thefoxhat

The Bristol area has been sadly lacking in Car shows for several years but that is about to change. On 2nd and 3rd August 2014 the first ever South Gloucestershire County Show is being launched and a major part of this is the Murco Motoring event, to which all classic car enthusiasts are invited. The event will be held on a 170 acre site at the Windmill Fishery Showground, Westerleigh, BS37 8QZ

The County Show has an enormous amount going on over the two days, a music festival, a mini balloon festival, fishing, shooting, golf, cycling show, a farmers market, lots of stalls and local groups and a beer festival sponsored by Bath Ales, not to mention the car show itself!

They are looking for 250+ cars, rods, bikes, interesting vehicles, military etc, either individually or club stands. The deal is that if you pre-book, entry is only £5 for a car and two people - a great deal with so much going on. There is overnight camping and an exhibitors only bar open until 9pm on the Saturday night!

Bristol Motor Club are putting on a driving event and the show will also be supported by the major car dealers in the area.

There are vehicle age restrictions on individual entries (mainly pre-1985) but not on club or organisation stands. Full details here www.southglosshow.co.uk.

I'm not personally connected with the event but I do know the organisers and its bound to be a good all round event.

Request car pack details here http://www.southglosshow.co.uk/car-show-packs.html as I have a booking form but the file size is too large to attach on here !

I want to send my late fathers collection of bayonets to my Brother in Vancouver and I'm not sure if this is allowable and who would ship them? Any advice would be welcome please? I have used Interparcel to send normal family items to him. They are a website 'broker' who come up with rates using a variety of the normal shippers like UPS etc and they said they couldn't ship them. Also tried FedEx and they said they won't ship them or any militaria............

After getting both front wings to fit properly they were all sprayed Olive drab and then we finalised fitting out the engine bay with all the pipes, accessories and wiring, lighting, etc

Then work commenced on bare metalling the windshield, applying the primer and painting it and then fitting the gun rack. By this time we had also fitted the proper combat rims and new tyres which really did start to make it look the part again.

All the new canvas from Worthings was fitted along with all the other little external accessories and then it was time to get the stencils done..........

And then finally we fitted the new hood hoops and the new canvas top and it was pretty well finished. New rubber seal was fitted to the screen surround... and it was ready to go.......... !

Overall this project took 2 years mainly working every Friday, some Saturdays so in total I guess it was some 120 man days which only equates to around 4 months if you condensed it to working 7 days a week non-stop. One of the most rewarding and biggest restoration jobs I have ever done !

Got a couple of videos of running it around the yard to show you next.........if I can figure how to post them !

Blimey, can't believe a whole year has flown by since I posted on here.... Well the Willys is now finished but not running very well....

Anyway after fitting the body tub back on the chassis I started finishing off all the remaining bodywork. Rear end needed the most work and both side but we got there in the end

All the while we were fitting various bits to the engine bay, plus new wiring, the radiator, hoses, etc and finally got the front sheet metal all fitted roughly in place......

At this point there was definitely something wrong with the fit of the front reproduction wings so the inner strengthening bar had to be removed by drilling out all the spot welds and welding it back in about 1/2" further forward to ensure the bolt holes lined up with the chassis holes

Got the paint from Warpaint (RRServices?) and they just asked what year it was and sent the right stuff, but I seem to recall seeing on the label it referred to it as Tony Sudds Olive Drab. The pictures are deceiving though because of the camera flash and the fact that the paint definately changes colour quite a bit as it dries out over a period of a week or so...

Well I'm sure most of you are probably well educated on here about how a MB/GPW Jeep comes apart and goes back together, but as my first venture into the MV world it was very interesting. This forum provided many useful links and photos to other restorations which certainly helped us immensely, so I'm posting up our pics in the hope it also helps others.

I guess this is the tried and trusted way of putting the tub back on the chassis. Borrow four strong people and then supervise the move !

Thats me on the left making sure they don't scratch the paint ! Gently easing it down the steering shaft into place now

Little bit of adjustment and alignment...............

And the job was all done in literally five minutes. I couldn't believe how straightforward it was and another milestone is passed as the chassis is once again joined back up with the tub. Put the kettle on guys............

