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RI Willys

Strouty

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Joined
Mar 21, 2010
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38,206
Location
Southern Maine
Kirkski, you must be excited about getting close to having the engine running. Have you done anything else to the Jeep itself?
 
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Kirkski

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Joined
Feb 18, 2012
Messages
242
Location
Rhode Island
Strouty Other progress is slow, I work a lot and leaves little time for everything else. Wife, Kids, Grandkids all need attention too.

Work should be slowing down pretty soon, more jeep time for sure
 

RustnGrease

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Joined
Jun 26, 2014
Messages
397
Location
Schuylkill County, PA
Kirkski:I dont know how the heck i haven't seen this thread yet. I'm working on a '48 CJ2A myself. Walcks sells a dual master cylinder kit for these. I would've bought one if they had them when i was at that stage on mine. I'm almost at the running and driving chassis stage, then it's onto the body work. If you need any parts feel free to pm me, I've stocked up on them over the past few years.
 
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Kirkski

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Joined
Feb 18, 2012
Messages
242
Location
Rhode Island
RustnGrease Good luck with your 2A, I just received an email from Willys Distributor the other day that my unit is ready. Excited to get that back and installed then the engine can be run o. The stand, first fire up in 25 years

Also the transmission is done as well, getting closer to that egg crate drive!
 

Strouty

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Joined
Mar 21, 2010
Messages
38,206
Location
Southern Maine
Liberty Tool is an awesome place. I don't go as often as I should, but I tend to spend way too much time and money on things I don't really need.
 

erty67

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Sep 30, 2012
Messages
1,151
Another Rhode Islander here. Cool project. I always thought those old jeeps were cool.

Sent from my HTCONE using Tapatalk
 

RustnGrease

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Joined
Jun 26, 2014
Messages
397
Location
Schuylkill County, PA
Kirkski:Nice, my engine was rebuilt quite a few years ago, but didnt have many hours on it. Had a slight knock, turned out the bolt that holds the piston pin came loose so i fixed that, put in new rod bearings and sealed it back up. I also rebuilt the transmission myself, had the usual dropping out of 2nd gear when i left off the throttle. Sadly i've been busy with other projects and haven't been working on mine in awhile. I plan on changing that soon and getting it done.
 

Private Lugnutz

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Joined
Mar 30, 2012
Messages
30,454
Location
The Authentic Jersey Shore
Kirkski,

I have a 1945 Willys MB, but one of my Willys factory research colleagues is Bob Westerman, who wrote the book, quite literally, on the CJ-3A. You're making great progress, but I highly recommend his book and this site as an invaluable resource: http://www.cj3apage.com/. Another good site is G503.com. Even though it's aimed at the wartime jeep, they have a CJ board, and a lot of the mechanical issues cross over. Good luck.
 

brownbagg

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Joined
Mar 20, 2006
Messages
5,208
i got a 46 cj2a, kept the body, threw everything else away. it sitting on a 69 commando frame with 225 v6 and dana 20 transfer case, 81 cj dana 30 front with disc and amc 20 rear one piece axles , 33x12.50 general grabbers.
 
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Kirkski

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Feb 18, 2012
Messages
242
Location
Rhode Island
Well, got the distributor back from Willys Distributor and brought to the machine shop. They say they will have the engine running next week on the stand, really looking forward to that!

Got the transmission back and installed…
 

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Kirkski

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Feb 18, 2012
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242
Location
Rhode Island
Yesterday, got up early and replaced the struts on my daughters Ford Focus. Pretty surprised with this car, 188000 miles and still pretty strong.
 

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Kirkski

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Feb 18, 2012
Messages
242
Location
Rhode Island
Private LugnutzThanks for the tip, I do have Bob's book and I am a member at the CJ3A page as well. I usually do lurk on some of the other Jeep Forums as well.

bulletpruf Thanks I'm loving it
 
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Kirkski

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Feb 18, 2012
Messages
242
Location
Rhode Island
930dreamer Thanks for that, I had my starter and generator rebuilt locally, fingers crossed I should be good for now!
 
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Kirkski

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Feb 18, 2012
Messages
242
Location
Rhode Island
Another step closer should be running later this afternoon or tomorrow!
 

