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By Jim Wilk, Licensed Auto Body
Technician
Start:
This Willys Jeep was purchased new
in 1957 for use on a family-owned deer hunting camp in
Northern Michigan. This vehicle has been in the same family
ever since, and has only left the property one other time...
for the funeral of the father that originally bought this
Jeep. The family felt it was important to restore this
4-wheel-drive heirloom.
Some Before
Pictures:
Begin Tear Down:
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I removed the
headlights and running lights. |
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| I basically
stripped the front end of all accessories. |
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I unbolted
the fenders from the cowl and lifted them off. |
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| This section
isn't too heavy... I could lift it myself. |
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Compare this
old red Willy's Jeep to the new yellow Jeep in
the background... |
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...that's a
2007 Jeep Wrangler, which has a longer
wheelbase, wider track (distance between wheels
on the same axle), and overall is a larger
vehicle. The modern Jeep is suitable for
driving on the highway. The old Willy's Jeeps
were not meant for highway use. |
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| I removed the
steering column and steering gear. |
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You can see
the rust on the floor. This spot is underneath
the gas tank... which is underneath
the driver's seat. Yikes! |
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| There was a
lot of rust on the floor on the passenger side.
That red box-looking thing is a storage
compartment that is accessed from beneath the
passenger seat. |
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After I
unbolted all the body mounts, I used an engine
hoist to pick up the "bucket" (the old WWII term
for the Jeep body). |
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| I just slid
the bucket towards the rear. |
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Body being
removed from chassis of Willy's Jeep. |
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| This is the
chassis with the body removed. |
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The old
bucket dangling from the engine crane. |
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| About 8 years
ago the owners had a brake job done and the
mechanic pinched off the rear brake hose with a
hose pinch-off tool... and left it. The owners
had been wondering for years why the
brakes didn't seem to work very well. No back
brakes! That explains something. |
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A view of the
bottom of the bucket. |
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| The
structural supports were badly rusted. |
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A New Bucket:
The owner bought a new steel bucket
for $2500, including shipping. But... there was a lot of
preparation work that needed to be done.
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I had to
transfer the radiator support rod mounting
brackets (red arrows). I cut these off the old
bucket and welded them on the new bucket. |
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| I drilled
holes for the wiring, parking brake cables,
speedometer, and the fuel line that came from
the gas tank underneath the driver's seat. I
measured the hole locations on the old bucket
and used these dimensions to drill the holes in
the new bucket. |
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We set the
new body on the chassis to drill the holes for
mounting onto the frame. |
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| I checked to
make sure the clutch and brake pedal holes were
lined up properly. |
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| I bolted the
front end back in place to make sure everything
lined up. |
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I painted the
hood and cowl under the areas where the hood
hinges will go. Why? by painting these spots,
the metal will be sealed and prevent rust. |
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| Then I
mounted the hinges permanently. Then I removed
the entire front end and sent it out to be
bead-blasted inside and out. |
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| Once the
bucket and front were aligned, we removed them
from the chassis. |
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I prepped the
chassis for painting by sanding and wire
brushing. |
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| I painted the
front and back bumpers, and all 4 brake drums,
with black frame paint. |
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The new
bucket was moved into the spray booth where Bob
painted the underside and firewall. |
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| The outside
surfaces will be painted after everything is
assembled. |
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I
re-installed the bucket... permanently. |
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| I ran the
electrical cables through the holes in the
firewall. |
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| I ran the
wires from the engine compartment to the
dashboard area. |
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I installed
the steering column and steering gear. The
column and gearbox were together in one unit. |
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| I installed
the clutch pedal through the floor of the
bucket. |
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The metal on
the sides of this bucket were not very smooth...
actually the sides were kinda wavy, especially
around the spot welds. So we sanded off the
black seal-coat to expose the metal. We applied
a thin layer of body filler to the entire side,
and then we sanded it smooth. |
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Old Cars and Lug Nuts:
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Today all cars have lug nuts with
normal right-hand threads. But it wasn't always that way.
Into the 1950's there were many cars built where the wheel
studs on the left side of the vehicle had left-hand
threads. This seems crazy, but it was a throw-back to an
earlier time when wheels were held on with one nut on
the center of the axle, and in that case the left-hand
thread was really needed.
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| The wheel
studs on the left-hand side of the vehicle had
left-hand threads. |
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The wheel studs on the
right-hand side of the vehicle had right-hand
threads. |
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Return Of The Front Clip:
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When we got
the front "clip" back from the bead-blaster, we
set it on the Jeep frame while it waited to be
painted in the spray booth. |
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| We set the
front clip on the frame to keep it off the
ground. This project was done in the winter, in
Northern Michigan, and there was lots of snow
getting tracked into the shop, so we had to keep
this bare metal off the floor to keep it dry.
Note how the steel has a dull, satin appearance
after being bead-blasted. |
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We painted the front clip and the hood a few
days before we painted the body. After
these parts were primed and painted, we
let them hang in the spay booth overnight. |
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The hood was painted underneath first and
left to dry for two days. Then it was taped and
covered underneath to prevent overspray.
Then the top side of the hood was refinished
properly. |
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Special Treatment For The
Tailgate:
| The new
tailgate letters were painted white, dried
and taped. |
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This is where
the talent of a good car painter like Bob
really proves worthwhile. The tailgate
will be painted red, and after the masking
tape is removed, the letters will be white. |
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| Then the
vehicle was placed in the paint spray booth. |
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Applying
the masking tape was a long tedious process. |
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| The front
engine compartment was completely covered
with a special masking paper that is
available at auto body supply stores. This
paper acts like a magnet for paint
overspray, and prevents it from turning into
airborne dust. |
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Spray Painting The Willy's Jeep:
After Bob mixed the Matrix paint in
the desired color, he began spraying. It took Bob about
fifteen minutes to apply each coat of paint. He applied 3
coats, allowing the paint to dry for 15 minutes between
coats.
After the last coat of paint was
applied, Bob waited about an hour and applied two coats
of Matrix clearcoat. He allowed 15 minutes
of drying time between coats.
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The
vehicle was left to dry overnight in the
paint booth. |
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Read more
about spray painting...
Re-Assembling The Willy's Jeep:
I found this part of the restoration
to be the most time consuming, because I had to be careful
to avoid scratching the freshly-painted finish.
| The front
fender assembly (or front clip) was placed on the
vehicle. |
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The right
fender was attached by starting all four bolts
without fully tightening them. |
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| The body and fender was aligned properly,
and the bolts were tightened. |
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The dust
cover for the shifting linkage was
mounted and also the clutch, brake and
gas pedal. |
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| The
headlights, turn signals and fuse panel was
attached. |
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Then it
was time to clean up my work area. To
prevent scratches, I used
polyurethane foam as a protective
cover in the bed of the Jeep. |
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| The foot
steps plates and hood were permanently
attached. |
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No, Bob
and I were not talking about football while
posing for this photo. But the tailgate and lights have been
attached.
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At this point the Willy's Jeep
was ready to be towed to
Marathon Automotive
in Traverse City Michigan, where the speedometer
and wiring will be completed by their experienced mechanics.
More Info:
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Tools Used:
- Everything a
well-equipped body shop should have.
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Materials Used:
- New Willy's Jeep
"Bucket" (J.C. Whitney)
- New Rubber Body
Mounts
- Sandpaper and
Abrasives
- Masking Tape and Paper
- Matrix Paint, Primer
and Clearcoat.
- New Tail Light
Assemblies
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Related Articles:
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Web Links:
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