Willys MB 404620 1-9-45 'Calsat'

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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horrocks
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Re: Willys MB 404620 1-9-45 'Calsat'

Post by horrocks » Wed Aug 05, 2020 6:24 am

And here it is with the floor repair in place, and the step rejoined;

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A small step forwards to offset all the running backwards.
Toby

Willys MB 3/13/42 127415
Willys MB 1/9/45 404620


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Re: Willys MB 404620 1-9-45 'Calsat'

Post by 70th Division » Wed Aug 05, 2020 9:36 am

Hello,

Great work Toby !!!!
It is really nice to see your repair works and methods for repairing.
Just remove the rot, and cut back to clean metal.
Very Nice :D :D :D :D

It is coming along nice now !

I love the old hood discovery,
that looks like it came ashore during one of the landings with that special paint !!

Keep up your excellent forward progress !!

I have been doing similar with my 1943 GPW restoration, making forward progress,
a little every day :D :D :D
Just need to post some update pictures later today or tomorrow.


Keep 'em Rolling !!!!

Best Regards,
Ray

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Re: Willys MB 404620 1-9-45 'Calsat'

Post by horrocks » Wed Aug 05, 2020 11:43 pm

Thanks for the kind comments, Ray. I've been following your GPW thread with keen interest, and have learned a lot from it.

I'm far from the best welder, and am learning on the job. I did another MB tub, an early one, last year, but its taken me a while to get back up to speed, and find the correct settings etc.

One silly novice mistake I made was to imprecisely grind back the welds on the wheel housing top with a flap disc, and ground the metal around the bead so thin that I started to blow holes in it when I went back to deal with pinholes. In the end I had to cut out a strip and lay in new metal.

I'm going to get one of those little dremel tools that you use to get those welds right back.

Another thing that I could use would be a spot welder, but they all seem to be high amperage and thus hard-wired here in the UK, and I've only got a temporary feed to my put-up outside 'workshop'.
Toby

Willys MB 3/13/42 127415
Willys MB 1/9/45 404620

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Re: Willys MB 404620 1-9-45 'Calsat'

Post by horrocks » Thu Aug 06, 2020 3:09 am

Baking sourdough bread has become quite the thing in lockdown Britain. I've done it for years. Here's my starter, just by way of a bit of light relief from Jeep repairs.

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Note the jar of marmite. Marmite is a thing you either love or hate, and has given its name to a metaphor for exactly that. I don't think Jeeps are marmite, everyone loves them!
Toby

Willys MB 3/13/42 127415
Willys MB 1/9/45 404620

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Re: Willys MB 404620 1-9-45 'Calsat'

Post by horrocks » Thu Aug 06, 2020 3:47 am

I next turned my attention to the fuel tank well, which had some rust penetration at the front, visible in this 2012 photo;

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I first cut out the thin area at the front, but of course there is a return lip which carries the spot welding to the bottom section of the well, itself either rotted or compromised by sandwich rust. Nothing is as straightforward as it might first seem.

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So I resolved to fabricate the parts, and got cutting;

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Yes, that's another project visible through the hole. Sucker for punishment!

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Still a small repair to do at the top side, which can wait until I do the repairs to the lower axe indentation and the adjoining tank well lip. I've since dealt with the pinholes and further tidied it up.
Toby

Willys MB 3/13/42 127415
Willys MB 1/9/45 404620

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Re: Willys MB 404620 1-9-45 'Calsat'

Post by horrocks » Fri Aug 07, 2020 6:14 am

Replaced the rotted-out sections of hat on the driver's side. The hat-channel is French, bought as the full front-floor section from Jeep Sud-Est when I collected the Jeep from Montpellier in 2012. It is the correct profile (unlike MDJ), but Jeep Sud-Est even say on their website that it needs dismantling and fitting correctly before rewelding.

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I soaked the internal wooden blocks in linseed oil, and used U-Pol weld-through primer throughout. I also cleaned out the original sections of hat best I could, and gave all the internals a good blast of underbody wax.
Toby

Willys MB 3/13/42 127415
Willys MB 1/9/45 404620

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Re: Willys MB 404620 1-9-45 'Calsat'

Post by 70th Division » Fri Aug 07, 2020 6:09 pm

Hello Toby,

Wow that is a nice repair right there !!
If I didn't know better, it looks just like mine, and exactly what I am doing on my 43 GPW !!
I mean just like it :D :D :D :D
Its my opinion it is best to repair it like you are , if most of the original channel is solid.
Because the original is well attached and spot welded, it saves a bunch of time, and it is already the way it is supposed to be and will retain that originality and quality construction !
When I patch a rust hole I only trim back to good metal, and don't over cut the patch area.
Also once your channels are repaired, if I have to patch the floor above the channels, I trim out the patch area so that the piece will lay onto the channel flat edges on each side of the hole to be repaired.
The the patch can be fit in the hole, and both it, and the existing floor can be welded to the top of the hat channel and the seam filled with weld.
That keeps the welds hidden from below and clean looking , then can be ground down from the top of the floor.

