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1945 Willys MB. Part 5, Actually doing things

Low slung big tired Willys Mb
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So far so good. Got the engine fired up today. Steering and coolant systems filled. One heat cycle into it. I put this engine together back in like 2013/14 so hopefully I didn't screw anything up.

Still need to bleed the brakes and then it should be ready for a test drive. The only system I haven't tested yet will be the clutch. Its all square body stuff other than the pedal and .75" master cylinder. The master is a little smaller than the oem one so hopefully it has enough volume to move the clutch far enough.


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Sounds good. Excited to see it roll out under its own power.

All the flatfender goodness without the crappy flathead 4 banger.
 
ZooMad75 said:
Sounds good. Excited to see it roll out under its own power.

All the flatfender goodness without the crappy flathead 4 banger.
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The good thing about those flat heads is that with only 60HP you could never break anything.

It did roll under its own power a few inches today. I haven't made a shifter yet but stuck the trans in gear so I could see if the clutch releases. It does, but I immediately blew out the slave cylinder, picked up a new one to toss in tomorrow.

Did get some sweet one finger steering.

View attachment IMG_1193.mp4
 
Well Im not super proud of the corners I cut to get this thing on the road. I can always go back and fix things. Im tired of waiting for perfection. I drove it 40 miles today to go pickup some taco bell. Figured that would be a fitting maiden voyage. Cruises along at 55 no problem. Needs some carb work for sure, I have to pull the wide band out of the c20. IMG_1207.jpegIMG_1198.jpegIMG_1204.jpegIMG_1203.jpegIMG_1206.jpeg
 
Nice shifter! Does that rely on anything other than the bolt squeeze to keep the two joints from moving? Like a locating pin or tack weld or something. Also, I know you haven't driven it far but do you think it will fall out of the front gears due to the weight of it? I've seen semi truck shifters offset like that and they add a counter weight opposite the shifter.
 
Truckman4life said:
Nice shifter! Does that rely on anything other than the bolt squeeze to keep the two joints from moving? Like a locating pin or tack weld or something. Also, I know you haven't driven it far but do you think it will fall out of the front gears due to the weight of it? I've seen semi truck shifters offset like that and they add a counter weight opposite the shifter.
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Thanks, unfortunatly I ran out of material half way through and just wanted to get the damn thing done. Shifter itself is nice DOM mounted on a rod end and all that jaz. The linkage to the trans is some 3/8 gas pip I had laying around haha. The joints have a bronze busing inside of a sleeve. The rod is snug on the bushing and has just a tiny bit of clearance on the sleeve to allow movement. The whole shifter assembly doesn't weigh much more than the factory shifter did and is a lot less tall. I don't think it should have any problem popping out of gear.
 
TreeFarm said:
Thanks, unfortunatly I ran out of material half way through and just wanted to get the damn thing done. Shifter itself is nice DOM mounted on a rod end and all that jaz. The linkage to the trans is some 3/8 gas pip I had laying around haha. The joints have a bronze busing inside of a sleeve. The rod is snug on the bushing and has just a tiny bit of clearance on the sleeve to allow movement. The whole shifter assembly doesn't weigh much more than the factory shifter did and is a lot less tall. I don't think it should have any problem popping out of gear.
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Everything you said is kinda what I figured. Just thought I'd bring it up.
 
TreeFarm said:
Thanks, unfortunatly I ran out of material half way through and just wanted to get the damn thing done. Shifter itself is nice DOM mounted on a rod end and all that jaz. The linkage to the trans is some 3/8 gas pip I had laying around haha. The joints have a bronze busing inside of a sleeve. The rod is snug on the bushing and has just a tiny bit of clearance on the sleeve to allow movement. The whole shifter assembly doesn't weigh much more than the factory shifter did and is a lot less tall. I don't think it should have any problem popping out of gear.
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That’s a cool solution. Looks neat.
 
I have about 60 miles on it now. been driving around town and tweaking the carb. No real issues yet other than the cooling system. I have yet to see the lower rad hose get hot. 180* thermostat. 185* fan switch. Fan cycles on and off, temp gauge sits at 180, climbing a little higher and lowering back down sometimes like you would expect as the thermostat functions. Everything appears to be working as it should. I have a big aluminum 3 row radiator for a 67-70 mustang that is supposed to be rated for 500HP. Maybe its just that good. This is the first Vortec block I have messed around with. They don't have an internal coolant bypass drilled into the block. I have a regular old SBC water pump installed and I am using a hose between the heater ports as my coolant bypass. I guess I will just wait and see if it ever gets too hot.


Went and checked out my friends new plane.

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Just broke 200 miles on it. Drove it to work, did 40 miles at 65mph no problem.

Cooling system update. It all looks like its working like it should. I pulled the thermostat, disabled the fan, and ran it up to 210* with a second temp gauge installed. both gauges matched. Kicked the fan on and it dropped the temp from 210 to 100 in like 4 minuets. So I'm guessing the second the thermostat opens the rad/fan just cools it right off and it closes again.

Installed a mirror, Not super happy with the placement. Ill probably have to make a bracket for it.

Also picked up this old airplane intercom for $60, Jacks will cost me another $20/30. I already have plenty of headsets so $100 is way cheaper than a rugged intercom system. It has inputs and outputs for my VHF radio and a bluetooth module, It will auto mute music when someone talks into the mic or the radio receives something. It'll be nice to wear a headset and have a normal conversation with the passenger.

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I am getting really annoyed with the carb though. Its all over the place with the mixture. I can set the idle mixture at 14 and it may stay there, or it may sweep from 10 to 28 and stall out. It also seems to load up after a while. I have part throttle cruise set around 14.5 and WOT at 12. sometimes Ill feel it load up and it will be part throttle cruise at 9 or so. If i go wide open and then close the throttle it will clear out and work normal for a while. Sometimes it will drive with no issues at all. Im going to tear it a part and clean it again tomorrow probably. I bought this carb back in 2014 and its been a whore. It gets thrown on all the junk vehicles and engines I find to see if they work.
 
I have the same ones on the rear of BYT. Had them fall apart after 1 trip to Moab. I got them replaced for free. Hoping that it was just me screwing it up, or a bad one.
 
ashman said:
I have the same ones on the rear of BYT. Had them fall apart after 1 trip to Moab. I got them replaced for free. Hoping that it was just me screwing it up, or a bad one.
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I have had really good luck with them, have used them on a few builds now. There are a lot more cheap import ones on the market now so it doesn't surprise me. I know in the Van applications like I have at work the front end actually sits on the bump stop at ride height. They take a beating and hold up fine. These ones seem pretty cheap in the hand compared to others I have had.
 
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