Salvaged the original triangular strengthening plates from the old metalwork that we removed and these were blast cleaned, primed and plug welded back in place

Here's an underside view of the new steps welded in place to the bracing/tub and then seam sealed prior to painting. I know its not 'original' but most joints will be seam sealed so that this Willys will last for a little bit longer on our roads !

Being keen to get on, the underside was also sprayed in a couple of coats of red oxide and then covered with the gloss paint before I realised that I had forgotten to weld back in the bulkhead triangular chassis braces... Doh, never mind, soon fixed..

Once that was done and all the welding was tidied up and red oxide primed, etc, the underside then got a couple of coats of Olive Drab. Again this final coat makes you feel as though you are well on the road to finishing the job but there is still a long way to go fitting everything back together. The inside of the tub was also painted Olive Drab at this stage as well.

Other work fitting out the chassis with brake pipes, clutch & brake linkages, etc was also proceeding in parallel with work on the tub. I decided to fit all the wiring, switches and instruments, etc into the bulkhead / dash whilst the body tub was kept in the vertical position as you could stand inside the tub with your head (and arms /hands) almost up inside the dash and easily see exactly where everything was going with easy access. These pics are just at the start of fitting out the bulkhead and working out what goes where again..............

Here you can see what I mean a bit better with the body tub stood up on the rear panel, most parts fitted to it now and ready to be lowered and fitted back on to the chassis........more to follow soon........

With the tub upside down and the new rear panel tacked in place, the rear floor pan and wheel tubs were all plug welded in place after several hours of ensuring that everything was square and level

Then the front floor pan was fitted again and finally welded in place. It didn't follow the contours of the old bulkhead join very well but with some careful welding and using a hammer & dolly it all came together much better than I expected. We just need to pull the front flanks in a little with a tie-down strap to get it to all fit very snug...

Now we could put the tub right ways up and start painting and fitting it out. Quite a major turning point when you think you have finished doing all of the cutting and welding. So all we managed to retain from the original tub was the bulkhead and both sides.

Now that my Willys Jeep is nearing completion (but not on the road yet) I made contact with John Wheedon, the area secretary of the Severnside Area MVT just before xmas and he mentioned their road run on Sunday Dec 30th. The day started out pretty wet, cold and miserable so I wasn't expecting much of a turnout but we popped along to see if anything was happening and found a hardy bunch of souls stood in the rain ! The rain soon stopped so we introduced ourselves and what a great friendly bunch of guys they were. Couldn't have been made to feel more welcome and it was great to have a look around and wave them off !! Here are some photos...

Hi thefoxhat,

Could I offer some advice drawn from experience. In the absence of a body jig, try to secure your body, floors brackets etc to the chassis with as many fasteners as possible before welding. This includes mudguards bonnet and the grill. Then weld as much of the body as possible in situ before removal and completion of the the welding process. That way, when you go to reinstall the body after final fit out and painting, you know it will indeed fit correctly back on the chassis.

Great job you are doing, good luck and enjoy the experience.

Cheers

John W.

Thanks John - I wouldn't disagree with what your experience tells you. The pics were taken about 12 months ago so the restoration is actually nearly complete.... however welding up the tub on a flat concrete floor, and checking for squareness and level throughout all the welding, the final tub actually fitted the chassis very well. I was expecting to have to do some elongation of holes and some stretching / bending, etc but it all lined up really well. However there is a small problem now in aliging the front wings with the grille shell as one wing appears to be about 12mm longer than the other. This could be more down to repro panels being out of spec rather than the tub being out of square but no doubt your way would have highlighted this earlier in the process and it could have been solved.... so, good advice.....we live and learn

After 20 months of restoring a 1943 Willys MB (which has been very interesting and rewarding) the moment finally came today when it moved under its own power for the first time... What a momentus occasion - well it was for me and my son ! The jeep was bought as a non-runner so the condition of the engine was unknown, but it checked out OK, was cleaned up and put back together. Gearbox was rebuilt by Jeffrey Engineering but other than that everything else had been done by myself and eldest son working one day a week on the project on average.

The restoration pictures are being slowly posted over on here http://hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/showthread.php?35878-1943-Willys-MB-Jeep-so-far

After we finally got the engine running last weekend it had no oil pressure (eeek!!) but you guys on here helped point us on priming the oil galleries, etc and yesterday it fired up and we had 30 lbs on tickover when hot so fingers crossed the engine has survived, however we couldn't disengage the clutch no matter what we did. We were pretty sure the clutch had stuck to the pressue plate as you could see it flexing back and forth through the inspection cover...