Naturally that is assuming the particular rust hole is over the hat channel :D :D :D

Keep up your great work !!!

Best Regards,
Ray

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Re: Willys MB 404620 1-9-45 'Calsat'

Post by horrocks » Sat Aug 08, 2020 1:36 am

Ray, I agree on the patches over the hat channels, and have cut the slot in the floor above the main hat channel accordingly.

It did occur to me whilst I was doing it that its going to cause some consternation on the part of the next restorer of this MB in 30 or 40 years time when he drills out the spots on the hat and it still won't budge!

By that time I will be looking down (or up) and will feel his pain!

It is undoubtedly a lot more trouble to retain as much original steel as possible, and objectively you do wonder if its really worthwhile when the areas that you are so painstakingly repairing are always going to be hidden away out of sight beneath the body. Such is the passion that grips the restorer, crazy really.
Toby

Willys MB 3/13/42 127415
Willys MB 1/9/45 404620

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Re: Willys MB 404620 1-9-45 'Calsat'

Post by horrocks » Sat Aug 08, 2020 2:42 am

A sourdough bubbling away nicely!

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Toby

Willys MB 3/13/42 127415
Willys MB 1/9/45 404620

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Re: Willys MB 404620 1-9-45 'Calsat'

Post by horrocks » Sat Aug 08, 2020 3:21 am

So to the passenger-side hat channels, worse than the driver's side, with the bottom of the front-floor hat rotted along it's entire length;

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Toby

Willys MB 3/13/42 127415
Willys MB 1/9/45 404620

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Re: Willys MB 404620 1-9-45 'Calsat'

Post by horrocks » Sat Aug 08, 2020 3:42 am

I first cut out the rotted hats, taking care to keep the strong area in-situ, then the area of rotted front floor and side-steps.;

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That gave me access to the rotted base of the eiffel tower, which was also carefully excised;

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A new floor patch carefully cut in. I made life complicated by not cutting the exhaust-hanger off, and re-attaching it later. Do do so would have made a neater job, but too late now. The exhaust attachment sits in that little oblong indentation on the passenger floor, which allows it to fit over the hat-channel flange.

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Toby

Willys MB 3/13/42 127415
Willys MB 1/9/45 404620

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horrocks
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Re: Willys MB 404620 1-9-45 'Calsat'

Post by horrocks » Sat Aug 08, 2020 3:56 am

First to repair the eiffel tower;

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Unfortunately I forgot to photograph it in primer before I welded it back in last week.
Toby

Willys MB 3/13/42 127415
Willys MB 1/9/45 404620

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horrocks
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Re: Willys MB 404620 1-9-45 'Calsat'

Post by horrocks » Sat Aug 08, 2020 4:19 am

At the back of that section of hat channel is a nice little complication - a 5/16th UNC captive nut the attaches the passenger seat to the floor, bang in the middle of the hat-channel. The cative nut is spot welded to a little reinforcing plate over which the hat channel is set, the whole lot being spot welded together. The flange of the hat-channel has a little 'lift' to take it over the reinforcing plate, and I endeavoured to retain this detail, for better or for worse.

First to repair the rotted out bit of floor with the cative nut;

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Then to repair the little section of the hat side which carries the reinforcing plate and the captive nut. No spot-welder, so a couple of dabs of mig had to suffice. I don't suppose it will be going anywhere.

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I then carefully cut out a conforming section of new French hat-channel, and assembled the whole thing back together;

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This may well constitute an early manifestation of insanity.
Toby

Willys MB 3/13/42 127415
Willys MB 1/9/45 404620

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horrocks
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Re: Willys MB 404620 1-9-45 'Calsat'

Post by horrocks » Sun Aug 09, 2020 4:32 am

Some random floor holes to patch;

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Toby

Willys MB 3/13/42 127415
Willys MB 1/9/45 404620

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horrocks
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Re: Willys MB 404620 1-9-45 'Calsat'

Post by horrocks » Sun Aug 09, 2020 5:15 am

The area beneath the fuel tank strap bracket;

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..and a bad area on the floor and riser beside the back of the tank well;

Outside before;
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Inside before;
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And the repair. Interesting as the floor here is 'shaped', not flat;
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Test fit;
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U-Pol Weld-Thru primer
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Toby

Willys MB 3/13/42 127415
Willys MB 1/9/45 404620


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