Starting restoration on Michael's ’43 GPW.

[thidisbogus]

Moving along well. Thanks for posting the photos.

[ILikePlanesToo]

This is a great thread well done Michael .. What type of metal primer are you using ..Dale

Hi Dale,
I'm using GCI RED OXIDE III Primer on all the parts. I've been getting it from Army Jeep Parts Inc. here in the states. I like it but shipping it from Pennsylvania to California just about doubles the price, so I'm looking for another primer and 33070 option.

Michael

[ILikePlanesToo]

Just a few notes on recent progress. I finished up the outer windshield frame. I think it turned out fine, but it took a lot more work than I was expecting to straiten out the sheet metal.

I cleaned up the forward marker lights. They were really rusty and dirty, so I'm quite pleased with how they turned out. I put 6V bulbs in them. I'm definitely leaning toward changing back to 6V. If anyone out there has a core 6V gen and core 6V voltage regulator, let me know. I'm probably heading that way.

I've been doing a lot more work on the radiator. The fill neck was cracked and the drain tube was broken off, so I had to do a little soldering. It turned out really well. I'm going to try to do a 4 PSI leak check soon and then paint it. I think it's about ready to go.

Michael

[ILikePlanesToo]

I finished up the hood today. I intentionally left some of the small dents because I felt that they were "historical" and gave it a little personalty, but now that it's painted, you can really seem all of them. I struggle with that topic a lot. I don't want to over-restore it, but I also want it to look nice and be something I am proud of. I have some co-workers that think I'm already over-restoring it a bit. It's tricky.

Michael

[Fat Albert]

You're doing a great job Michael. I think all of us "normal" folks on here struggle some with how far to go with the "original untouched" thing. I have gone back and forth so much in my head about that. Don't sweat it... just keep up the good work! You have a lot to be proud of in this jeep!

[thidisbogus]

Michael,

You are doing a great job like Dutch says. I think your hood looks just fine. I did the same. It adds character to the vehicle and is a reminder it is a 70 year old MILITARY vehicle.

I am going to PM you about the generator.

[HH Birnie]

Hoi,
Don't worry about the over restoring. Do your best like you want. There is always in the restoration something want not 100% is and that makes your jeep personal and look not a showroom jeep.I have also workt hours to get my hood straight.

Good luck,
Gr Hans Birnie.
viewtopic.php?f=96&t=137039

[hell-fire]

Michael,

Great work you are doing & I really like your approach to it all cleaning everything up & getting it all ready to fit back on, great stuff.

Have no fear on the hood, mine is a possibly a little worse, my metal guy shrunk out most the tricky dents I couldn't work out with my hammer & dollys, main thing was he got rid of the oil canning, & unless you are going for a first place 100 % perfect Jeep there comes a time when you have to draw the line on these things as the cost can get brutal.

Keep up the grear job, I am almost done with mine but I can look at work like yours all the time.


One more thing, 20 bucks to have the grill blasted was a bargain.

[ILikePlanesToo]

I finished up the inner windshield assembly. I'm pleased with the way it turned out. I did have a lot of trouble getting the glass in yesterday though. It took a lot more effort than I was expecting. The glass setting tape was just sticky enough to make it hard to slide the glass in, but the rubber was just hard enough to take a lot of force to compress it. After a lot of work, it looks really nice, but it took a lot more time to get installed than I was expecting.

Michael

[zepher11]

Michael, great work on the hood and the inner windshield frame and glass. I know what you are talking about in regard to over restoring. I always want everthing to be prefect. However, I've been preparing for not just "some", but a lot of "character" in my jeep project after looking at how bad my tub looks.

Keep up the good work. First class!

[Fat Albert]

Man do I ever know what you mean by things taking longer than you expect! But judging by how good your work looks I would say its well worth the time and effort! Keep up the good work!

[ILikePlanesToo]

I just finished up the radiator. I'm fairly pleased with how it turned out. I ended up doing a number of small solder repairs and a lot of hammer and dolly work on the shroud. I cleaned and repaired the outside over the last few weeks.

I was a little hesitant to clean the inside with chemicals, but I ended up using muriatic acid for about 5 minutes. It did a pretty nice job removing the surface mineral deposits. I then made plugs that fit in small sections of the radiator hose to block off the fluid ports to the radiator. In one plug I put a pressure gauge and in the other I put a schrader valve. I pumped it up with a bike pump to about 4-5 psi and checked that the cap was releasing at the right pressure. I then submerged it in water to check for leeks (interestingly, putting it in the bathtub was my wife's idea). I did find another small leak by submerging it in water (you can see the bubbles in the first photo). I was able to do a nice little solder repair and it then passed the second submerged leek check.

After drying it off a bit with a heat gun, I gave it a very light grit blast to help paint adhesion and painted it OD. I actually think it looked better without paint, but it’s now the right basic color for a GPW. I’m pretty happy with it.

[zepher11]

Nice work on the radiator, Michael. It does seem strange to see the radiators in OD vs. the typical black that one is used to seeing. You certainly perform meticulous work!

Regards,

[ILikePlanesToo]

I actually think it looks rather strange painted OD. I think black would look a lot more normal, but per the JeepDraw color reference page it should be OD, so I went with it.

I did a good bit of reading on the net about what is the best paint for radiators. It ended up being rather confusing and there area a lot of opinions out there. It seems that the temperature of a radiator is right around the maximum temperature that a lot of conventional paints can handle, but I couldn't find a higher temp OD color that I liked. It also seems that a lot of people on the net believe that if you use "special" radiator paint, you get significantly better cooling, but I couldn't find any legitimate reference for if that was true other than a bunch of over-hyped sales info.

So, in the end, I decided to go with what appeared to be on the radiator in the first place. I cleaned the radiator very well and put a nice uniform (but thin) layer of OD with no primer. I believe that this is what was on it in the first place, so I guess we will see how it performs. If it was good enough for the last 69+ years, I'm hoping it'll be fine now.

Michael

[Fat Albert]

It certainly looks good. And speaking of the red oxide primer... I was told last night my paint probably won't stick for long because the red oxide primer I was using was not self etching. (at least I dont think it is) And I have been cleaning my parts down to the metal. What do you think?