1943 GPW 108175

If you have an unrestored WWII jeep, we would like to see pictures, and hear your comments. NO EBAY or COMMERCIAL SALES.
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semberae
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Re: 1943 GPW 108175

Post by semberae » Wed Jan 03, 2018 12:59 pm

Be careful with the wood stove in your garage. Gas vapors from your vehicles and cleaning solvents and fire from the wood stove can make an explosive combination. Be safe when you use it.👌


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Re: 1943 GPW 108175

Post by twinflyer17 » Wed Jan 03, 2018 1:34 pm

Thanks for the heads up. That'd be a hell of a way to go...I'll certainly be safe with it!
Sean

GPW 108175 viewtopic.php?t=267732
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Re: 1943 GPW 108175

Post by twinflyer17 » Wed Jan 10, 2018 6:02 am

Well, finally have a first jeep related project in the new house. I tried to drain the radiator for an antifreeze change last weekend, since it's been in the low 20s here for the last two weeks during the day, and close to 0 at night. The valve was a bit tight, though, and ended up springing a leak. Long story short, it eventually broke off completely. It's an original GPW radiator, so this is actually my perfect excuse to remove it and potentially try a rebuild, as I've been running a bit hot the last two summers and I'm guessing it's partially due to low flow through. I stumbled across a fantastic thread by Lew Ladwig a couple of months ago (http://g503.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=139530), which I'm planning to use as my guide whenever I decide to dive into the project. In the meantime, though, I picked up a repro MB radiator which will keep the pressure off me from completing the original rebuild as winter ends and spring nears :wink:

Image

I also need to get a few more lights hung in the new garage, as it's awfully difficult to see when the sun goes down...
Sean

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Chuck Lutz
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Re: 1943 GPW 108175

Post by Chuck Lutz » Wed Jan 10, 2018 8:48 am

Sean....before tearing your radiator apart, try back flushing it under the pressure of your water hose to see if you can dislodge stuff sitting on top of the tubes in the core. Do it on a clean driveway to see any crud that comes out of there. Sometimes that is all that is needed to improve flow and make the radiator more efficient.

Remember....easiest, cheapest, fastest should come before tearing anything apart....Sometimes rodding out the core will do more damage to the tubes and render even more of them candidates for just soldering-up to stop them from leaking. Add to that, it is a world of joy to get the core, the top tank and the surrounding frame all soldered together without leaking...

Most shops will just tell you it needs to be replaced (core) anyway and how wold you know? Doing it yourself is possible as Lew has done but it isn't a simple task to tear it apart, rod-out each tube, reassemble and insure it does not leak.....even for radiator shops!

You might find some blue or black gasket spooge or some dislodged scum from the block has now gotten stuck in the tubes and back-flushing will blow it out of there....if you are lucky...takes a little bit of time and no money!
Chuck Lutz

GPW 17963 4/24/42 Chester, PA. USA 20113473 (USA est./Tom W.)
Bantam T3-C 1947

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Re: 1943 GPW 108175

Post by twinflyer17 » Wed Jan 10, 2018 10:12 am

Thanks, Chuck. And yep, I actually back flushed the rad last summer and was able to get quite a bit of crud out of it, but it didn't help my cooling issues and still seemed to be flowing very slowly. All the items you mentioned are partly why I decided to buy a repro rad, so that I can take my time triaging the situation to make sure I don't over do it. Either way, the drain valve broke off and there was a pretty bad looking repair previously done on the bottom tank outlet pipe, so I'll be doing some soldering anyway :wink:
Sean

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Re: 1943 GPW 108175

Post by Chuck Lutz » Thu Jan 11, 2018 8:15 am

As long as your thermostat has been cleared of any complicity in the cooling issue, if you have back flushed the rad. and it still flows SLOWLY then rodding out the core is the next step.

However...if the local rad. shop has a hot tank and you can get it in there for maybe 4-6 hours and THEN back flush it you may dislodge some viscous goo and get better flow....

I did the flow test on the MB rad. I have and it flunked...but a hot tanking and back flushing solved that problem perfectly...worth a couple bucks to see if that will remove enough crud to get proper flow.
Chuck Lutz

GPW 17963 4/24/42 Chester, PA. USA 20113473 (USA est./Tom W.)
Bantam T3-C 1947

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Re: 1943 GPW 108175

Post by twinflyer17 » Thu Jan 11, 2018 9:06 am

Ah, didn't even think about the hot tank. I actually previously removed the thermostat to be sure that wasn't the issue and it still flowed slowly. I'll definitely be looking into local shops that offer that first before dismantling it - that's the last resort I'd like to take! Thanks, Chuck, as always, for the list of good pointers 8)
Sean

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Re: 1943 GPW 108175

Post by OldJeepBob » Mon Jan 22, 2018 1:14 pm

And a shout out to your parents, who made that bay available. I am on the uphill end of that equation, and you are lucky Jeep owner!
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A '43 Depot MB Tribute to 4th ID, "Teddy".
A July, 1944 MB well underway (bought a tub, fenders, rolling chases and 14 boxes of "stuff").

