As always, Paul’s detailed work has resulted in a work-of-art. Well done Paul!

Paul writes, “The earth has calmed down these last few months so I’ve made good progress on the M100 trailer rebuild. In fact, other than measuring the length necessary for the trailer safety chains and the electrical harness everything else is finished. While I still spent over 300 hours to build the stainless steel box and rebuild everything I planned on reusing it was easier than I’d anticipated. I had no idea I’d need so many 2X4’s but the local Home Depot store was happy to take my money.

This photo shows the jig I made to keep the trailer box in alignment while I fabricated the upper tube reinforcement and rolled the sheet metal before tack welding the edges.”

The upper tube has been fitted and held in place with strips of plywood and 24 6 inch C clamps.

I used a plastic hammer to gently form the sheet metal over the curve of the reinforcing tubing. The C clamps were repositioned often to allow hammer access to the 20 feet of 18 gauge stainless sheet metal around the upper edge of the trailer box.

The tack welds are complete so the 2X4 jig can be removed

The replacement box is bolted to the original trailer frame and tie down straps hold the frame to the work tables. I had to plan my work around earthquakes.

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Paul ceremonially rolled Knardly Rolls out of the garage on Monday.

Knardly Rolls seen peeking out of the garage, wondering if it’s safe.

He writes, “Today (May 7th) I opened the garage door and then removed two of the four insulated panels positioned against the outer surface of the garage door so there would be enough room to move the little Willys from the dark garage and into the May sunshine. I quickly learned I need sun glasses. Most of the body has a brushed pattern on the stainless steel but even brushed stainless is rather reflective when the sun is shining. I’m real glad I didn’t polish the body, that would have been blinding on a sunny day.

The little Willys has been moved into the connex where I’ll fuel it up, check for leaks and see if the engine will start. Once the engine runs well I’ll support the Willys with jack stands and begin testing the operation of the transmission and axles.

However, before I begin any ground running I’m going to repaint the interior of the garage. The last time I painted the garage was 30 years ago so new paint is long overdue.

Anyway, here’s a photo of the little Willys escaping from the garage. It was a whole different perspective for me since the small garage only allowed me close up views but once it was outdoors I was able to back away and get a view of the entire Jeep. Quite different from what I’m used to.

I’m still having a hard time believing the little Willys is finally done but seeing it outdoors makes it seem more real.”

Well, he did it. A big CONGRATULATIONS TO ALASKA Paul. He installed the final part onto his stainless 1952 M-38 Knardly Rolls on May 2nd, 2018. I, for one, look forward to hearing about the inaugural run!

From: 

To this 32 years and 5 months later: 

Here’s what Paul wrote,

“Somehow, despite my best efforts, I finally managed to complete the never ending rebuild of the little stainless steel Willys. The last part (the rear driveshaft) was bolted to the axle at 12:30 pm today, May 2nd 2018 ending a multi decade effort that began when I dropped the engine off at the rebuilders on December 2nd 1985. Over the years I’ve used the date the stainless steel body was ordered as the project start date but that happened over a month after the engine went to the rebuilders.

From the starting date to the completion date this project took 32 years and 5 months of time. I realize I’m slow but I never expected I’d take over three decades to rebuild one Willys Jeep …… it’s good I don’t do this for a living. I’m glad I finished it while I’m still flexible enough to climb into the driver’s seat, the Goddess suggested I make a stainless steel walker because I might need one before I finished the little Willys. She’s helpful that way.

The backyard is quite soggy so I’ll have to wait a week or so before I can reposition the Willys from the garage to the connex for leak checks and static runs. If things go well I hope to be cruising thru the neighborhood by late May.

Naturally, the garage must be filled with a project before winter so this fall I’ll move the remains of the 1951 M100 trailer inside where I’ll begin to fabricate a stainless steel box on the original frame.

Other than that the Goddess and I are having fun under the midnight sun here in the northland. By mid May the trees should have leaves, the night time temperature should stay above freezing and we shouldn’t have anymore snowfall until late September.”

