No more MV's, whoops, 45 willys MB

[Stretch44875]

Found a Willys MB on craigslist, wasn't going to look at it, but did. I've been telling myself for years no more projects, and no more MV's. But.... if I sell a project, I can buy another one, right? So sold one of two 46 CJ2A's I had, and bought this instead! This all happened last year, so going to take a couple of posts to catch up.



Have some paperwork from when it was surplused, family that sold it was original owners. I'll have to scan and upload it, some interesting reading.

Serial/frame number is 426468. Motor is MB569620. Cast date of 3-5 Hood number is 20693117. Tom Woldboldt or Jim Gilmore(sorry, bad with names and faces) looked up hood number and got a build date of March 16, 1945. Hood and motor number are on paperwork. They used motor number to title it, need to see about changing it to frame number.

Missing windshield, glovebox lid is gone, and horn bell is cut off. Rust holes on sides and some in floorboards. Motor was locked up, but I was able to break it free. Pulled head, cylinders have some rust color, but not bad. Need to clean up and adjust valves.

Still has the factory tires and rims, odometer shows 8700 miles. Jeep had been parked in garage since 91. Current plans are to swap M38 top and heater over to my 2A, use 2A windshield on MB. Get it running, go through brakes and bearings, and drive it. Not going to restore it till my 2A is done, and that might be a while!

 

[Stretch44875]

Starting working on the MB. Brakes look good, but all the wheel cylinders are stuck, ordered those, master, and rubber lines. Lug nuts and studs need help, had left nuts on right studs, right on left, hubs swapped, studs spinning in hubs, just a mess. Not a biggie, plenty of parts from the pile for that. Pulled the covers for the diffs and transfer case, oil looked good, but they all had a 1/2in to in layer of crud in bottom. No water anywhere. Greased everything, and fresh oil. New seals in axles and transfer case.

Pulled all the valves and cleaned them, getting them touched up at machine shop. Seats look good, do a light lapping on them. Pulled pan, more crud in bottom, oil looked good, didn't see any metal.

Still have to pull gas tank and clean, install fuel pump and carb, new battery. Swap some decent tires on. Plenty to do, hope to have it running in couple weeks.

 

[gimpyrobb]

Bout time you made a thread for this. I thought I was bad!

 

[Stretch44875]

working on it, LOL.

I'm screwed. Only work done to motor was a head gasket. Whoever did that must have used a angle grinder on the block, it's wavy, with dips of .030 or more. Looks like a 5 year old worked on it. Pulled motor and sent to machine shop.

Motor got decked, having valve seats done, bores honed, and crank polished. Bearings look good.

Brakes, new lines, master, wheel cylinders, seals and changing/cleaning out gear oil. Changed both pinon seals and seals on transfer case. All the gears look great.

Picked up engine, looks good, ordered rod, main, and camshaft bearings.

Finished cleaning piston grooves.

 

[Stretch44875]

So got the engine together. Replaced rod, main, and camshaft bearings. New standard piston rings and gaskets I did not replace anything else. Checked clearances and everything looked good. Cylinders were probably little oversized, but after honed looked nice. Valve seats and valves were touched up. I figure I can run for quite a while this way, and block will still be able to be bored next time. Cleaned everything inside, not so much outside.

Compression after running a little bit was 105-115 across all 4. Had a noisy valve, turns out I forgot to set tappet clearance on that one. Had some smoke after a trip down the road, figured out exhaust still had oil in it. Zero smoke now. Oil pressure around 15psi hot at 500rpm

Got the brakes adjusted and bled, have a good pedal.

Made a trip around the block, no hood, fenders, grill, windshield or seat, think we have all done something similar! Radiator has a crack in the top, radiator cap is bad, and speedometer cable needs replaced.

Still need to install front end metal, wire generator, install key switch, put seats in, and install 2a windshield.

Got it stuck first thing, LOL

 

[Stretch44875]

Made a video of the engine install.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHvxJJkMGZY

 

[Stretch44875]

Replaced temp, fuel, and speedo gauges. Saving old ones, maybe they can be repaired. New speedo cable also. Radiator top tank is full of cracks, but core is good. Had local radiator shop swap a top tank from a bad 2A radiator onto the MB one, it's good now. Been driving a decent amount, Jeep runs really nice.

 

[Stretch44875]

It's green! Daughter and I masked, light sanding, and painted, in about 6 hours. Still needs body work at some point, but looks so much better.

 

[Stretch44875]

Built a seat. I'm 6'8", so Jeeps are a little small for me. Used some old bus seats, and fitted seat around rear fender well. Gained about 2.5 inches in length room, raised about 2 in, and leaned seat back about 2 extra. I fit much better now. Seat bolts in using stock bolt holes, so I can swap original seat in. Didn't cut the body.

 

[Stretch44875]

Added gas can holder and straps, shovel holder, replaced cut off horn bell, got a hand crank, tire pump, grease gun, oil can and holder, lube chart and holder, couple hand tools, ect.

,

 

[swbradley1]

Pulled pan, more crud in bottom, oil looked good, didn't see any metal.

I still have all the chunks of metal in my oil barrel from the last time you were at my place if you need some.

 

[Stretch44875]

Almost caught up. Lost compression on rear 2 cylinders. Went from 110 down to 40. No smoke, pulled head, gasket was good, no cracks in head or block, both surfaces were machined, valves and seats were done, lash set, bores look good. Still runs pretty good. So now I'm waiting till spring to do leakdown and see what is leaking.

 

[Stretch44875]

I still have all the chunks of metal in my oil barrel from the last time you were at my place if you need some.

Nope, still have plenty of those myself.

 

[Stretch44875]

This is cool. Copies of the original surplus paperwork, showing jeep was surplused new, in crate, with tools. Wish I had got it like that, LOL

 

[Stretch44875]

More paperwork

 

[Flyingvan911]

Nice work!!!

 

[doghead]

Very cool!

 

[hndrsonj]

The paperwork is cool!!!

 

[Stretch44875]

Little update, ended up doing a full rebuild on engine, #4 cylinder was shot, had it sleeved, block bored .030, crank seal was spray welded and ground. Bearings, valves, guides, the whole works. New repro radiator, water pump. Runs great, drive it pretty often. Still need to straighten front bumper from haspin.