Willys Jeep Becomes an Unintended Project
Engine purchase creates snowball effect and leads to a complete CJ Willys Jeep.
We’ve all been the victim of an impulse buy. If you’re into project cars, chances are you have had an impulse buy spiral into a long-term project you’ve questioned your sanity over. Though, once you get through all the rough patches, usually, what you’re left with is something pretty spectacular.
This is precisely the case for YouTuber Low-Buck Garage. The owner of the channel, James, happened upon this F-head Willys engine. That is the CJ3-B engine that was the first to feature an overhead-valve design. He bought the engine on the cheap, not intending to get to it any time soon. However, plans changed a bit when he was online window shopping and wound up purchasing a chassis to go with the engine.
“This is what I bought. This is a 1960 CJ3-B. This one is in fairly decent shape. The body is dented, but not badly rusted,” said James.
This is genuinely what we’d call destiny. He buys an engine, and the very next day finds a chassis that would have come with that engine, but didn’t have one! It would take a crazy person not to see that this is a must buy situation!
“So this thing was cheap because it had no motor, which I had bought the day before totally not knowing I was going to end up with this. That’s how it works out. What is it, serendipity they call it? Maybe this will be ‘Dippy the Jeep,'” says James
Step one finds James welding up a crack in the Jeep’s subframe while he has easy access to it. It’s always refreshing to see these kinds of projects done in pure DIY form.
After reaming out the pilot bushing to ensure safe clearance of the input shaft and test fitting the clutch disk over the splines, James wastes no time lowering the F-head engine into the engine bay and mating it to the transmission. Once seated, he fits the engine with a Toyota Land Cruiser starter and gives it a crank to find it easily turns over and has great spark. He adds a bit of fuel to the carb, and the old Willys fires right up.
“I needed a starter for this CJ project. The problem is, F-head starters are getting expensive. If you rebuild it, just the gear drive alone, you’re looking at 80 dollars. This is a starter from a 1980 Toyota Land Cruiser. Really, all we have to do is enlarge the bolt holes and it bolts right in,” says James
In one of the coolest parts of the video, James is missing a piece, so he makes his own. The bell crank is a bracket that pivots to translate the throttle pedal position to the butterfly valve on the carburetor. Without it, you have no control over the throttle! In a pinch, James fabricates his own with some scrap metal he has around. Thus, the result is a correctly functioning replacement.
After this custom part’s completion, he runs fuel lines and plums a fresh radiator. Finally, this Willys is ready to go on a delightful offroad adventure. He states that it’s not entirely roadworthy, as the tires suffer from dry rot. Understandable, since this thing hasn’t had a current registration since 1995!
This video is super satisfying to watch as you get to witness a project go from a rolling shell to a running and driving vehicle from start to finish. It is truly inspiring! We hope to see lots more from James on Low-Buck Garage because these types of quick projects are right up our alley! Be sure to subscribe to his channel to keep up to date with what he’s working on!
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