1945 Willys MB Restoration Project

If you have an unrestored WWII jeep, we would like to see pictures, and hear your comments. NO EBAY or COMMERCIAL SALES.
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70th Division
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Re: 1945 Willys MB Restoration Project

Post by 70th Division » Sat May 20, 2023 9:16 am

HH Birnie wrote:
Fri May 19, 2023 10:25 pm
The hood is nice to do. It's the face of the jeep( the grill also) We see the pictures.....
Still good job.
Gr Hans Birnie
Thanks Hans !

Piece by piece this jeep is getting restored !!

Ray


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Re: 1945 Willys MB Restoration Project

Post by 70th Division » Sat May 20, 2023 9:18 am

Hello,

Here are some pics of the hood about to get blasting started.
Resized_20230520_121049.jpeg
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And it is a very hot day out there right now !!
Resized_20230520_132039(1).jpeg
The hood so far, and it is cleaning up nicely.
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Once the rust and crud is off, I will re-blast the areas to get them completely clean.

I do like that this hood is perfectly flat on top, and after all the years of use and abuse, it was never bent down on the seam, and being pulled off a jeep found in a junkyard, before I got it, is really amazing that it is still in such great shape !
It just has 2 dings to smooth out.

That is all for today, I have to get to church tonight.

Best Regards,
Ray
Last edited by 70th Division on Mon May 22, 2023 4:42 am, edited 2 times in total.

David Hughes
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Re: 1945 Willys MB Restoration Project

Post by David Hughes » Sat May 20, 2023 3:26 pm

Lager? Ray, say it ain't so.

Jeeps, due to their seafaring history, naturally go better with India Pale Ale.
1942 GPW 19714
1967 M416
1951 M100
MVPA 8836

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Re: 1945 Willys MB Restoration Project

Post by JAB » Sat May 20, 2023 5:13 pm

That's funny! I'm currently in a transition from amber lagers to IPA's (although Sam Adams Boston Lager is still a favorite!). All the talk about Bud Light (which I never liked anyway) just mkaes me realize how flavorless all the "old standbys" (Miller, Blatz, Coors, Bud, etc.) are compared to what I've been drinking these last few years. I often have what I call (jeep) wagoneer beer IPA in the afternoon;

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-Jeff

GR8GPN2U!!!

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Re: 1945 Willys MB Restoration Project

Post by 70th Division » Sat May 20, 2023 7:32 pm

David Hughes wrote:
Sat May 20, 2023 3:26 pm
Lager? Ray, say it ain't so.

Jeeps, due to their seafaring history, naturally go better with India Pale Ale.
Hello David ,

Yes I have long been a Yeungling customer ever since a 70th Division Veteran in Pennsylvania we were visiting at his early 1700's beautiful home, gave my Dad and my brother and I several cases to put in our cooler to drink all the way back to Florida on the beautiful Autotrain !!!
I highly recommend this great American beer !!
We had never heard of it, and this was before Mr. Yeungling bought an abandoned brewery here to start making it locally. Now it is available everywhere.

But as you said , IPA is our main beer, and there are so many good options to support !!
Nobody drinks that swill made from rice in this area, and never will.

Jeff's beer is great as well, we have that available here, and usually in our beer inventory 👍😁.

I think that Lord Chesterfield is about as close to an IPA as Yeungling makes, and it is pretty good, much stronger that the Lager.
Terrapin is another brewery we support, and there are now many Florida micro breweries that are making great IPA,'s as well.

But when work has to get done, that All Day IPA is pretty good.

Best Regards,
Ray
Last edited by 70th Division on Fri May 26, 2023 5:55 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: 1945 Willys MB Restoration Project

Post by 70th Division » Sat May 20, 2023 7:44 pm

[comments][/comments]
JAB wrote:
Sat May 20, 2023 5:13 pm
That's funny! I'm currently in a transition from amber lagers to IPA's (although Sam Adams Boston Lager is still a favorite!). All the talk about Bud Light (which I never liked anyway) just mkaes me realize how flavorless all the "old standbys" (Miller, Blatz, Coors, Bud, etc.) are compared to what I've been drinking these last few years. I often have what I call (jeep) wagoneer beer IPA in the afternoon;

Image
Well said Jeff !!
Good beer is good beer, that mass produced rice beer is generally garbage, and headache beer.

