Rondo's Command Car restoration

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twinflyer17
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Re: Rondo's Command Car restoration

Post by twinflyer17 » Fri Sep 15, 2017 7:43 am

:lol: Looking good, Rondo! Excited to follow and watch your progress!
Sean

GPW 108175 viewtopic.php?t=267732
DOD 4/14/43 Louisville, KY USA20371070

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rondo
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Re: Rondo's Command Car restoration

Post by rondo » Thu Sep 21, 2017 5:34 am

thank you to everyone who posted comments and encouragement :D

turning attention to the dizzy (uh that's what our English friends call it?) I pulled it out and cleaned it up. disassembled the vacuum advance and cleaned it. it was simple enough. Took it to a local guy who restores 30s dodges for fun. Paid him to find and install an electronic ignition and inspect and clean the internals of the dizzy. I show it to all the "experts" in our local club and although the shaft is wobbly they say its ok haha
I get it home and its all done, then I drop it right on the stinking garage floor! BAM then nearly slip in fall in my tears :oops:

the shaft is bent grrr so I pull the dizzy from the parts rig and the shaft is different? So I trade an old WW2 Jeep tub I have had laying around for 5 years to a guy I know and he rebuilds the dizzy using both. Come to find out my cleaned and rebuilt dizzy is filthy inside and the guy who sold me the electronic ignition did nothing except put it in with a screw.

I admire all of you who do your own work. Some people have such good fortune that magic flows from their fingertips and lottery money fills their pocket. My past life karma must be bad.

short of it is the rebuilt rebuilt dizzy starts the engine but it runs with a miss. so the 2nd rebuild is a flop too. A borrowed junkyard engine dizzy from a friend runs the engine without a miss. Now its off to MWM for a real 3rd rebuild. I hope they can make sense of it :?:
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dizzy small dirty.JPG
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42 GPW; 41WC6
"moral courage is the most valuable and usually the most absent characteristic in men"

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rondo
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Re: Rondo's Command Car restoration

Post by rondo » Thu Sep 21, 2017 5:50 am

ENGINE STARTED FOR THE FIRST TIME :lol: you are right its exhilarating!

I wish I could take credit. I got everything ready for it but asked a couple friends to come over and work the magic. He brought this nifty engine starting diagnostic box built into a first aid kit. This friend is a retired engineer and executive who tinkers with olive drab things for fun lol

Timing is set, dizzy is installed (see previous post) and it fires! BUT it won't idle down and nothing we try will make it so. So it runs with a miss and idles about 2000 RPMs. We try the parts truck carb and it doesn't help. I borrow 2 distributors from another pal who is restoring a WC open cab. One dizzy is bad but the other works. Engine runs fine but still idles high. My pal did a quick go thru of the parts truck carb but it didn't idle down. The beautiful rebuilt carb that was on it is gorgeous, and probably faulty. Another rebuild that gives me the screw :lol:

I take out the idle screw and its screwy...so to speak so I clean it with fine sand paper and put it back. but the test will have to wait until my dizzy comes back from MWM. As for the carby I may swap out the base with my parts truck carb to see if its the idle circuit?? not sure exactly what to do at this point. all I know is I want a running engine BEFORE the body goes on :lol:
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engine starting small.JPG
engine starting small.JPG (39.98 KiB) Viewed 1345 times
engine start 256k.JPG
engine start 256k.JPG (37.81 KiB) Viewed 1345 times
42 GPW; 41WC6
"moral courage is the most valuable and usually the most absent characteristic in men"

BATMOBILE1
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Re: Rondo's Command Car restoration

Post by BATMOBILE1 » Thu Sep 21, 2017 8:49 am

Hi Rondo,

Another Command car rising from the ashes..Good progress so far,I'm impressed.

Im a few months into rebuilding mine,so like you I've got inspiration from watching other doing they own restorations and seing that your not the only one coming across the same problems..

Good luck,i will keep an eye on your progress as you can with mine..

Cheers.

Paul.
94 locating Regt RA,57 Bty B troop 1982-1985.
32 Heavy Regt RA,57 Bty D droop 1985-1990.
M38 1952 ,restoration project
Dodge 1/2 ton WC-24 Chassis WC-6 body..combo.
Dodge 1951 M43 ,SOLD
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rondo
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Re: Rondo's Command Car restoration

Post by rondo » Tue Sep 26, 2017 5:52 am

thanks guys for the kind words.

Got into the nose of this thing. Had the nose sandblasted but I didn't disassemble it like most of you. Some of the bars in the brush guard were rusted out. A friend gave me a spare nose that I took some of the bars from and grafted them in. It's far from perfect. Wish i'd had a new grill to use but its only noticeable up very close.

Added a new bumper, brackets, and hook from MWM for about 140 and change. I wish I had the right bolts to hold them on. My Dodge parts manual lists most bolts by size and thread.

I originally removed the bumper brackets from the parts truck to use those. It took a long time to get them off, clean them up and painted. Only then did I realize a winch model has different brackets. :oops: but they are beautiful lol

On the radiator; took it to my local shop who has been good to me. With 3 MB, CJ2A radiators the cost has never been over 125 each. But this WC radiator was done to the tune of 600 bones ouch! They can't do the honeycomb replacement but said some place in California can to the tune of several times what this cost. No thank you. At that price I didn't even care to get the name of the radiator shop haha So it has a modern core. I have a thing against judging so i'm not worried.

