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Expeditionary CUCV.....Now with FWC Blazer Pop-Up and a 2nd project, Colonel Mustard.
- Thread starter 0331King
- Start date
I like the camo pattern.
I picked up this M1009 a couple of years ago after trading my ‘05 2500HD in on a new LTZ. I quickly had buyers and traders remorse (should have SAS the HD) and decided I needed something to hunt and fish out of of. I started shopping for a CUCV because I always wanted one. I lucked up and located a M1009 with 90K miles and hardly a spot of rust not far from my town. The seller was the 3rd owner from the Gov. with the first being a support shop mechanic and retired military mechanic at Ft Campbell. It drove good, ran out good and came with packed full of spare parts and had been extremely well maintained. The tub has also been professionally Raptor lined. The deal was made and I drove it home.
The GF suddenly decided she liked the idea of camping but not roughing it. So I decided to build up the CUCV as somewhat of a heavy duty overlanding ride to take the family into the back country.
I have been stockpiling parts for the last 8 months and the time finally came to get going. The 6.2 as we all know has a less than stellar reputation. After 8yrs in the military in two branches of service with jobs that operated exclusively out of HMMWVs I can’t help but think that the reputation of the 6.2 may be a little unjustified or harsh. We shall see I guess.
The GF suddenly decided she liked the idea of camping but not roughing it. So I decided to build up the CUCV as somewhat of a heavy duty overlanding ride to take the family into the back country.
I have been stockpiling parts for the last 8 months and the time finally came to get going. The 6.2 as we all know has a less than stellar reputation. After 8yrs in the military in two branches of service with jobs that operated exclusively out of HMMWVs I can’t help but think that the reputation of the 6.2 may be a little unjustified or harsh. We shall see I guess.
The first thing I wanted to do was address some issues with the 6.2. With 90K on the odometer I felt it best to get the harmonic balancer replaced, deal with a developing leak in the water pump and some other cooling concerns.
I’m still dealing with a bum arm from being hit by a drunk driver at work so I enlisted the help of my buddy. He owns his own garage and towing service and is truly like a brother to me. He graciously agreed to help me out on a slow day. I wasn’t really thinking about pictures so I didn’t get many.
First thing was to the balancer replaced. Of course we replaced the crank seal while we were at it.
Instead of a parts house water pump I went with a Flowkooler hi-flow pump. I’ve heard nothing but good things about them and figured they had to be better than the parts house stuff. A little more expensive but hopefully with it in the long run.
I’m still dealing with a bum arm from being hit by a drunk driver at work so I enlisted the help of my buddy. He owns his own garage and towing service and is truly like a brother to me. He graciously agreed to help me out on a slow day. I wasn’t really thinking about pictures so I didn’t get many.
First thing was to the balancer replaced. Of course we replaced the crank seal while we were at it.
Instead of a parts house water pump I went with a Flowkooler hi-flow pump. I’ve heard nothing but good things about them and figured they had to be better than the parts house stuff. A little more expensive but hopefully with it in the long run.
Flowkooler and balancer installed. Moving on....
I also wanted to switch over to a HMMWV coolant cross over. This would allow me some options on after market gauges and some other ideas I have brewing. Turns out the fittings in the hummer cross over had seized pretty good. The vice in the shop was already in use. So what’s a couple of rednecks to do? Well we had a forklift so....
We did run into one issue with the hummer crossover/Flowkooler combo. The factory cross over/pump set up was connected by a short piece of heater hose. The angle between the hummer crossover and Flowkooler was slightly different and kinked the straight hose. No matter how much me a tweeked the fittings the angle just wasn’t right. So we headed down to the local NAPA where they don’t need a computer to find parts. This fit perfectly. Hopefully this will help someone in the future.
After careful consideration and thought I opted to install a Paradox By Design coolant upgrade kit. The 6.2 is notoriously hotter in the back. This kit redirects some of the coolant for more equal cooling. Might be voodoo science but a couple of people I trust seemed to think it helped their 6.2s. Here you can see the Paradox lines coming up under the intake to the crossover.
While it was apart I also switched out the factory thermostat fan and clutch. I went with NOS Robert Shaw hi-flow, Hayden 2799 clutch, Derale 17120 fan.
Nothing here is ground breaking or revolutionary but I hope it peeks your interest.
More to come.
Nothing here is ground breaking or revolutionary but I hope it peeks your interest.
More to come.
Bump. What is new with this rig?
CrpMag122
1/2 ton status
Looking forward to an update as well!
Sorry for the lack of activity. Some personal issues derailed this project for a bit. However, we are about to get to rolling again.
But I now have this thrown in the mix! So more to come.
Interesting, looks like a fairly early one. No fridge and early style top latches. More pics please!
Yes m
It’s the first one I’ve ever seen for sale East of the Mississippi River. Best of all it was free, for a handshake agreement that it would be restored and not scrapped. It’s currently at a friend of mines cabinet/carpentry shop. The one thing I make absolutely no pretense at being is a carpenter. I figured it better to leave it in the hands of a craftsman.
The manufacture date is 1-18-78. It’s in rough shape but I believe it was recanvased. It’s my understanding from what I’ve read that the skirts were originally canvas. At some point FWC switched to a inflatable boat type material, which this one has.
It’s the first one I’ve ever seen for sale East of the Mississippi River. Best of all it was free, for a handshake agreement that it would be restored and not scrapped. It’s currently at a friend of mines cabinet/carpentry shop. The one thing I make absolutely no pretense at being is a carpenter. I figured it better to leave it in the hands of a craftsman.
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To the best of my knowledge they have always been the boat type material. Mine is the earliest one I have ever seen and it has the same material as yours and appears to be original. Also the later ones generally have smaller "mailbox" style windows up by the overhead bunk. @ZooMad75 FWC has them also.
Free is fantastic! These are quickly becoming pricey in the last few years and with the current popularity of Chalets and Casa Grandes people will gravitate towards FWCs even more.
I would certainly defer to your knowledge on that topic.
Some more
Looks like the camper has good bones. It's got some bumps and bruises but those look easy to fix.
The front wall looks like it's out already, make sure your buddy pulls the fiberboard out for the cab over section too. Looks like the door need rebuilt. It's got a wood frame that is probably rotten along with the whammy in the corner.
Mine has the original sideliner material ('82) and it's not canvas. It does have the mail slot windows in the cab over area.
The front wall looks like it's out already, make sure your buddy pulls the fiberboard out for the cab over section too. Looks like the door need rebuilt. It's got a wood frame that is probably rotten along with the whammy in the corner.
Mine has the original sideliner material ('82) and it's not canvas. It does have the mail slot windows in the cab over area.
