TIPS ON RESTORING 53 JEEP WILLY

[grace]

My friend has just bought a 1953 jeep willy she wants to restore. Where do we start. We needs tips and techniques. We need a mechanic first i believe so anyone that might know of someone in the lower sussex county delaware who might be interested please have them contact us. Thank you jeep lovers

[joe]

Grace, start out at: http://www.willystech.com/ and get on their email list. The Willys era rigs are most welcome here but not very common to most FSJ members. I'm sure the WillysTech folks will do you way more good than we will in the long run. Good luck and have fun, they're cool trucks.

[porkchop]

I am in the process of restoring a 69 M715. The best advice I can give you is to collect all the parts that you may need first. Then after you have everything that you think you need check again .

Next I tore it all down, tag everything! After that decide on what you want to do to the frame, sand blast, dipped, wire brushed. What type of coating, POR15, zerorust powdercoated. That all depends on budget.

From there it is just a mater of cleaning and rebuilding everything and replacing all seals and gaskets. Do you plan on doing all the work yourself? If so then you need to plan it out so one thing isn't done before something else had to be done. I have done all the work myself up to this point. I did the frame first and then the axles tranny engine and t-case. Bolted all that together and now I am working on the body.

If you have someone else do some of the work for you then it will be done quicker because you can be doing more than one thing at a time. A restoration all depends on money and time. Niether of which I have , but I am making it work for me. I am hoping to be done before March. By done I mean driving it.

Here is a site that will also give you some good tips. Oh and by the way WELCOME!!!!

http://www.discoveryeurope2.com/car/html/tech_tips.htm

[Grantshire]

I have both projects going, 62 Willys station Wagon and 79 Cherokee Chief. For the Willys sign up on the Yahoo Willys Tech forum/group. Great information and expertise. If you plan to modify the vehicle lie and tell them it is already modified. There are a bunch of purest in that group that will unload on you if they think your modifying a stock vehicle (trust me on this one!).

[John V]

Just take your time and do it right the first time. It's always cheaper in the long run. If you need to choose between waiting for funds for part of the project to do it right or doing something to get by with for now, wait. On these 50+ year old rigs especially you might end up worse off in the long run if you have to go back and fix things.

Are you doing a stock restore or modifying it?

EDIT --- p.s. I'm not one of those militant purists!

[ December 11, 2003, 07:15 PM: Message edited by: John V ]

[JeepBountyHunter]

well first off move closer to me in Ohio
I'll help yah out then!
Sounds like a kewl truck, did she get pic's?

[Big Blue J-10]

PICS,PICS,PICS!!!!

Adam

[Grantshire]

Grace, email me and I will send you my list of parts sources, several are up your way. WillyTech is great and be sure to checkout their parts board. I know several people around here that have restored these vehicles and have parts vehicles/hoards. There are also several good sources out west (the stuff from out west is better because its not rusted out like eastern stuff). Some are pricy and some are not.

Speaking of pictures, is there a thread that explains how to post pictures here and put up a Avatar? I know I am showing my ignorance but I do not know how to do it. I keep having to send pictures to one of you and have you post them.