1942 Ford GPW Jeep Restoration - Well I've gone and done it.

[Cobrahistorian]

I pulled the clutch, flywheel, exhaust manifold and sideplate today. Valves all look ok! Still no idea why it's stuck, but my hunch is, it's a spun bearing.

Also dealt with some of the frame corrosion. It's worse than I thought. Lots of heavy, heavy scaling.

 

 

[Third Herd]

I just read about you breaking the oil line, here's a story to make you feel better. I was a city bus driver for 25-years, one day I got a low oil warning and the motor-guard shut the engine down. A mechanic came out and dumped in a bunch of oil, I drove it a little ways and it happened again. The mechanic came out and said it has to be a bad send unit and he would cut the wire from the send unit. He cut an oil line and drained all the oil on to the street. I had a nice break, it took a couple hours to get me a running bus, and it took all afternoon to clean up the oil.

[Jack's Son]

Jon,

It's fun to drop in every so often and check progress. I can understand you wanting to rebuild a "Hughie", but a Jeep? :think:

[Cobrahistorian]

Jon,

It's fun to drop in every so often and check progress. I can understand you wanting to rebuild a "Hughie", but a Jeep? :think:

 

:think:

 

How does one even respond to that?

[kammo-man]

Jon ..........

Just found this thread !!!

Good luck with your project .....man that is a lot of work but you seem to be knocking it out pretty well.

You have one special jeep there !

owen

[Cobrahistorian]

Jon ..........

Just found this thread !!!

Good luck with your project .....man that is a lot of work but you seem to be knocking it out pretty well.

You have one special jeep there !

owen

 

Thanks Owen! She's coming along. Plan is to drop the oil pan and skid plate on Saturday and see if it's just a spun bearing locking her up...

 

We just got a new media blasting cabinet at work, so I should be able to get back to blasting in my off hours. Lots to do!

 

Jon

[Jack's Son]

:think:

How does one even respond to that?

Oh, something like......."I'm into helicopters, but I like to rebuild jeeps as well".

[Baron3-6]

Props to you!!! I finished a 1952 M37 someone else had destroyed the engine on, but I was fortunate enough to have a very solid body / frame.

 

If you're still trying to un-seize the engine, a trick discussed on another board was to fill the cylinders with automatic transmission fluid and let them sit over night. (if your oil pan is still on, fill the whole crank case). The ATF will attack the rust and free things up. Then attach the biggest breaker bar to the crank shaft and try to turn over. Another little hint, if you need a special tool, remember Auto Zone will loan stuff out for a small fee, it beats having to buy the shop along with the jeep. I was on a first name basis with them and the local Napa before the M37 was finished.

[Cobrahistorian]

Props to you!!! I finished a 1952 M37 someone else had destroyed the engine on, but I was fortunate enough to have a very solid body / frame.

 

If you're still trying to un-seize the engine, a trick discussed on another board was to fill the cylinders with automatic transmission fluid and let them sit over night. (if your oil pan is still on, fill the whole crank case). The ATF will attack the rust and free things up. Then attach the biggest breaker bar to the crank shaft and try to turn over. Another little hint, if you need a special tool, remember Auto Zone will loan stuff out for a small fee, it beats having to buy the shop along with the jeep. I was on a first name basis with them and the local Napa before the M37 was finished.

 

Thanks man! I'm thinking it isn't the pistons, but more than likely a spun bearing in the crankcase. Pistons and valves are all in great condition. I'd planned on dropping the oil pan today, but instead pressure washed the entire chassis and pulled a few other minor pieces off. Pressure washing it was a great step and removed a LOT of gunk from it. Unfortunately, the right side chassis beam is still full of dirt/mud and now I fear I've exacerbated things a bit, since there was really nowhere for the mud to escape. Don't get me wrong, a significant chunk of the mud that was in there is now gone, but the portion right behind the right front wheel is still full and now it's full of WET mud... not cool. More power washing tomorrow until I've blasted it all out.

 

Fortunately, I've got access to a full restoration shop, so as long as I'm working after hours, I've got the ability to work on whatever needs to be done. Going to bring the bell housing and seats in tomorrow and get them prepped for paint.

 

Jon

[zepher11]

Looking good, Jon. Did you happen to mark your flywheel when you pulled it off? I pulled mine off only to read the next day that it can only go on one of two ways. The right way and the wrong way. I had no idea, but evidently it is easy to install 180 degrees out. Then one would not be able to see the timing marks in the little window. After I worried about that for a while it really wasn't too hard to find TDC and get it back on in the correct position.

 

It reminded me of the MASH episode when the leaflet bomb, a dud, falls in the camp. Hawkeye and Trapper are working on defusing the bomb while Col. Blake us providing instruction from the manual from a safe distance away. Blake says "cut the blue wire." Just after Hawkeye and Trapper cut it, Col. Blake says ", but first." :w00t: One of those episodes that sticks in one's mind.

 

Keep up the good work!

