Rango.....1942 Willys MB

[Metcalf]

Yup! It's just a big 4wd go-cart.....

68.63" tall to the top of the cage, 71.75" wide to the outside of the tires.

It really is a SMALL vehicle, and that was part of the idea. While the wheelbase is a little short, this little thing should fit places that would make most stock 4wd vehicles cringe. Tight brushy tracks should be no problem....well....other than getting slapped in the face by branches.

 

[bishopdunn]

I noticed you cut the XJ pedal bracket. Did you leave it like the picture or attach a plate to the top? Also did you fabricate the square brake master cylinder mount?

 

[Tennessee Colonel]

...practically every seal in the willys decided to simultaneously give up.

Ach so... Back in my army Jeep days bearing and seal replacement were part of the routine when getting one into running condition... along with generator work, brake work, starter work, engine rebuild, clutch, radiator, carburetor, transmission/T-case work, and most anything else that would or could fail on a decades old veteran. One day a friend told me he had gotten all the oil leaks fixed on his Willys... I told him he had better check his fluid levels since something had to have leaked out from somewhere.

I was right - transfer case had a leaking seal - much to his chagrin.

Still, it is a lot of fun taking one of these 70 yr. old vehicles out into the boonies.

 

[Metcalf]

Today I got something done.....

I think I found the problem with my front crank seal....

Overall the fix wasn't too bad. It takes a few hours to get that far back into everything. I pulled the grill to give myself more room. I was able to unplug the radiator electric fan and pull the entire grill/radiator/fan as one assembly. That was nice.....

I didn't really run into any issues. You need a 15/16 socket for the crank bolt and a little creative 'holding' to get it loose. It's a keyed piece so the crank pulley isn't pressed on. I replaced the rope style seal with a modern lip seal version. It had to go in from the backside....so the timing case has to come off. The distributor has to come out. Make sure to mark the body, rotor, and crank position before you take everything apart.

Most everything is 1/2" head bolts with just a few 9/16 and the 15/16 crank bolt. Its really nice to be able to basically take most of the jeep apart with just a few easy to find tools......

I also replaced the fuel pump while I was in the area. I am not fully convinced that I don't have another fuel issue, but the motor did fire when I got everything back together. I'm half wondering if I am not collapsing the main fuel line or have some tank vent issues or something.....

Since I had the grill off I also replaced the steering box....

I replaced my old steering box with a re-manufactured unit. I used a box for a 1975 Jeep J20. That gave me a 4-bolt box, 4.X turn lock to lock, and the large diameter piston. Its pre-1980 so it also has large 13/16" input shaft, 36 spline if I remember right.

It bolted right in place of my old box so I am happy......

Tomorrow I need to tackle the leaky bolt in the transfer case adapter.

 

[Metcalf]

I noticed you cut the XJ pedal bracket. Did you leave it like the picture or attach a plate to the top? Also did you fabricate the square brake master cylinder mount?

I added an 1/8" plate piece to the 'top' of the XJ pedals to hold everything together and give me a point to add some more reinforcement in the future.

The manual master cylinder adapter is from Speedway Motors.

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Power-Brake-Booster-Conversion-Plate,6207.html

I could have made it, but I was getting a little short on time. This part worked great. It allowed me to eliminate the booster in a very limited space application.

 

[justcuz]

On your electrical issue, it seems the exciter voltage from the field is feeding the HEI (since you took them from the same source). However with the switch off you should not be powering the HEI either. It seems that your circuit is backfeeding voltage to the ignition and the exciter, so when you turn off the switch, the circuit is still supplying voltage (which is why you can run a started engine without a battery, as long as the ignition switch is left on). All this can be tested with a volt meter. A diode would work but if it failed you still have the problem. I would power the 2 separately if it was me. In other words separate the ignition circuit from the charging circuit.

 

[Metcalf]

We wired it like that (kinda) for the shakedown. We just added a manual switch and power supply for the alternator charge wire.

I only have one large pull switch for the the 'on' feature on the vehicle, not your typical key or whatever.

I am most likely going to add a diode, if it fails I can kill the engine another way.....tree, clutch, brake, whatever.

The entire point of the wiring in this vehicle is to keep it SIMPLE. I want a few extra things as possible.

 

[justcuz]

That is still doable, you just need to make sure when you turn your switch off, no voltage from the alternator is energizing your ignition system.

 

[Metcalf]

The 'switched' portion of the fuse block is fed by that single switch. The HEI feed wire is switched......and the alternator feed wire is switched. So basically they are on the same side and 'touch' at the main on-off switch. Its basically the same thing as having them y'd near the engine like they where.

The field wire is a battery drain so it can't be always on....

A diode seems like my best bet.

Maybe some kind of dual pole isolated switch could be used, but I can't find a simple one like I have that will handle 75 amps.