People who drink that, are missing out what real beer tastes like, and how good it is, that bud stuff is terrible, along with most of their competitors.

Haven't ever bought that beer, and tried it years ago, for the first and last time !!
I didn't drink beer at all until visiting friends in Germany, who showed us what great beers were really meant to be !!
That is where I first started drinking beer, and it was all good over there.
That beer discovery and education was in beatiful Bergisch Gladbach in the countryside near Cologne, Germany .

What great times !!

I need to go back and visit my friends there again , now the China virus is gone !!

All Day IPA is great !!
Plus it is jeep related 😁👍🇺🇲 !!
We have it here !

Best Regards,
Ray

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Re: 1945 Willys MB Restoration Project

Post by JAB » Sun May 21, 2023 3:20 am

My brother in law calls my beer grapefruit beer (he’s got a point with some of them) but he hates rice beer and corn beer too. He prefers brown ales, and drives Jeeps! He was a jeep driver for his colonel in the army. He says my GPWs drive way better than the MUTTs he drove in Germany!

I just noticed my son’s T-shirt; drink ale, live lager! Lol!!
-Jeff

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Re: 1945 Willys MB Restoration Project

Post by Tuareg » Sun May 21, 2023 4:05 am

Ray, good job with the seat. Mine is modified and needs work and the others are missing. So I enjoyed your pics and restoration very much. Thanks

Keep them rollin’!! 😃
Willys MB
DOD 27 july 1942
TUB 63439
CHASIS MB161718
Estimated Hood number very high 20214xxx to very low 20215xxx
Probably 1st Armored Division, Operation Torch, still doing research.
Probably Diplomatic number plate by French Government in Morocco. Still doing research. Any information is welcome!

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Re: 1945 Willys MB Restoration Project

Post by 70th Division » Sun May 21, 2023 4:41 am

JAB wrote:
Sun May 21, 2023 3:20 am
My brother in law calls my beer grapefruit beer (he’s got a point with some of them) but he hates rice beer and corn beer too. He prefers brown ales, and drives Jeeps! He was a jeep driver for his colonel in the army. He says my GPWs drive way better than the MUTTs he drove in Germany!

I just noticed my son’s T-shirt; drink ale, live lager! Lol!!
Hello Jeff,

Yes some of them may taste like grapefruit beer, but they are all good 😁.
There is a great variety of beers out there now, that only recently have been available, it is a Renaissance of beer making throughout the USA.
And they are so much better than any mass produced beer from the 2 global conglomerates.

As people discover the new options, they will change from the old swill and be better for it.


Like learning to enjoy a GPW over an M151 😁.
Well both jeeps are nice, unlike the beer battles !!

Best Regards,
Ray

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Re: 1945 Willys MB Restoration Project

Post by 70th Division » Sun May 21, 2023 4:47 am

tuareg wrote:
Sun May 21, 2023 4:05 am
Ray, good job with the seat. Mine is modified and needs work and the others are missing. So I enjoyed your pics and restoration very much. Thanks

Keep them rollin’!! 😃
Hello Tuareg,

Thanks a lot !!
The seat restoration was fun, and it was nice starting with a good seat,
another key part of a jeep !

I have restored some very rough GPW seats on that project that also came out beautiful , and was able to save and restore both F marked seats.

Once I get the hood done , I will do the driver's seat.

Good luck with your seat restoration, and searching for additional seats !


Best Regards,
Ray

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Re: 1945 Willys MB Restoration Project

Post by 70th Division » Fri May 26, 2023 4:12 pm

Hello,

After rain delays the last 2 days, after today's rain it was windy and things dried out, so I was able to finish blasting the hood.
Resized_20230526_201542.jpeg
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Also we should note that this hood being on a 1945 Willys MB, is a Ford hood .
The Ford hoods were at this point in time being made by ACM since the machinery was transferred to ACM from Ford, so they could supply ACM2 body kits to both Willys and Ford.
The Ford style hood was selected to be part of the ACM2 specifications.
Resized_20230526_185521.jpeg
On these Willys hoods, the front hood tinning was way less than we find on earlier GPW jeeps, although I did find some traces of tinning.
Resized_20230526_185915.jpeg
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Here I took a picture of the trace remains of a thin strip of tinning.
We can see that is is of a different dimension and certainly was not very thick as compared to older GPW hoods.

