Restoration of a 1942 Willys jeep GPW Ford

[Bill P]

Lovely job your making of it Philippe I hope Thorben is pulling his weight to

[r3sc]

It’s going to be a stunner when it’s done Philippe, looking forward to the engine strip and rebuild!

[Philippe]

Hello men

an update of the restoration.
The past week I took the engine apart...bad news!
When honing the second cylinder bore it turned out there was a major damage all around the bore.
There must have been water in the second cylinder when the engine was stored resulting in a deep rusty indentation.

There was allso scoring visible on the shell bearings of the cranckshaft, as wel on the main bearings as on the bearings of the connecting rods.

I guess the engine has been neglected in the past and the oil has become too old and dirty and that's the result.

It turned out that 3 of the 4 pistons were the same and one was different...

The first piston has no T -slot, the other 3 have a T-slot as normal in these engines. I think that the first piston was heavier than the other 3. It must have been changed sometime in the past.

There was also a lot of carbon built-up in the heat expanding slot of the pistons. The first groove of each piston is ment to stay empty to allow the piston to expand when heating up so there's no piston ring in it.
One piston was cleaned, the others were left as I found them.

So, I have a bad engine...
I don't want to get the engine rebored and the cranckshaft to be regrinded because that's waiting and asking and getting promises when it will be ready and then new promises and more waiting...
NO, I'm sick and tired of hearing false promises about when the work will be done or when the parts will be available.
Don't get me wrong, I don't mind waiting for a job to be done but when the time comes, I expect it to be ready, I've heard enough excuses why the work isn't done.

But I have a solution!
Next week I'll get a refurbished engine block (new cylinder liners, standard bore size) and a refurbished cranckshaft with new bearings, new valves (valve seats cut), new valve stem guides, new pistons and piston rings.
It will cost me several thousands of Euros but you know what they say: time is money!
I won't have to wait and I'll be able to continue rebuilding the engine.
I'll be able to put a "new" engine in the jeep in order to ride it without troubles...at least that's what I'm hoping for.
More news to come soon!
GrtZ
Philippe

[Philippe]

Hi men

the latest report of the progress:
I bought a refurbished engine block in order to replace the one I have.
It has new cylinder liners, new valve stem guides, new valves. I also have new pistons and piston rings, a refurbished crankshaft, new bearings as wel for the crankshaft as for the connecting rods and new timing gears and chain.
It's almost a new engine or....at least that's what I'm going for.
It turned out that one of the connecting rods was wrong! The number 2 conrod was actually a number 1 or 3 that was mounted to look like a number 2 but with the oil hole on the wrong side so the oil was splashed against the inside of the piston where the T-slot is located instead of the other way around.
OK, it's an old engine and who knows what happened in the past...anyway I hope I can bring it back to a proper working order.
For the moment it's almost back together and the only thing I have to do is to paint it and go for the final assembly.

Previous friday the gearbox was delivered! A heavy lump of metal but easy to install on the chassis.

Last saturday the Firestone tyres finally arrived together with the inner tubes and the rim flaps.
I had to make some adjustments to the rim flaps because the ones I received had the valve holes in the centre instead of in the side wall as they should be.
Installing the inner tubes and the rim flaps is a pain in the a... I couldn't get the rim flaps around the inner tube and in the tyre...until Christine had a wonderfull idea: take the rim flaps inside so they can become warmer and easier to manipulate. IT WORKED ! I must admit that she has great ideas in order to make life easier for me.
So finally I was able to make a rolling chassis!

After I installed the wheels, I rolled the chassis outside, so far so good but...I needed help to get it back in the garage so my wife gave me a hand. Christine realises that she will have to do this a few times more in the future...
And yes Bill, Thorben is still helping but only to guard the garden gate, just imagine what would happen if he didn't see anyone coming in the garden! No food as punishment! Disaster !!!

The work continues as long as the temperature permits it.
More news to come!
GrtZ
Philippe

[newz1owner]

Hi Philippe,

I thought this may be of interest to you. A friend of mine restores the same vehicle and has given me the carb to strip down to clean and rebuild. In the box is the repair kit for the carburettor.

