Ford Transfer Case?

Haven't posted in nearly a week...nothing that interesting to post as I am just doing some clean-up of a few parts here and there, including the rest of the bolts for my other 3 combat wheels.

Weeks ago I had seen the gray paint on the transfer case and the thought crossed my mind that it could possibly be a Ford transfer case but I didn't investigate (for those of you not up on WWII jeep painting, Ford painted their engines gray while Willys painted theirs green). Today while leisurely scrubbing around with the wire brush, I uncovered some "F" marked bolts (for Ford) on the transfer case. So maybe it is a Ford? For the experts out there, where (and how) did Ford mark these, and where should I look for additional markings? There is a number (looks like C18-1) to the right of the F-marked cover bolt which is at the 3-o'clock position in the photo:

Other than that, I found a great powerplant mechanic, so my engine troubles are solved!

Let the rebuilding begin

After today's work, I'm considering the tear-down of the jeep complete (save a few minor parts)! From here on out it will be cleaning up, rebuilding, painting and putting the jeep back together.

I had to get the engine off the frame as it was pretty much the only thing left to remove. I thought I needed an engine hoist, and would have to find one or rent one. But, the more I looked at the jeep, I decided I didn't need one. I made a small wooden frame to fit the underside of the engine and put it on a dolly, and slid it under the engine. I then jacked up the frame and removed the front axle and springs and steering column. I lowered the jack and the engine rested on the dolly. I had to then remove the rear wheels to get the frame low enough to remove the center crossmember, and once I did that, I simply lifted the frame up and slid the engine out on the dolly! Here is the engine on the dolly:

And here is the frame (which has the civilian axle still partially attached). Leaves me wondering, "where did my jeep go?!"

Compression Test

Today I ran a compression test by connecting a PSI gauge into the spark plug holes. I turned the engine over by hooking up the battery from my car using jumper cables and touching the positive cable clamp to the starter. It turned over and I got my numbers! Here they are:

Piston No. 1: 0 PSI

Piston No. 2: 25-30 PSI

Piston No. 3: 30-35 PSI

Piston No. 4: 30-35 PSI

Looks like we'll need to do a little engine work...

Here is the RIVETING video of the engine turning over using the starter:

Happy Birthday, Jeep!

Yes, today really is the 'birthday' of my jeep! Not only that, but its the jeep's 70th birthday! Given the serial number of my jeep, and thanks to some Willys jeep savants that I have consulted via the internets, I've learned that January 15th, 1943 is the Date of Delivery of my jeep - that's 70 years ago today.

What better birthday present to give my jeep than a new bumper and rear cross-member! I just picked it up from Roger, the restoration expert, and he did a bunch of work that I could never do to fix up the frame and get it looking like it should. Here are some before and after shots of his work:

       

PS - Here is a picture of Roger's next restoration project:

2 Wheels completed, off to the frame doctor

Finished up 2 wheels, all painted with tires mounted. They look pretty good! Got them ready just in time to transport the jeep (or what is left of it) to Roger for some repairs to the frame. Took it over to him today. He's going to work it over fixing cracks, bending it back to shape and mounting the bumper and rear crossmember. Should look a lot different when I get it back. Here are the 2 completed wheels:

Combat Wheel Nuts & Bolts

Have been spending most of my time cleaning up the bolts to the combat rims/wheels. I have two rims painted and ready to put together, minus the bolts. The cleaning is tedious, but I just remind myself that new ones are $7.50 each - that's $240 for the whole set of 32 bolts!

Here's a shot of some of the bolts. Ones with only an initial cleaning are on the left, and after final cleaning on the right. Should have a completed wheel to show you later today!

Down to the frame

Dad has been here helping me do the final work to get the tub (body) off of the jeep. In order to do so, we had to cut the tailgate modification off and lift it out. This took quite a bit of cutting and every time we thought it would come free, there was yet another weld or bolt somewhere holding it down. We finally got it and trailered it off to the scrap yard where we found out it weighed 260 pounds (no wonder we couldn't lift the tub off with it attached) and they gave me $22.88 for it! Here it is removed from the tub on the trailer:

After removing "Bubba's" tailgate, we were able to lift off what was left of the original tub and have a look at the frame (note the stack of new tires on the left in front of the jeep - they arrived today!):

Here's Dad sitting in the tub!

Still a lot of disassembly and cleaning up to do...

Blasted!

Combat wheels are back from the sandblaster! Cameron was about as excited about them as I was. I had no idea that they would look all silvery-shiny. They look way better than I imagined. Some of them have some good pitting to them, but they still seem usable. Anything I should look for, or reasons not to use them?  I didn't see any cracks anywhere. Here is a picture of what I consider to be the worst piece along with the best looking outer rim: