'42 GPW - '42 Peep's Motorpool!

Create a thread to track the progress of you MB/GPW restoration progress. Previously a General Discussion board.
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'42 Peep's Motorpool
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Re: '42 GPW - '42 Peep's Motorpool!

Post by '42 Peep's Motorpool » Thu Apr 01, 2021 6:25 pm

So I turn off the ignition, walk around, and see a small trickle of coolant (not pouring, but an unmistakable leak). Was it from a stud, the head gasket? I was racing my eyes as fast as they could search for the source. It appeared that the exhaust gasket was wet in places. Was coolant coming from the head gasket down to the manifold via gravity, or was there coolant seeping out through the saturated gasket from the intake or exhaust ports?

It was looking bad. :cry:


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Re: '42 GPW - '42 Peep's Motorpool!

Post by '42 Peep's Motorpool » Thu Apr 01, 2021 7:57 pm

An examination pointed to the coolant seeping from a saturated manifold gasket, not a good sign.


There was no option but to remove the manifolds in order to investigate the source of the seepage. Not surprisingly it was easy to find the trail with the manifold removed; a small pool of coolant sat in the bottom of the #2 exhaust port. The question of where it originated was still unanswered. Using a flashlight it was apparent that it was coming from further up; possibly the deck of the block, possibly the head gasket. Either was this was looking bad, but there was nothing to do but press on. A decision could not be made until the problem was fully known. The cylinder head had to be removed, and it was so that the gasket and deck of the block could be examined. The gasket appeared to be fine. Which left the block as the culprit.


I had known the deck of the block had been stitched in a couple of places, but I'd had the block magnafluxed and the machinist assured me all was well. I wanted to do a pressure test, but he felt that would be unnecessary. I was persuaded not to press it further. In retrospect I should have insisted on it at the time, lesson learned. There is a reason you do a pressure test, this would have been known from the beginning had it been performed. After some close examination it was determined that a crack running from outside the valve seat had not been completely sealed when the crack was pinned in the past. Unfortunately it was clear why that was so, there was simply no way to drill at the required position for further pinning due to to angle and confines of the exhaust port.


This certainly was a set back. :roll:


But set backs happen, and I could not see throwing away the money I had in the block at this point. I let the jeep sit while I pondered the problem. All sort of solutions presented themselves, but many would not be practical, and others would not be permanent. Finding any solution would not be easy, because of the position of the crack. I considered pinning -or stitching- it. I could not come up with any solution due to the confined space of the port. I found that one of the pins had been botched, probably by accident because it was a tough area to get into. I removed that pin and attempted to set a new one. It was better, but there was still a leak. If the block could not be permanently repaired, then the only solution was a temporary one. Or a more risky solution. I drained the block and flushed out the water jacket. When I was sure it was clear of coolant, I let the water dry out for several days.


I endeavored the final attempt to save the block, even if it had a short life span it would be better than none at all. Knowing the general iffy results from attempting what I would consider to be the absolute last case scenario, I chose to attempt to weld the crack, it was relatively short but in an area that could not be drilled, however it was just barely accessible with a welder. There was risk that the crack would grow, but the crack as it was would already have made this block a door stop, so in this case I felt there was nothing to lose that wasn't already lost. I proceeded. After it thoroughly cooled, I filled the water jacket with water and watched the spot to see what would happen. This time it got damp, but there was no active leak. It was clear that there was a small area it was seeping through, but so slowly it was no longer a leak. I considered what the combination of operating temperature and pressure might do, but both would be uncontrollable factors. I would not advise this as a repair. it was simply the last option I had short of taking the block to the scrap yard. Which I didn't want to do.


Since the leak had been stopped, my concern turned to how the temperature of an operating engine might affect it. I took the opinion that the pressure, topping out at 4# in the G503 system, was unlikely to be an issue. However the thermal cycling was the concern. Would the leak intensify as the engine heated up? Would the weld fail due to further cracking as often happens when these blocks are welded? There was no way to be sure that I knew of, except to try it and see what happened.


