Fat Albert's '43 MB 217048 Project Thread

[Fat Albert]

Alright... here we go. I am formally starting a project thread for what was formally known as Bubba Buggy. Since finding the frame and tub numbers and having Mr. Kilbourne provide a DoD of March 8-9 of 1943 I wanted to restore her dignity by dropping that shameful name. I want this thread to be more of my online record of the project as we go along. I don't expect this to be a fast project... I'm sure I will be slow at learning a lot of the proper procedures. But I do know that you guys so far have been very helpful and I am looking forward to sharing this with you and listening to your advice.

To start this off I am going to repost some pics from the previous thread "Newbie finds TWO jeeps"
viewtopic.php?f=96&t=201201" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Obviously the TWO jeeps turned out to be ONE jeep after the other deal fell through. I'm actually glad it did as I think it was a later model and I'm not sure how original it was.

Here is where I found her languishing all woebegone looking.


Faithful buddy along for the ride

Coming home

[Fat Albert]

After almost 20 years of sitting and being used as a trash dumpster she is in pretty bad shape. I cleaned the trash out and found a few handful of nuts and bolts. An old generator mounting bracket... an old jack that I'm not sure is old enough to be the orginal. I also found some stuff I wasn't too pleased with.

Gotta be careful where you stick bare hands!

I will post pics of the bolts after I get them cleaned up. I have looked for the "F" marks even though I realize this is a MB... but I have read where some find them mixed in their old Willys. So far I've not found any but they are very corroded and its hard to make anything out on them.

Here is more of the shots as she sits before work commences.

Windshield with glass intact. I'm not sure if this is original glass but it seems in good shape. No chips or cracks. Rubber seal around it no good though. Frame is frozen in plact with rusted locks. Also has added aluminum rails or guides for aftermarket top. That will come off soon enough!



Glove box lid hinges rusted nearly off. No data plates.


Hole cut in hood to make room for newer F style engine. That engine definitely has to go and the hole fixed.

[Fat Albert]

Guages intact... a few extra holes I've not figured out yet.


Generator bracket


Center floor area... tranny hump. I'm hoping I have the original tranny.


Area between seats... quite sad. Reckon that E Brake still works?

[zepher11]

Looks like you have a great project to work on. I like the picture of the Jeep on the trailer in the drivers' side mirror of your pickup. Very cool. The needle is kinda scary, however. One must always be on guard nowadays. No telling where it has been.

Good luck on the project and keep us posted!

Cheers,

[Fat Albert]

Not original fuel tank...


Passenger's side toolbox


Bubba 12v upgrade



Engine compartment



Heater core Bubba mounting


Underneath fuel tank


Underneath E Brake

[Fat Albert]

Driver's side floor


Snaps for aftermarket top all the way round


What are these small handles called? And are they factory or more of Bubba's work? This one is different than the other 3


Kind of hard to see but the bands around the springs are almost rusted through. Definitley going to have to replace.


No more hat channels

[Fat Albert]

MB 217048 DoD March 8-9 1943


Bubba's special shock pins!



Aftermarket spare tire hanger


Alright... work begins... slowly. I have tried to find any hood markings that may be left. No luck. What I have found is a top green layer of paint. Then a blue layer and underneath it all a red oxide primer. Here are some pics of the first day's efforts looking for numbers. I have since sanded lower but still have not found any numbers.

[Fat Albert]

Windshield was previously frozen in place by 20 years of rust. After a LOT of PB Blaster and some carefully applied pressure it finally came loose!


Next up was traying to get it to roll so I could put it in the barn out of the weather. As I mentioned in my previous thread, the brakes were frozen. Upon getting the MB home I took the back drive shaft loose from the back chunk thinking it may have been the tranny stuck. When it still wouldn't roll I removed the back wheels. (Over the space of a couple of days due to my ignorance of right/left threaded lug bolts on these jeeps!) I was never able to get the hub off but again with several liberal applications of PB Blaster and some good old elbow grease I was able to break them loose and get the back wheels rolling. Only to find the front was locked too. I tried using my tractor to put more pressure on the brakes/tranny/whatever-was-froze, but this didn't work either. The jeep was sitting on wet grass and on a slight incline. It just slid. So I finally crawled back under it to remove the front drive shaft. Guess what I found! Bolts too rusty to get a wrench on! No problem! I have a grinder!


