Baystate Jeepers

I took advantage of slow business at the garage where I work and brought my Willys in. My boss is real excited to help me restore the 3A. A little too excited . I took a day off only to find he tore into it when things got slow. I returned to find all the body to frame bolts cut, steering shaft unsuccessfully pulled from the box and other items cut in an attempt to free the tub from the frame.. I am going to have to watch him closely and slow him down. He has a beautiful restoration of a 72 Olds 442 to his credit, so I know what he is capable of helping me achieve, just a little worried by his methodology.

Not quite a winter project........this may drag well into spring.





I am staying with the 12 volt conversion, and upgrading the master cylinder but otherwise want to return it pretty close to stock.

The tub is in pretty rough shape and I am on the fence as to replacing the tub. The dash, firewall and all metal forward looks good, but the rest is well beyond my skills.

She was running when I pulled her in, quite a bit of white smoke on start-up which clears when warm.

I power washed the frame tonight and it looked pretty good. 60 years of mud/crud splashing back at me.

Nice project!! I would love to get some old iron one day....

What a great start, to a great resto. The floor panels are available and quite easy to replace. If the man did a nice 442 , those should be a piece of crumb cake. I have a nice matching set of N.T. D-30 and 44 that will fit in there nicely ! (complete) Ive heard the Willis Overland Co. makes the best replacement tub kits. The add says itll take you longer to uncrate it than install it ! FjR68

Stripped the Jeep down to the frame...sending it out for sandblasting/primer.

Way to do it!

Got my frame back, looks good. A few small repairs left that I missed in my excitement to get it blasted/primed: one body mount needs repair and a pair of bolts need extraction. Going with SEM Rust Shield for finish.


and one set of wheels done too...........

Looks great Steve. How did you settling your auto claim?

@Rob, 3400 cash and keep. Didn't have energy to fight any longer for better figures.

sorry to hear that Steve.

Still got a nice matching set of D-30/44 that will bolt right in . Just sayin . Looks great cleaned up dont it . Going to box the frame while its easy ? FjR68

Had a little time to play today...
Cleaned up a few parts and did some prep work on rear axle.

Pressing out studs to separate drum from hub


Cleaned up backing plate and transmission support.


and got a little help bending transmission skid plate back (was rubbing on front drive shaft)