Here’s What It Took To Get My 1954 Jeep Running After It Sat For Years

Some folks have been saying that I’ve gone soft since moving to California, and on some level, that’s probably true (I used to daily-drive a rusty 1965 Plymouth Valiant, now I DD a modern electric car). But I just did some high-quality wrenching on my 1954 Willys’ F-head ‘Hurricane’ motor and now it purrs. So I may have gone soft, but I can fire up a motor with the best of them. Of course, that doesn’t mean my Jeep is roadworthy, and that’s a problem because I need to get this thing fixed right now. Here’s a look at what I did and what’s ahead.

I like my Willys CJ-3B; this model is my favorite “flat fender” Jeep of all time, which is why when I found a solid one for $5,900, I pulled the trigger. I’d planned to keep this Jeep until the end of time, as the ‘3B’s silly looks — a product of shoving a tall overhead valve engine into a body initially designed with a low-hood for flathead motors — have always captured me. The problem is that there’s bondo on the Jeep and, personally, that has shattered my rose-colored glasses. After having replaced the machine with my YJ as my wedding car, I now think it’s time to let the CJ go. And the good news is: I found a buyer — someone who I think is from India, and whose family owned a CJ-3B just like mine (tan, red wheels).

The cool thing about the CJ-3B is that it (along with the WW2 Jeep, of course) really put the Jeep brand on the international stage. It was the model that India’s Mahindra and Japan’s Mitsubishi built under license, and it was extremely popular as an export-vehicle all across the globe. In fact, the simplicity of the CJ-3B made the vehicle so attractive to global markets that Willys kept building the vehicle from 1954 all the way until 1968 — this, despite the fact that Willys-Overland was selling the much more modern CJ-5.

 

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Anyway, this buyer is interested, and I get why; my Jeep looks quite good, and though there’s bondo, it’s far from a rustbucket. But I need to get the Jeep driving ASAP, lest he lose interest.

The problem is that, as good of a deal that I think I got at $5,900, the truth was that the Willys had been sitting for a long time. Sure, it had been restored probably a decade or two ago, but a sittin’ car is a quittin’ car, as I’ve found out first hand. I’ve had to replace this rusty fuel tank:

Here’s the new one:

I’ve replaced this fuel pump:

Here’s the first new one, which I broke during installation:

And now here’s the newly installed one:

Did I know the old pump was bad? No, but the tank was rusty, I could see some little rusty bits floating in the fuel pump bowl, and I’ve been here before many, many times before. When an old car sits long enough, you can pretty much expect to swap the fuel pump, rebuild the carburetor, and replace the entire brake hydraulics system. It’s moisture/ethanol that destroys pretty much all rubber seals and creates rust and — in my experience — fuel and brake fluid (which is hygroscopic) aren’t as good as protecting components from Fe2O3 as coolant and oil.

I’ve found that, on an old car that has been sitting, you can expect to at least play with the ignition points, which might have oxidized a bit from sitting or gotten coated in dust. I did a little spark-check, IMG_5428, and NADA:

So I replaced my points and condenser:

And voila! With a new fuel system, new points and condenser, and a rebuilt carb, just watch as this beauty fires up (via my new(er) 12-volt battery):

 

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Sadly, the Jeep needs an entirely new brake system — master cylinder, lines, slave cylinder, the whole nine yards. This is going to be a time-intensive job, in part because the rear hubs need a special puller tool to access the brake shoes. But I haver a buyer, so there’s no time to waste!

Though I know I could find another buyer at some point, this is a niche vehicle, and I’d really rather not have to wait another two-three months for someone would would appreciate this machine, which I’ve now probably pumped $1,500 into (including taxes/fees). That’s quite an investment, and a testament to why one should always be aware of what you’re getting into when you buy what seems like a gorgeous vehicle that “ran when parked.”