I decided that the seepage was now so small and so slow, that the remainder would likely seal itself from rust particles or something after a while. So I decided I needed something temporary to plug it all the way until I could start the engine and get it to operating temperature, because I expected the weld might not hold, it is unknowable on these blocks and not recommended. Since I'm not an expert, I looked into various products that claim to seal small leaks in the cooling system of vehicles. Most sounded like something I wanted to avoid, I did not want to contaminate my cooling system, or plug up my radiator. I found a high temperature product from J-B Weld that claimed to hold up to some pretty hot numbers, I decided that since this block was one leak away from going to the scrap yard, I had nothing to lose by trying it. It also could be applied outside the waterjacket, which sounded better than something inside that might plug up the thermostat, radiator, etc. So I drained the water jacket and let it dry thoroughly. A little of the special J-B weld was applied to the area, and left to fully cure. After about a week I reinstalled the cylinder head and a gasket, refilled the cooling system and once again tried to purge the system of air.

'42 Peep's Motorpool
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Re: '42 GPW - '42 Peep's Motorpool!

Post by '42 Peep's Motorpool » Thu Apr 01, 2021 8:12 pm

I crossed my fingers, said a little prayer, and went back to the launch pad.


Deja-vu, we're back in the positions we'd assumed twice before, me on the passenger side ready to hit the starter, helper on the drivers side watching the oil pressure gauge.


Choke out, a little throttle, press the starter and nothing. Of course it will take some time, so this is repeated several times. My guess is that the fuel system dried out in the intervening weeks. It took a while to refill. Helper left to do something else, but I stayed at my post. :lol:


Was it a fools errand to keep trying to save an engine that was already what most would consider scrap? Probably, but I'm no quitter and I wanted to try. Even if the odds were against it working. After what seemed like an interminable passage of time, it sputtered. Try again, nothing. Again, nothing. It sputtered once more. Another try, it was certainly trying to come into this world. Another turn of the starter, it roared to life! :D


I didn't know how the 'repair' as iffy as it was, would hold. Helper started back over, but the engine died before he got over. I started it again, and it came back. It was clear the carb could use some dialing in, but it was running pretty good for a dead engine. I watched the temperature gauge with wonder, what would happen to the repair?


I only planned on running that engine until it gave up, I know it is scrap, but I couldn't agree to throwing away the machine work into it without having some use out of it. Even if it was a matter of weeks or months. Anything was better than nothing at all. It would buy me time to rebuild the '42 block anyway. Three years later it is still going, I'm sure one day the 'repair' if you can call it that, will fail and it will be the end of the line for that block, but it served it's purpose and has done well so far. If it proves me wrong and keeps on going for another three years I will be happy. :wink:


For the record I'd never recommend welding on a good block, or one you want to save. Pinning -aka metal stitching- is the go to repair for that, but it wasn't an option for me so I couldn't do that, I had to go with the last option available. I'm just fortunate that it's held up this long.

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Re: '42 GPW - '42 Peep's Motorpool!

Post by '42 Peep's Motorpool » Thu Apr 01, 2021 8:19 pm

I had a modest goal at this point, with a running engine that seemed to be fine after a week of testing, I decided that I would hook up the front drive shaft in time for this GPW's 'birthday' on it's date of delivery in 1942. I managed to meet that goal (but due to the time constraints had to shop local for a set of universals for the drive shafts, I'd forgotten to order them from Ron and now had no time to do so and still meet the date of delivery anniversary.

I won't name names, but the big-box type parts store I went to had ok people working there, but the product was absolutely inferior to what Ron carries. To add insult to injury, the product was not only offshore made, but the box the man handed me looked to have been opened and returned, when I looked at it, some of the needle bearings were actually missing from the universal. Waste of time and money, always buy from Ron even when you think you can't wait, because you can wait when you know you are getting a quality item from Ron! 8)

'42 Peep's Motorpool
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Re: '42 GPW - '42 Peep's Motorpool!

