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

[Cobrahistorian]

Hey guys,

 

I'm currently TDY at Ft. Eustis, but will be headed home tomorrow. I'll get some pics up this weekend.

 

Jon

[Cobrahistorian]

Been a busy couple weeks. TDY to DC/Virginia and then to Ft. Bliss last week and this, and then wednesday through yesterday saw the arrival of a significant number of macro artifacts from Bliss and Aberdeen. Some great new pieces that I'll post in a separate thread, but unfortunately, it has kept me from working on the jeep and taking pics to post here. Got a somewhat relaxing weekend this weekend, so I'll see what I can get up today or tomorrow.

[Cobrahistorian]

SUCCESS!!!!

 

 

I've spent weeks soaking, heating and banging on the pistons, to no avail. So, I brought the block in to work today. Figured I'd get the oxy torch out and really heat em up.

 

Well, it didn't work that way. See, I had this idea of getting a steel pipe and a BFH (you all know what that is!) and giving each one a good whack. That was all it took!

 

The best thing though, was that the years of dirt, oil and some corrosion on the rings themselves, had basically acted as glue (and not as weld!) and stuck those pistons in tight. There is nearly ZERO scoring on the cylinder walls and they basically just need a minor honing.

 

 

[Cobrahistorian]

New pistons, rings, gaskets, oil lines, and spark plugs and Race Horse'll be off to the races!

[cutiger83]

SUCCESS!!!!

 

Congrats! I know you have been fighting with these for weeks! Nothing more exciting than a great break through!

 

....Kat

[Cobrahistorian]

Been working on the windshield too. The sheet metal on it is trashed, so I pulled it off (saved the small portion that still had speed limit warnings, etc) and I'll be spot-welding new metal on. The frame itself isn't terrible. Has some pitting on the lower surface, but nothing I can't deal with. Got my oil filter mount re-welded (thanks Zane!) so the cracks have all been repaired now and it's ready to be mounted on the block. As soon as our compressor is up and running again, I'll blast the outside of the block so I can spray it engine gray.

 

Had a great diversion here at work yesterday. We had to install the engine in a 43 Willys. Piece of cake. Looking forward to doing it in a 42 Ford now!

 

Jon

[PvtTamura]

Some great progress!

 

I've been following the restoration, and every update makes me want to go work on my Jeep! (not a '42 though!)

[Cobrahistorian]

Blasted the flywheel, engine mount and engine rear shield today. Unfortunately, the flywheel's got some cracking. I'm going to see about getting it resurfaced, and hopefully they're only on the surface, but it isn't looking good. I'd hate to have to replace an F-marked flywheel....

[benleroy]

Nice job! Congrats

 

I'm pretty sure that i've already seen this marking "Race Horse" Somewhere... damn i cant remember if it was on a ww2 pictures or somewhere else.

[Cobrahistorian]

Nice job! Congrats

 

I'm pretty sure that i've already seen this marking "Race Horse" Somewhere... damn i cant remember if it was on a ww2 pictures or somewhere else.

 

It may have been on G503.com. There are a lot of pics of it up there too. If you've seen vintage photos of it, however, I am REALLY interested in original shots of my jeep. More than likely, they'd have been taken at Camp Chaffee, Arkansas, since it spent the majority of its military career there.

 

Jon

[benleroy]

Yes i know, it's like the Saint Graal .

 

I've checked in my hoodnumbers database and nothing... I'll check the other pictures tonight.

[Cobrahistorian]

Well, the last step in getting the engine apart happened today. Piston heads have been removed from the arms and will end up as nice pencil holders on people's desks. Gotta order new piston heads, rings, and gaskets and then I start rebuilding!

 

I've also disassembled the disaster that once was a transmission. Very little salvageable in there as far as gears go, but it looks like the shafts are probably ok. Should know more tomorrow after I get everything out of the blasting cabinet.

 

Gotta get some cash together now to start buying parts to put her back in action. Slow and steady wins the race, right?

