1943 Ford GPW Build from Rescued 1943 Parts

[70th Division]

Hello Barrie,

Thanks for posting that picture !
That looks like a very nice tool to have, I will see if they are available here, I have not seen them, but would make sense that they are available.
Are they able to grind welds back with it, maybe there are belts made of flap disk material that would do the job.

That tool would really help in sanding down the Metal to Metal metallic filler that I will
use to dress all the weld repairs after the tub is media blasted and ready to paint, in hard to reach areas.

I will see what I can find .

Best Regards,
Ray

[conrod6]

No problem at all - known as a powerfile here. Uses zirconium belts that are less than a dollar apiece . I wouldn't be without mine.

Barrie

[70th Division]

Hello Barrie,

That is beautiful !!!
I will definitely look for some here !!

That would make life so much easier !!
Thanks so much for that great tool tip
... I just found them for sale online !!
Best Regards,
Ray

[Boyso]

I also use one, a black and decker from Amazon. Best 50$ ever !

Takes care of your welds in no time and doesn't cost as much as rolocs

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B005KRY946/ref ... 00_TE_dp_1

darn it jumped in price, it was 67$ CAD when I bought mine. Go to HF and find the cheapest one

[70th Division]

Hello,
Thanks Boyso !

I am getting one of these tools, it will be a great addition to the tool collection !!

Best Regards,
Ray

[70th Division]

Hi,

Here is a picture of the passenger side rear after repair
patches have been welded in and ground back

It came out pretty good on the inside and outside.

This is the initial welding in of the outer patch, I also spot welded this patch to the tool box floor inner floor patch vertical edge.
You can see the remains of some of the spot welder dimples that I welded up on the outside.
Tomorrow I will touch them up with a little more finish welding, then grind them down, and clean the repair up nicely.
The dimples are a lot smaller than they look
the area is very smooth to the touch, as after the grinding was done, I gently used a flap disk
to feather it all smoother.
Eventually after the tub is blasted clean, I will add the metallic filler over the area and sand it all down smooth as well.
It should be a nice finished area when ready to prime and paint.

Ray

[70th Division]

Hello,

The next areas that I patched up recently were
body floor holes that had been cut wider than the hat channel by a former owner of the jeep.
They then added mesh wire and bondo over the area. They also used a stop sign post as a hat channel replacement , and riveted it to the floor.
Real nice repair job
Just like they did on the front fenders

So I had to remove all that garbage, and add some metal to the edge of the wide hole.
I did that so that I could repair the hat channel under the floor.
I wanted to be able to weld the new hat channel top edges to the edge of the
floor from the top.
Once I did that and I got a rock solid attachment of the hat channel to the floor.
Then I cut a patch to fit into the hole over the top of the new hat channel .
I shared the available space of the hat channel to allow both the existing floor edge and the patch to be welded to it from the top.
That way all the areas repaired were cleanly and solidly attached to each other.
I don't have the pictures available as they are stuck on my old phone but will try to get them.
I cut a section of the new hat channel the length of the existing hole, and welded it all from above, and welded it to the good center section of the original hat channel.

Here is the finished repair.

I did the same type or floor repair on the driver's side front floor.
Here I cut out the rust hole over the hat channel, and replaced the hat channel in the same fashion, making solidly welded joints of the floor to channel and patch to channel and floor edges.

Also the same for a repair and replacement of the rear floor hat channel and rusted through area along the top of the channel.

Here are some various repairs to the front floor holes.

So it is coming along
The welded in patch repairs are rock solid, and no pin holes, all were welded up, and ground smooth. It is a long process but makes for a very nice repair. They will then have metallic filler added over them and sanded down smooth

Best Regards,
Ray

[70th Division]

Hello,

Here is another area that someone hacked away at.
The driver's side mounting gusset had the bracket cut away.
I have a new bracket that came with the jeep, but the oval was cut away, and the bracket would have to be riveted onto the gusset .
Well instead I found a remnant of the missing section on another gpw body.
( that gpw can wait for a future repair, as the piece was bolted to the frame, but was already rusted away around the gusset. )

So I just unbolted it and cleaned and repaired it.
Then I was able to graft it onto a few pieces of steel and make the missing section.
then I welded in onto place.
It came out really nice, and is solidly attached and lined up in its proper position.

I will be using the great sanding tool that Barrie and Boyso
recommended to smooth out the welds on the inside of the repaired gusset
That is an area that is tough to get a grinder in !!!
Thanks guys

I primed and painted the new driver's floor to gusset hat channel on the inside and spot welded it to the bottom of the gusset.

Best Regards,
Ray

[70th Division]

Hello,

In between the rain and the tropical storms I was able to get the L brackets for the rear panel to frame connection spot welded to my patches.

I could not really tell from my other jeeps how many spot welds were used on the L brackets.
But went ahead an did 8 spot welds per bracket, as I somewhat figured that out from studying my other jeeps.
Much better strength than 6 spot welds, as pictured.
Also my M201 French Jeep body has 8 spot weld dimples on its L brackets.

Best Regards,
Ray

[70th Division]

Hi,

I also was able to next repair a rust through hole on the passenger's side wall.It came out pretty good,
and will next grind it down and touch up the welds.

Best Regards,
Ray

[IvorGPW]

I love this thread, you are doing great work!

[70th Division]

Hello,

Thanks Tate !
It is a lot of fun

Here are some more repairs done to the 1943 GPW Ford built body.

First, a capture nut was missing from under the transmission hump that the passenger's
seat bolts to, and attaches.
I clamped it tightly and then used my spot welded to spot it on,
it went perfectly

This will be good for another 75 years of Jeep fun !!
It did smooth off the spot weld spots so it is nice and clean.

Ray

[70th Division]

Hello,

Another area that needed attention was another capture nut on the front
of the cowl where the fenders attach.
Here the nut was missing, along with a piece of the steel reinforced corner of the
cowl bracket at the top.
I made a piece of steel patch first, then spotted the capture nut to it.
Then I spot welded that piece with the nut already attached to it, to the cowl top corner .

You can see the crack under the capture nut and patch piece.
That area will be welded to really re-strengthen the entire corner.
That area is a stress area, and this jeep took a lot of stress right there !!

Here you can see the passenger's side capture nut area, nut is fine but there is also a stress crack there too that I will weld up today.

Best Regards,
Ray

[70th Division]

Hello,

This was an area on the driver's side front floor where the floor rusted through, and the hat channel was replaced.
I replaced the channel first, then cut away the rust back to the halfway point on the new hat channel.

This gave me a good solid, clean metal sill to weld my floor patch onto. This
way there was nothing seen from below of a patch being welded it.
I hadn't added this picture so wanted to show how the repair was done from above.
The other front floor patches over hat channels were done the same way, except where a former owner cut away the area wider than the hat channel.
It is always important to think through ease of repairs before you cut away the rusted areas.
Sometimes you are lucky and the metal is good right at the edge of the original channels.
this will make for a much better and easier repair that will be a rock solid as you can possibly make it. So think twice, cut once
You can see the drill holes where I drilled out the original spot welds that attached the rotted away hat channel below.

Ray

[Boyso]

Hey Ray, I think you'd have a bit less splatter if you cleaned the area around your welds a bit further and on both sides. You'll get better penetration, and less grinding down the road ! And grinding is no fun