1944 Willys MB - My Project

[VitoCapo]

I've got a long way to go on this project but I figured I'd post a couple of pic's I snapped today.

We had some snow recently so i figured the Jeep would be hungry for a little mud. I want to get some "fun" time in before I start pulling her apart for a good ol' cleaning. Oh, I did some more poking around and indeed bubba filled the shovel/axe channels with bondo. Not going to be a lot of fun digging that out but I guess it's better than replacing those panels!







Sure is nice having open desert 1/4 mile from the house

[thidisbogus]

It is amazing what a coat of olive drab paint will do for a jeep

[thidisbogus]

Any further pictures to post?

[VitoCapo]

It's been cold and without a garage to work in I've been spending my time prepping.

I did get the new tires in plus a bunch of parts from Ron. I need to figure out 2 things. The size/thread count of the capture bolts that hold the muffler brackets and the size/thread count of the stud sticking out of the side of the engine that the ignition coil is held on with. I've just been lazy and need to crack open the books on that one.

Next week I'm hoping to get some updates on here. I hit the stumbling block when the solenoid decided to go upside down. Stay tuned! Some basics and some electrical as soon as we start getting weekends over 50 degrees..

(Also.. draining fluids, pulling fenders, etc... the busy time is right around the corner!)

[VitoCapo]

Hooray for good weather and more daylight!

Ok, I'll post some more pics tomorrow but here's a couple of updates.

I have my foot switch on the way so I may have a few electrical questions soon but for now my plan is an hour a day after work on removing paint/bondo and the weekend on anything more mechanical.

I am absolutely convinced that Bubba had stock in Bondo. I've spent the past 2 evenings going after the rear and frontier section with an abrasive disk and could probably fill a sand bag with bondo dust. I had originally thought bubba filled the frontier section with bondo, I think it's a bigger fix than that. I haven't found all the seems yet but i believe he replaced some sheet metal from the rear up to about half-way through that section. The remainder of the grooves he welded some sheet metal over it.

Looking over at the rear of the Jeep I can't find any original holes for the spare tire holder. There are 4 holes (one of which is welded flat) that seem to match the gas can holder but they are where I thought the spare tire holder should have been (passenger side) and there are no holes on the drivers side. All of the holes that were originally used for the small footman loops were either filled with bondo or welded closed.

It's slow going and I'm sure sand-blasting is probably faster or more correct but I am liking the results I'm getting with the sanding disk. For now since I'm just going after the sides and such it's helping to answer a lot of questions while bringing up about a dozen more. I have a sneaking suspicion I'm going to find out there is a lot more of this Jeep that was replaced than just a few bits here and there. Bubba seems to have thought he was quite the accomplished welder.

This week I'll be draining fluids, pulling fenders, and starting on some of the basic disassembly stuff. I got a good look at the brake drums and there is a lot of work down there.. one step at a time.. LOL

Anyways, pics tomorrow in the a.m. sometime.

[VitoCapo]

ok, so here's a few pics.

Rear Wheel hubs (I'll be doing the brakes soon so all this will get cleaned up)


Front Wheels / Warn Hubs: I'm not even sure these work, I'm hoping they didn't cut up the axle when installing these)


Dash Driver Side: New Wiring harness in the next few weeks, lots of clean-up incoming


Dash Passenger Side: Cleaned the silicon out of the bracket holes. That solenoid is mounted where the fuel strainer goes... more parts...


Bumper and spring front right:


Bumper and spring front left:


Ok, onto the interesting stuff. I'm pretty sure Bubba re-skinnd the back/side. There's a dent on the inside of the rear panel that isn't there on the outside. I'll clean off some more of this bondo/paint before I decide what I'm gonna do about this stuff.





Here's the frontier section. Notice on the front side it's patched and welded flat, the other half doesn't seem to show any welds. That is what makes me think there was some kind of reskinning that went on here.


Ok, now to show a touch of progress.... New muffler/exhaust.