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Kirkski

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Feb 18, 2012
Messages
242
Location
Rhode Island
Picked up my engine yesterday morning with full intentions of getting it installed. As I was putting on the bell housing to the transmission I noticed that the Fulcrum was missing for the clutch fork. A quick call to the trains shop... Cannot be found

A local parts guy has a few of them, called him and he was in New Hampshire... No luck

Called Pennsylvania Jeep Place probably be here on Monday... Oh the pain a $2.05 part can ruin your day

Engine waiting till next week :eyecrazy:
 

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Garage Junky

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Joined
Jul 19, 2013
Messages
673
Location
MI
Those L134 motors sure are cool. I love seeing an old Willys brought back to life... Keep the pictures coming as you make progress, please.
 
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Kirkski

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Feb 18, 2012
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242
Location
Rhode Island
Today was the engine install day! Went in pretty smooth!
 

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Kirkski

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Feb 18, 2012
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242
Location
Rhode Island
No too much to report, I filled the ****** and Transfer case with oil today, installed the new carb parts and I broke down the grill for paint!
 

IndyGarage

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Joined
Apr 29, 2010
Messages
9,669
Location
Indy
Sorry I missed this earlier.

I bought a 1949 CJ 3A as my first car when I was about to turn 16. Drove the wheels off of it for a couple years. I think the 3A was the best looking of the originals - it had the single piece windshield and many of them had a very heavy duty rear hitch for farm duty. They even made a 3-point hitch setup for them.

Mine was a bit of a rust bucket, but I sold it for $500 to a guy. A couple weeks later he calls back claiming I sold him a vehicle with a cracked block! Turns out the block had a fist size hole in the side, and somebody before me had put a fiberglass patch over top of it, and smeared grease on it. It held for the whole time I owned it but started leaking in the guy I sold it to.

I had to scrape the money back together and buy it back. We found a new old stock OHV engine and put it in there - had to put a hood scoop on for the carb.

The old CJ would pull itself through and over any obstacle - but it was too light to pull anything else out of even a slight snowbank.

I loved it. It rode terrible, handled terrible, and the brakes were bad, but it was tough as nails, and in low gear it whined just like they did in the WWII movies.

One thing it needed was some kind of roll bar. I had that thing nearly tip over on me a couple of times - which would have been a disaster.
 
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Kirkski

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Joined
Feb 18, 2012
Messages
242
Location
Rhode Island
IndyGarage They are a lot of fun for sure, I cannot wait to get this thing running. If you check out YouTube the guys name is TomMartyn, if you type that and CJ, you see this 2A he pulled from the weeds and got running.

He and his friends pretty much abuse the thing but it really shows what they can take
 
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Kirkski

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Joined
Feb 18, 2012
Messages
242
Location
Rhode Island
Grill is painted and installed, I am really happy with my color choice, after months of agonizing...

In different lighting the effects are really neat, you can see blue or green. I was thrilled that my body work came out well, its been 34 years since I have done any of that, don't have the hands I should but I can't see any issues.

Bolted on the radiator an shroud, installed new welting. Getting close...
 

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RickP

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Joined
Jan 15, 2013
Messages
1,547
Location
Annapolis, MD
Nice! I love seeing old Willys restored -- my uncle had one from the 1950s. I learned to drive a stick on that Jeep at age 13. Good luck with the bodywork -- you're in great shape now that you've got it running.
 

ScottReb

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Joined
Jan 21, 2011
Messages
61
Looks great. Are you in Warwick area? The road shot looked familiar. Grew up in in East Providence.
 

straightcut

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Joined
Jan 24, 2013
Messages
340
Location
Phoenix, Arizona
Thanks for posting this thread on your flat fender restoration! It's been a great read:thumbup:

It's coming along beautifully. I really like that dark grey you selected with the red wheels!

Nice work!
 

FunkyfullWidth

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Joined
Oct 3, 2011
Messages
1,238
Location
Three Rivers, ma
I love it! Great work. I got a 46 vec 2a that is very complete minus the column shift parts. I've had it about 5 years now. Just waiting on the time and money to dig into it. I bought it from a place up here that had a good few of them. A little while after I bought it the tornado ripped through and destroyed everything the guy had. I saved the little jeeps life!
 
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