You will get there!
A little at a time works best. Sometimes, things sidetrack us. We had a incredible summer storm jack us up about 6 weeks ago. This would have registered as a Cat 1 Hurricane. It was beyond incredible in force.
I have been dealing with the damage and all sorts of things since. And then, it seems that every weekend, there is something else going on. I am not complaining, I still enjoyed some beach days and days off - but when you have a project to work on, sometimes it gets overcome by events.
I dropped by the languishing project CJ7 in the building and maybe some evenings this week.
If not, there is Willys stuff here to do including as much as I dread it, finishing the signals wiring and installing some LED interior and underhood lights. Too many memories of being broke down in the dark.
One up by the fan on the driver’s side fender for air and being away from the exhaust manifold. The other will go on the passenger side rear, plenty of room there.
Amazon has some great deals on those LED aux. lights.
A few months ago I learned of a dirt regular road that bypasses 26 for a few miles and the interchange to I77 where people wipe out. I want to run it. Be fun to custom mount a Go Pro for a few different angles.
I’ve made some progress on both the Willys and AMC fronts despite flooding, vehicle loss, work, lousy weather, medical stuff, and life in general.
After several rounds of buying and testing, I found spacers that would work and got the Weber 32/36 mounted and idling. Linkage and the return spring are in progress. Yanking that big wet bath air filter frees up so much room.
The only nit I have is that if it sits overnight, it will not start without a quick shot of fuel down the throat. After that, it will start and run normally all day. I’m looking at putting a check valve in near the body. Maybe it takes so long for the float bowl to fill up. I give the fuel pump up to 30 seconds sometimes. I can see fuel flowing through the clear filters and the pump is pushing.
Here it is in operation. I’ve cleaned up the engine compartment a lot since this was rolled. I was thrilled to have it running.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FMkyAphF7M
I’ve tested pulling vacuum lines that were original and found operation is normal with a couple gone. That means I can blank flange and toss the boat anchor mechanical pump.
This week is get back on electrical and give it a long overdue oil change.
At least every other day I’ve spun it over and let the F-134 run to operating temp on weekdays. It’s dark when I get home.
The next big critical jobs are the steering box, springs/suspension, and replace rusted brake lines. I will farm that to a shop since I don’t have a lift or an enclosed building.
The CJ7 has had the old fenders yanked as well as the grill. The right fender and hood are in fair shape, the left, forget it.
It has a stainless steel battery tray in place. I also wire wheeled and primed that area of the engine compartment.
This week I hope to put on at least the passenger fender and all the fender flares. The driver’s side will stay off for a while to make getting at some stuff easier.
I’ve got a master cylinder that I will see about swapping in. It will be next year before the big job can be done which is an engine swap. The old motor is locked. I intend to pick at the things I can do to it over the year. Almost all of it is small.
I’ve got a bin set aside to put in misc parts for later when I find what I need on sale. Amazon is wonderful.
At snail’s pace, I’ve gotten more done to both.
The Willys runs again at least fairly well. I’m still working on tweaking the Weber.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FMkyAphF7M
The engine compartment has been cleaned up considerably since that was shot up. There is a check valve and Holley regulator roughed in now.
I have a new dash for the Willys in. The original is dented, rusted, and really beat up. Friday I plan to order the last bits of electrical from Amazon and have a workday on a Saturday replace the dash and finalize electrical. The reproduction switches have had nothing but problems so I am going to do things differently.
The languishing CJ7 has new fenders since Amazon had great Christmas sale. New front flares are on. The rears will be on at some point. I found some stainless steel grill braces and an assortment of fender braces. The next big piece will probably be a hood.
I had a glimmer of hope that engine wasn’t locked but to no avail it seems. With a lot of stuff stripped away, I put a socket on the harmonic balancer, but could only turn 3/4 a turn then hit some hard resistance. Oh well.
In the meantime, I will pick up parts and do small jobs to it in the meantime.
The Willys gets priority since it can run. My goal is to have it neighborhood worthy by June. Highway might be a little longer. When the Willys is reliable enough it will have a new area to live in the back yard and I will bring the CJ7 in from the other building.
I may have some help too when I do that. The lady across the street has a retired guy-pal or something that is a master of a few trades apparently and has helped me a lot on the CB750K. I hope to have the carbs rebuilt by mid- March and in the operational column.
Some of what I need to do that CJ7 is a two man. He works cheap, some six packs of Dr. Pepper. I offer to pay him but he doesn’t want anything. I want to get it as ready as I can so when it goes for a reman engine avoid as much grief as possible.