So today we removed the engine (for the 3rd time!) and I found that I had put the clutch plate in the wrong way round ! :red: I wish I had found and checked this forum a long time ago! We also did a final adjustment of the tappets and it sounds a lot better now. So it was clutch down, select gear and away we go.

Now I dont know how many on here are 'Facebookers' but the video of this occasion is posted here (hopefully the link works!)

https://www.facebook.com/colin.fox.359#!/photo.php?v=455341437858424&notif_t=like

With the chassis complete, more work is carried out on the body tub...

Whilst the tub was upside down and missing the floor the opportunity was taken to red oxide and gloss paint up inside the cowl area. Just makes me feel better knowing that 99% of it has a decent coat of paint !

Front floor pan now in place and ready for welding. Rear floor and the new wheel tubs plus new rear back panel are also clamped in place to ensure everything fitted together as it should. All the repro panels fitted pretty good and didn't require to much fettling to align which was a nice surprise !

Worked also continued on the engine strip and rebuild. Head was removed and bore wear was checked and found to be OK. Sump was removed and the amount of sludge in there was amazing. Inspected the crank bearings and all was OK so I decided the engine was probably OK and just needed a cosmetic rebuild....this might come back to haunt me later.... !

I had the T84 gearbox and transfer box rebuilt by Jeffery Engineering. Finally the engine and the gearbox are reunited in the chassis and then everything was given a coat of Olive Drab. When everything has been cleaned, painted and re-assembled you feel like you are on the downslope when putting everything back but there's a long way to go yet......

Meanwhile back on the body tub there were many rusty holes and splits in the metal that needed patching. I invested in these welding clamps and started to weld in many small pieces of 'new' metal that were salvaged from the old metal floors and wheel tubs that I cut out... It only seemed right that 1943 metal was repaired with 1943 metal for some reason ! This is just one example of these many repairs I carried out...

Thanks for all the suggestions.... We assumed no oil pressure because the oil filter canister never filled up and no oil came out the feed pipe joint to the pressure gauge, plus it sounded pretty awful..........

HOwever over the course of this week the pump was packed and refitted, the oil ways filled via the oil gauge flexi pressure pipe and via the valve cover. Today, the engine was cranked with no plugs/ignition and we got 25 lbs pressure on the gauge (oil also dripped all over the floor as we hadn't tightened up the connection on the back of the gauge either!). After fitting the plugs & connecting the ignition the engine was fired up and the gauge went up to 60 lbs falling back to 40 lbs on tickover after it had been running for a while to get warm... Stopped the engine, took the cover off the oil filter and it was full of oil as it should be. Seems as though we have cured the oil pressure problem BUT it still sounds like a flipping diesel tractor engine so I am not sure we are out of the woods just yet.............! Started the engine several times and got 40 lbs at tickover every time. If the big ends were toast then surely we wouldn't have got such good pressure? The oil gauge is a new item.

Then the next problem cropped up............. could not disengage the clutch and get it into gear. Fairly sure the clutch plate has stuck to the pressure plate by looking at whats happening through the inspection cover... and we couldn't break it free either....

So its running OK but can't get that first drive round the yard just yet..............

It could be original. The USMC usually put their yellow markings on the side. If you google USMC jeep you will see some images of similar makings.

Well we did a quick search at the time but I didn't find anything definitive that supported what we found? Will go have a look again !

I assume that you are aware of G503.com. It is an essential reference for anyone restoring an MB or GPW. Although many US Marine jeeps were painted Forest Green, I think that some were redirected from US Army contracts so were painted OD

Yes been looking at G503 and that has been of immense help.

Funny how things change because I started out to simply restore a jeep to a good standard that was to the best of my ability but not really bothered about it being 'original' or authentic down to the last detail. However as you find out more about the history things start to change a little and I became very keen to keep as much of the tub as possible, dents & dings included - that metalwork has 'lived' for nearly 70yrs and it shouldn't be discarded. Equally, considering most of the new parts I have bought for it are, by their availability, period correct, then the jeep has started to become more period correct than I would have anticipated. So the more you go down this route the more you feel you need to do the 'right thing' which I have never experienced before...

