Backyard Wheeling: Supersonic DED Tour

131 1010 Backyard Wheeling Supersonic Ded Jeep Front Ground Shot

You can't know contentment until you've adventured in your flatfender Jeep on a far-flung Arizona dirt road, sun low and peeking through the saguaro, all the while playing mechanical Russian roulette with an oddball flathead-six that, prior to that day, had not run in 15 years. Ahh, the joys. If only this most recent DED Tour was all that kind of fun. But, no-it had quite varied entertainment.

You probably know of our trademark Dirt Every Day treks by now: We find a derelict vintage Jeep, hack it into running order in improbable locations, then hit the road with only a vague compass bearing to guide us home on what turns out to be mostly dirt roads. Optimally, those two-tracks are intersected by civilization that need hold nothing more than a gas station-or not-and a greasy spoon that serves biscuits and gravy of the precise formula to satisfy our ironclad yet picky palettes.

131 1010 Backyard Wheeling Supersonic Ded 1951 Cj3a And Old Buick

Here's the '51 CJ-3A as we found it, rotting next to an old Buick parts car that, sadly, lent us no hardware. We slipped up there.

Here's the '51 CJ-3A as we found it, rotting next to an old Buick parts car that, sadly, l

This time, collecting a long-abandoned '51 CJ-3A brought us to the fuzzy demarcation between Glendale and Peoria, Arizona, a beige-toned urban bog that harshed our adventuresome mood with chain stores by the mile. There were three respites: the Peoria Café with grade-A white goo on the biscuits, three O'Reilly Auto Parts outlets staffed by guys who knew what they were doing, and the expansive backyard of Al and Mary Snyder. Those folks turned out to be our gracious hosts for five long days, allowing us to nearly restore our new ride on their concrete pad and sleep in their above-garage apartment.

Todd Zuercher is a wheeler who we'd run across here and there some 20 years ago, and who had contacted us-who better?-because he and friend Sam Snyder had an old Jeep to unload. That Jeep had been a dream that was shed in favor of an Early Bronco fascination, and it had been sitting aside Sam's dad Al's '55 Buick parts car for at least 10 years, untouched except by the flood of weekly irrigation. We pulled about 30 pounds of pine needles out of it. That's a lot of pine needles.

131 1010 Backyard Wheeling Supersonic Ded Kaiser Supersonic Flathead Six

Check out the weirdo Kaiser Supersonic flathead-six under the Jeep's hood! You'd fire it up and drive it home, wouldn't you?

Check out the weirdo Kaiser Supersonic flathead-six under the Jeep's hood! You'd fire it u

Here's the best part: This stock-appearing Willys was long ago the recipient of an oddball engine swap. It runs a Kaiser Supersonic flathead inline-six. In case you're not familiar with this engine-and you're not-it's quite unique. The flathead Kaiser-Frazer Supersonic 134ci four-bangers and the 148ci and 161ci six-cylinders, circa 1949-1954ish, were built by Willys. They were used in a number of Kaiser cars, the most memorable and latest of which is the Henry J. Most importantly, these same basic engines were also used in the '47-'51 Willys Jeepster, so we can still call it a Jeep engine. The design of these engines can be traced back to late '20s Whippets. They were used in the '30s and '40s Willys cars most commonly built into Gassers. The engines carried the name Lightning when used in Willys Aero-series cars and early Jeepsters, trucks, and wagons. Willys engineer Barney Roos also created F-head versions (intake valves in the head, exhaust valves in the block) of both the four- and six-cylinders, and they were renamed Hurricane, which was quite generous. They too ended up in the early Jeepster. Around the same time, the Supersonic name was applied to the 226ci flathead-six seen in Kaisers and Jeeps, but that engine had a different design based on the old industrial Continental Red Seal engine.