Post by '42 Peep's Motorpool » Thu Apr 01, 2021 8:25 pm

That issue aside, I finally got it taken care of and managed to bring the vehicle into motion under it's own power for the first time since it was torn down for restoration. A BIG moment as any of us knows!

As an added incentive to this milestone, another family medical emergency had cropped up before I found out about the engine. So I was determined to get this into the next phase so it could be enjoyed now, not off in the undefined future as a 'one day it will be done' project. I would have preferred to have done it the way I originally intended, but life tells us what's important and what isn't. Waiting to find the right GPW part was no longer the most important thing in the world, and was certainly not worth holding up progress on enjoying a G503. A specific part can make a G503 fanatic happy, a running jeep puts smiles on everyone's faces. One can be acquired later, the other happens when it happens and can't be planned for.

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Re: '42 GPW - '42 Peep's Motorpool!

Post by '42 Peep's Motorpool » Thu Apr 01, 2021 8:31 pm

A temporary floor and support for a seat was constructed for a test. This is before it was finished and before the seat was installed.
temp1.jpg

'42 Peep's Motorpool
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Re: '42 GPW - '42 Peep's Motorpool!

Post by '42 Peep's Motorpool » Thu Apr 01, 2021 8:32 pm

Yeah, I used a level.

Scott Schiller, if you are reading this, you will be proud. :lol: :lol: :P

'42 Peep's Motorpool
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Re: '42 GPW - '42 Peep's Motorpool!

Post by '42 Peep's Motorpool » Thu Apr 01, 2021 8:33 pm

Well that's enough for tonight :lol:

See you later my friends!

'42 Peep's Motorpool
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Re: '42 GPW - '42 Peep's Motorpool!

Post by '42 Peep's Motorpool » Fri Apr 02, 2021 8:14 am

Now there was still a lot to do! But hey, it was undeniably looking more like a jeep. I could almost imagine it with the tub on it :lol:


Good timing too, while I could get it out of the garage now, I could start working on the tub and any small parts I'd put off when I chose to focus on the engine. I saw some really nice videos on YouTube by Haines Garage about this time. Haines Garage was a channel started by Scott Schiller, and funnily enough I happened on a contest being held for a case of RFJP red oxide primer! Well you can imagine that was an attractive contest, especially since it came right when I was about to start work on things like the fenders and other parts. :)


So I entered, I figured I had zero chance of winning because the amount of people who entered was pretty long based on the likes the post got. I waited, and did not expect anything to come of it. Instead I focused on what I needed to do next. I'd done some smoothing of the passenger fender already, the driver side was a mess. I hadn't made much progress on it, mostly because it was so badly mangled. However there was absolutely no rust on it, other than being beat up, dented, stretched in places, and with a couple of small tears, it was solid. The goal was to not necessarily make it brand new again, but give it the appearance that it could have had in service. Most dents out, pretty normal looking.


I looked at it again, that was a lot of work it needed. It appeared someone had either hit the fender, or someone driving the jeep had caught it on something up near the joint where the top and the lower part of the fender joins in an angle. Part of it was actually folded in like a mini-accordion. The heavy wire that runs in the rim bead was broken through. Someone had done a poor job of 'fixing' it, and then filled in the rest with body filler. The louvers on the lower part of the fender had been hammered mostly closed and flat for who knows what reason. The inner side of the fender had creases in it. It would have been easier to buy a new one. If it had been as badly rusted as they typically are, I might have considered that! I mean this thing was bad! :cry:


You can see in this photo where I'd already started to get it back into a roughly original shape before setting it aside. It was a solid fender, but the roughest GPW fender I think I've ever seen that had no rust issues.
fender.jpg

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Re: '42 GPW - '42 Peep's Motorpool!