[Cobrahistorian]

Zeph,

 

Thanks! I hadn't checked the flywheel before pulling it off, but I was aware that it was marked. I need to clean it up still, but it looks like the teeth may be usable after all. We'll see.

 

I've actually been busy lately. Dropped the oil pan last weekend and got all of the oil out of it. There was probably 60 years worth of sludge in there too, so that was interesting. This week, I pulled the engine out, set it up vertically and undid the crankshaft. The internals are in good shape with no scoring on the crankshaft at all. The good news is, the camshaft rotates freely and the valves work beautifully. The bad news is, not one, not two, not three, but ALL FOUR pistons are stuck but good. Tried tapping them out with a rubber mallet and a block of wood. No dice. So, they're soaking now. I applied WD40 and penetrating fluid on the back side of them now and hopefully that'll do the trick.

 

So at this point, I know that I'm going to need to have all four cylinders re-sleeved and will have to redo the piston rings. I'm hoping that'll be the majority of the work needed on the engine and that it'll go back together without trouble.

 

With tomorrow being my birthday, I received several jeep-related gifts (mainly tools), but by far the best was a set of custom t-shirts made by my wife, that have the "Project Race Horse" logo (my avatar) for me and my two boys. Just awesome!

 

[zepher11]

Happy Birthday, Jon! And that is a great gift your wife came up with for you and the boys.

 

Also, that's a real bummer about the pistons. Sounds like they are stuck in there pretty good. :pinch: Not much one can do at this point but soak 'em some more.

 

Zeph

[Cobrahistorian]

If they don't come out this way, I'm gonna try the transmission fluid trick. Hopefully that'll do it. They've had a mixture of PB Blaster, oil and WD40 soaking from the tops of the cylinders for over a month now. It slowly drained through, but never completely. We'll see what happens. Stay tuned!

[72psb]

CH,If the fluids you are using does'nt work,try Kroil.Kroil is designed to creep,unlike WD which is a water displacing formula.A little pricey,works great though.Soak,shock w/your wood block,soak,repeat.

Good luck

Bob

[Cobrahistorian]

No new pics yet today. Pistons are still soaking. Did remove the steering box, brake lines and I'm working on what's left of the master cylinder. That thing's a mess. Bolt head snapped right off and the bolt is still threaded in tightly to the frame. Gonna be a while before it comes off.

 

I spent a good part of the afternoon knocking rust scale off the inside of the left frame beam. Punched through in several places and took several large chunks of rotted metal off. This is the only part of the jeep that is giving me serious concern. Everything else I can handle, but the amount of corrosion in this structural member is just awful. If I hit a bump in it the way it is right now, the whole frame would snap on that side.

 

Aside from that, I stripped and primed the brake pedal and the crossover tube assembly and stripped the oil filter mount. That last part is going to need some repair welding done prior to priming, but it looks like it'll be fine. Always fun to play "find the F!"

 

Jon

[ikar]

Good job Jon. That's way beyond my mechanical experience.

[Cobrahistorian]

I blasted the intake and exhaust manifolds today. They cleaned up beautifully and have since been primed (along with the dipstick and top bow brackets). More stuff tomorrow!

[BEAST]

Looking good Jon! Any news on the pistons yet?

[Cobrahistorian]

Looking good Jon! Any news on the pistons yet?

 

 

Still whacking away at em. Gotta pick up some transmission fluid today and see if that'll work.

[PvtTamura]

Awesome build thread Cobra!

 

A friend of mine's boyfriend owes three MB's, I'm starting to wonder about my offer (to him) to help with the restorations!

[Cobrahistorian]

Blasted the exhaust manifold (finished from yesterday) and the electric receptacle today. Plenty more to go, but I feel like I'm getting something accomplished.

[Cobrahistorian]

So, Race Horse's restoration is moving along. I'm cleaning up parts, getting things in order and soaking those pistons in automatic transmission fluid. Just got a bunch of parts bins that I've started organizing by sub-assembly. I've got a few parts that need repairs on them (oil filter mount, battery mount), but that are salvageable. A few pieces have bitten the dust (axe handle retainer, F-marked too! Grrr...) or were too far gone to do anything with (master cylinder).

 

I've gotten a few 14th Armored Division pieces to go along with the jeep, although I just got outbid on an original unit history on ebay (grr!) and that 47th Tank Battalion unit history remains elusive. I did, however, snag an original photo of a 48th Armored Regiment jeep off of ebay a couple weeks ago. It hasn't arrived yet, but it's coming from one of those morons in China that are buying up good groupings and then piecemealing them out. Makes me sick, but oh well...

 

I'm hoping to be able to get some work done this weekend. Hopefully the pistons will come out fairly quickly after being submerged in transmission fluid for a week and a half...

[Cobrahistorian]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RACE HORSE!

 

She was delivered 70 years ago today.

[cutiger83]

Jon,

 

We need some updated pictures of your progress! How is it going?

 

....Kat

[Jeeper704]

Congratulations!

Yes, we need an update if possible.

Always interesting to read about restoration projects like this.

 

Erwin