This is awesome! Yes, that's 1/2-inch steel plate reinforcing the frame, which cracked anyway. The rear crossmember wasn't attached to the frame at all until we attacked it with a Premier Power Welder.
This is awesome! Yes, that's 1/2-inch steel plate reinforcing the frame, which cracked any
The exhaust manifold was hopelessly fragged. We clamped it, welded it, stuffed the crack with that self-hardening Silly-Putty-ish exhaust stuff, and then wrapped it with a muffler bandage. Yeah, it leaked anyway.
The exhaust manifold was hopelessly fragged. We clamped it, welded it, stuffed the crack w
During the restoration we had help from local wheelers Trent McGee from Daystar and friend Mike Flores. It was Flores who had this genius idea: We could not get the axle nut off without massive leverage. To keep the axle from turning and the leaf spring from wrapping, we bolted a Hi-Lift to a couple lugs and let it counterbrace it for us. That, some heat, some PB Blaster, and some hammer whacks broke it loose.
During the restoration we had help from local wheelers Trent McGee from Daystar and friend

This was our life in Al's back yard for five days. We had another flatfender for local transportation, because a cushy new truck just would not be sporting. Or correct.
This was our life in Al's back yard for five days. We had another flatfender for local tra
We killed almost an entire day hunting for some kind of meaty tires to replace the hopelessly dry-rotted junk the Jeep came with. Can you believe that it's virtually impossible to buy tires for 15-inch wheels at used tire stores any more? We discovered these oddly sized Swampers (265/80-16) then had to go to Péwé's 30-year-old pile of junk to find some 16-inch Jeep wheels so we could use them.
We killed almost an entire day hunting for some kind of meaty tires to replace the hopeles
As a last measure, we installed an old Smittybilt rollbar, also from Péwé's stash, and hit the road. A visit to our Peoria Café home-away-from-home-away-from-home brought out the old-timers and their Jeep stories.
As a last measure, we installed an old Smittybilt rollbar, also from Péwé's stash, and hit

131 1010 Backyard Wheeling Supersonic Ded Vintage Gates Commando Whitewall

During the tire hunt we found this incredible vintage relic: a Gates Commando whitewall! Sadly, there was just one at the llanteria, but for $20 we had to own it.

During the tire hunt we found this incredible vintage relic: a Gates Commando whitewall! S

That's more than you needed to know, and also more than we knew at the time that we were trying to fix the Jeep. Thankfully, the engine itself was the least of our worries. We rebuilt the carb (with mismatched but forced-to-fit Holley parts), made a fuel-pump fix out of virtually nothing, changed the oil, and fired it up to discover a nice purr-but not until we had rewired the entire Jeep front to back, then somehow internally welded together the stock generator, forcing us to convert the engine to use a Delco alternator. But no matter how thrilled the Supersonic was to be alive, it wasn't going to party with locked up brakes. And when we rebuilt the brakes (from the master cylinder all the way out to the wheels), we found other happy things, like jacked-up endplay in the Dana 44 and front wheel bearings and races that were so scary-destroyed that you'd call us superheros for driving on 'em. Of course, mangled bearings love it when you install the very used, 33-inch-tall Swampers that you bought from the local llanteria. Oh yeah, we had to weld the frame back together too. And we decided that the one lonely bolt holding the body to the frame was at least half as many as we needed.

So this was a wrenching-heavy DED, but it was real living. And you know the best thing about drowning in suburbia during your vacation? It feels so good when you leave and finally hit the road.

131 1010 Backyard Wheeling Supersonic Ded Broke Down Jeep On Trail

Sooner than later, we hit dirt. And broke down. Repairs are virtually a goal of a Dirt Every Day jaunt.

Sooner than later, we hit dirt. And broke down. Repairs are virtually a goal of a Dirt Eve

After the five-day overhaul, we were dirt-bound, heading northwest outta Dodge (Peoria, whatever) and headlong into denial about the brutal overheating problem. Ignoring it served us fairly well. We found the Supersonic to have precisely 3 more horsepower than an original 134ci flathead-four, but we split gears with the Jeep's ancient Warn overdrive to make up for gutlessness. Yeah, this thing had a Warn O.D.! We cheated death a few times on the backroad journey home, but really, the worst thing that happened on our way back from the DED was the new traffic roundabout in Wickenburg. Fail.