 

[njtacoma]

I was flipping through Hot Rod magazine last night and saw a flat fender* that is lower than yours!!

I didn't get to read the article, but I think it was under the retro rod section, or dare to be different, it also had a 4bt powered hot rod.

*2wd airbag cantilever suspension, looked freakish, I like how yours looks better and its 4wd.

 

[Metcalf]

I was flipping through Hot Rod magazine last night and saw a flat fender* that is lower than yours!!

I didn't get to read the article, but I think it was under the retro rod section, or dare to be different, it also had a 4bt powered hot rod.

*2wd airbag cantilever suspension, looked freakish, I like how yours looks better and its 4wd.

I think that is Randy Ellis's little rat rod flat fender.....very cool.

 

[Metcalf]

Well, it still runs like crap, but it runs!

I probably drove it around for about a little over an hour tonight. I also re-spooled the winch line under tension. I almost pulled my Dodge down the driveway....I didn't think that was possible with a small flat fender. The winch seems to work pretty decent for a $175 39 year old winch.

I think I stumbled on why it just wouldn't run before...or at least stay running. The plug over the full vacuum port on the passenger side of the carb was missing. That was causing a major vacuum leak into the carb that was causing some issue with it staying running. Once I plugged that things where a lot better.

It still stumbles and runs pretty rough on the low end, but it runs. I don't think that carb has run in like 2+ years, and it never ran very well before.

I took my girlfriend for a drive around the neighborhood too. The new steering box feels much better than the old one. The new 4 turn ratio makes it feel much less twitchy with the small steering wheel. I think the steering travel on the box is a little different? I think I need to look for a slightly longer pitman arm...and maybe shorten up the drag link just a little bit.

4wd, hi and low, seemed to work pretty decent. I tried crawling it around next to the road and in the ditch. I think I got the rear end compressed most of the way. I still think I need to add about 1" of shackle to the rear (and add some bumpstops). It twists up pretty decent, at least I never lifted a tire yet

The exhaust leak is still there. I am probably going to need to dig into that one a little bit more, maybe a shim or better clamp or something.
Still need to fix the transmission adapter leak. I am going to tackle that tomorrow evening.

I also need more fuel. I think I am almost out! I do like the sight gauge, it just feel right to check the fuel level like that....

Overall, it feels really good to actually drive it a little bit and put a few more miles on it.

I need to get the motor running better ( mainly carb issues ) and I will be much more happy. I came pretty close to sticking the motorcraft on tonight just to see, but I didn't have an inlet fitting or filter ( and I did try the one from the tank vent...it wasn't the right one )

It did feel REALLY good to get some more seat time and I think it will give me a little more motivation for all the little stuff.

 

[justcuz]

I kind of thought you may have jumped directly from the HEI 12V post over to the exciter. Really should not feed back to the switch since the voltage generation wire off the alternator goes back to the battery. Only way it can keep running with the switch off is if the exciter and HEI is wired directly to 12 volts. The switch in the off position should cut power to the HEI and the exciter.

 

[Metcalf]

I'm back from the EJS weekend!

I had fun, I probably put about 50 miles on the Willys over the weekend running around looking at all the cool stuff...

I think I about lost my voice answering peoples questions on the thing. It was kinda un-nerving to be looking at something and look over at the Willys to notice that there was a gaggle of people around the thing with kids trying to crawl in the front seat! That only happened a few times. Everyone seemed to really dig it even though its still in a very rough barely finished form.

The Willys is starting to run better, but its still leaking at the t-case and transfer case. That totally sucks. I actually tried to seal that stuff up when I built it! Anyways. More work there.

Even with the tires at 10-12psi or whatever, it still drives down the road pretty dang decent. I got it up to about 50-55 a few times. It only takes one hand on the wheel to go those speeds.....so major improvement over most old flat fenders I have been in.

With the seating position being so low and the tires being tucked up so much it basically feels like the tire wants to grab your arm and tear it off or something. You don't want to let your arm hang out the door opening, that rear tire is RIGHT THERE. At 50mph a 10psi Krawler sounds like it wants to eat you.

Still lots of work to do on all the little stuff, but its sure nice to be able to get in it and drive it now.....

I took a ton of pics at EJS but only just one or two of the my Willys. There was too much other cool stuff to look at!

 

[Metcalf]

I kind of thought you may have jumped directly from the HEI 12V post over to the exciter. Really should not feed back to the switch since the voltage generation wire off the alternator goes back to the battery. Only way it can keep running with the switch off is if the exciter and HEI is wired directly to 12 volts. The switch in the off position should cut power to the HEI and the exciter.

With the simple switch I have, the exciter wire and HEI wire are basically fed of the same post. It doesn't matter if they are y'd at the switch or at the HEI, they will still back feed.

I'm going to try the diode and see if that works.