Main Line Overland 1947 Willys CJ2a Build

[Main Line Overland]

Are you keeping the stock axles and upgrading to 1-piece rear shafts or . . . ?

Beware the slippery slope.:sombrero:

Keeping it on 32s is perfect, IMO. The best trait of a flattie is its ability to get through tight spaces, as much as tractive abilities.

Still have not made up our mind on the axles....honestly we are waiting to see how the frame looks when it comes back from blasting before we commit to a full build plan. If the frame is too far gone and we have to build one, who knows what road we might go down.

It is a slippery slope for sure!:Wow1:

We love the look of a small lift and 32's on a flatty!

I ran 32s on my flatty in the last version. With just a little tweaking you can get them to fit with just a little lift. 32s will let you do plenty of dumb stuff....

Gold bar rim.....sure....why not. This is basically the only super hard thing. You HAVE to go back up.....down was fun too!

Moving the rear axle back about 1/2-1" would make the 32s fit a lot better at low lift heights, but you would probably have to trim the wheel opening in the rear.

My biggest problem in this version was the holley 2bbl carb I use to run. It sucked. I switched to a custom modded Autolite/Motorcraft 2bbl and LOVE it. Do everything you can to make sure the engine runs well at all angles. Having the engine stall out half way up something like this with an 80" wheelbase isn't fun at all.

We can't wait to get this thing on some serious trails....we had a ton of fun with it in its stock form in Vermont last year! We're hoping to avoid messing with the new tub too much in order get the look and capabilites we want

 

[Metcalf]

We're hoping to avoid messing with the new tub too much in order get the look and capabilites we want

That will be a good hard line to draw in the sand.

I think there is a LOT more performance in the chassis if you are willing to move some things around however. Cutting into a clean stock new body would be difficult on the one hand, but also a LOT more easy on the other hand since all the metal isn't 70 years old, rusty, and crusty....

 

[hugh]

47

I am in the process of building a 47 also. At the moment it is on 33,s, it seems to have enough clearance but I havn,t actually had it on the road yet, should be in a couple months though. I was wondering if you had made any decision on the mega squirt. Here is a picture of my 47, it is mostly complete, I just finished a 6 point cage but that needs to be painted and bolted up and it will be running an Arctic hard top. Probably will be getting an overdrive also, that seems to be a pretty important upgrade.

 

[Main Line Overland]

I am in the process of building a 47 also. At the moment it is on 33,s, it seems to have enough clearance but I havn,t actually had it on the road yet, should be in a couple months though. I was wondering if you had made any decision on the mega squirt. Here is a picture of my 47, it is mostly complete, I just finished a 6 point cage but that needs to be painted and bolted up and it will be running an Arctic hard top. Probably will be getting an overdrive also, that seems to be a pretty important upgrade.[QUTOE]

Nice, its cool to see more flat fender builds coming out of the woodwork! We have not made the call on the mega squirt yet, as we just dropped the block and head off for machine work yesterday. There are some concerns about scoring on the cylinder walls...I should be getting a call in the next day or so letting us know if we can move forward with this block, if its a no go then we'll reassess and consider some other funky ideas.

 

[Metcalf]

I would toss in a no-vote on the mega-squirt. While I think fuel injection is nice, one of the things that makes these old flat fenders so great is the ability to basically be able to fix anything with hand tools with VERY minimal electronics. With a little work the proper carb you can try and do things an 80" wheelbase will not allow. Oddly, one of the things I do recommend is installing one of those stand alone wideband o2 gauges for carb tuning. While it is an electrical complication, it isn't needed for the vehicle to function, and they are VERY handy in tuning a carb properly.

 

[Jim K in PA]

OM617 gets you a turbo . . . :victory:

 

[Main Line Overland]

OM617 gets you a turbo . . . :victory:

A German motor in a WWII era Willys? That would make the car a traitor! Hahaha!

 

[shortbus4x4]

A German motor in a WWII era Willys? That would make the car a traitor! Hahaha!

Yep. Same thing with a Japanese motor. I just couldn't bring myself to do something like that.

 

[Metcalf]

Yep. Same thing with a Japanese motor. I just couldn't bring myself to do something like that.

Maybe it was some kind of super secret government concept project using stolen technology captured in a daring raid on an underground bunker in the middle of the Sahara desert...

 

[shortbus4x4]

Maybe it was some kind of super secret government concept project using stolen technology captured in a daring raid on an underground bunker in the middle of the Sahara desert...

Or Allied soldiers adapted it because it was a better design. After all I do believe 20 L fuel cans got their generic name in WWII and were very much in demand by Allied soldiers after said cans were liberated.:coffeedrink:

 

[Main Line Overland]

We heard back from the machine shop late last week, after they further broke down the motor they found that all of the rings were broken, not one was still intact! So if you were at the Vermont Overland Rally last year and were one of the many offering your opinion...there it is: Broken Rings!

The block and head & crank should be getting hot tanked and fluxed sometime early this week. The good news is that if everything is in order after getting fluxed, they should not have to punch it out too much as they found minimal damage on the cylinder walls.

 

[Booosted Supra]

Stopped by the shop on Wed and met Pete and had a good 30-45 min convo, looking really forward to seeing this trucks finished product and looking forward to get out with the MLO team

 

[jeepdreamer]

Luv me some flattys!

Gonna keep my eye on this one. Especially since all the big boy flat fender owners are chiming in. This will be an interesting build for sure.
Is the tub from MDJuan? I've been reading a thread they started on the Scrambler forum and those guys are good folks. Honest to goodness interested in the product they put out and begging for feed back to help improve it!