I have definately been sucked in to the different world of military vehicles and can see a how the MV thing grabs you !

I've even been looking for another one to restore as its been very rewarding and relatively straightforward.

I guess the Willys Jeep is probably considered very common and easy and not really a hardcore MV like some of you guys are into but its been a great project and introduction into the world of MV's for sure...... !

Looks good , intresting what you said RE the olivedrab properties , most olive drab is gloss paint with matting agent added in , so I would not say it has the same properties as primer which is porous by design , the gloss will still seal, its surface finish is modified by the agent to apear matt. ?

 

Rgds

 

bob

Well I guess I might have been conned then into buying more paint ! We got the stuff from Warpaint and thats what the guy said we needed when we ordered the red oxide and olive drab. Pain in the rear spraying three colours so you reckon we could leave out the gloss green? Too late for most of the work now anyway !! We live and learn......

looking good mate,why the gloss paint?any reason?................

You need to gloss paint over the red oxide and seal it. Olive drab sprayed directly on red oxide is still porous as its properties are the same as primer..... later photos will show everything sprayed in Olive Drab.

Chassis plate number is 213788 which is Feb / Mar 1943 I believe?

There was a number on the bulkead triangular gusset plate of 116022

Engine is not the original from what I can work out but not sure what it actually is. Any help here is welcome;

Engine number is 140006 stamped on a flat horizontal area above the water pump

head is stamped 640161

and the block casting numbers are 2-17 641087-L-W10 A

This was the next step in spraying the chassis the correct Olive Drab with the new rims just laid alongside for visualisation

So with the chassis pretty well done, we got the body tub laid back down and started stripping off all the old paint. There was plenty of original 'green' underneath a couple of layers of paint and it was certainly the hardest paint to get off. Here is the tub nearly back to bare metal. Hey, willysmb - whats a pre composite tub by the way??

We didn't find any markings when stripping the hood very carefully layer by layer which was disappointing so we didn't give the tub much thought until we noticed some yellow lettering or numbering on the flanks above the wheel arch. Now I know there were never any WW2 markings in this area so I think our interpretation of what was uncovered here can't really be justified (unless anyone else knows different?) Both sides had the same markings.

Then we turned the tub upside down and proceeded to remove the front floor pan. The rear floor had already been cut out and the new section has been laid in place for a trial fit in this photo....

It was at this point that I also decided to replace the wheel tubs and the back panel as they were in very poor condition and it also gave better access to repairing some difficult areas on the tub where some of the spot welded seams had started to rust away..... there wasn't much left of the tub at this point.....

More to follow in a couple of days..............

Thanks for the replies guys.

Never removed the pump in the first place so it had some residual oil in it, but the rest of the sump was drained & cleaned out, etc. Pick up was fully cleaned and the gasket replaced. I did spin the engine with no plugs but didn't get a reading on the pressure gauge (that should have been the time to ask these questions!) however we ploughed on thinking that with some revs it would pick up and pressurise quite quickly but it didn't... I guess we ran it for 3 or 4 minutes before switching of hence I am pretty sure we have ruined the bearings by now....

Wasn't aware about packing or priming the oil pump or how to go about it.... For what effort is involved I think we will fill the oilways via the oil pressure gauge pipe as Pete Ashby suggests - is there another way of doing this via the valve timing cover?? Then we'll start it again and see what state its in.......... If we've ruined the bearings already then this little exercise wont make it any worse than it already is !

Thanks for the recommendation of Jim Clark... I've been passing his place on and off for the last 12 months and kept meaning to pop in and see what they do but just thought they were canvas makers..... !

Will let you know the outcome in due course but probably wont be till after xmas now.......... thanks

So everything was laid out on the floor level, various measurements taken, the old front chassis removed, the new rails & front bumper section put in place and all welded back together...... then the front tubular crossmember was cut out of the old chassis rails and welded back in as well (not shown in this pic)

This was the state of the body tub after some poking around with a chisel and hammer. The rear floor has already been cut out and I think the decision at this stage is to fit a new front floor pan as well. There are just too many holes that need patching and it still wont look very good when I've finished anyway, so a new floor is ordered along with a pair of new wheel

tubs (more on this later)

Decided to replace the rear crossmember as well as the original was badly dented in places and had been cut and welded to the body tub as well.. Here is the new one in place ready for bolting on

Chassis now virtually complete again and has all been sanded back to bare metal, rust treated and spray painted in red oxide. IN this picture work has also commenced on cleaning up the axles and getting them primed ready for paint as well.

