Well, I had some pretty high hopes for Ike this weekend. While I didn’t accomplish nearly as much as I was hoping to get done, I did fill the weekend pretty successfully. My weekend offroading adventure ended up getting cut out completely. Saturday went from being a offroading day with some sand blasting, to being a day of relaxation with some sand blasting thrown in. Due to the high heat this weekend, inside with the AC on was really the only tolerable place to be. Sunday I went down to the Pomona Antique Auto Swap Meet, which was a total…
2 CommentsCategory: Restoration
Wow, has it really been more than a month since my last post? Part of the problem with having a Jeep pending restoration is that finding tasks that don’t keep it out of commission completely is rather difficult. After all the work I have done to this point, Ike is roadworthy and isn’t in dire need of much of anything right now. That lack of need came at just the right time. One of the things that has kept me from enjoying Ike is the start of a new job. This new job has a very good point and a…
2 CommentsWhile I await the next thing to break on Ike (*knocks on wood*) I’ve decided to jump ahead a little bit and look at some of the finishing touches. I’ve decided on many aspects of my restoration, such as paint colors, voltages, and other decision points. One piece of this restoration that no decision was necessary was the license plate. This sent me on an early quest to find out what I would need to make this happen. My father is currently in the final stages of his restoration of a 1955 Chevrolet pickup truck. Since he was also starting…
1 CommentAfter what seems like an eternity, Ike is finally back up and running again. To recap, a few weeks ago, Ike had a little cooling problem. After getting the 60 year old radiator rodded out, purchasing a used thermostat housing, radiator hoses, new thermostat, retaining ring, bolts, hose clamps, and thermostat gasket, as well as blasting, sanding, priming, and painting the radiator shroud, Ike is back together. Everything was put back together with brand new bolts, nuts, and washers as well. Here is a look at the fan shroud before and after blasting, priming, and painting: The radiator before and…
1 CommentAfter a few weeks of purchasing parts, waiting for them to arrive, and doing lots of sand blasting, sanding, priming and painting, I’m only a few steps away from having Ike back together and running. After getting back the radiator, I ordered a new thermostat housing. After getting the new part, prepping, and painting it, I am very glad that I did. The differences are astounding. The fan shroud isn’t quite done yet, it needs a second coat of pain on the front and a first and second coat of paint on the back before it will be ready, but…
Comments closedToday I went and picked up my radiator. Charlie at Broadway Radiator did a phenomenal job, and the radiator looks nearly new. Charlie also told me that he was somewhat surprised at how well the old radiator did. Not only did it clean up nicely, but it fully cooperated with the disassembly and reassembly, something that Charlie was unsure would happen. He also made sure not to paint over the tank tag on the back in case I wanted to restore it, he replaced the drain plug, and he extended the overflow tube all the way down the side like it should be. All…
Comments closedI got a call from the guy I found to repair/clean my radiator. But first, some missing parts of the story. I took the radiator in last week to Broadway Radiator in Hesperia. After calling around to various radiator places, one name kept coming up as soon as I said “I have a radiator from a 1950 Willys that I need looked at” and that name was Charlie at Broadway. Charlie said he hadn’t seen a radiator like that in many years. Apparently, I have what is known as a v-cell radiator. Essentially, there are parallel channels that run vertically…
1 CommentAfter all the cooling shenanigans this past week, time came to remove the radiator from Ike to be rebuilt. After pulling the hoses, the “liquid” that came out was the consistency of chocolate milk and had a nice bright orange rust color. After a little while of finagling, the fan shroud was discontented from the radiator and the radiator came out along with the shroud. Running water through the radiator revealed my problem this past week. Water flowed much faster out of the hole the water was going into than out the opposite side. Somewhere in that mass of metal…
1 Comment“Thar she blows!” Today was a “must drive the Jeep” day. Due to some minor issues on my primary car, I had my dad take it into the dealer for some warranty repairs. So, with the daily driver out of commission, I had a perfect excuse (as if I needed one) to drive Ike to work today. With the slightly warmer weather and longer daylight hours, today was the first drive to work where I didn’t need lights and gloves to get to work in one place. After work was done for the day, I decided to run to my…
Comments closedOne of the many reasons I want to rebuild Ike to its former glory is to preserve a truly unique vehicle. Back in the day, an automobile wasn’t just a way to get to work, it was a way of life. Cars defined our society, changing the way we ate, lived, and worked. Every so often I see a vehicle from the golden era of automobiles and think that is exactly the reason that I am rebuilding an “old Jeep.” A great resource for finding old Willys vehicles is eWillys. With nightly posts of nearly all the newly listed Willys…
Comments closed