This did the trick. I found out that the tranny is frozen. I'm going to wait till I get the tub off to jump on this issue. But for now I concentrated on getting the jeep to rolling. After pumping up the tires for the umpteenth time and hooking the tractor to it I was finally able to get her to rolling!

[Fat Albert]

Oh! I almost forgot to post the picture of MY bubba work! I used an old spark plug wire to hold the sterring wheel in place while I rolled it straight back. Didn't work the best but I eventually got her in the barn!


And here is a couple of MB 217048 in the barn



And speaking of the barn... I have a lot of work to do in there also. That bed cover for my 250 standing beside the jeep has to go on Craigslist soon to make room! The barn has been neglected and used for storage of all kinds of junk since my dad passed away 5 years ago. This was his workshop... the wood is probably close to 150 years old. It was an old blacksmith shop on our farm for years until dad had to tear it down and salvage/move what he could. This is what he built with it. My dad served in the Navy sometime between the Korean War and Vietnam. I'm not sure of the dates. He wouldn't talk much about it other than to say that he was stationed in California... he worked on aircraft carriers as mechanic but he was the first to say he was no mechanic. He picked up some interesting tattoos from the border of Mexico. He said he worked with the Seabees although he was not a Seabee. He did mention working his way into some kind of position where he was a sort of go between or gopher as it were for the Seabees and his unit. He mentioned commandeering a jeep a time or two but I don't remember the story.
My jeep is not a memorial to dad really although I would certainly like for it to be. But he was not the kind of guy you would do that for. He would think that was crazy. He was a plain spoken, straight forward, no frills or nonsense kind of man. You had no doubts as to what he thought of you... or as to what he was thinking period. What he didn't say you could see it all over his face. I miss him terribly but I know that if he saw me pushing this jeep in the barn he would probably shake his head and cuss a blue streak at my stupidity for wasting my time with a project like this!

I'll find some of his old Navy pics later and post them.

[ironage]

Great project and love the pictures, good luck with it and i look forward to progress photos, it will be well worth it in the end.

[zepher11]

That's funny in how they cut a little hole for the later model engine's carb. I can just see it: "Hmmm...boy that engine fits great with the exception of closing the hood...where's the cutting torch..." In retrospect, they probably thought it looked cool and figured everyone admired them for their cleverness in having the air cleaner above the hood.

[Fat Albert]

Yeah Zeph... I can just see one of those big shiny chrome air filters sticking way up and off center! "Looks good to me!" Bubba just missed his calling as an "enjineer" !
Speaking of Bubba... I received a call this morning from a friend that knows I've taken an interest in these old war jeeps. He wanted me to come look at what he said was described to him as a 41 Willys. Said it was running and drivable! Hey... Sounds good to me! So off we go... I wish I had taken my camera. There may have been something from 41 on there but I couldn't find it. The grill didn't have any black out light holes. Bubba had installed on one side a round headlight too big for the hole... On the other side was a square headlight sticking out the hole! The frame was truly an engineering wonder as they had cut and added pieces to get a mustang front end... Disc brakes all around... Stabilizer bars and who knows what else under it! The engine was a 4 cyl. Out of the same mustang. The tub was a CJ tub... I think. It had a tail gate but I'm not sure if it was home made or not. It looked too finished to be Bubba made but it had what looked like barn hinges on it! Who knows. Floor had been cut away and replaced with diamond plate. Roll bar, big tires and bucket seats finished it out. I wondered about the hood though... It did have the block lettered Willys stamped into it. I've not looked that up yet. So what do you think? This death trap worth $1100?! I actually saw it going by the house a little bit ago... Just a flying. Ain't no way I'd be in that thing!

[thidisbogus]

Albert,

Congratulations on getting it moving and into the barn. You have a nice workspace there. A quick and easy way I found to tell a CJ from the G503 is the CJ has 7 grill slots and the G503 has 9. If that bubba jeep had Willys on the hood it definitely is a CJ.

[macaddict23]

Nice Jeep. It's only 1594 units from my MB215454!

http://www.g503.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=96&t=191385" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[macaddict23]

Nice Jeep. It's only 1594 units from my MB215454!

http://www.g503.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=96&t=191385" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;