Lots of work to do, but hey the weather is picking up!

[VitoCapo]

Well, I found out why I never found the hole for the PTO going to the genrator. Also confirmed I am dealing with an MZ variant.

The PO welded a new floor in the drivers compartment, I will give him some credit it's not horrible. Here's a pic from under neath showing where the hole used to be.


I pulled the cover plates around the gear shifts and started doing some more cleaning. Not the best pic but this is on top of the gearbox.


I pulled out the gas tank as well, I had thought there was a leak but it seems intact. The hose hanging off was hooked up to a secondary fuel pump. There is also an outlet I think next to the hump, it's sealed up and I'm not sure if thats right or not. The PO punched (not cut) a hole in the back of the sump to run that hose to the other fuel sender. The sump area is heavily rusted but it looks like some repairs were attempted.






Here's that secondary fuel pump. These lines all look pretty jerry-rigged to me.


The internal E-Brake is completely gutted so I pulled the rear drive shaft so I can start working on that. I didn't have a socket/wrench big enough to pull that big nut in the middle. Drive shaft came off no problem but the u-joints are definetly needing to be replaced.




I took the starter to get tested today as well. It seems to be hosed. Not sure if I should rebuild or buy a new one.
Here's a shot of where the starter hooks up, the gear doesn't look too bad to me so that may be good news!

Anyway, not too bad for a days work.

[zepher11]

Looking good. A little at a time...that's the way to do it. Sounds like you found our sunshine which has gone away and has been replaced by rain this past week...finally! We really needed it here.

Anyway, keep up the good work. I really enjoy your photos.

Cheers,

Zeph

[thidisbogus]

Great work with your muffler. Looks good. Yes I do believe bubba did a number on your rear panel and completely replaced it. One giveaway is the angled section right above the pintle hook. You can tell it doesn't look right. Bubba did the same thing to mine.

Maybe your bubba and my bubba were pen pals or something, as mine did a similar thing to the pioneer section too. I had to wind up replacing the section.

That is funny what you said about the bondo dust being enough to fill a sandbag. That one got a good chuckle also about him being too frustrated or lazy and punching a hole in your sump

A couple of things I wanted to point out. One of your bumpers (that cushion the axle when it bottoms out) looks odd. I have circled it below. The ones I have seen are all mounted flat onto the frame. Yours appears to have some sort of stand-off:




Another thing I noticed is your spring shackles are not correct. I have not seen any like yours before. Here is what yours looks like (circled):



And here is what it is supposed to look like:

[VitoCapo]

Yeah, Bubba did some creative engineering for sure!

The spring shackles and such will be coming in time. I boxed up my starter to ship to Ron for a rebuild and I should have the $ to order the wiring harness soon as well. I was pretty excited to figure out that I do have the T-84, should be easier to work on... which brings me to my stumbling block.


The Bolt from HELL! Probably dropped half a can of penetrating oil in that bad boy and not a single budge. The thread might actually be damaged so any suggestions would be welcomed.

Ok, so onto todays progress...

I drained the radiator and engine block so I could pull the head. I needed to take off those bolts anyway so I can relocate the oil filter and put the air filter back together correctly. So why not replace the head gasket while you're at it right?

Most of them were studs and I was pretty happy that I didn't break a single one in this process.



Besides a good cleaning there doesn't seem to be any problems here, at least none I can see.





Lots of cleaning



Here's the head, looks pretty good as well actually.



We have a pretty big wind storm around the corner so had to cut it a bit short today. Filled all the big holes with paper towels to keep out the dust and dirt, covered the whole engine with a tarp and locked it down for the day.

More to come soon!!!

[VitoCapo]

Hehehehe.. I lied! Water pump and radiator pulled out. Water pump looks a bit nasty but should be able to be saved. I'm looking into finding someone around here to do a little sandblasting for me. Hopefully get the fenders and grill off tomorrow as long as the wind doesn't blow me down the block.

Enough with the yakkity yak.. pics below!