Finally I painted the nose without gloss hardener. A couple of friends tried to convince me to do it more WW2 original. So I sprayed the thing but I HATE the way it turned out. it's rough, chalky, and just looks bad. I will redo it.

here is the thing: a drizzle of gloss hardener gives a beautiful resilience to the paint and makes it tough as a rock. I can hit my frame with a hammer and it bounces off the paint without a scratch. it does not shine it up. this is surely not WW2 original but the paint with last many years like this.
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nose small.JPG
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42 GPW; 41WC6
"moral courage is the most valuable and usually the most absent characteristic in men"

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rondo
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Re: Rondo's Command Car restoration

Post by rondo » Tue Sep 26, 2017 6:02 am

took the front half to the sandblaster. The floor is much worse than I thought. i'll need parts from the floor from my parts WC6 to fix. will have to take the windshield header off before attempting to graft the 2 pieces together. pray pray lol

it rained on the way home. now its rusty :D
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cc body front 256k.JPG
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42 GPW; 41WC6
"moral courage is the most valuable and usually the most absent characteristic in men"

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rondo
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Re: Rondo's Command Car restoration

Post by rondo » Sun Oct 08, 2017 2:55 pm

I just found out that my WC was an ultra rare experimental 6 seat model!!!! :o



actually getting ready to mate the two halves back together :lol:
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6 seat wc6.JPG
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42 GPW; 41WC6
"moral courage is the most valuable and usually the most absent characteristic in men"

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Re: Rondo's Command Car restoration

Post by motto » Mon Oct 09, 2017 1:00 pm

The idle problem may simply be due to a vacuum leak. If it's easier for the engine to suck air through an opening in the manifold than an air/fuel mixture through the carburettor that's what it will do so engine falters or stops. Conversely, with the throttle open (butterfly open - restriction removed or reduced) it is easier for the engine to draw air/fuel mixture through the carb, engine will run.

David

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rondo
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Re: Rondo's Command Car restoration

Post by rondo » Sun Nov 12, 2017 4:29 pm

David, thanks for the info. how to tell if its moving air from somewhere else I wonder? Had a couple of competent friends come over and look it over and they are unsure as well.
update: here is the rear seat that finally arrived. i'm leaning toward foam and canvas vs. the springs that are still somewhat intact but damaged. I've seen others use leather.
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CC rear seat.jpg
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42 GPW; 41WC6
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Re: Rondo's Command Car restoration

Post by ng19delta » Sun Nov 12, 2017 7:32 pm

rondo wrote:
Mon Sep 04, 2017 6:53 am
January 2016 timeframe.
Mystery: old ring gear look chewed up so I ordered a new one. The place I got it from insisted it was correct, but the one that came off my WC was thicker! So which is correct? Not knowing what to do, I had my machinist built a spacer to put it out to the same width as the one that came off. we'll see if that was the right decision for 60 bucks.
Had the same problem: So I bought a NOS one from John at MWM for a very reasonable price...

Scott

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rondo
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Re: Rondo's Command Car restoration

Post by rondo » Mon Nov 13, 2017 5:37 am

thanks for the reply Scott. Yes got the ring gear from MWM. No idea why the two were different. Maybe the reason was in the starter or Bubba got after it.
42 GPW; 41WC6
"moral courage is the most valuable and usually the most absent characteristic in men"

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Re: Rondo's Command Car restoration

Post by W. Winget » Mon Nov 13, 2017 7:31 am

Your high idle problem may just be your float setting is incorrect allowing for gas to be pushed past the seat and down the throat keeping the engine speed up.
Check float level in your next run attempt.
V/R W Winget
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rondo
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Re: Rondo's Command Car restoration

Post by rondo » Sun Dec 03, 2017 9:57 am

I got sidetracked and found a converto trailer. I need another project like I need a 3rd eye.

The WC6 body sheetmetal is almost done. Now i'm concerned with the undercoating. One of our resident Idaho experts told me these were undercoated from the factory. I don't plan to get judged on this, but also don't want to plan to fail.

-were they really undercoated?
-would bedliner be ok?
-paint olive drab over the bedliner or was the undercoat left black, assuming it was even black? maybe it was tar? maybe it made from the tears of an uninformed restorer?

instead of working on the dodge today i'll be fixing the fence, where my parts dodge wc3 sunk in the dirt off the jack stands and fell into it :oops:
someone care to come get it? wife would be thrilled hehe
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converto small pic.JPG
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Last edited by rondo on Fri Dec 08, 2017 12:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
42 GPW; 41WC6
"moral courage is the most valuable and usually the most absent characteristic in men"

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Re: Rondo's Command Car restoration

Post by philbrinson » Fri Dec 08, 2017 11:24 am

Great seeing your restoration. I'm doing a WC6 now as well.

If you look, I think you'll see a seam somewhere just behind the tire carrier where the sides of the body where spliced together. I'm sure it won't be where you need to splice your pieces unfortunately, but its worth a look.

Regarding to your Converto, mine was not undercoated nor any I've seen have been either. I would not do so. They are great trailers and very useful.

Phil
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rondo
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Re: Rondo's Command Car restoration

Post by rondo » Fri Dec 08, 2017 12:59 pm

Phil,
thanks for the input. the splice is almost done but its worth taking a look. the undercoat is reference to the WC6 not the trailer. my fault for writing that up the way it was. Zeph has been a great source (as usual) lol
I will definitely be undercoating the WC body, its just a matter of choosing something that is correct
42 GPW; 41WC6
"moral courage is the most valuable and usually the most absent characteristic in men"


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