I've been spending again! My '43 GPW

[teletech]

If you are convinced it's the Ethanol in the fuel causing you difficulties, it's really not difficult at all to remove it.  Just pour the fuel in a vessel and add water.  The alcohol binds to the water and come out of suspension with the petrol.  Pour off the petrol or drain the water out the bottom and you are all set.  Of course, you will have lost some octane, but a ~7:1  compression motor could hardly care.  I use a 5-gallon glass water jug I've drilled a hole in for a drain fitting, but whatever works for you...

 

[Jessie The Jeep]

Just now, teletech said:

If you are convinced it's the Ethanol....

Been there and done that, but was way too much hassle and not worth the price difference for the lost fuel volume compared to just buying E5. That's why I buy E5 fuel, not E10. The E5 should have minimal ethanol, but in this case, the water absorbsion of the fuel suggested the pump had dispensed something other than E5.

[steviem]

I remember Jerry saying he added a little diesel although I don't know the ratio 

[teletech]

2 hours ago, Jessie The Jeep said:

Been there and done that, but was way too much hassle and not worth the price difference for the lost fuel volume compared to just buying E5. That's why I buy E5 fuel, not E10. The E5 should have minimal ethanol, but in this case, the water absorbsion of the fuel suggested the pump had dispensed something other than E5.

I was just thinking it would be a way to get lower than E5 so you wouldn't have it absorbing water at all.

[Jessie The Jeep]

I've never had a problem with E5 before, which is why I suspect it was the wrong batch from the filling station pump. I've never had petrol turn so green.

[Chris Hall]

7 hours ago, Jessie The Jeep said:

I've never had a problem with E5 before, which is why I suspect it was the wrong batch from the filling station pump. I've never had petrol turn so green.

Apparently some E5 has no Ethanol in it at all and others produce the max 5% and it depends on the refinery. If your local refinery provides E5 without Ethanol and had issues (ie shut down due to a fault or maint) then the petrol station may have obtained the E5 from another refinery which does add upto 5%.

[ruxy]

ESSO  Synergy Supreme E5  ,   you have to trust the pump label.  Go to the  Esso website and it gives the  'rules' for their E5  for such as Devon / Cornwall  ,  North East England.    I found  not so many filling Stations in west of Durham  City  bothered selling E5  ,  a near (and £ cheaper) filling station is Esso.  So - I investigate further and it is actually run by a Northumberland based outfit called  Penny Petroleum and they franchise using lots of main players labels, so it seems in the North East not all Esso branded stations follow the Esso National  'rules' or possibly they do  ?

Harvest seem to supply most of the actual Ethanol , their petrols supply independants , their own & supermarkets.

A local station  (IIRC now  JET)  was previously Harvest  (and a few others in last 30 years) , going off harvest it was out of action for 2 weeks as a specialist company was called in to thorough clean the tanks.

Most of the N.E. as a continuation of the POOL system ,  mainly overnight tanker from Stanlow to Shell Jarrow Dry Terminal  (now no longer operated by Shell).  Topped up from ICI North Tees Oil Works , sold under ICI label + a few minors and ISTR  Q8 ,  I think it was also used to adulterate other minor sources.    With Land Rover underseat fill - I have often seen water rolling around in the bottom and that was with leaded 2 star, run it off to abt. 1 gallon remaining - easy task to drain and remove.  Many years ago - I removed 2 pnt + of water on a Renault R4L and a VW Beetle and they both had locking caps - not so easy for someone to have a Pi$$ in - overnight event parking - check your security.

[Jessie The Jeep]

10 minutes ago, ruxy said:

....check your security.

When the steering wheel is chained up overnight, the seat cushion can't be lifted, so no access to the tank.

[Jessie The Jeep]

Fishburn Airfield for Breakfast - January 15th 2023

We had our first outing of the year today, taking both Jeeps out and meeting up with a friend at a local airfield. Full details in my other Jeep thread here -

[Jessie The Jeep]

I'm heading off on my adventrures again this coming weekend, to a 1940s show at the Yorkshire Air Museum. I was going to convoy my M201 "Jessie", along with a friend in his Jeep, but his clutch failed last week, so his Jeep is in bits. As a result, I'm going to stick "Hope" my 43 GPW on the flatbed trailer and tow it there rather than driving the M201. The Ford isn't wired up to tow the Jeep trailer, so I'll stick it on the flatbed and put all my camping gear in the car. It's quicker, cheaper, warmer and more comfy towing. Driving the Jeep would have been pretty much the same route I took to the York Crank Up on April the 16th in the M201.  It would have been around two and a half hours, but on the flatbed, I can take the motorway and speed up the trip. Unfortunately, the weather isn't looking too good so far.

