First Run

The Willys was suppose to have made its maiden voyage to the great Arizona back country on 18 Aug 2001, but due to technical difficulties the trip was delayed one day. Here is what happened.

We started out bright and early and headed to Redington Pass (trail to Chiva falls). The trip vehicles were comprised of the Willys, driven by Tom, and the green station wagon (XJ), driven by me, Mike. While on the road to the trail Tom noticed the Willys sputtering pretty bad and I noticed black smoke coming from the tailpipe. He pulled over, opened the hood, and noticed the fuel filter was clogged by what looked like cork particles. Not good. We turned around and limped home.

After picking up a new fuel filter we got to work on this 2-minute project. While replacing the fuel filter Tom noticed it wasn’t cork in the old filter, but sand. Definitely not good. We figure the sand came from the fuel line since Tom only blew out the original line and put it back on. You have to remember this is a budget build up and anything that was reusable was reused. Hindsight is 20/20, but he realizes now he should have replaced the fuel lines since the Willys was sitting out in the middle of nowhere for who knows how long with a seized engine before he bought it. Anyway, he replaced the fuel filter and took apart the carb to get all the grit out of it. That is what the first two pictures are about.

After making sure the lines were clear, cleaning the carb, and getting it all back together, the thing still sputtered and smoked. We decided to try to adjust the timing and see if that would help. He loosened the distributor hold down bolt, adjusted the distributor, and behold the sputtering cleared up and the smoking stopped. Yes, we’re geniuses! Tom tightened the bolt using his super-human strength and proceeded to break the head off. Ok, maybe genius is to strong a word. After muttering a few profanities, drinking a beer, and shaking our heads, we decided to drill a hole in what remained of the bolt and try to get a screwdriver on it to back it out. (The proper way would be to drill a hole and use a reverse tap or screw, but we had none of that fancy sh*t). So, Tom is drilling away and what do you think happened? That’s right, the bolt twisted down to the bottom of the hole. Sorry Tom, I couldn’t help but laugh. After more cussing (and a few more swigs of beer) Tom reversed the drill and tried to get the bolt to spin back out. Much to our relief it came back to the starting position. Careful tapping with a small screwdriver and the troublesome bolt came out the rest of the way.

So what. We had the bolt out, but no way to hold down the distributor. Tom proceeded to rummage through his excess parts bin. I thought to myself “what a dreamer, if it’s anything like my parts bin he’ll be searching for days and still not find anything." Imagine my surprise when less than a minute later he comes back with a match, and not just any match, but a grade 5 match. I immediately got down on my knees and bowed to his superior parts bin while he replaced the bolt.

After readjusting the timing and gingerly tightening the bolt with normal-human strength, the Willys was ready to go. Too bad it was dark by the time we finished.

The next day (19 Aug 2001) we were on the road again, and this time we made it to the trail. The pictures that follow are the Willys playing on the rocks for the first time since the rebuild. (Oh, and some of the big green station wagon just so it doesn’t get jealous.)

Tom taking apart carb	Engine compartment minus carb
The Willys and station wagon starting out on Redington Pass	The very first obstacle on the trail. (I would have had some of the Willys doing this part but I f*cked up using the camera)	The very first obstacle on the trail.
The very first obstacle on the trail.	The very first obstacle on the trail.	Willys taking the lead
Second obstacle (plastic surgery couldn’t have removed Tom’s smile)	Paying attention to the trail now	Down and clear
Putting along	Checking rocker clearance (plenty of room)	Crossing it up
This is the same spot pictured under “Friends Rigs” where Tom’s XJ is coming down. That one gives a better idea how steep the hill really is. (It’s been a little worn through the years, too.)	Checking the limits	Checking to see if 33’ will fit
Not without some lift they won’t	Mike crossing up the station wagon (bit of a size difference isn’t there)	The station wagon dropping off a ledge
Mike had to try the chute one more time	It gave the ol’ station wagon a hard time this time. Had to back up quite a few times before Mike got the right line and walked on up.	A beautiful ending to the Willys first day of wheeling

Note: We know the Willys didn’t have roll cage. (That’s why we took it easy.)