At last, an email from Adrian

Saturday, November 16, 2019
Cheltenham, England, United Kingdom
It was several weeks later I got the long awaited email from Adrian, it wasn’t good news
Only good news was, it’s a genuine Willy’s engine, BUT, there had been some modifications done on it, there were Ford parts, Willy’s part, even some Hodgekiss parts (a French Jeep)
The head was cracked, it had been sleeved, and maybe it could be welded
It had the wrong carb on it, and the one on it was full of rubbish
It had the wrong fuel tank, the wrong straps, it was fed from the top, it should have been from the bottom, there was no fuel sender unit, no wonder the fuel gauge never worked
There was all kinds of rubbish in the sump, seemed to be grass or straw in the oil filter
The plugs on the engine had started to leak
(They push out of the block if it ever freezes the engine block)
The tubes/pipes on the engine were the wrong ones, the jubilee clips were leaking because they were the wrong type)
So, it turns out, we need a new engine or at least a new head
A new carb
Replace the pipes/tubes, replace the jubilee clips with correct type clean out the sump, renovate the fuel pump
Replace the front seats, both driver and passenger
New fuel tank and straps, new sender unit, new filler cap
Sort out all the gauges, make them work
Put the correct anti freeze in it (I had just filled it with water)
Put on canvas webbing around the radiator
New brackets and clips for the light, sort out the indicators and switches
Remove the radio, (seemed sensible, it don’t work anyway)
Fit new canvases, including the winter kit, sort out the corroded windscreen
The bracket for the spare wheel was just something someone had knocked up, got to be replaced
The windscreen was rotten and corroded, need a replacement
A vacuum unit could be fitted for a wiper or a dual manual one fitted
The list seemed to go on and on
Seems this Jeep wasn’t such a good buy after all
Adrian asked me “How on earth did you ever get this 180 miles to here?
I said “I just drove it, had a few pulls along the way, ran out of juice twice”
He said “It’s amazing you got anywhere, the engine is knackered, the carb is full of rubbish, the oil is like tar, the speedo don’t work, the fuel gauge don’t work, I’m even surprised it started”
What could I say, apart from “It’s a Willy’s, what you expect, they run forever?”
I said to Adrian, “Well can you fix it?”
He replied back to me “Of course, but it won’t be a weekend job, I need to find an engine (A Willy’s of course) new carb, clean out that sump
"Going to be hard to find a windscreen though, it might have to be a repo"
I had put too much money into the Jeep to turn back now, so I gave him the go ahead (God only knows what this bill would be or how long it would take
I didn’t even know what spares/replacements could be got
Adrian seems to know what he is talking about and has done plenty of work on Jeeps (he had several Jeeps in the barn, al in various states of repair
(I am glad I never spent all my savings travelling the world)

Comments

mmbcross
2020-10-09

Yikes! What a mess. Hopefully you won't have to sell your house and live in your jeep. I don't think Anne would go for that. I'm Looking forward to the next episode.

Peggy
2020-10-09

This certainly kept you busy.

2025-02-08

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