Fat Albert's '43 MB 217048 Project Thread

[Fat Albert]

Hello Everyone
Looking at Dutch,s picture of the cowl area,which shows the layers of paint. Isnt that Navy gray on top of the original drab? Looks like it to me ,if im reading the layers correctly
regards Nick
Ps Dutch This is where the Phrase "Blood Sweat And Tears" comes from Guys rebuilding Jeeps You wait till a welding spark goes down your neck

You mean the what looks like blue? Man that would be nice if this were an old Navy jeep at one point in its life seeing as how my dad served in the Navy. I have found this color scheme only on the hood and cowl areas. The rest only green, red and LOTS of bondo!

Speaking of red... Why do so many of these old jeeps turn up red?

[VitoCapo]

Seriously? Where did this trend come from?


Oh yeah, as far as the grey... I found that on mine too. I could have sworn my Jeep went USMC then Navy but then again, it's hard to tell on mine. Green, then Grey/blue, then canary yellow, then this awful orange/red stuff.

[Fat Albert]

I like that red better than RUST red!

[Fat Albert]

I just noticed another thing our jeeps have in common... The tow br thingy going on. Or at least I think I just noticed... I forgot!

[thidisbogus]

That Ospho is great stuff. Stirstick told me about it. It is so good, that is what Exxon uses on their off-shore platforms. One thing to watch out for though is do not let it get on your concrete. It will react to it and wherever it touches it will burn through and turn it to powder. If it drips on there, wipe it up immediately. Stick told me that if you get it real wet with it, it will burn clear through the slab.

[Fat Albert]

That Ospho is great stuff. Stirstick told me about it. It is so good, that is what Exxon uses on their off-shore platforms. One thing to watch out for though is do not let it get on your concrete. It will react to it and wherever it touches it will burn through and turn it to powder. If it drips on there, wipe it up immediately. Stick told me that if you get it real wet with it, it will burn clear through the slab.

[Fat Albert]

I snuck back to the shop this afternoon for almost an hour before the wedding rehearsal. I feel so guilty.
The Ospho had done its job... Turned the rust into a bronz/black color. I had to sand over everything again to remove hardened splatters and excess residue. Then hit it with self etching primer. That ought to keep it till I get ready to do some serious body work. I also worked on the back again... I almost have all the bondo removed. Man is it ever in rough shape. But it is suprisingly solid all things considered. I'll post pics later after this wedding blows over.

Dutch

P.S. Rodney I really enjoyed your thread over in the tech section. Post some more pics!

[thidisbogus]

Thanks Dutch! Are you referring to the project thread (I ask because I have three or more posted right now in addition to the project one)? If so, I will post some more soon.

[Fat Albert]

Yes... I have been reading through your "Motorpool Restoration 1943 GPW 124269" thread. I really enjoy it! Great job!

[thidisbogus]

Thanks Dutch, I appreciate the kind words. I have taken a few more pictures and will try and get them up tonight or tomorrow.

[Ralph]

Hi Dutch,
I've been following your posts;you have said your vision is a reasonably restored,dependable MB.You seem determined enough to do just that...I wish you well in this...fyi,you can see how close ours are.the prior owner of mine got a story, passed on from another prior owner/owners that MB217454 had seen service at Ft.Oglethorpe and was purchased as surplus from there at the end of the war.True? Who Knows?
You do a pretty good job with the pictures.I have some on the G503 gallery under my first name.I'm not too good at getting them up on these threads though.

[Fat Albert]

Hi Dutch,
I've been following your posts;you have said your vision is a reasonably restored,dependable MB.You seem determined enough to do just that...I wish you well in this...fyi,you can see how close ours are.the prior owner of mine got a story, passed on from another prior owner/owners that MB217454 had seen service at Ft.Oglethorpe and was purchased as surplus from there at the end of the war.True? Who Knows?
You do a pretty good job with the pictures.I have some on the G503 gallery under my first name.I'm not too good at getting them up on these threads though.

Hey Ralph... I had a hard time getting my pictures up to begin with... but somebody here on the G suggested I set up a Photobucket.com alblum. It is very easy uploading them there and then using their image copy button... then pasting it here in my thread. It works really great.

What is the link to your pics? I'd love to see them... I've gained a lot of inspiration and motivation from you guys here!

And in regards to our MBs... They are close! 406 apart... They probably rolled off the line on consecutive days! My DoD is March 8-9, 1943. You mention Ft. Olgathorpe... forgive my military ignorance here... but where is that? I wish I knew the history of mine. There is a huge 68 or 69 year hole in its history since it rolled off the line until I purchased it from the junk yard!

I look forward to hearing from you.

Dutch

[Fat Albert]

The wedding is over! And so are the pics I had on the camera to be uploaded. Seems like they were blown out to make space for the wedding pics! Looks like I'm going to have to purchase a dedicated "Jeep" camera! Oh well... I' get some pics of the work today. Now that the wedding is over I feel like a free man again!

Dutch

[Fat Albert]

Didn't get as much time as I thought I would today... but an hour here and there will eventually add up. Anyways... here are a few pics I took today of what I accomplished last Friday.
the self etching primer came in 3 colors. Black, gray or green. Which one would any self respecting jeep guy choose?!?

Not the right kind of green... but at least it's green!
I also cleared most of the bondo off the back. Here is a shot of the back section... but it doesn't really tell the story of how bad it really is.


Today I cleaned the rest of the back and then went back over it again. When I did I found these welds... makes me wonder if this panel has been replaced before? Can anyone tell me if Willys built the backs like this? If this is a bubba replacement I definitely won't try to repair it. I'll just get another one or build my own.




Not sure if you can see the plugged hole a little above and to the left of the left tail light... I'm thinking this is original although I've not checked out jeepdraw yet for dimensions to see for sure. What do you call that hole?

And is this what you call a Ford script?


And a parting shot of Bear cooling off... today was the first Summer hot type of day we've had here.

[Fat Albert]

I wasn't able to get any more pictures... got too dark and the wife took the camera. (I REALLY got to buy my own!) I was able to remove the bondo from the passenger side and get it sprayed down with the rust convertor tonight. That is the whole jeep stripped of bondo. I can truly say this is NOT a bondo buggy anymore! It took me several days but it's finally done! I still have to strip the hood and fenders but they're not covered in bondo so it shouldn't take long. I'm going to use paint stripper and wet sanding on the hood as much as possible just in case there are some kind of markings under the 5 layers of paint. Soooo... that's about all I accomplished today! I'm off to browse through the old threads on here till bed time! You guys have a great night.

Dutch