[RustyCanteen]

The T-84J shafts are not much money compared to some of the gears (like the cluster assembly), probably better to replace them now than to reuse them.

[earlymb]

You might want to look into using NOS French WOF parts for the gearbox; these are usually very good quality and may be a bit cheaper than NOS original parts. You can also mix original and WOF parts.

[Cobrahistorian]

I just blasted the transmission parts. The pins are all useable and one of the two shafts is. The other is iffy. As for the gears? Yuk. the non-steel ones are fine and can be re-used. The steel ones are swiss cheese.

 

Oh, and properly sandblasted and cleaned up, Jeep piston heads make great pencil holders. I'm giving four of them for the holidays this year....

[RustyCanteen]

You ought to engrave the pistons with the GPW's date of delivery on them.

 

Which shaft is "iffy"? Usually it's the input shaft, the main shaft is usually cheap enough to replace.

[Cobrahistorian]

Funny you mention that RC, We've got a laser engraver down in the shop. I'm gonna see if we can use it on them...

[RustyCanteen]

It would make them pretty cool!

[American Patrol Co.]

I know I am late to the party but one little tip I learned on my42 GPW,

 

To salvage rusty bolts (f-script) I used a torch to heat them in place till they got cherry red and then I placed some drops of penitraing oil on them where it would seep down into the threads. Worked like a charm and I saved almost all of them to be reused later on.

 

Peace

[Cobrahistorian]

Yep! I've been doing that with a few of them lately and it's worked like a charm. Had to heat up the pistons to get them off the piston pins too. Heat and WD40 worked perfectly. Haven't done much recently since it's been cold, but I did get to sandblast the right front fender. It's in decent shape overall, with some minor pitting and a few bad spots on the hat channel. I'll get it primed up when I get home and hopefully some of my new parts will have arrived by that time too.

 

Jon

[svt40]

Here is a little motivation for ya to get your GPW back on the road.

 

[Cobrahistorian]

Is that it's real hood number? If so, mine's 698 behind it!

 

It's been a month since I've worked on the jeep. Been dealing with life, death and everything in between. Hoping to get to it soon.

 

Jon

[svt40]

Is that it's real hood number? If so, mine's 698 behind it!

 

It's been a month since I've worked on the jeep. Been dealing with life, death and everything in between. Hoping to get to it soon.

 

Jon

 

It's the estimated hood number and I think Tom Woboldt (GPW whisperer) also concurred that it should be the correct number as well. Was yours built at the Dallas Texas plant then? Mine is a late September GPW with a script body which is a very odd duck.

[Cobrahistorian]

What's your DoD on it? Mine's a Dallas plant, 16 September 42 delivery date and the original hood number is 20152201 and it isn't a script tub. Been trying to nail down when the last script tubs rolled off the line. I was looking at a 26 August 42 GPW today (s/n in the 586xx range, mine is 65907) and it was a script, so it's looking like early to mid September when they finally stopped. Figure with 6000+ jeeps produced at the Dallas plant in the three weeks between 26 August and 16 September, we should be able to nail down the last script Ford to come off the line. However, if yours is a late September 42, I agree, that is an odd duck and now I'm totally confused!!

[RustyCanteen]

What's your DoD on it? Mine's a Dallas plant, 16 September 42 delivery date and the original hood number is 20152201 and it isn't a script tub. Been trying to nail down when the last script tubs rolled off the line. I was looking at a 26 August 42 GPW today (s/n in the 586xx range, mine is 65907) and it was a script, so it's looking like early to mid September when they finally stopped. Figure with 6000+ jeeps produced at the Dallas plant in the three weeks between 26 August and 16 September, we should be able to nail down the last script Ford to come off the line. However, if yours is a late September 42, I agree, that is an odd duck and now I'm totally confused!!

 

 

I don't think you can really 'nail down' the last script GPW due to a number of issues such as LIFO, FILO, etc.

 

I thought September 1942 was the accepted cut off date.