1951 Willys wagon - Dads toy It Runs and Drives now !!!

[jt512]

jt512 submitted a new Build:

1951 Willys wagon - Dads toy It Runs and Drives now !!!

So......a few of you guys have liked the pics I've posted and asked about a build thread

Quick backstory

My Dad has owned this rig for some time now, 10-12 years maybe, and has never driven it, in it's somewhat current form it is actually 2 different wagons. A good friend of his, Jim, left him a 1962 when he passed away, it was completely original with only 8500 miles on the ticker. Unfortunately it had spent it's life pushing snow and then 25+years sitting in a field next to a shed. The rustbelt had done it's worst to it and most of the body from the floor to roof was Swiss cheese, despite it's condition Dad was excited to have it and immediately had his heart set on one day cruising it out on the beach to do some fishing .
Fast forward a few years, we came across a guy selling a 2wd 53 wagon, it was a non running project and he was moving out of state so it "had to go" . We went and looked at it, the body was much more solid then his 62, so after some haggeling and even waiting until a week before the seller had to move we picked it and an old Honda ATC up from the guy for $150 . Dad sold the 2wd complete chassis and drivetrain to someone who came all the way from SC to get it, and later decided that "original" was no longer something that would apply so the straight 6 and the rest of the power train were shipped also.
Some time went by, dad would work on it here and there, my brother and I would help when we could but we had both moved out, gotten married, started families etc. Dad talked me into getting back into construction /demolition and coming to work for him about 7 years ago, once things got settled (we moved our office and shop) and everything was running smoothly we decided to bring the Willys to work and when I wasn't out at a site or busy with maintenance I would work on it.

So that is the story in a nutshell, I will add in more details as we go

Dad is planning on retiring in the next year so this has become a "present" for him.



I'm going to try to find some early pictures of it tomorrow.

View attachment 230866

Found some old pics

this was the 53 when dad bought it

Read more about this build here...

 

[jt512]

Reserved for some more "beginning " pics

Found some

And one of the 62

 

[jt512]

This is the 53 body, the front floors were pretty bad and the trans tunnel and firewall were not going to work with the new drivetrain, sooo...........

 

[jt512]

 

[jt512]

I had never attempted something to this extent before, so it has truely been a learning experience , I must admit, I dont think that with out seeing what some of you guys have built / accomplished , I would have attempted something of this magnitude, so.....Thanks

 

[jt512]

Found these pliers inside the lower panel

 

[jt512]

A few more

 

[jt512]

 

[jt512]

A few current shots

 

[jt512]

The "stats"

1962 Willys 4wd frame, 1953 Willys 2wd body

reman 350 engine approx 8k on rebuild, rebuilt 700 trans, pass side drop np241, TBI injection, speedway block bugger shorties, custom mounts

1989 wagoneer Dana 44 front, 1993 Isuzu rodeo Dana 44 rear w/ disc's 4.10's, solid diff covers, front and rear completely rebuilt-completely

HD 6 leaf YJ front springs, stock XJ rear springs, spring over front and rear, cross over steering w/ GM 1 ton tre's

Power brake and pedals from 94ish XJ, wagooner steering box, 2 XJ steering shafts, summit racing tilt column, grant wood steering wheel, leather power Audi seats, wagoneer front sway bar, old school Centerline HT cast 15x10 wheels, 33x12.50 BFG AT's, AL's liner underside, frame stretched ~6" in front, boxed front half of frame, custom.......well.......everything


More pics and progress to come

 

[max 02]

Happy Happy Happy!
So glad to see this... my dad had a 62 When I was a kid, way back in the early 70's He put a 283 Chevy in it. I have wanted to build one since...Looking very forward to watching this!!

 

[jt512]

Happy Happy Happy!
So glad to see this... my dad had a 62 When I was a kid, way back in the early 70's He put a 283 Chevy in it. I have wanted to build one since...Looking very forward to watching this!!

I can't wait to see the look on Dads face when he finally gets to drive it

Hopefully I'll be pulling the body off the frame for the last time very soon, we will finish the chassis painting, a few things need to be finish welded, and I need to touch up the liner under the body where I missed a few places.
This project was a one step forward, three steps back for a while, but finally is moving forward. This is suspension and axle combo #3 now , but finally everyone is happy and it should ride and drive pretty darn good

 

[82355]

Are you farming out the paint job, or are you going to do that yourself as well?

Martin

 

[jt512]

Are you farming out the paint job, or are you going to do that yourself as well?

Martin

As much as I would like to "try" it , I think it's getting farmed out. My brothers buddy used to be a painter and he wants to build a new garage and needs some land cleared/ graded so we are going to do some horse trading, paint work for skid loader work

 

[Greg Ducato]

Looks great! it gives me inspiration to work on my 53 Wagon!

 

[stockk5]

looks great!

 

[jt512]

Found another body work pic, when I got the body to the shop dad had began working on the tail pan area he had cut most of it out and had one or two replacement panels but no idea how they were supposed to fit. For me it was like a jig saw puzzle that was missing pieces and didnt have a picture on the box but it came together in the end.

A few more semi- current shots I had, these were before we finished the axle rebuilds last week

You can also see in this pic, I cut the center of the dash out and replaced it with the single large gauge setup from the 62 body.

 

[76zimmer]

I had never attempted something to this extent before, so it has truely been a learning experience , I must admit, I dont think that with out seeing what some of you guys have built / accomplished , I would have attempted something of this magnitude, so.....Thanks

I'm with ya on that one Josh....I have gathered so much information and courage to try things from being here, it still amazes me at times!

I really like this shot for some reason....great work man!

 

[jt512]

I'm with ya on that one Josh....I have gathered so much information and courage to try things from being here, it still amazes me at times!

It amazes me as well, it's funny that now the thought of cutting a truck in half to shorten (my K30) it, is no big deal, or adding 6" of frame to the front of a Willys is a easy project

I really like this shot for some reason....great work man!

Thanks , I'll have to duplicate that shot with the "pretty axles" now








No new pics today, but, I did make mounts for a front sway bar that worked out really nice and use the factory bar from my brothers Wagoneer. Also should have driveshafts by the end of the week and maybe some brake lines.

 

[Bjtfsj]

That thing looks like a real peice of crap. What a huge pain in the ass. Your dad must be a huge dick