Willys MB unknown#(estimated around 197500) restoration

Create a thread to track the progress of you MB/GPW restoration progress. Previously a General Discussion board.
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Graeffmb
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Re: Willys MB unknown#(estimated around 197500) restoration

Post by Graeffmb » Sun Jun 04, 2017 6:40 pm

1 year has passed since my last update, and not much happened, and that just shows why it is hard to restore a car in Brazil, if you want to get things done you have to do it yourself or pay a huge amount of cash to a specialized shop, the engine (which i thought was civilian, but is actually a 1944 MB engine) was on a friend's shop for almost a year to change the crankshaft, the only thing left was to put the crankshaft gear (the engine already had a civilian camshaft and our replacement crankshaft is also civilian, so i left the gears) and the oil pan, but that was not done, so i decide to take the engine home and finish it myself, the body was on a body shop for around 8 months, and the only thing that was fixed was the transmission tunnel, i took the body home as well.

Now the pictures:
Body sand blasted
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Some parts, Radiator and shroud, air and fuel filters, and a correct windshield frame
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The engine casting number
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A slat grill footman loop! I wonder how it ended up in my Jeep...
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The body with a coat of wash primer, the radiator(with a new core), and some new body panels, i don't plan to use the complete panels, only from the rear corners to about the middle of the wheel well on both sides and the tip of the passenger side front panel where the fender bolts to the body
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Last edited by Graeffmb on Tue Jul 11, 2017 6:24 am, edited 1 time in total.
1942 MB Serial #estimated around 197500, body 99471
1952 CJ3A
1959 CJ5
1968 Ford/ENGESA F600
1971 Ford F85
1980 Ford U50 Jeep


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Graeffmb
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Re: Willys MB unknown#(estimated around 197500) restoration

Post by Graeffmb » Sun Jun 11, 2017 5:11 pm

I decided to share some pictures i found on the internet where my jeep appears

This one from 2007 i found in a 4x4 forum, my jeep is circled in red, and other G503 bodies in blue, the dark green one is a GPW (ford body), the light green is a ACM 1 willys (99589) and the white one with the frame is gone so i don't know what it is
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This one is from 2008, with the bodies in different place in the junkyard, again my jeep in red, the others in blue
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This last picture is from just a few months before i bought it, the green bodies aren't in the picture, but they are still there, the white one in the foreground is not the same from the previous pictures, and the hood and left fender of that body are also mine, the fender is pretty much junk, so i will keep it as a template and use its headlight support on a CJ fender
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I sand blasted the remaining body parts, and found a (broken) cast windshield clamp, i wonder if it was changed during its lifetime or if it's original to the windshield
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I also decided, along with my father, that my jeep will have the post-war Brazilian army markings pictured below in homage to my grandfather, who passed away earlier this year, in the picture he is with the Willys Cargo Personnel Carrier that he drove when he was in the army
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The Willys still exists and is now in a museum
http://museumilitarpanambi.com.br/trans ... patachoca/
Last edited by Graeffmb on Tue Jul 11, 2017 6:29 am, edited 2 times in total.
1942 MB Serial #estimated around 197500, body 99471
1952 CJ3A
1959 CJ5
1968 Ford/ENGESA F600
1971 Ford F85
1980 Ford U50 Jeep

Fortyeight2A
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Re: Willys MB unknown#(estimated around 197500) restoration

Post by Fortyeight2A » Mon Jun 12, 2017 6:58 pm

That (Willys Cargo Personnel Carrier) would be a very cool and very uncommon vehicle to have!
Last edited by Fortyeight2A on Wed Jun 14, 2017 7:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Is it true real Jeeps have flat fenders?
Alone cannot you it resist!

Mark Jesic
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Re: Willys MB unknown#(estimated around 197500) restoration

Post by Mark Jesic » Mon Jun 12, 2017 11:19 pm

Really amazing pictures, thanks for posting. :D

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Re: Willys MB unknown#(estimated around 197500) restoration

Post by Captain John » Mon Jul 03, 2017 7:28 am

Hi !!! It is good to see you have model A Fords as well . My son and I have 5 on the road and another 9 to be restored one day . In the 80s I worked in Brasil subcontracted to Petrobras working offshore on the Campos oil field . We were based in Macae R J and Caju in Rio . I was offered a very nice 28 phaeton at a good price but found that I was not allowed to export it to England . You can export from Argentina and Uruguay but not Brasil . I liked the picture of the Willys work truck . When I was in Brasil I saw many station wagons and pickups which looked just like Willys but were Ford manufactured . After WW2 Ford was not allowed to build and sell anymore jeeps only Willys could do this . I was very surprised to see indentical to Willys station wagons but Ford made ,did Ford have a special deal with Willys in Brasil ??? I miss Brasil weather and the girls on Ipanema beach !!!