Kind regards,

Mark

[Philippe]

Hi Mark

I restored the carb last week, only the fine adjustments must be done and it'll be ready to mount.
When you start, make sure you take a lot of pictures because there are a lot of parts to change.
You also need a lot of different screwdrivers to make sure you can get all the jets out!
There's a very good demo on you tube and it's made by "Greendot 319" . Just have a look there, it's very helpfull.
Good luck with it!
GrtZ
Philippe

[Philippe]

Hello guys

an update of the work on the Willys Jeep!

The engine is completely assembled, painted and mounted on the rolling chassis.

As you can see the radiator and the carburettor are also installed.

I'm working on the tub now...replacing parts, repairing damaged (rotten) pieces and giving them a coat of zinc primer in order to prevent rust.

The next part to install is the fuel tank sump...

The body work involves a lot of welding and grinding and it's a slow process for me, remember I'm not a good welder !
Anyway there's progress.
More news within a couple of weeks.
GrtZ
Philippe

[newz1owner]

Hi Mark

I restored the carb last week, only the fine adjustments must be done and it'll be ready to mount.
When you start, make sure you take a lot of pictures because there are a lot of parts to change.
You also need a lot of different screwdrivers to make sure you can get all the jets out!
There's a very good demo on you tube and it's made by "Greendot 319" . Just have a look there, it's very helpfull.
Good luck with it!
GrtZ
Philippe

Hi Philippe,

Thanks for the reply and heads up....

Once completed, I will send pictures over (Before & After)

Kind regards,

Mark

[Philippe]

Hi men

I'm back after a long period of almost 4 weeks...

Time for a little update:
- most of the welding is done, the fuel tank sump is installed

- the underside of the body tub is grinded to the bare metal and received two layers of red oxide primer

As you can see the picyure is taken this morning before I completed the removing of the old paint of the firewal.

As usual I show you my weapons of choice to remove the old paint

An angular disc grinder with a round metal wire brush and sanding discs and the drill with the red nylon brushes and the metal wire brushes.
There a lot more almost impossible to reach places on such a vehicle than on a bike but I manage to remove almost 95% of the old paint and rust.
The jeep is 82 years old, I hope it'll survive another few years after the restoration is completed...

Now it's time to put the olive drab paint on (3 layers...) but that will be for the next time.
GrtZ
Philippe

[Philippe]

Hello men

it's time for an update:
The underside of the body tub received two coats of red oxide primer and three coats of olive drab paint.

The inside of the tub was next...now that involved again a lot of grinding with a lot of dust as a result.
Th floor showed a lot of rust pitting which was filled with "bondo" above the old rust. I decided to grind all the pitting until the rust was gone. It took me a whole week! Than I applied a coat of zinc primer to stop the rusting proces...I hope I succeded, time will tell.
The floor received a coat of red oxide primer and the pitting was covered with filler. And yes again grinding and filling and painting ...grinding and filling and painting... yes after four rounds the floor was more or less equal.
The inside of the tub then received two coats of red oxide primer and one coat of olive drab. I decided that the rest of the olive drab would be applied after the outside was ready because there would be a lot of red oxide overspray from coating the outside of the tub.

This is how the front looked after the coats of primer

And this is the rear of the tub

The results after a first coat of olive drab.

As you can see, there are red dots of primer on the outside of the tub; these are the places where the curtain fasteners are located.
These need a coat of red primer too so I installed them between the first and second coat of oxide primer .

Now it was time to strip the old paint from the outside of the tub...
I guess that the guy who did a previous restoration of the jeep was payed for applying filler. The more he applied, the more he got payed! At certain places there was a coat of 5 mm filler! Grinding that coat off resulted in a very big white dust cloud, covering everything in the garage.
After two days of grinding, the ouside was ready for the first coat of red oxide primer.
Then the deepest cracks were filled and grinded and primed again.
It took me several days to get the outside more or less straight but I'm pleased with the results.
After three coats of olive drab inside and out, this is the result:

There are certain lines still visible in the bodywork but hey, it's 82 years old.

Now it was time to start mounting some parts on the tub:
The grab handles on the outside and the passenger footrests inside.

More to come soon!
GrtZ
Philippe

[Philippe]

Hi, here I am again

After a lot of bodywork, i decided it was time to work a bit on the frame.
A lot of parts could be placed on there before the tub is installed. It's easier to put some parts on the frame when it's still good accessible.

The towing hook and the bumperettes were mounted on the rear.

The towing hook installed: it's a heavy casted steel piece marked with the name of the maker: Ford

The bumperettes: these are made of spring steel and they should partially bounce back if something hits them...

Beneath the gear box and the transfer case I installed the skid plate.

That's a thick (5mm) and heavy steel plate to prevent these vital parts to be damaged if you hit a stone or something else while driving over it.

The shifters of the transfer case were mounted...

and the shifter of the gearbox allso.

All of this work was done under the guarding eye of the supervisor Thorben!

That's all for the moment.
More parts will be installed on the tub before it's placed on the chassis.
Other parts are ordered and I expect them to arrive within a few weeks.
Soon more news!
GrtZ
Philippe

[Philippe]

Gentlemen

the past week several parts were added on the body tub of the jeep.

the six post junction block was placed, the main loom installed in and under the tub and the oil can holder and horn bracket were screwed on the firewall.

the fuel strainer and the fuel line were mounted as wel as the air filter brackets

this is how the main loom and fuel line are mounted underneath the tub

After all these parts, the firewall pad was secured

The starter switch and the high/low beam switch were installed as wel as the main light switch

Rubber pads were glued on the frame.

Yesterday a decicive step was taken!
The tub was secured with chains to a little crane

This is an overall view ...

After fifteen minutes and with a few helping hands the tub was hoisted on the frame!

It's secured with 14 bolts and nuts, washers and stop washers and now the finishing part of the restoration can begin!
All the other parts can be mounted and it starts to look like a jeep!
I have a lot of space to work now , let the end games begin!
I hope to mount all the others parts within the next two months to come.
There are still a lot of parts that have to be cleaned, stripped and repainted but that's for another episode.
GrtZ
Philippe

[chrisNI]

This is an epic one Philippe great work as always.

[Philippe]

Gentlemen

the next episode of the restoration:

The bunch of parts from the beginning is starting to look like a jeep.
After the placement of the "tub" on the frame I was able to mount a lot of parts on it.

At the rear: the jerrycan holder with straps, the spare wheel holder and the spare wheel and support bracket are on. The rear lights are also mounted in the tub. I decided to use two left tail lights so I'm a little more visible in the dark from behind.

Inside the tub I've mounted several metres (fuel gauge, amp metre, coolant temperature and oil pressure gauge). The light switch, the dash board lights and the contact switch are mounted. The electrical wires are also connected. The clutch, brake and throttle pedal are installed.

The lid of the glove box compartment received the correct (1942) data plates and was attached to the dash board.
I added a little personal touch to it: the date of delivery of the vehicle is exactly 20 years before I was born

I couldn't resist to add the pioneer tools although they're not completely ready ...

At the front of the jeep the fenders and the iconic jeep grille are mounted. It took me a complete day to assemble the lights and to mount them with the electricity wires on the grille.

Unfortunally, I've encountered some setbacks.
The hood, that came with the jeep, was severely molested in the past. At the rear of it there was a big round hole ( 12 Cm diametre !) which was welded and a lot of filler was used to hide the damage. I couldn't accept this and I bought a "new" hood.
The fuel tank was covered with resine and glassfibre cloth...as I expected and feared for, it served to hide and cure holes in the fuel tank so a new replica fuel tank was ordered. I don't take risks with leaking fuel tanks...it's located right beneath the drivers seat. You're sitting on it, imagine what a fuel leak and a spark can do...

There's still a lot to do before this project is done but the fun part is coming now: adding the final touches to make her complete and to check if it's all functioning as it's supposed to do.

Don't hesitate to react or to ask questions, I've noticed that there are a lot of views on this topic.

That's it for today, more news within a few weeks.
GrtZ
Philippe

[GPZ592]

Hi Philippe - just catching up on this restoration as I've not been on the forum for a bit.

Its looking good and you're doing a great job as normal It still amazes me what one man can achieve in a garage

Mark.