Rango.....1942 Willys MB

[locrwln]

Here is a thread that talks about where all-pro sources their caliper along with another choice (hope it's still good as it's an older post).

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3192

Hope that helps. I am digging your build, so keep it up.

Jack

[Metcalf]

I didn't seem to get that much time on the project this weeekend, but I did make a little headway.....



I tacked the engine mounts and pulled the hoist off the motor. Then I built a crossmember to hold up the transmission and transfer case. Things sure are tight on a flat fender chassis!

I used some 1x2, 3/16" wall tubing to squeeze a crossmember directly under the transmission/tranfer case adapter. I was about to use the old transmission mount holes to hold a simple angle iron bracket that allowed me to mount your standard GM transmission mount behind the adapter just under the PTO output. Overall it worked out pretty good. It was really tight but I was about to get the transmission mount flush with the bottom of the crossmember.

I still need to trim the brackets at the frame to smooth out the transition to the frame a little bit. I just couldn't get the entire thing as flush and trim as I wanted, but overall its not too bad I think.

I can adjust the height of the transmission my changing the small aluminum spacer. After I put all the weight on it, I am pretty sure I need to add another 1/4" in height to get everything where it is suppose to be.

There will be an 8" wide skidplate on the bottom of the crossmember that goes all the way forward to the motor mounts and under the transmission, bellhousing, and oil pan. I am probably going to make this out of some 3/8" aluminum plate. I may also include a small extension that goes back behind the transmission mount and perhaps a 'wing' that goes over to the transfer case outputs.

The drop of the entire mess will be about 1.5", it was all a compromise for sure, but I think this will work out ok all around.

I need to add a few more little braces here and there, round some corners, and trim down the frame brackets a bit......

The frame will be going on the jack stands on the floor next so I can lower the height of the entire thing enough that I can get the body flown over the top and set into position after trimming the tunnel out!

It might look kinda like something again soon!

[Metcalf]

Are wood body lifts booty fab.....



I pulled the frame off the table. Engine/transmission/t-case first. Everything came apart pretty easy. A ratchet strap on the rear of the D18 makes the entire mess fairly easy to move around with the hoist. I had to play a little bit of three card monty to get the frame off the welding table, move the welding table, then remove the jack stands under the tub, then use the jack stands to hold up the frame, then stick the powertrain back in the frame, then move the body over the frame.......DDDAAAANNNNGGGGGG!



Now I get the REALLY fun job of trimming out the tunnel for the new engine, transmission, and transfer case dimensions. That will probably be what I am doing all week!



I couldn't help it, I had to see kinda what its going to look like....



Not really as much room up front as it looked like! The body isn't its perfect location on the frame, but the grill still has to go forward 1.375" and there will probably be a 1/4" thick winch plate too. I think I am only going to end up with about 1-1.5" behind the winch before the grill. It should end up looking almost stockish....



The engine has some room, but not a lot. The grill is still going forward, but its going to be pretty tight in the end still!



Lets just say I have a little work to do on the tunnel reconstruction and modification.....

[Metcalf]

I decided I didn't want to cut the tub so I made a body lift....



Just kidding, this was an easy way to index the tub over the frame while I started trimming out the tunnel. Overall it went pretty good, I still have more work to do. The most problematic area is the firewall over the top of the bellhousing. That is going to work. The area under the fuel pedal needs some modification. Its pretty tight in that area. The body still needs to go down about 1/2 to 5/8 of an inch...and the transmission and t-case are going to come up another 1/4". Trimming the firewall out is going to be a pain in the rear I think.



This is where the carb is sitting right now. I just don't know if I am going to be able to get a carb under the hood.



The all-thread body lift worked great to let me lower the body a little bit at a time and keep it indexed over the body. I think that worked out really good for a few bucks in parts. It will also allow me to lift the body up and down a few times without having to use the hoist. It takes a little bit of time to raise the body up or let it down but they where strong enough to let me stand in the tub while I was trimming.



Overall the engine position worked out pretty well. I think I should be able to fit an XJ sized booster on the firewall like I want to. The engine seems to be in a very good position for firewall clearance, other the bellhousing, but I think with the tucked drivetrain its impossible to get away for the issue without moving the motor forward another inch or two. At that point, even with the V6, the radiator will become a problem.

The other area I had an issue with was the rear output clearance with the hat channel on the body. I just don't think an e-brake is going to fit on the back o the transfer case. I will probably change to a short 1310 yoke and get rid of the flange.

I still have a decent amount of trimming to do, but the basic layout is there.

[reece146]

Ack!

You had me there... I was getting "angry" when you said you were adding a body lift.

LOL

I'd really start looking at what to do about the carb height now. In the image above it is worrying.

Put the e-brakes on your rear disks. Is your rear axle disk already? I recommend sourcing a caliper with the e-brake built in.

[Metcalf]

Ack!

You had me there... I was getting "angry" when you said you were adding a body lift.

LOL

I'd really start looking at what to do about the carb height now. In the image above it is worrying.

Put the e-brakes on your rear disks. Is your rear axle disk already? I recommend sourcing a caliper with the e-brake built in.

haha!

