'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 » Fri Apr 02, 2021 4:10 pm

The axle housing was cleaned and painted, and the backing plates reinstalled, along with the drums.

I cleaned up and painted the cast differential cover. The camera flash washed the color out of the image, the pain it not that pale looking :lol:

Barrier III Red-Oxide primer from Ron Fitzpatrick Jeep Parts:
cover1.jpg


And 33070 Olive Drab from Ron Fitzpatrick Jeep Parts:
cover2.jpg


'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 4:12 pm

119 posts in here from me, and only 1 from someone else. I guess I talk too much :lol:

Will check in later my friends :wink:

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

Post by '42 Peep's Motorpool » Fri Apr 02, 2021 6:11 pm

Taking a step back - I found some older photos from earlier in the restoration - you can see the stop light switch that would mount on the front of the master cylinder. The brake line to the left is newer (last owner put it on) and ran to the front axle; the brake line to the right was the original. :shock:

When I pulled it from the frame (and clips that held it in) I even found the bits of the cotton that went around it in places. Scary to think the previous owner did not replace it. :shock:

Anyway Ford marked stop light (brake light) switch, probably the original too.
br1.jpg

If you look closely, the side that faced away from the frame had olive drab paint remnants on it. I've wondered if that was from the factory (which makes sense because there wasn't any on the side that faced the frame rail) or when it was repainted during WWII. I have a feeling factory, but one never knows. The sides and top of the tub got repainted a few times during the war, but I never found evidence on the underside that it was ever painted again after it left the factory. So it may be safe to say it was part of the factory overspray on the switch after it had been installed?
br2.jpg


Ford script on the back of the switch.
br3.jpg

'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 6:20 pm

Interestingly I never found one bolt that wasn't original (not counting the modern bolts that the last owner had put on, to mount things like the Saginaw steering). Many of the bolts still had olive drab paint layers on top. Some bolts (especially the 1/4" size) were undoubtedly original based on the layers of olive drab present, but were plain head and not script 'F' mark. Which makes sense. Not all the bolts used in GPW production had the script 'F' on it. For what it's worth, I found no recessed head bolts on the master cylinder cover plate, they (not including the one broken off before I got it) were also covered in olive drab paint, and were plain non-script bolts. The cover plate was 'glued' to the floor by an ancient fossilized rubber seal, so I believe they were likely original too.

The only bolt I would call 'weird' that I found, was this bizarre script 'F' bolt. The style is not one of the typical ones, I suspect it is prewar, possibly something left over from Ford car or truck production that ended up allocated to GPW's at one of the assembly plants, who knows. Someone once said they thought it looked like a 'Firestone' F, but Firestone uses a totally different 'F' than this, which really only looks like a variation of the Ford script 'F'.
bolt.jpg
All I can say is that I don't believe the other bolts were anything but original. Maybe some PFC lost a bolt during maintenance, and fearing the motor pool Sergeant, acquired a bolt from a Model A so no one would charge him for loss of property? :lol: Wherever it came from, and whatever the source, it appears to have been on there since the 1940s.

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

Post by '42 Peep's Motorpool » Fri Apr 02, 2021 7:11 pm

I've had this axe for years that was a gift, and I thought one day I'd mount it on the '42. It is a Mann Edge axe head with what appears to be original olive drab paint, the handle and head appear to have only been painted once. I'm not sure on the era, possibly 1940s-?

Anyway wouldn't you know it, but when I got it out to try in the axe head sheath on the tub, the axe head seemed too big! I will double check sometime, but I think it's the next size up from what should be there. Oh well, :lol:
axe.jpg

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

Post by '42 Peep's Motorpool » Fri Apr 02, 2021 7:30 pm

I'll update more tomorrow, almost caught up but still lots to post! :D

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

Post by Klaas » Fri Apr 02, 2021 10:19 pm

'42 Peep's Motorpool wrote:
Fri Apr 02, 2021 4:12 pm
119 posts in here from me, and only 1 from someone else. I guess I talk too much :lol:
Just keep on talking! Very enjoyable thread and it takes me back to the late '70s when I "did" my first jeep, an ex Norwegian Army Slat grille fitted with an early Ford body. A lot to find out and learn in the pre-internet days when parts availability over here was almost non-existent except from a few fellow enthousiasts who got into the game on time. The only books we had were photostat copies of the Willys Manual and a reprint of the TM by Clymer publications....both black around the edges from thumbing through with oily fingers.
As I moved from this jeep (my first Motor vehicle) on to more "sensible" cars i.e. Land-Rovers :lol: , owing to lack of space to store the jeep indoors, I always longed to owning another one. About 4 years ago that happened at last with the arrival of GPW 17331...in yellow and red, but basically rust free and well maintained by the previous owners who were no relations to Bubba. A relatively quick refit with some bearings, brakes and wiring and a "few" other odds and ends gave me a wonderful vehicle which I use regularly.

