willysmjeeps.com

I ran into a number of issues with what is essentially a wonderful Jeep, but it had been almost hopelessly "Bubba'ed" into such a hodge podge, I didn't know where to start. I'd begin to "fix" something, then I'd run into something else---none of which made any sense. In order to correct something, I sometimes found that I was having to "Bubba" something just to get it to function, and I didn't want that. Nothing was piped up right. There were things "plugged" off with pipe plugs, lines pinched shut, and I'm like "WHAT THE HECK IS THIS FOR?" They had the PVC system spewing oil out on the top of the engine and puddling in the plug holes. This boogered, that plugged, this pinched off..................WHAT THE $&%???????????????

SO! Willis the Willys (or FrankenJeep) is getting all that shade-tree mechanic, pot-bellied Bubba crap ripped out at a qualified GARAGE this week and put BACK as the TM manual shows it, DAGGUMMIT!!!!!! I've had to admit I'm licked!!! I couldn't deal with it---all the twisted up stuff and makeshift mods. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK! Then I'll fix the gauges that don't work, re-upholster the seats and I should be done!!!!!

So I rambled on to ask simply this: WHY do people DO such idiotic things to vehicles?????? I just don't understand! Is it they truly don't KNOW what they doing (likely), or is that they must put THEIR "touch" on something as if leaving their mark on it (or peeing on a fire hydrant to "mark" their territory)? Any ideas?

FJ

To answer all your questions: ( I'm with you on this) The previous owner was a cheap ass that didn't want to spend money so he fixed it with stuff he got for nothing. All of it junk, and he ruined perfectly good items when he "modified things". Don't clean it up and do it right, it's too much work and money, I'll just hack and cut and fit something I think will work. Then get out the stick welder and "fix it". Then I'll put in a 12 volt system, change the wheels after I cut the centers out so I can fit cheap tires that are miss-matched. It always needs a big roll bar too. Then I'll powder coat, por-15, and rhino line it! I'll then hack the seat frames and put mustang or golf cart seats on. Next I'll cut the wheel well and move the seat back and then cut and screw up the windshield so it will be taller so I can see out better. A home made top either welded on or screwed on with 10,000 screws. Never clean all the wet garbage out so the floors inside the cab rust worse than the outside. I almost forgot I 'll also cut out and fit big ugly cheap 12 volt tail lights out of the junked car I found. After I break off the nut and ruin the shaft that holds on the steering wheel, I'll just epoxy it or better, stick weld it back on. Who needs a horn anyway. Then there's the V8 or V6 or straight six I'll put in! ----------I'm done, any of you guys ever see any of this? John

We are often kinda hard on poor bubba. This is because we only see what bubba has done from a restorer's viewpoint. In fact these jeeps went surplus in the 70's when restoring a M38 wasn't a very popular idea. They were bought by folks to do a job for them. Deer camp, plow snow, hunting, recreational off roading, rock crawling and etc. If you are the rare one who has never modified anything in your life I suppose you can complain out loud as much as you want but most of us are not 16 year old M38 restoration buffs. The majority of us have modified our own equipment to meet our own needs at least a few times in our lives. Some of us had tons of money to toss at our mods and others weren't so fortunate. So here we are 40 years later trying to make the old girl original and whole again. The reasons for the bubba mods are really easily explained and when viewed from bubba's perspective usually make good economical sense.

We have a sticky where you can list each bubba-ization item you find up near the top of this board.

One of the great things about the internet is how easy it is to find information. For myself I am old enough to remember more than not when the internet as we know it did not exist. (It actually existed back in the '60's but that is another topic)

Years ago it was really really hard to restore a car. I have owned military jeeps since the '70's and back then there was nobody but Surplus City that I knew of that did mail order to get parts. Actually the local jeep dealers still had WWll jeep parts sitting on the shelf but not a lot. J.C Whitney had junk parts then and still does in my opinion. Sears and Wards and a few others sold parts. But the point is it was not easy. A lot of parts just could not be found. Looking for grab handles in 1978 for your Willys MB? Don't waist your time. In my area the only way to get them was through a donor vehicle. Reproduction parts forget it. They did not really exist. Not like today.

You had to do what you had to do. What looks dumb today might have been an act of desperation to keep a vehicle going.

I know what you mean about Bubba but I have come to think that because of Bubba and lots of other clever and not so clever guys these vehicles still exist.

[quote="BullRun"]One of the great things about the internet is how easy it is to find information. For myself I am old enough to remember more than not when the internet as we know it did not exist. (It actually existed back in the '60's but that is another topic)

Years ago it was really really hard to restore a car. I have owned military jeeps since the '70's and back then there was nobody but Surplus City that I knew of that did mail order to get parts. Actually the local jeep dealers still had WWll jeep parts sitting on the shelf but not a lot. J.C Whitney had junk parts then and still does in my opinion. Sears and Wards and a few others sold parts. But the point is it was not easy. A lot of parts just could not be found. Looking for grab handles in 1978 for your Willys MB? Don't waist your time. In my area the only way to get them was through a donor vehicle. Reproduction parts forget it. They did not really exist. Not like today.......... (quote)

The things that were supremely frustrating are the copper lines that have been plugged off, or omitted. That could have been put back correctly. I believe "Bubba", in this case, was just lazy and didn't want to fool with it: So he just jury-rigged enough to get it to run. The PVC valve would have been available, at least, beginning with the CJ's. These were equipped with the L-134, and, probably used also on the F-head engine as the only that really changed much was the head.

The really bad part of it is, when Bubba did this, he didn't think, or consider, that the next owner, or generation following, might need to fix this thing. H'd run into what [/i]I ran into------scratching his head wondering just where THAT went to, and what that pinched-off line was for.

FJ

Frankenjeep,

See the "Ode To Bubba" in the "Worst Bubba Mod" thread. It's not mine ,but I it makes a good point.