The carb thing isn't THAT big of an issue. I can always run around with no hood or cut a big hole in the hood for the air cleaner I have a few ideas on a somewhat different induction system that I may try, first I need to get the thing together enough to drive around. Then I can mess with that stuff. I'm not going to move anything else or change out the motor just for an air cleaner height problem.

For the e-brake. I just don't know. The idea is to have matching disc brakes, spindles, bearing hubs, bearings, calipers, etc on all 4 corners ( less spare parts ). I don't know if I want different rear disc calipers. If I was going to do e-brake calipers I would add in the wil-wood spot units perhaps. A hydraulic brake lock could also work for this old thing.

[reece146]

You're trying to annoy me again, aren't you? <mumble> hole in the hood... </mumble>

FWIW, I wouldn't do the spot caliper again. If you need it to make a vehicle pass a safety inspection then maybe. I'm not really happy with the clamping power.

What calipers do you have now? Is this a configuration you were already using? Sometimes if you use a large caliper in the rear it can be really hard to get the brake balance right even with a proper proportioning valve. The difference in flow rates reaches a tipping point and the vehicle is really sensitive to loading wrt the brakes. In a flattie that might not be that big a deal.

As for commonality between all four corners, I think it is worth sacrificing to get the correct braking balance provided both sets of calipers are commonly available. The next time I do this kind of setup I'm going to either make the ZJ/WJ drum e-brake inside the rear disk rotor work or use a GM metric caliper with the built in disk e-brake. IMO the key is keep a rough proportional flow rate and swept area as used by the OEM. Example for the WJ, do the math for fluid flow rate, pressure, etc. between the front and rear brake calipers and try to keep that ratio of caliper size between the selected calipers. In my case I ended up with WJ front brakes and Suzuki Sidekick four door front calipers for the rear brakes. The Sidekick caliper is pretty close to the WJ rear caliper but I wanted to match the rotor I am using (also Sidekick) to the caliper.

[Metcalf]

You're trying to annoy me again, aren't you? <mumble> hole in the hood... </mumble>

FWIW, I wouldn't do the spot caliper again. If you need it to make a vehicle pass a safety inspection then maybe. I'm not really happy with the clamping power.

What calipers do you have now? Is this a configuration you were already using? Sometimes if you use a large caliper in the rear it can be really hard to get the brake balance right even with a proper proportioning valve. The difference in flow rates reaches a tipping point and the vehicle is really sensitive to loading wrt the brakes. In a flattie that might not be that big a deal.

As for commonality between all four corners, I think it is worth sacrificing to get the correct braking balance provided both sets of calipers are commonly available. The next time I do this kind of setup I'm going to either make the ZJ/WJ drum e-brake inside the rear disk rotor work or use a GM metric caliper with the built in disk e-brake. IMO the key is keep a rough proportional flow rate and swept area as used by the OEM. Example for the WJ, do the math for fluid flow rate, pressure, etc. between the front and rear brake calipers and try to keep that ratio of caliper size between the selected calipers. In my case I ended up with WJ front brakes and Suzuki Sidekick four door front calipers for the rear brakes. The Sidekick caliper is pretty close to the WJ rear caliper but I wanted to match the rotor I am using (also Sidekick) to the caliper.

I'm going to try and go basic and simple with the brakes. Sidekick rotors and calipers on all 4 corners with 2psi residual valves on front and rear lines. Then plumb in a proportioning valve for the rear. The master cylinder is still up in the air. I would like to use an XJ pedal pack and booster. I'm still up in the air about adding some rear cutting brakes ( if I can kinda hide them ) and perhaps a park-lock valve on the rear circuit

The front and rear will be getting the same spindles, bearings, hubs, etc on all 4 corners with the full float rear conversion I am doing on the old school D44 rear. Most of this is bolt-on so it works out well. To me, having identical parts on all 4 corners is VERY nice for spare parts and trail fixes. The amount of parts I have to carry or find at autozone goes WAY down. With slip on disc brakes it works out pretty neat since you can pull the spindle nuts and pull the entire mess like a unit-bearing!

[shortbus4x4]

My six year old daughter says when the engine sticks out of the hood it means its a fast car.

Nice work, love your body lift. Will file that idea in the back of my head for future reference.

[Metcalf]

My six year old daughter says when the engine sticks out of the hood it means its a fast car.

Nice work, love your body lift. Will file that idea in the back of my head for future reference.

MMMMMMmmmmmm....fast? Probably not so much.

The 'redneck body lift', as my friend calls it, worked incredibly well for for positioning the tub over the frame in the correct location. It allowed me to lower the body and see what was going to hit, then raise it up and trim it. For like $10 in materials it was TOTALLY worth it. I didn't think it would be strong enough to support me standing in the tub to trim stuff, but I tried it anyways. It worked great.

I had this idea a while ago when I was planning the build, it was one of the major reasons that I built the body mounts on the frame first, then installed the drivetrain separate, then the body back onto the frame.

There was a lot of measuring and researching ( and guessing ) in positioning everything in the frame and under the tub. You can't have everything, but overall I think I optimized things fairly well.