The other reason for the change of vehicle is that I want to treat "Hope" to a special show for her birthday. On Saturday 6th May, my GPW will be 80 years old! I've only had the M201 and Dodge at the Yorkshire Air Museum shows, so it's time "Hope" got to enjoy some public attention and a photoshoot with the Halifax and Dakota.

[Jessie The Jeep]

Yorkshire Air Museum, "We'll Meet Again" & GPW 80th Birthday Outing - May 6/7th 2023

As mentioned in the previous post, I was going to take "Jessie" to Elvington, but the change in circumstances meant that "Hope" would have a chance for some public attention for her 80th birthday! This event is one of the rare events where the museum brings their Handley Page Halifax bomber outdoors. As my GPW has never been to Elvington, it was a chance to have a GPW/Halifax photoshoot, rather than my M201 as in past years.

FRIDAY 5th
The forecast for the weekend wasn't great, with heavy rain showers predicted all weekend, but I got there mid afternoon on Friday and got the tent set up in dry weather. I even started the photoshoot with the Jeep and Halifax before the thunder and then rain started.

I quickly fitted the roof and then hid in the hangar, waiting for the rain to pass. As it eased, I came out of hiding and got some more pictures in the rain before the blue sky finally appeared.

[Jessie The Jeep]

Eventually the sky did clear and I took some additional pictures with the Halifax before moving the Jeep to the Dakota. After a few further pictures there, I returned the Jeep to my tent and got something to eat. Later in the evening, I went for a walk around the site, looking at the original wartime buildings and outdoor exhibits. The hangars and other buildings were all locked up by this time.

The aircraft were spread around the site, with those shown below, at the end of the site nearest the airfield. More aircraft were parked along the road that runs parallel to the hangar, with further aircraft at the far end of the hangar. The more fragile aircraft, particularly those fabric covered were all indoors.

 

[Jessie The Jeep]

I returned to the tent for a while, reading a wartime book about Bomber Command until the sky began to darken. After some additional rain showers, I then went back out for some more atmospheric pictures of the Halifax in the dusk light.

I got some silhouettes of the Dakota against the fading sky before noticing the Full Moon rising in the South East - a Bomber's Moon.

I wanted to try and get the Halifax along with the Moon, but the position of the Moon and the hangar didn't lend themselves to a good composition. The picture below was the best I could manage, as the pitch of the hangar roof, continued to block the Moon as it rose.

[Jessie The Jeep]

SATURDAY 6th - "Hope's" Birthday

There was more rain overnight, however Saturday started dull and dry. Here's a few of the other displays. Despite a poor forecast, the weather stayed dry until about 5pm when everyone was packing up for the day anyway.

[Jessie The Jeep]

SUNDAY 7th

First thing on Sunday morning, I moved the Jeep a bit closer to my display table and parked at an angle compared to Saturday.

The picture through the windscreen shows lots of the public sitting at the picnic tables. Over both days of the show, there was more than double the usual attendance compared to a typical weekend. This was an especially impressive turnout, as on Saturday, it was the King's Coronation. For those wanting to attend the event, but not miss the coronation, it was shown live in the base cinema.

[Jessie The Jeep]

Due to watching over my display, I didn't get to see much of the museum or displays on Saturday, so went for a wander first thing on Sunday before I set anything up. The first stop was the T2 hangar.

One end was very empty, the normal parking spot for the Halifax, but the rest of the hangar was full of aircraft. They are well laid out and it didn't feel like everything was crammed in. The far end of the hangar seems to be a conservation area where a Gloster Meteor was being worked on. From the main hangar, I moved on to some of the smaller aircraft storage sheds, followed by the other buildings.

[Jessie The Jeep]

I stayed with my display chatting to the public for the rest of the day. I had my K-20 aircrew camera, stereoscope, RAF photo album, target photos, film containers and developing trays and chemicals on show. There was a large number of people really interested and told me that they found it more fascinating than the displays with weapons. Many were impressed by the 3D image provided by the stereoscope and surprised by the weight of the camera.

Late in the afternoon, I packed up most of the contents of my tent, ready for when I was able to bring the car and trailer around to collect it all. As the public drifted away at the end of the day, I took "Hope" back over to the Halifax to get a few more pictures in the sun, rather than a thunderstorm!

Further pictures of the show can be found here - https://www.sacarr.co.uk/mymvs/events/2023/elvington.htm

[Jessie The Jeep]

D-Day Drive - June 6th

Late afternoon on June 6th, I took the GPW for a D-Day anniversary drive. Earlier in the day, I'd been out in the normal car and spotted some poppies in the village. I thought they'd look nice in a photo with the Jeep.

After my daughter was home from school, we went for a short drive to look for some other poppies around the local area. Considering the anniversary, the poppy stop seemed appropriate.