Post by '42 Peep's Motorpool » Fri Apr 02, 2021 8:17 am

A couple of days passed, I got busy cleaning small parts. I saw where the contest results were posted, watched the video and was stunned to hear I was the winner! :shock:

Talk about awesome!

Not long afterward a nice case of the RFJP red-oxide primer arrived in 'rattle' spray cans, which was perfect for me. I planned on using it on small parts, and to cover areas I'd worked on as I made progress on larger parts.

The cans looked nice!
g1.jpg

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Re: '42 GPW - '42 Peep's Motorpool!

Post by '42 Peep's Motorpool » Fri Apr 02, 2021 8:20 am

I watched a video Scott Schiller had up showing the Barrier III Red-Oxide primer, and it looked good, I was stoked to try it! :lol:
g2.jpg
I'd had the GPW tool box lids off for a long time (actually they were in one of the boxes of stuff the previous owner delivered with the vehicle. He'd taken them off -breaking the screws off in the tapping plates- and never refitted them). I decided this would make a good test piece. :lol:

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Re: '42 GPW - '42 Peep's Motorpool!

Post by '42 Peep's Motorpool » Fri Apr 02, 2021 8:24 am

I just realized that last post was my 100th post in this thread :lol:


Anyway I took one of the lids and cleaned it up. It had some light pitting on it, but otherwise was in pretty good shape. It looked like someone had ridden on top of it a lot in the past, and it was dish-shaped/bowed in, I little light hammering took care of that, and I prepped the metal for the primer.


The cans of paint were so nice looking (and heavy) that I hated to use them! :lol:

g3.jpg

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Re: '42 GPW - '42 Peep's Motorpool!

Post by '42 Peep's Motorpool » Fri Apr 02, 2021 8:25 am

I did find the faint but present script 'F' on the lid though:
g4.jpg
First coat of the Barrier III red-oxide primer from Ron Fitzpatrick Jeep Parts, looking good! Just need to let it dry. 8)
g5.jpg

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Re: '42 GPW - '42 Peep's Motorpool!

Post by '42 Peep's Motorpool » Fri Apr 02, 2021 8:27 am

About 10-15 minutes later it was dry to the touch, very convenient!


And it LOOKED good too!
g6.jpg


I mean it really looks awesome to me!
g7.jpg

I was so impressed with it, that I ordered some 33070 from Ron too!

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Re: '42 GPW - '42 Peep's Motorpool!

Post by '42 Peep's Motorpool » Fri Apr 02, 2021 8:40 am

Fantastic primer, I try to use only the Barrier III from RFJP. Later this summer I'm going to have to order more (and more 33070), my supply is almost out. :lol:


Of course about this time my battery went bad. It was getting late, but I ran into town and bought a cheap replacement (there is nothing cheap about them). Unfortunately in my haste (the store was closing in 15 minutes) I ended up accepting a group 1 battery (tractor size) and not a group 2 battery a G503 should have. But it would work, and I wouldn't be able to exchange it. Oh well :roll:


Battery in, back in business!


Then the carburetor float sprung a leak. No idea why, except that it was old. Repaired it and it lasted a month before it did it again in a different place. That float was just no good. I have a feeling it was bad, but that I didn't notice it until about a month into running the engine. Maybe the stresses of operating opened an old stress crack in the brass, or maybe it was something to do with the thermal expansion and heat cycles of an engine compartment, I have no idea. I repaired it again out of necessity, but knew I needed a new one. Once I was able to get it back into the garage under it's own power with a 'MacGyver' repair :lol: :roll:


The floats were impossible for me to find on the market, maybe no one advertises them, I don't know. Months later I found some on eBay from Brent Mullins, and bought two. They were NOS, and came wrapped in the long term storage packaging familiar to many of us. If Ron had them, I'd have bought them in a heart beat!
floatinpackaging.jpg
It isn't much to see when it's still sealed in it's cocoon of packaging, but you can make out the shape of the brass float inside.
floatcarburetorinpackage.jpg


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