Sorry for my ramble, but jeeps do that kind of thing to people :wink:
Klaas
GPW17331 - April 21 1942 - Dallas, "J-dot"
BSA Airborne Bicycle R49171 - 1944

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

Post by Fushigi Ojisan » Sat Apr 03, 2021 6:00 am

More of a visitor here.

Love the restoration threads, please keep it up

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

Post by mav1942 » Sat Apr 03, 2021 3:52 pm

I'm more of a lurker by nature. Do keep talking it looks great!
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42 GPW

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

Post by '42 Peep's Motorpool » Sat Apr 03, 2021 4:49 pm

Klaas wrote:
Fri Apr 02, 2021 10:19 pm
'42 Peep's Motorpool wrote:
Fri Apr 02, 2021 4:12 pm
119 posts in here from me, and only 1 from someone else. I guess I talk too much :lol:
Just keep on talking! Very enjoyable thread and it takes me back to the late '70s when I "did" my first jeep, an ex Norwegian Army Slat grille fitted with an early Ford body. A lot to find out and learn in the pre-internet days when parts availability over here was almost non-existent except from a few fellow enthousiasts who got into the game on time. The only books we had were photostat copies of the Willys Manual and a reprint of the TM by Clymer publications....both black around the edges from thumbing through with oily fingers.
As I moved from this jeep (my first Motor vehicle) on to more "sensible" cars i.e. Land-Rovers :lol: , owing to lack of space to store the jeep indoors, I always longed to owning another one. About 4 years ago that happened at last with the arrival of GPW 17331...in yellow and red, but basically rust free and well maintained by the previous owners who were no relations to Bubba. A relatively quick refit with some bearings, brakes and wiring and a "few" other odds and ends gave me a wonderful vehicle which I use regularly.

Sorry for my ramble, but jeeps do that kind of thing to people :wink:

Hi!

Thanks! I appreciate the feedback. It's funny you should mention the Clymer TM reprint, a very dog-eared and grease-stained book was included by the seller. It looked like he got it second or third hand, the cover was almost nothing but clear adhesive tape. :lol:

I'm glad you were able to get another jeep again, they truly make some great memories. I've found the project as enjoyable as the people I've met through it. 8)

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

Post by '42 Peep's Motorpool » Sat Apr 03, 2021 4:49 pm

Fushigi Ojisan wrote:
Sat Apr 03, 2021 6:00 am
More of a visitor here.

Love the restoration threads, please keep it up

Sent from my SM-T820 using Tapatalk
Hi!


Thank you, glad you enjoy it!

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

Post by '42 Peep's Motorpool » Sat Apr 03, 2021 4:51 pm

mav1942 wrote:
Sat Apr 03, 2021 3:52 pm
I'm more of a lurker by nature. Do keep talking it looks great!
Hi!


Thank you for the encouragement, I've looked at your thread and you have a very nice project too! Keep posting, I wish I'd taken more photos of my project (and kept better track of the ones I did take :lol: ).

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

Post by '42 Peep's Motorpool » Sat Apr 03, 2021 5:12 pm

A couple of years ago I finally went ahead and bought of the new old stock (NOS) shock absorber installers. There were a bunch for sale on the big auction site with a 'buy it now' for one apiece. I never needed one for the front shocks, but decided I might as well get the tool while it was available. :lol:

I like some of the old service tools, one of my relatives was a mechanic in WWII, so tracking down (or running across) old tools is a thing to do between work on the '42.

Now there are a bunch of posts about these in the tool section, so if you are interested further have a look there. Pretty cool section of the G503 website.


It was still wrapped up from being repacked in 1953.
spr1.jpg


The label was attached to a brown paper sleeve:
spr2.jpg

The seller had slit open the package on the back (but not through the label sleeve), either to check the condition or see which maker it was? I'm not sure which.
spr3.jpg

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

Post by '42 Peep's Motorpool » Sat Apr 03, 2021 5:19 pm

I was faced with a dilemma, open it or leave in the package? There was no shortage of them (at the time anyway, no idea about now?) in the wrappers, so I went ahead and opened it. :) I know, but it's not an action figure and I want to enjoy it :D


So I didn't want to cut or tear the label, I know that seems trivial when you are opening up the wax covered cloth and paper it was wrapped in, but hey. What I ended up doing, was wiggling the paper sleeve down a little, until it reached a point where it was not as tight, and I was able to slip it off intact. I thought about trying to save the packaging by carefully unwrapping it, but it started to tear, was very sticky, and was sticking to the tool. So off it came, mostly in one big mangled piece of sticky stuff. That left the tool finally fully visible, and revealed it was hiding under a preservative coating of cosmoline.
spr1a.jpg


I started to remove the cosmoline, and I noticed it was revealing a gold color underneath. I'd heard some of them had turned up made out of brass, it looked like this could be one.
spr4.jpg

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

Post by '42 Peep's Motorpool » Sat Apr 03, 2021 5:22 pm

Then I realized I was using an older brass brush to help work the dissolved cosmoline off :lol: Doh! :oops:

It came out looking very clean, and brand new! I thought about the last person to handle it before it was sealed away, pretty remarkable to think about that. 8)
spr5.jpg
spr6.jpg


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