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I've been spending again! My '43 GPW


Jessie The Jeep

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The last job of today was making some washers for the pedal shaft. These are quite big. I started off chain drilling the central hole, followed by filing until the hole was large enough that the shaft would fit through. The piece was then gripped internally through the hole in my lathe chuck jaws, followed by turning down the outer diameter of the washer.

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They were painted just before I came in for the night, and left to dry. That brings the thread up to date.

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Edited by Jessie The Jeep
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I haven't done anything on the Jeep for the last couple of days. Instead I've been giving the workshop a massive clean, tidy and chuck out of junk and rubbish. You've probably noticed in my pictures that it gets quite messy/untidy in there, and I can quite happily work in what appears to be chaos. It's usually when I tidy that I can't find things!

Anyway, work on the tub will start shortly and I needed floor space, hence the big clear up. Two days of non-stop cleaning and sorting resulted in a clear floor and a bit more empty cupboard space.

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I sent a message earlier today to my local muscle, forumite 'Skint George', and he came round tonight and helped me lift the tub into the workshop so I can start the repairs. Two people can lift a Jeep tub, just, but it was still a bit of an effort lifting it up the step to the workshop and turning it once inside. Still, no injuries to us or the tub!

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Edited by Jessie The Jeep
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When we first bought the house, we made sure it came with planning permission for a large garage and workshop ( 12 x 4.2 metres ) so that all my stuff and mess could stay out of the house. In the main, it worked, with my stuff only occasionally leaking out into the house or onto the patio.

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When we first bought the house, we made sure it came with planning permission for a large garage and workshop ( 12 x 4.2 metres ) so that all my stuff and mess could stay out of the house. In the main, it worked, with my stuff only occasionally leaking out into the house or onto the patio.

 

I like the phrase 'occasionally leaking' :D:rotfl:

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Making great progress. Enjoying seeing it comeback together.

 

Like the workshop, I have to make do with the garage, 2.5m x 6m.

Living at home was better a very large single garage and a kitchen.

A sympathetic mother helped (mind you I think she had given in) carb rebuild on the kitchen table, chain grease heating on the cooker.

 

Mike

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  • 2 weeks later...

Since bringing the tub into the workshop, I've made a start on rebuilding the rotten areas. To start with, here's a photo of the tank well from the rear, showing the rot in the bottom and rear panel. The front of the tank well was even worse.

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Here's the left step and hat channel, also showing significant rot to the hat channel.

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Edited by Jessie The Jeep
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A new piece of hat channel was bolted to the floor to hold it tight to the floor panel, and it was then welded. The step is shown in place for a trial fit to check the hat channel isn't too long.

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Moving over to the footwell area ahead of the transmission cover, the hole for the throttle linkage had been chain drilled and crudely opened up into a larger hole, leaving jaggered and twisted edges. The twisted areas were heated and hammered flat again, before the edges of the hole were trimmed, and a new piece of steel welded in.

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Edited by Jessie The Jeep
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Up until this point, all the welding I'd been doing was gas. I looked at the price of spot welders and almost fell over. This alternative single side spot welder for £36 seemed worth a chance. It is an attachment for an arc welder, requiring only a 50AH welder to work. I'd made my first successful spot weld 5 minutes after the parcel arrived. It takes a little getting used to the method of operation, but seems to work reasonably well, so long as the two surfaces are clamped firmly together.

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The new welder allowed me to spot a strip along the back of the rotten area of the sill, and this would be followed up by filling the front with the gas welder.

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Edited by Jessie The Jeep
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Here's the sill after filling with weld and a new piece of steel welded in under the axe head location. There's still a little wrinkling/hollows in the weld which will need filling after the tub has been blasted clean. It doesn't feel right using polyester filler on a 69 year old vehicle, so I'm considering having a go at lead seam filler the old fashioned way.

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While waiting for a new sheet metal folder to arrive which I need for work on the tank well, I moved further back on the tub. Just behind the front seats and in the rear corners, there are four steel tubes welded into the tub. When purchasing the tub, I was told these were part of a stretcher support system. Whether that is true or not I don't know. The tube wall thickness is about 1/8 inch, but the mounting methods and thickness doesn't suggest it was a roll cage. This is the front tube.

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Edited by Jessie The Jeep
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This is the rear tube. It is brazed into the top rim of the tub, brazed where it passes through the top of the locker, passes through the bottom of the locker floor and is bolted to the tub skin near the light cluster.

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This is the hole in the bottom of the locker. You can see it is just a crude punched hole with the torn metal exiting downwards from the locker floor.

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Edited by Jessie The Jeep
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It took much cutting, grinding and belting with a large hammer to break the rear tube free from the tub.

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The torn bottom of the locker was heated with the gas torch and the 'petals' of metal tapped back into place with a small hammer. The remaining cracks and gaps were then welded up.

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Edited by Jessie The Jeep
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The half round hole in the top edge of the tub where the front tube was mounted, was cut out leaving square edges. A piece of the top lip from the old tub was cut out, cleaned up and welded into the opening. It still needs a final fettle with the grinder.

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For the rear hole, a quadrant of steel was cut to back up the hole in the top of the locker. The plan was to weld this in place on the back of the opening, and then once the tub is the right way up, fill in the hole flush with the top skin of the locker.

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Edited by Jessie The Jeep
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The quadrant was clamped in place and gas welded around the curved edge where it could be seen, and a few spots around the front and inner edge.

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The top lip of the tub was repaired in two stages. Firstly a flat sheet was welded on forming the top edge of the lip. This was ground down to match the tub shape on the outside, followed by a radius added on the inside. The second step was to cut a strip and hammer it into a curve to match the inside radius. It was then clamped and welded, followed by filing a radius on both edges to match the rest of the lip.

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Edited by Jessie The Jeep
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Here's the finished ( for now ) repairs to the holes.

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Moving back to the transmission cover for one last job of the day, the floor around the captive nut in the centre of the picture was badly twisted. After much heating and tapping with a small hammer, the floor was pretty much flush with the rest of the floor again and the nut was once more perpendicular to the floor.

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Edited by Jessie The Jeep
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  • 2 weeks later...

looking good steve.,.,any idear what markings it will wear.,.,heres my ratty mb.,was never into the factory fresh look,.im running the larger 700 16,.,.its also now got 352 FG on the bumpers,....did all army airforce jeeps have painted rear bumperetts & white tips in the front.,,.as im sure ive seen some in pics without that.,,.? i might be wrong.,.,.ive also added on the dash,.

U.S.A.A.F PERSONEL

ONLY.

 

& on the inside of the windscreen frame where the rifle rack would of been it says

DO NOT PARK OR LEAVE ON

HARDSTANDS

,RETURN TO MOTOR POOL

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Edited by cripesamighty3rd
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