New to me 1953…

I'm not really sure what I did, but I sold my VW project a few weeks ago, and bought this on Saturday. 1953 Willy's CJ3A. My son said he didn't want to work on an old VW but wanted an old Jeep. As a long time Jeep guy I was ok with that. However, this is by far the oldest vehicle I have ever owned. 
 

It came with most of the big items but is missing a lot of small things. Engine is a L-head correct for the year, but not original for be Jeep. Trans and transfer case are in it. Windshield and grill are just on it for pics. The seller said when he bought it there was a running S10 engine in it. In my research it says to have a Chevy 4.3 in it would need the bell housing and input shaft. However, I don't know what a stock CJ3A T90A bell housing should look like. 
 

Other than that we scrubbed it with a mix of CLR and warm water which made the existing paint a little darker, and knocked off a lot of the light surface rust.  It does have a hole in the floorboard on the passenger side, but it looks like it was previously patched so I may see about replacing that whole passenger floor. Next up is wire wheel and rust inhibitor on the floors.
 

And some pics 

now:

when it came home 

after the CLR cleaning

the bad spot:

Nice!  Those things are rewardingly simplistic as projects go.  Looks like fun.

A CJ3A has been my Dream Jeep for most of my life.

I like it.

Simplicity : A CJ3 is more like a tractor than it is like a car. Originally sold as a farming implement. 

Needs moar "Rat Patrol".

John Welsh said:

Simplicity : A CJ3 is more like a tractor than it is like a car. Originally sold as a farming implement. 

https://www.farmjeep.com/

Thanks guys. It's a father son project. I haven't welded since high school, and have never rebuilt an entire engine. I tore the 911 engine down to the block but a professional rebuilt the block and then I put the rest back on and put it in the car. I was hoping to find a running 134  L-head engine and peripherals to drop in, but no such luck so far.  I'd also like to put in a new harness and change to 12v. 

I've often thought about swapping a 2.5 and five speed from a TJ into a flatfender. You'd need to add a slight body lift, but I think it would be cool to keep it in the Jeep family. Plus it would be dirt cheap. 

A Beetle has been my Dream VW for most of my life.

For a 70 year old vehicle it looks pretty nice!  I always wanted a flat fender Jeep too, even though they aren't particularly practical.    If it were mine I'd find some OEM wheels and get some military style tires.

I just went through a CJ2A and documented it in this build thread.  I hope it's useful to you and you have as much fun as I've had.

Carl that was awesome. Mine didn't come with a fuel pump, generator/alternator, plug wires, or battery. Since I have to buy them all I'm thinking about buying all the stuff to make it 12v.  I don't think I have the time, patience, or skill to make my own harness but I loved that part of your thread. Lastly, does my 53 have a starter button? Is it on the dash? I don't see anything like what you picture in your thread. 
 

In reply to octavious :

I would agree that 12V makes sense for you.  That's what I did with mine, too.  It's nice to have bright headlights and taillights among other benefits of 12V.

Regarding a starter button, I don't know the model-by-model trivia very well.  I'm not sure how many CJs had a button (mine did).  I know some early CJs had a mechanical floor button right on the starter and some had a conventional key switch as well. I'd guess yours had the conventional key switch.

My wiring harness was fun for me.  Buying a ready-made one for a few hundred bucks will save you a lot of time.

Do you guys know of a place to get a 12v kit for one of these? I need the following:

Alternator

Distributor

Coil

Plug wires

Wiring harness

I don't see a place that has a kit or anything like that 

I also saw where you can get a one wire Chevy alternator and use that. What I can't find is if there is a specific alrternator needed? 

I haven't seen any kits for a full 12V conversion, either. Most of the suppliers sell all the parts, but not in a full kit.  You can use the stock distributor and coil if you add a ballast resistor.  Or you can use a 12V coil without a ballast resistor.  Plug wires don't care about 6V or 12V since they're on the secondary side. Most 12V alternator kits use a 1970s-ish GM alternator like I did. You can either get the full kit with the alternator or a bracket and pulley and find your own alternator. I haven't seen that anyone offers a wiring harness with provisions for an alternator.  You can just abandon some of the wiring for the generator/regulator and it's a couple of wires to make the alternator work.  Or, I bet Rhode Island Wiring will make you a harness set up for an alternator if you're willing to wait through their backlog. 

I've purchased most of my parts through Peter DaBella Jeep Parts, Kaiser-Willys, and Classic Military Vehicles and had good luck. 

I prefer to use a three wire GM alternator so I can have an ignition (idiot) light.  In addition to the suppliers above, Summit Racing, Speedway, etc., have one wire alternators if you want to keep it simple.

Put up a build thread and we can help you through this!

stroker said:

Needs moar "Rat Patrol".

Good looking project!  And just in case some of you do not know what Rat Patrol is...

I'll just leave this here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAoeyAJ6XXk

LS Willies insanity.