The below picture was taken right after I removed the crank and only the crank. When I took this picture, I actually didn't notice that something was missing. 1st person to spot it and reply gets a prize!  

I flipped the engine back over and removed the springs, lifters and tappets.  I have this old school spring compressor tool.  It works awesome, but man do you have to be careful if you want to keep all 8 fingers.  

and there you have it, one engine dissasembled.  Now to find a good machinist in the Harrisburg Pa area...

Looks like the Journal bearings are (ahem) AWOL.

If memory serves, the 6v systems common in that era were all positive ground. The good news is, 6v batteries are still available. Should be able to find a shop that can rebuild the generator as well if need be.

Cool rig!