Rango.....1942 Willys MB

[67390FE]

These are the reasons for a shake down cruise! Your work is outstanding and inspirational, nicely done!

[Metcalf]

These are the reasons for a shake down cruise! Your work is outstanding and inspirational, nicely done!

Thank you. Yes, a lot of shakedown runs end this way. All the big stuff seemed to work really well, even somewhat hack stuff like the 2pc front driveline seemed to work out better than I would have thought.

Now I am basically chasing down and fixing all the leaks in the old parts. Its not the most glamorous thing, but it needs to be done.

The only system that didn't really work like I wanted was the brake pedal package. I need to add a lot more support to the firewall, cowl, dash area to keep the pedal pack from flexing. I also need to reverse bleed the brake system or something.....working all the air out of the lines is a total pain in the rear! The hydro clutch system is also a bit of a pain. It took a lot of adjusting to get the pedal stroke just right so I didn't have the input fitting on the hydraulic throwout bearing hitting the pressure plate.

[MrBeast]

This was from when we first fired it up driving it around the house. I don't know why, but I really like this pic. I think this makes it look about like it does in real life......

I tell you this much, that thing looks fun!

[Metcalf]

I just got some more pics from the trip.....

[24HOURSOFNEVADA]

Congrats, the thing looks like a slot car and I mean that in a good way. In all honesty, with the exception of the Skunkwerks FC from Mopar this year, I like your Willy's more than anything else they released for the EJS.

[jeepdreamer]

oozing cool...
more to come?

[Metcalf]

Thank you very much. I wish I had more time to get more little stuff done, but I think its still pretty cool! I will be running around EJS thurs-sunday in it. I hope it doesn't draw that much attention. I have lots of other stuff I want to check out

While some of the pictures start to make it look similar to how it does in real life, you just don't get a good sense of scale until your standing next to it.

I'm going to add a 1" longer rear shackle to level it out a bit, that should only bring the rear up about 1/2" or so. It should sit almost perfectly level at that point. I'm considering adding another hole in the shackle as close as practical so I can bump the rear up another little bit for when I have it loaded down with people, gear, or whatever.

Overall I am pretty dang happy with my little creation. It's not some polished show piece....but I think it just oozes a bit of old school cool ( and gear oil! ). It ended up different than just about everything else, and that is what I wanted.

Over the coming months I will get a lot of the little details sorted out. I could probably tinker on it forever and probably will.

[Metcalf]

oozing cool...
more to come?

Thanks.....it also oozes gear lube, power steering fluid, and engine oil.....

Most of that should be fixed this weekend.

The 'short' list for future 'little' modifications to keep the build going as I start to break in this new creation......

-Wire in the headlights and taillights.
-Rocker guards
-shovel and axle in the original holders
-tie the A-pillar of the cage into the frame somehow
-tie the B-pillar of the cage into the frame.
-install the other 3 handles on the body tub
-rebend and mount the windshield frame
-install some 5.38 gears front and rear
-install some front and rear lockers
-install some alloy axles in the front
-Some light weight diff armor
-build a 'top' of some kind to keep the sun off my head

I think there will be enough to keep the thread going.....

[jalbrecht55]

As Metcalf had mentioned, he had a minion for the week to help out and ride along to Moab. That minion would be me.

I got into town last tuesday afternoon, and we started in on the flatty after dinner. The amount of stuff to finish was, to put it lightly, overwhelming. I had some flashbacks of my little flatty overhaul a few years back... I had forgot what it's like to do so much with so little... (I pretty much rebuilt my whole willys with a socket set I got when I was 16--and it was metric!--I've since set up a nice garage and bought all the tools I wished I had during the build). He only has two little light bulbs in a decent sized 3 car garage, and has a couple of chairs hanging in front of one of them. So my first quest was to find a drop light. After finding it, I proceeded to break the knob off. Hmm. Good start. I really felt useless in there that first night, I think I managed to install 3 new spindle nuts and drill a couple of holes in the wrong place... meanwhile Metcalf finish welded his entire roll cage and probably a few other things I'm forgetting right now.



This FF setup really is neat. In the process of putting in the new spindle nuts. Surprisingly he had to special order them, I guess parts stores don't stock this stuff anymore. Crazy..



With the trip looming (32 hours to go) we decided to call it quits. Before going to bed we worked up a list... I have to say, that little list made me wonder if we could get this running in a month let alone a day and a half...

[jalbrecht55]

The next morning after a leisurely breakfast I wandered into the shop at about 8:00 and decided to start picking away at what I could do.

Wednesday morning willys


The first little job was fitting the windshield to the cage. We had to remove the factory tilt mech because he set the A pillar right up against the windshield. (We discussed remounting the mech in a different location at some other date. The windshield is siliconed shut currently, so it's not a big deal at this time). That probably took me 2 hours... *sigh* But I did manage to cut off the old brackets without ruining them. As you can see, we still need to bend up the lower/legs of the windshield to get it to fit right.



Next I decided to paint the hood. Or at least the metalwork (stretch, highline, air cleaner hole). I chose this nice snowbank as a hood holder, then tried my best to fade in the fresh fab work while retaining the old pantina. hah.. painting isn't my strong suit.



I continued to tinker away... put in some crooked hood hold downs, changed out the diff covers/gaskets and put in some fluids, started to install the locking hubs, but found 4 bolts broken off in one wheel hub and no bolts of the right length in any... I took some measurements for the 2 gauge power wires/grounds and fuel tubing, started to install the new coolant and oil pressure senders but struck out on both accounts... I lost a few special parts, broke the tip on his one and only flathead screwdriver... I also cleaned all the rest of the old gauges/wires/junk out of the dash in preparation for a clean start.



only 14 hours to go....