Fat Albert's '43 MB 217048 Project Thread

[south_side_slide]

Hey Dutch,

Where at in Ga are you? There's a lot of jeepers here! Also, there is a local event on the 28th you might want to check out, you can drive mine to get a taste!

Paul

[Fat Albert]

Hey Dutch,

Where at in Ga are you? There's a lot of jeepers here! Also, there is a local event on the 28th you might want to check out, you can drive mine to get a taste!

Paul

Oh South Side... you are making my mouth salivate! In a good kind of way! Unfortunately my niece is getting married on that Saturday.
But I would still like to tie up with as many of the jeepers if I could! This site has been my only communication with others of like mind since I found my little MB. The gentlemen on here have helped and encouraged tremndously... but it sure would be nice to see somebody in the flesh and some old WWII jeep in metal instead of just looking at pictures on a computer! I am located in North Georgia... near Rome and Calhoun... little place called Plainville.

Yep you are right...a '48 - '51 CJ2 or CJ3...possibly a Willys wagon or pickup. My MB came with almost the exact same engine (same numbers on head and block). There should be a serial number on the water pump boss (somewhere in the blackness beneath the chain in engine picture #2). If the SN starts with a 'J' then its from a CJ. A 'U' or a 'P' means some other type of Willys vehicle. The main difference between a CJ vs. MB engine is geared vs. chain timing. Other than that it will bolt up to the frame, tranny and carb exactly the same.

I kept my CJ engine since it runs. I replaced all of the seals, gaskets, belts, etc. and painted it all correct so now 97.6% of the people that will ever see it won't know its not "correct". But hey it will run and thats what counts for me right now. When it dies I'll find a proper MB engine and replace this one.

Husker, that sounds like a good idea... one I'll most likely copy! I do want to restore this jeep as close as budget and time will allow. But my main desire is to have a functional vehicle with CHARACTER! I've said from the start that I want a daily driver... so I thnk this engine will work just fine for me right now! I like your reasoning!

Dutch
Dutch

[Fat Albert]

Okay... took a couple of hours off from doing taxes to work on my MB. It's amazing how therapeutic it can be! Anyways... I had asked a couple of days ago about the key ignition in my MB. The DoD is March 8-9 1943 and I'd read somewhere that Willys dropped the keyed ignition for the toggle type in January. Nick Peters backed this up.

Hey Albert
According to John Farleys book "The Standardised War Time Jeep 2" the date for changing from keyed to toggle ignition switch was indeed Jan 43 on a willys(the same time the choke and throttle knobs changed from metal to plastic) you ask why yours has a keyed type. Does your switch turn on with a H700 key? If it does then you've got quite a valuble little item. Who knows it could well have been changed during ww2.

So here are a few pictures of the key in the dash and also out. Is it a H700 switch? I looked on jeep parts and from the side view it looks kind of like one. What does this mean?
This is the switch in the dash... just left of the steering column. As you can see I'm missing the choke and throttle knobs and cables... along with a lot of other stuff!

Switch coming out...

Side view...

Back view...

Labels on the back are "Bat" on left... "Sta" on the right and "Ign" in the middle...

Whole switch out...


I worked on a few other things also... I found my dad's old bench grinder and an extra wire wheel. It took me a little bit to get it all put back together... but I finally suceeded!


Unfortunately it didn't have the power to eat through much old paint and rust. Here are a few pics of before and after...before I gave up.
T 90 tranny cover before...

After...

Glove box door before...


After... all it did was burn the paint a little... smooth out the rust a little... oh well. It was worth a try.


Also wondered about this toggle switch wired to the heater in the floor board. It doesn't look original to me... I'll have to go look it up later... but for now I just wanted to get it on here to document my fun!


Then I moved on to the back again... started looking at the bumper. I know it is not factory either...

Lots of Bubba work on this jeep. But I didn't realize just how much he had accomplished. I thought he had just covered over the bottom two holes on the pintle mount until I crawled under it for a looksy... oh my...

"This bumper don't fit! Do I cut the bumper or the frame?! The FRAME of course!"

After all this my buddy (same buddy who found the engine and tranny for me this weekend! Good buddy!) came over and produced a 6" metal cutting wheel on a 4" grinder! Man, did that thing ever work! We cut the rusted seats out... or what was left of them anyways. We cut out some extra sheet metal that Bubba had installed over the bottom tool indent and also in the fuel tank sump area. That thing works wonders... I'm going to order me several boxes of them I think!

Sorry I didn't get any pictures but it was getting dark by this time. But tomorrows another day!

Dutch

[south_side_slide]

Dutch,
The switch is not an original, neither is the toggle switch.