Water pump after removal.



Here's a shot of the front of the engine where the water pump came from.



A few good shots of the radiator and engine compartment after removal.


Mmmm... bugs!


I know this radiator isn't original, the cap is the wrong size (smaller) and it's probably had some Bubba repairs to it. It doesn't leak, and it fits so thats good enough for me!


Of course, the newly roomy engine compartment! This will make replacing the pulley (I promised the capstan pulley to someone here and there's no way I'm going through the chase to put on an old Capstan Winch), timing chain cover gasket, and just getting around in general much easier.


I'll be working on getting the carb and manifold off next. I'm considering rebuilding the carb or having someone do it, I think thats much further down the road though. I'm pulling the manifold so I can change out that seal and the valve cover gasket. Mainly getting a good look around to see if I need to go deeper or not. It ran good before my electrical issues came to a head so I figure there's not much engine work neccesary. If I can get that one bolt off I'm considering dropping the transfer case and tranny, though I'm taking this slow so I don't exceed my skills too quickly.

[Fat Albert]

That is definitley some good work there Vito! I'm impressed and hope to be able to do as much with mine someday! Keep those wrenches turning!

[VitoCapo]

I'll say this, with the help of the guys/gals on the G here, good parts from Ron, lots of manuals and mags, and a vast amount of web searching... anybody can do it!

No seriously, I pretty much suck at automotive work. I used to get ahead of myself or say, "Meh, I can skip that step it can't be that important." Now that I'm getting the practice on this I feel much more confident. Welding is still something I'm toying with but I'm not THAT confident yet. In the meantime I do a lot of reading and ask a lot of silly questions in the Tech section.

Thanks for the compliment!!!

[thidisbogus]

Make sure and get a Vintage Wiring of Maine harness. Heard a lot of good things about them and got one myself. They are worth the extra money.

[VitoCapo]

Progress.. beautiful beautiful progress!

Got home a bit late last night so I decided to do something "fun" before dinner. So I mounted the spare tire carrier and the gas can holder. I need to pick up the bolts to hold the strap bracket but I just wanted to do something that gave me the look I wanted.


Gorgeous weather today, just about broke 80 so I got a lot done.
I cleaned up and repainted the radiator.


I also tried out some paint stripper. I'm here to say that the "Aircraft Paint Stripper" is the best thing ever!!! I used the one in the aresol can and cannot complain. I sprayed the head, gave it about 30min to really do it's job and I seriously love the results. USE GLOVES! I used gloves, a painters mask and eye protection. I can't imagine that stuff is good for you if you accidentally breath any of it in or get it on you. After I let it sit for about a half an hourI went at it with a wire brush and it literally fell off. Reinstalled the thermostat with a new gasket, new head gasket and coat of primer.


I got all the brackets in place for the oil filter and air filter assmblies as well! Torgued down the head bolts/nuts and should be moving on to the timing chain cover, grill, water pump and radiator install tomorrow.

A few more pic's of todays progress.
I couldn't get the rubber seal to fit right between the air horn and the Solex. It's a repro carb so I'm thinking it's off by just enough to make that unneccesary.


Believe it or not, the original capture nuts behind the firewall for the air filter brackets worked just fine with a little rust removal. (they were originally full of silicon when I bought her)


It took a little convincing to get the hose between the air filter bracket and the dipstick tube to fit right but it worked out. The hose between the air filter and the bracket is probably too long and should be trimmed, it sure is bunched up right there.


No, your eye's aren't decieving you. I really did use bread-ties to test fit the oil filter to the bracket. The parts list says the bolts are supposed to be 5/16x24-3/4, I have a repro oil filter bracket from Ron and those bolts didn't fit. Any idea what size they're supposed to be? Oh, yeah, those oil lines are all wrong too. I'll be changing those out shortly, I'm draining the oil and replacing the oil pan gasket so I'll do this at the same time.





So, moving right along.. Maybe I'll try to tackle that E-Brake bolt in the morning.