Next step after all the red oxide was to paint the axles and chassis (and the new combat rims) in gloss green paint. The axles were checked over, diff covers removed, oil drained and everything was found to be in pretty good condition. New brake pipes throughout are being fitted with new brake cylinders and brake shoes, etc.

Chassis now coming along nicely with the axles back in. Fitted new front springs, re-used the rear springs, new spring shackles and bolts throughout. Steering column and pedal assemblies refitted and copper brake lines going in and new dampers fitted. At this stage I guess we were about four months into the rebuild and it really felt as though we were making good progress.

18 months ago I took my first step into the world of MV's and purchased a 1943 serial numbered Willys MB jeep as per the pics below. It had just been imported from California and came with the title documents and some photos of its life as a desert recreational vehicle. Probably should have done a bit more reading up about these vehicles first but what the heck, I suddenly fancied the idea of restoring and driving around in one !! This was its first day back at our new workshop;

It was a non-running vehicle and appeared to be a bit more than 80% complete. I wasn't that bothered at the time about anything being period correct, original or whatever as I just wanted to rebuild a jeep for fun......

It was obvious when buying the jeep that the body tub, particularly the front floor pan, was going to need a lot of work as it had clearly rusted through above the usual strengthening ribs and attachment points. Here is the interior after we began a complete strip down. This was going to be a full restoration down to the last nut & bolt. However I do have a normal day job but dont work fridays so restoration work would only be carried out most fridays and some saturdays.

The first weekend of working on the jeep had stripped out pretty much everything that could easily be unbolted and removed. The list of 'new' parts required was starting to grow and grow ! The following weekend two us managed to get the body tub dragged over the back and tipped up against the wall so as we could inspect the rolling chassis a bit closer. I had already spotted that the offside front chassis rail was cracked when buying it and clearly the front end of the chassis needed some extensive restoration..............

Then it was out with the engine, gearbox, transmission and axles to get down to the bare chassis. At which point it was clear that the offside front chassis member had completely sheared off ! The nearside chassis rail had also taken a beating over rocky terrain and was pretty badly bent and creased in places. The decision was taken to replace the front half of the chassis with new rails

I'll start the next installment soon............

Spent 18 months on and off fully restoring my 1943 Willys MB Jeep. Finally got to cranking the engine and firing it up but NO oil pressure anywhere.. I stripped the engine down for inspection and bore wear, crank bearings, etc and everything looked in good order. Drained out all the fluids of course. Cleaned the oil pick up and mesh screen, etc.... Oil pump inspected and again its in good order and is sucking / pumping when immersed in a bowl of fresh oil..

SO Question 1 - Is there something I should have done, like pre-priming the pump or filling some oil galleries? I've seen various things said on some other forums but nothing that makes it very clear to me !

And Question 2 - is there a person / company here in the Bristol area that could be trusted to strip and rebuild the engine as I fear I may have already knackered the big ends......

Thanks for all the welcomes.... Been in contact with John the area secretary for the Severnside MVT and will be going along to their Dec 30th road run to have a look at what is around....

FINALLY, got the engine going today but I fear its very poorly as we could not get any oil pressure. So I am going to be posting my first 'HELP' request on the forum !

Thanks again and lets look forward to next summer !

Hi there to everyone,

Bought a Willys MB 1942 Jeep for restoration some 15 months ago and its pretty well finished and was looking forward to getting out and about to some events this year but just missed the 'summer'....... what summer ?

Will be posting some pics of the restoration work in other areas of the forum no doubt in due course. Been a really interesting and rewarding experience.

Can't get the engine to start though, got some water leaks round the head (not good!) and the core plug leaks (don't ask why I didn't just change it when the engine was out!) so will probably be looking for some help in the engine department.

I think there is a good group of military enthusiasts in the Bristol / SOuth Gloucs area so hopefully will be along to a meeting sometime soon to pick some brains.... ! In the meantime any offers of help, sympathy and recommendations for local specialists will be welcome!

Our workshop is based in Frampton Cotterell and we've got several other classic american car projects on the go as well

all the best for now

COLIN

(thefoxhat)