[Jessie The Jeep]

It's been a while since I updated this thread as the Ford has been off the road since the poppy trip, due to a leaking cylinder head gasket. Work on the house and garden last year and this year, have taken up a large amount of my time and I wasn't interested in messing around with it in the cold of winter. Part of the problem was that my engine rebuilder, never fixed a stripped thread in the cylinder block, back in 2012 when he did the engine. Instead, he threaded the cylinder head and screwed a larger bolt in to stop the coolant leaking out.

Starting in mid June this year, I felt that I could give some time to the GPW. On the 11th of June, I drained the coolant a few inches, then began to remove the upper engine accessories. With those removed, I was able to remove the cylinder head. That allowed me to check the size of the stripped bolt hole - the centre one. It was about 13.5mm in diameter, too big for any of the commercially available threaded inserts.

June 13th

Knowing the hole diameter allowed me to plan a repair. I had a 16mm bolt that I could make an insert from. To cut a 16mm thread, I needed to drill a 14mm hole, only a tiny fraction larger than the 13.5mm diameter existing hole. Being a hardened bolt, it took some effort to both drill a hole through it and to then cut a 7/16 UNC thread. This thread matched the new cylinder head studs that I purchased to replace the original bolts.

[Jessie The Jeep]

July 27th - Repair Work Begins

The remains of the head gasket were removed from the head and block to start the day. I then cleaned the top of the block with thinners, allowing me to cover it with masking tape to keep the cylinders and valves clear of debris.

With a vacuum cleaner to remove metal particles, I drilled out the hole to 14mm diameter. It turned out that none of my tap wrenches were big enough for the new taps, so I had to make use of a spanner. This wasn't ideal, but I had to make do and concentrate on keeping it vertical.

As the taper tap got tight, I switched to the second tap for a couple of turns, then switched back to the taper tap. I needed to do this several times as I cut further into the block. Eventually I broke through the bottom of the hole. I was very relieved it was done, as I was paranoid about snapping a tap in the hole.

[Jessie The Jeep]

With the thread cut, I test fitted the insert. It screwed all the way in and was able to drop low enough to be flush with the top of the block. One of the new studs was used to screw it in.

Once I was happy with the fit and had checked the stud was vertical, I added some thread lock to the insert and screwed it back into the block for the last time. I used an engineer's 'V' block to ensure the stud was vertical and to make sure it didn't move while the thread lock cured. That was where I left the job for the day.

[Jessie The Jeep]

July 28th - Engine Re-assembly

Three studs, including the centre stud, were fitted to the block and the cylinder head test fitted to check the vertical alignment of the centre stud. The head fitted ok, so was removed and all of the studs fitted.

They were left a fraction of a turn loose, giving a little play in each stud, to help the cylinder head slide on. The top of the block was coated in Wellseal, along with the bottom of the head gasket and were left to dry for 5 minutes while I had lunch.

[Jessie The Jeep]

After the gasket was fitted, the top side was coated with Wellseal along with the cylinder head. They were again giving a little time to dry. Earlier in the morning, I removed the old thermostat and retainer and cleaned up the inside of the housing. I'd bought a new thermostat and retainer and after testing it in a glass of hot water, I drilled a 1/8 inch bleed hole in it as recommended on many forums. This allows coolant flow if it gets stuck.

The head was dropped onto the studs, but was a little tight in places, so was tapped down with a wooden tent peg mallet. The oil filter bracket was placed back on the studs, along with the carb crossover tube and fifteen of the sixteen nuts fitted finger tight. They were nipped up with a socket and ratchet, then I started ramping up the torque wrench, building up to the recommended stud torque, which is less than the original bolts.

The sixteenth nut is a second nut on the long rear stud, holding the earthing strap in place. I won't fit that until the engine has been run a few times and the head torqued down again.

[Jessie The Jeep]

The thermostat housing was fitted next, along with the radiator hose. The rubber air filter hose was clamped in place and then the small tube linking the crossover tube to the oil filler neck. While tightening the clamp with a screwdriver, that's where it all went wrong, with a finger/jubilee clip interface anomaly.

After 10 minutes dealing with the leaking red stuff, I went back to the garage to do a few more small jobs. The coolant was refilled and the radiator bracing rod fitted. I didn't want to fill the hole in my finger with dirt, oil and other rubbish, so decided to call it a day.

So still to do are refit the oil filter bracket and filter. Fit the dizzy cap, plugs and leads, fit the battery and that's it all back together. I'm waiting for some new engine oil arriving in the post, then I can drop the oil ( which possibly has some water contamination ) and change the oil filter. I'll then be ready for the first run. So hopefully, within a week to ten days, I can go for the first test drive and finish torquing down the cylinder head.

[Chris Hall]

If you have any more problems with the thermo housing, I’d be tempted to have the face tidied up, it looks like a skim would remove most of that corrosion.