Your frame has definitely been worked over by Bubba! I have a good rear section you can have if you want it, I know how it is on a limited budget!

I'll send you a pm after work so we can shop talk

Paul

[jeepfinger]

Hi Dutch,

You sure don't mess about, you found that engine pretty quick and another tub as well The light thing, you could look on the, for sale section, I think that they come up now and again.
Dutch, I like your dog, looks like he likes Jeeps ,always sniffing around it.
Dave

[Fat Albert]

Dutch,
The switch is not an original, neither is the toggle switch.

Your frame has definitely been worked over by Bubba! I have a good rear section you can have if you want it, I know how it is on a limited budget!

I'll send you a pm after work so we can shop talk

Paul

Well... I firgured they probably were not. Thanks for taking a look. And yes, I would definitely be interested in that rear section! I'm looking forward to talking to you Paul!

Hi Dutch,

You sure don't mess about, you found that engine pretty quick and another tub as well The light thing, you could look on the, for sale section, I think that they come up now and again.
Dutch, I like your dog, looks like he likes Jeeps ,always sniffing around it.
Dave

I still have to find out about that tub... I'll let you know what it turns out like. And thanks for the compliment on Bear... he has a way of getting into all kinds of places. Quite the hyper one he is. And as far as liking jeeps I think he must... he keeps marking the tires everytime he walks by!

[Ben Dover]

The Key Switch is typical of the Universal Type Ignition Switches available on the civilian market during the 40's and later.

[Fat Albert]

Just bought a new cutting wheel and paint/rust abrassive disc! Now to find an excuse to slip off to the shop for a little fun!

[wilfreeman]

There's always an excuse!

[Fat Albert]

Woo Hoo! Bought a new toy today!


Immediatley put it to use...


Found out you got to be careful when the rust is deep and the metal is thin.


Bottom right side... a few extra holes that were not there a little bit ago. Didn't think about that. Oh well... its paid for!

I moved around quite a bit today... I think I have ADD when it comes to this project!


Still trying to figure out how to repair that.

Worked on getting the lights and light brakets off.



How does the plug come off? I don't want to cut the wires... although I am assuming I will replace the whole harness before I'm through.

Removed the radiator... and no Paul... it's not a Ford radiator. Dang!

It actually seems pretty solid all things considered. Only a bit of rust on the bottom of the support piece.





Hard to work sometimes when my buddy has other ideas!


One last pic from a couple of days ago. Drivers side seat... or whats left of it!

[Fat Albert]

Progress continues slowly. I spent a couple hours today removing... maybe "trying" would be a better word to use here... the lights from the grill.
Left side light.


I think this was a Bubba mod... both light hinges had small nails holding the wingnut bolt in place. The Right side held and I was able to get the wingnut loose and the rest of the assembly off.

Hinge works!

The Left side did NOT hold and I wound up busting my knuckles!


After getting the Right side loose I started working on the wiring harness. Most of it is still wrapped in cloth. Amazing it has held up for 69 years!
Here is the routing along top of the radiator. It's held in place by two screws with 3/8ths nuts. One on each side of the radiator.

[Fat Albert]

Next I started working on the Left side light. Careful with the harness...

Here is what I suppose is a junction block for the light wires...

Keep up with what wires go where!

http://i1249.photobucket.com/albums/hh5 ... 0_9025.jpg[/img]
Junction block removed... what is this material? Seems in decent shape after all these years.

Headlights on the ground... I posted a question over on the tech board regarding removing the wires from the light housing for repaint.

[Fat Albert]

On to the blackout lights...


Same problem as the headlights... how do I remove the wires from the light housing without cutting the wire?


Oops... don't think this bulb will work anymore!

Ran into problems with the Right side blackout light. Bolt was rusted tight. After two liberal treatments with PB Blaster I tucked my shoulder into it... plastic casing on bottom of light busted. Now nut and bolt just spin in light housing and I can't get it off. I guess the cutting wheel will have to be employed here tomorrow.


Began working my way back to the main wiring block loosening the harness.

Wow what a mess...


One more neat thing... here is the original canvas "bumper" on the grill! Or at least what's left of it.


I know I'm most likely not using the correct terms to identify these items. I hope you will bear with me and forgive my sacrilidge!

Dutch

[hell-fire]

Remove the wires from the headlight buckets by pulling the through from the light side if this makes sense, Blackout markers are the same, no matter how good the wiring looks write it down for replacment though, you won't regret it.

[Fat Albert]

I'm thinking putting new wires throughout would make lots more sense. Thanks for the dose of sanity.