Starting restoration on Michael's ’43 GPW.

Create a thread to track the progress of you MB/GPW restoration progress. Previously a General Discussion board.
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Re: Starting restoration on Michael's ’43 GPW.

Post by Beers » Tue May 07, 2013 7:48 pm

Looking good Michael!
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Re: Starting restoration on Michael's ’43 GPW.

Post by thidisbogus » Wed May 08, 2013 8:21 pm

Looking very nice Michael!

Is that a WO or Solex carb?

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Re: Starting restoration on Michael's ’43 GPW.

Post by ILikePlanesToo » Fri May 10, 2013 9:25 am

Thanks, Rodney,
It's the Solex that was on it when I got it. It was in pretty good shape, so I just rebuilt it. I think it will be fine for now. I figure I can always replace it later.

Michael

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Re: Starting restoration on Michael's ’43 GPW.

Post by ILikePlanesToo » Sun May 26, 2013 10:35 pm

I haven't posted in a while, but I've been working hard on the GPW. Its 70th birthday is in two weeks, and I'd love to have it driving by then!

I need to put the hood on and install the front seats. Then it's just little stuff (timing, front alignment, stencil hood numbers....).

Michael
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Re: Starting restoration on Michael's ’43 GPW.

Post by hell-fire » Mon May 27, 2013 1:30 am

Looking good Michael,

The last few little things seem to take forever (well it did for me), trust me you will be rewarded.

Once again looking really good.
John
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Re: Starting restoration on Michael's ’43 GPW.

Post by thidisbogus » Mon May 27, 2013 9:34 pm

Michael, I second John's comments. Your jeep is looking outstanding. Keep posting those photos. Now comes the fun part, deciding which unit markings you want to stencil on. Then it really takes on its identity. To me that was some of the fun stuff...

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Re: Starting restoration on Michael's ’43 GPW.

Post by ILikePlanesToo » Wed May 29, 2013 10:09 pm

After spending three evenings getting the engine set just right, I got it running for the first time tonight!! :D :) :lol: :D

It sounds great!

It won't stay running for too long, so I think I have some fuel system work to do. My pump seems to be making about 7psi (way too high I think). As a diagnostic tool, I put a small fuel pressure regulator temporarily in-line between the fuel pump and carburetor. It's odd, but if I set it below 2 psi, it seems to drain the carburetor bowl and then quits. If I set it above 2psi, it floods out and overflows the bowl and makes a huge puddle in the intake manifold.

It's a Solex carb that I rebuilt with a kit from Ron. It seemed to go together well. The fuel pump is also new from Ron. The pump seems very nice, but is producing too much pressure I guess. I think it's going pretty well so far, but I'd love some recommendations.

It feels great to have it running a little though.

Have a good evening,
Michael

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Re: Starting restoration on Michael's ’43 GPW.

Post by thidisbogus » Sat Jun 01, 2013 9:10 pm

Congratulations Michael on getting it running again. I wish I were more experienced on the carb issue, but that is not one of my strong areas.

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Re: Starting restoration on Michael's ’43 GPW.

Post by ILikePlanesToo » Sat Jun 01, 2013 9:54 pm

We drove the GPW for the first time today! It was awesome! I drove it about 2 miles. And, my wife put another mile on it (driving it you can't help but smile). It runs really well.

Not much left to do. Seat covers should be here next week. I need to order stencils for the hood number still.

Thanks Rodney, I've been trying a few things with the carb. It runs great but floods out a little after shutdown. I'll keep messing with it. It's getting there.

It was a good day!
Michael
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Re: Starting restoration on Michael's ’43 GPW.

Post by thidisbogus » Sat Jun 01, 2013 10:23 pm

Michael your jeep looks super! We are both just about at the same point in our projects. What are you going to stencil it as? What Army and Unit? Did you get a top for it too? Where did you pick up your shovel and axe?

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Re: Starting restoration on Michael's ’43 GPW.

Post by ILikePlanesToo » Sun Jun 02, 2013 11:28 am

Thanks Rodney,
I'm having a little trouble deciding how I want to stencil it. It was stationed in Los Alamos/Trinity New Mexico during the War, so it had odd makings. The National Atomic Museum has been sending me some cool photos with GPW/MG in Los Alamos and Trinity during the Manhattan Project, but it looks like most of the jeeps didn't have many markings at all and if they did they were hand painted indicating the tech area they belonged to and such. As far as I can tell, my GPW only had a hood number, a name on the passenger rear fender, and some random text on the dash. I'm not sure what I want to do.....

I think I'll probably get a summer top for it. For financial reasons, I think I'll wait a little while. It's starting to get hot here though, so it would be nice for summer driving.

I don't think the shovel and axe are original, but they came on it and look pretty old, so I restored them a bit with paint and linseed oil. They look the part for now.

Have a good one,
Michael
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Re: Starting restoration on Michael's ’43 GPW.

Post by ILikePlanesToo » Sun Jun 02, 2013 11:32 am

So, my wife and I made a little timelapse video of the reassembly of the GPW. The video starts with some photos of the restoration so that people on the net have a little background on the project. I think the timelapse at the end turned out pretty cool. Check it out!

http://youtu.be/0LYs7T8diYo

Michael

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Re: Starting restoration on Michael's ’43 GPW.

Post by vynx » Sun Jun 02, 2013 12:59 pm

Your restoration is amazing really! Very good job and nice video! For people starting like me is always very encouraging and give many tips, thanks for sharing this!

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Re: Starting restoration on Michael's ’43 GPW.

Post by Gary C V » Mon Jun 03, 2013 1:00 am

Hi Michael,

Mate you have done a fantastic job on your jeep, and I love the timelapse.

Cheers Gary

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Re: Starting restoration on Michael's ’43 GPW.

Post by themoose74 » Mon Jun 03, 2013 4:02 am

That video was fantastic! I showed it to my wife and now she's questioning why it took me 3 years, not 3 minutes to build my jeep! Great job!! Looks like both of you are going to have a lot of fun with your GPW!
Bo
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