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Re: 1943 GPW 108175

Post by twinflyer17 » Tue Jan 23, 2018 6:00 am

OldJeepBob wrote:
Mon Jan 22, 2018 1:14 pm
And a shout out to your parents, who made that bay available.
Yep! I would have never been able to get into this hobby if it wasn't for their garage! :D
Sean

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Re: 1943 GPW 108175

Post by 17thAirborne » Fri Jan 26, 2018 7:06 am

twinflyer17 wrote:
Tue Jan 23, 2018 6:00 am
OldJeepBob wrote:
Mon Jan 22, 2018 1:14 pm
And a shout out to your parents, who made that bay available.
Yep! I would have never been able to get into this hobby if it wasn't for their garage! :D
I am amazed at how quickly one is able to fill past the available space. I am always rearranging my stuff to work on a different part of a vehicle. It nice to finally get parts off the floow and shel and onto the project 8) Definitely, space is a must in this hobby. Hope the radiator hot tank works out
Oz

Feb 43 GPW 98532 USA 20206257
Oct 70 Land Rover Series 2a 25334079G NZ16GF36
http://gpw.castraponere.com/ (My Restoration Page)

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twinflyer17
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Re: 1943 GPW 108175

Post by twinflyer17 » Fri Jan 26, 2018 9:45 am

17thAirborne wrote:
Fri Jan 26, 2018 7:06 am
Definitely, space is a must in this hobby. Hope the radiator hot tank works out
Couldn't agree with you more, Oz! Needless to say, my old man is extremely happy to get his garage back after I overloaded it with all of my toys, parts, tools, etc. Now, if only my own garage was a bit bigger...the rate it's filling up, just in the past month alone, might make it difficult to fit my next project (whenever I can find it)!
Sean

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OldJeepBob
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Re: 1943 GPW 108175

Post by OldJeepBob » Thu Feb 08, 2018 1:04 pm

RE: Lighting. I had six Dual tube T10 floresents, and still was using a flashlight sometimes. I bought six single tube 3" led lights at HD AND HUNG THEM TO FOCUS ON MY WORK AREAS AND IT WAS AMAZING! COULD NOT even tell the difference when the afternoon sun was shining in! I igged two pairs on power sticks, so I could flip three switches and voila! Do not know how I managed without them!
1st LT., Counterintelligence, 4th Military Intelligence Detachment (4th ID) Mid '60's
A '43 Depot MB Tribute to 4th ID, "Teddy".
A July, 1944 MB well underway (bought a tub, fenders, rolling chases and 14 boxes of "stuff").

OldJeepBob
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Re: 1943 GPW 108175

Post by OldJeepBob » Thu Feb 08, 2018 1:04 pm

RE: Lighting. I had six Dual tube T10 floresents, and still was using a flashlight sometimes. I bought six single tube 3" led lights at HD AND HUNG THEM TO FOCUS ON MY WORK AREAS AND IT WAS AMAZING! COULD NOT even tell the difference when the afternoon sun was shining in! I igged two pairs on power sticks, so I could flip three switches and voila! Do not know how I managed without them!
1st LT., Counterintelligence, 4th Military Intelligence Detachment (4th ID) Mid '60's
A '43 Depot MB Tribute to 4th ID, "Teddy".
A July, 1944 MB well underway (bought a tub, fenders, rolling chases and 14 boxes of "stuff").

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Re: 1943 GPW 108175

Post by Ralph » Thu Feb 08, 2018 2:17 pm

Sean,
If it turns out that you try the radiator rod-out...
The thing about old radiators is... we can't see what is clogging them until we get them apart.The junk inside varies greatly-for lots of reasons- from a thin internal grease layer(boil-out tank or Mineral Spirits will remove it...) to calcified mineral deposits which have, at some areas,attached to and become part of,the inside of the brass tube(s).A radiator in the latter condition not only is sometimes impossible to rod out;even when it can be,it sometimes turns a poor flow radiator into a core-leaking radiator with all of the attending problems from pressure loss,etc.,which in turn ends up with the same overheating issues after all of that labor.There is no way to tell when this will happen.Here is your reason why many radiator shops(even good ones)will suggest a recore before all of that.All that said,if you have an original radiator you'd like to save,and think you can do it-there ends up being little to lose.
Radiator supply firms can supply a set of rods for about $30.00US. Lew's thread will certainly help you.Remember to keep the torch heat on the tank when un-soldering-(radiator turned to vertical on side) and as far away from the core header as possible.Good luck. :D
Ralph

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Re: 1943 GPW 108175

Post by twinflyer17 » Fri Feb 09, 2018 3:10 am

OldJeepBob wrote:
Thu Feb 08, 2018 1:04 pm
RE: Lighting. I had six Dual tube T10 floresents, and still was using a flashlight sometimes. I bought six single tube 3" led lights at HD AND HUNG THEM TO FOCUS ON MY WORK AREAS AND IT WAS AMAZING! COULD NOT even tell the difference when the afternoon sun was shining in! I igged two pairs on power sticks, so I could flip three switches and voila! Do not know how I managed without them!
What a coincidence, I just picked up a single 3' tube LED from Home Depot last weekend for over my work bench/tool box. Needless to say I'm impressed. The single LED is brighter than the 4 tube fluorescent mounted 3 feet away! I've already got a receptacle that is mounted next to my door opener that is tied to the main light switch, so I'm debating picking a few more of these puppies up this weekend for a quick easy solution for some descent light. I'll likely post a picture once they are mounted to compare the before and after :wink:

Ralph,
Thanks for some additional input on the radiator. I've actually got the repro rad installed and the jeep running again, so I'm not in a rush to dive into the original rebuild/tear down just yet. To your point, though, what do I have to lose? For the last two years I've been running hot (to the point where I've had to pull over on long, and short, hills during the summer to cool off, as it's the old girl would begin to overheat). I know for a fact that circulation through the original is poor, it's just a matter of determining exactly what the cause is. As with my full project, this will be another learning experience. So far, though, nothing has been impossible :)
Sean

GPW 108175 viewtopic.php?t=267732
DOD 4/14/43 Louisville, KY USA20371070

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