Follow our travails in the photo captions, spend a few minutes wishing you were us, and then go do this kind of stuff yourself. Meanwhile, we'll be back with another Dirt Every Day adventure as soon as we can find an even more freakish, more abandoned cheap Jeep to play with. Got one? You know who to call, or email 4wheeloffroad@sorc.com.

Once we were on the road, the lack of a master-cylinder cover panel became intolerable, with incredible heat blasting through the big hole in the floor. This elegant solution ensued.
Once we were on the road, the lack of a master-cylinder cover panel became intolerable, wi
In Aguila, Arizona, we found a roadside flea market and paid $8 for all these old tools, including some genuine Ford wrenches.
In Aguila, Arizona, we found a roadside flea market and paid $8 for all these old tools, i
The Supersonic was pumping oil out of the filler tube at highway rpm, so we stabbed a hole in the air cleaner, threaded in an old spark-plug antifouler, and ran a hose from the fill tube. That and a sock tied around the fill cap, and we were set.
The Supersonic was pumping oil out of the filler tube at highway rpm, so we stabbed a hole

In Wenden we finally stuck on the overheating solution of a recovery bottle. It didn't work, but was quite stylish.
In Wenden we finally stuck on the overheating solution of a recovery bottle. It didn't wor
In Wenden, Arizona, we stopped at the Outback Saloon, said to have been built in the early 1920s as the first poured-concrete building in Arizona. Supposedly it was also the nearest telegraph station to the historic Harquahala Smithsonian Observatory south of Salome. We had a Corona, told the bar owner where we were going, and asked him to tell anyone who came asking that we were headed northwest on dirt.
In Wenden, Arizona, we stopped at the Outback Saloon, said to have been built in the early
Score! This was an abandoned '43 GPW with a weird inline-six swap of its own.

We could not identify the engine, but we were pleased to know we had alternate transportation if we needed it.
We could not identify the engine, but we were pleased to know we had alternate transportat
This is the site of Camp Bouse, one of 12 such camps created in the Arizona desert for Patton's Army in 1942. This place was used to test an English idea where huge floodlights were designed to blind the oncoming enemy in battlefields. That didn't work out so well.
This is the site of Camp Bouse, one of 12 such camps created in the Arizona desert for Pat
This was neat! Ned Bacon and Kat found us in the middle of nowhere after checking in with the bartender back in Wenden. They were on a two-month adventure in the Synchro and planned to stop at the Overland Expo (we were too cool and late for that), then head to the NORRA 1000.
This was neat! Ned Bacon and Kat found us in the middle of nowhere after checking in with

After a campout and very subpar biscuits and gravy in Parker, we split ways with Ned and Kat and sadly had to roll back to La La Land on Highway 62. There we found one of the Southwest's several random, inexplicable shoe gardens. We'd lost a flip-flop out the side of the Jeep earlier in the trip, so we left behind its mate here. Highway 62 is also the site of many miles of rock decorations along the railroad bed. It's like graffiti with rocks.
After a campout and very subpar biscuits and gravy in Parker, we split ways with Ned and K
Our two-rig caravan, visited the 1909-1937 copper mining site of Swansea, then headed onto the pipeline roads for a rollercoaster ride of tightly spaced peaks and valleys, where we almost died a few times when the Supersonic didn't have the stones to climb the hills without big momentum.
Our two-rig caravan, visited the 1909-1937 copper mining site of Swansea, then headed onto
Finally, the fuel pump died, and we replaced it with an electric. Then it was through Twentynine Palms, California, and into Johnson Valley, where it was 100 degrees below zero in the open Jeep. But we'd rather suffer in a Willys than be numbed in a comfort box. We'll always live to DED another day.
Finally, the fuel pump died, and we replaced it with an electric. Then it was through Twen