Captain John restoring GPW with ACM 1 body in Suffolk County England .

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Graeffmb
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Re: Willys MB unknown#(estimated around 197500) restoration

Post by Graeffmb » Thu Jul 06, 2017 1:07 pm

Thanks guys.
Captain John wrote:Hi !!! It is good to see you have model A Fords as well . My son and I have 5 on the road and another 9 to be restored one day . In the 80s I worked in Brasil subcontracted to Petrobras working offshore on the Campos oil field . We were based in Macae R J and Caju in Rio . I was offered a very nice 28 phaeton at a good price but found that I was not allowed to export it to England . You can export from Argentina and Uruguay but not Brasil . I liked the picture of the Willys work truck . When I was in Brasil I saw many station wagons and pickups which looked just like Willys but were Ford manufactured . After WW2 Ford was not allowed to build and sell anymore jeeps only Willys could do this . I was very surprised to see indentical to Willys station wagons but Ford made ,did Ford have a special deal with Willys in Brasil ??? I miss Brasil weather and the girls on Ipanema beach !!!

Captain John restoring GPW with ACM 1 body in Suffolk County England .
Hi John, actually my grandpa was the owner of the Model A frame in the pictures, he had 3 on the road, 1 to be restored and enough spare parts to build at least 1 car.
This is him with one of his Model As
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Ford actually bought Willys Brazilian branch in 1967, they made the passenger cars until 1971, the SW until 1977 and the cj-5 and the pickup until 1983 (sadly none of those got F marks...)
1942 MB Serial #estimated around 197500, body 99471
1952 CJ3A
1959 CJ5
1968 Ford/ENGESA F600
1971 Ford F85
1980 Ford U50 Jeep

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Re: Willys MB unknown#(estimated around 197500) restoration

Post by Captain John » Tue Jul 11, 2017 8:47 am

Cool picture of Grandad and his speedster !!! The Model A Ford and the WW2 Jeep are the very very best vehicles to keep and restore for sure .In the UK parts are cheap and readily available for both . Actually Jeep parts seem cheaper in England than USA .I spend about 5 months a year in sunny Chandler Arizona and get my Model A parts there as they are a bit cheaper than UK .My wheels in USA is a bright red 1930 Model A pickup . My jeep came into UK from Arizona .

Captain John in raining afternoon Suffolk County England .

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Graeffmb
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Re: Willys MB unknown#(estimated around 197500) restoration

Post by Graeffmb » Thu Mar 15, 2018 11:17 am

Overdue update on the progress of my MB
Around last August i finished putting the engine together, and also found a T-84 case (which is by coincidence a December 42 case/correct date for my jeep)
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i used the frame as a engine stand to fire it up, and found out the engine leaks in the rear main, so it has to come apart again
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Around December i finally found somebody that would take the challenge of doing the bodywork, the guy is my father's friend and a jeep owner, and at last i'm seeing progress
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Out comes the rear floor
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New shock covers
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Fitting the new rear floor, this is not a bought repro, he measured the original and bent a new one
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Next he removed the rear panel and most of the left side
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Finishing up the floor
1942 MB Serial #estimated around 197500, body 99471
1952 CJ3A
1959 CJ5
1968 Ford/ENGESA F600
1971 Ford F85
1980 Ford U50 Jeep

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Graeffmb
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Re: Willys MB unknown#(estimated around 197500) restoration

Post by Graeffmb » Fri Jul 20, 2018 9:35 am

Tomorrow it will complete 3 years since i purchased the jeep, so i guess is time for an update
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I went back to where i bought the jeep, they rearranged their parts section, so it's easier to find stuff, i found not one but 3 WW2 transfer case cases(is that grammatically correct?) and took the best of them home, later i found that one of the others i left behind is an early "big hole" case.

As you can see this is just the empty case, i do have another complete but disassembled civilian transfer case that i can use the internals in this, the challenge will be matching the large intermediate gear to the 3/4" shaft.
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The front floor came off, and the cowl feet were repaired.
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When fitting the fuel tank sump, we had a surprise, the sump was out of square, which is not so big of a problem when you are making a clone out of a CJ body, but in an MB body which already has the hole for the sump it doesn't fit, the solution was to tear apart the sump and build it again directly on the floor.
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More recently i bought this lot of parts, before i had only the case, cover and countershaft cluster of the transmission, now i have all but the small parts necessary to put together a transmission (and almost a complete spare transmission), along with that i can also replace the civilian oil pump i had with the correct one, i will however have to replace the pump drive gear with a civilian one since my engine has civilian crank and cam.
1942 MB Serial #estimated around 197500, body 99471
1952 CJ3A
1959 CJ5
1968 Ford/ENGESA F600
1971 Ford F85
1980 Ford U50 Jeep


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