A week in the life.

Progress on the second Jeep ‘Willy’ is progressing at a brisk pace. The body tub was soon off and I have been over to Jeeparts, in Shrewsbury, with a big - ish, shopping list. I dropped a careful off at the Matt Savage Overland Preparation Barn last week and, as I type, brakes are being rebuilt, wheel bearings replaced and repairs started to the floor panels. Meanwhile, back in the jungle, I took the original Ford Jeep, ‘Henry’ for a 320 mile round trip to Betws y Coed for a spot of fun on some old Droving Roads. It was 16 hour day, but worth every minute. The Jeep ran perfectly and managed to cruise at a respectable 50 -55 mph. There will be a couple of small issues to attend to before I can truly sign it off as ‘finished’, but they can wait a while.

Irresistible

It was September 2007 when I started this Blog, having bought a 1943 Ford Jeep in need of a full rebuild. That Jeep has now been on the road for 18 months and recently had it’s second MOT test. It therefore made perfect sense to buy another one! This time it’s a Willys Jeep. Also made in 1943. There are a few very small detail differences between the Ford and the Willys. Back then, Willys came up with the best design, but lacked the manufacturing facilities to supply the big military contract, so the building was shared with Ford. I bought this Jeep from the same guys I bought the last one from as they had ‘a few’ when I phoned them up. A deal was struck and it will be up at the Matt Savage Overland Preparation Barn within the next two weeks. First inspection indicates that it should need less work than the first one. It has an engine!

Measure twice, cut once.

The Matt Savage team have now started work and removed the old, rusty, floor section. I went back to Jeeparts and lashed out a fortune on a whole Land Rover full of bits. The biggest bit was a new floor panel. This should fit in perfectly once the chaps have hacked out the original 1943 spot welds and tidied up the edge of the floor.

They found a few little wasp nests around the vehicle. These are genuine Californian wasps and one or two were sort of flying about and about 3/4 of an inch long. Hope this sort spell of warm weather we're having doesn't wake them all up! ahhhhh

Flaming Jeep!

This in from the Matt Savage Overland Prearation Barn: On Saturday (1st Sept) young Ted (aged 10) and I thought we'd try to get the Jeep running. With battery, jump leads, HT leads and a load of wire to coil and distributor... we got a spark!! Then had to find number one lead on distributor, pretty easy. After that I tried squirting petrol down the carb and operating the starter motor, it kind of tried to do something. But the squirting petrol whilst holding lots of wires and operating the throttle is pretty tricky. So I filled the carb with petrol (the carb body leaks fuel inside and out a little), then tried cranking again. Still it was almost trying to start, but not quite. All this with wires and crocodile clips falling off and coming loose! Anyway, we eventually got one battery for the ignition and one for the starter motor, this worked well. So we filled the carburettor up with fuel, and whilst operating the starter and throttle I also squirted some brake cleaner (very flammable!) down the carb.... nearly there, the odd splutter and a few backfires coming through the carb. Then another go with the same set up, leaking carb full of fuel, wires, crocodile clips, loose throttle linage and squirting brake cleaner down carb.... nnnnnn (ok) nenenene (yes!) nin eee nin eee nin eee (yes, yes, go on!).......... WOOF! (err, no... ahhhhh)  a little back fire came through the carb a ignited the leaking petrol in/on the carb!! After 5 seconds of panicking I soon put it out by smothering the carb with a rag.
No damage done!