So I decided to replicate some semblance if what I found on this hood, and bare traces found on an additional number of MB hoods.
All were the same, almost no tinning left, and a very thin strip of tinning were there was any evidence of tinning.
As these are type 2 radio suppression jeeps being so late, most of the fender rinning was eliminated if not all.
Resized_20230526_192543.jpeg
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This is what I recreated to match the general outline of what I found looking at the hoods.
After tinning, I ground down the segments flatter, to get them closer to what they are supposed to be.
After I tinned the areas, I wiped off the Flux, then blasted the area clean so no Flux remained.

I reprimed the tinned areas, and will use a rotary sander to clean the primer off the tinning, and tape it off before painting.

I also want to let everyone know about a new purchase of an item that is an important tool !

When I blast with the crushed glass
media, I sweep it up, sift it, and reuse it all, over and over.

I had an old section of a fireplace screen, that has just the right size openings in the screen to let the material sift through, but it catches the debris and leaves etc. that get swept up.
My old screen has long since rusted away, and was falling apart.

I found a new one on Amazon for $49 with free shipping.
Resized_20230526_204716.jpeg
It is the exact same screen size needed for a smooth and quick sifting of the media.
This works great and even had handles on it.
The brand is BCP, and is the only model I found that was cheap and does the job.
It works great with 2 buckets under it to refill.

My neighbor gave me some kitty litter buckets with snap on covers which are great to store your media in !!!!

Best Regards,
Ray
Last edited by 70th Division on Thu Jun 01, 2023 5:20 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: 1945 Willys MB Restoration Project

Post by 70th Division » Wed May 31, 2023 9:08 am

Hello,

I have added a thin coat of metallic filler over the hood to eliminate all the little rust pitting where there was bare paint.

I did make sure not to fill in the small dimples stamped into the hood that are on all Ford hoods, to locate drill holes for the wind deflector that was used on earlier Willys jeeps.
They were discontinued, but the Ford dimples remained through all production.
They were not used, and I don't think Ford ever used the hood mounted wind deflector ?


Once this has cured it will be sanded down with a rotary sander, leaving the pitting filled in, and 99 percent of the filler removed.
Resized_20230531_130024.jpeg
Iin.
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After this work is done, the hood will look great, and all the rust pitting will be filled and gone 😁.

Then I will do the underside of the hood where needed, but that area was painted over still, so fewer pitted areas and it will be a quicker repair.

Best Regards,
Ray
Last edited by 70th Division on Mon Jun 05, 2023 7:41 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: 1945 Willys MB Restoration Project

Post by Tuareg » Wed May 31, 2023 1:15 pm

Fantastic job!!
Willys MB
DOD 27 july 1942
TUB 63439
CHASIS MB161718
Estimated Hood number very high 20214xxx to very low 20215xxx
Probably 1st Armored Division, Operation Torch, still doing research.
Probably Diplomatic number plate by French Government in Morocco. Still doing research. Any information is welcome!

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Re: 1945 Willys MB Restoration Project

Post by TonyC » Wed May 31, 2023 2:21 pm

Looking good.
1942 GPW 16369
1944 MB 331575 (Ex British Army)
1943 MB-T Tandem 25504
1943 Converto 0650875

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Re: 1945 Willys MB Restoration Project

Post by 70th Division » Wed May 31, 2023 2:34 pm

tuareg wrote:
Wed May 31, 2023 1:15 pm
Fantastic job!!
Hello,

Thanks Tuareg !
A little bit every day :D .
Resized_20230601_105423.jpeg
I am blasting the driver's seat right now, and should be done with that by tomorrow I am thinking, if the rain holds off !
Resized_20230601_105255.jpeg
Any new items for your Willys ?

Best Regards,
Ray
Last edited by 70th Division on Thu Jun 01, 2023 7:02 am, edited 2 times in total.


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