Paul shared a couple of other recent milestones on his Willys journey.

1. The Throttle Spring:
After hooking up the throttle linkage to the carb  (a cable system) I realized not only was I missing a throttle return spring but I was also missing a throttle return spring attach point.  A trip to the local auto parts store provided me with a selection of different throttle return springs but I was on my own when it came to the spring attach point.  More poster paper was sacrificed to make three patterns before I came up with a return spring attach bracket I liked and that would fit without getting in the way of the distributer cap.  I made the return spring attach bracket from stainless steel and incorporated a fastener to allow a coil wire clamp to be bolted to the bracket.

Here’s the cable throttle linkage, the throttle return spring, the return spring attach bracket and the clamp for the coil wires.  The red on the return spring is dried blood …. I managed to poke myself quite a few times while attempting to curl the spring ends to match the attach brackets and those springs are sharp.  Oh well, some folks pay people to poke them with needles and call it acupuncture.  All I have to do is go out to the garage and work on the little Willys, there’s always some sharp edged stainless part waiting to cut me before I even realize it.  That metal can be mean sometimes.

2. The Front Drive Shaft:
The position of the V6 engine made the original front driveshaft too long and the rear driveshaft too short but right now I’m concentrating on the front driveshaft only. I bead blasted the front driveshaft, took the necessary measurements between the transfer case outlet and the front axle attach point and it was time to visit with the local driveshaft guys. After cutting the driveshaft to the correct length it was welded back together, new universal joints installed and then balanced before returning to me. I removed the new u joints, did a quick bead blast cleanup (after removing all traces of the really sticky grease on the splines) and dropped it off to have it powder coated.

The next day the driveshaft was ready to come home so I could reinstall the new universal joints and then bolt this thing on the little Willys. The last time this driveshaft was installed on the little Willys was when it did it’s major meltdown in October of 1985. Wow, I’ve been waiting over 32 years to reinstall this driveshaft. It doesn’t seem it’s been that long but the color (or lack of it) or my hair tells me more than a few decades have gone by. I remember when I was still in my 30’s my hair was brown, not Arctic Blonde (White) like it is now.

Oh well, as much as I tried to take my time installing the driveshaft the four u bolts were quickly tightened and torqued and it was time to find the next to do item on the little Willys.

The front driveshaft is installed on the little Willys for the first time in over 32 years. WOW!

Paul shared this update on some custom heat shields for Knardly Rolls.

Paul writes, “The exhaust manifold is closer to the steering linkage than I’d originally intended but there isn’t any easy way to increase the distance between these two systems so I decided the best solution to this problem was to make some stainless steel heat shields that would bolt to the fender and fit between the exhaust manifold and the steering linkage.  

First I quickly made a test shield from some leftover poster board so I could check how this paper part would fit before I cut any stainless sheet.  Once I had the shape of the heat shield figured out I made a test piece from thin gauge aluminum.”

“First I made a test heat shield from poster board to check for the correct shape.  Once I was satisfied with the shape of the heat shield I made one from thin aluminum to double check any clearance issues.  After the aluminum shield was modified I made a third shield from thin stainless sheet but I saw a need to fit the fourth and final heat shield a little closer to the manifold and also use a thicker gauge of stainless to prevent unwanted flexing during use.  Once the fourth shield was fitted I drilled the attach holes and bolted the shield to the front fender.”

“Here’s the final heat shield temporarily attached to the front fender using Clecos so I could drill the fender and the heat shield at the same time.”

“As you can see, the double U joint between the lower end of the steering column and the first steering shaft is still exposed to heat from the exhaust manifold so another heat shield was necessary.  This smaller heat shield will be attached to the steering column by adel clamps so it’s easily removed for maintenance.  The two adel clamps are bolted to the column with enough threads exposed on the fasteners to attach the aft end of the second heat shield while the forward end of the second shield attaches to the aft end of the first heat shield where the two empty holes can be seen.  If you read that last sentence fast it sounds like a square dance call.”

“Here’s the paper pattern and the finished stainless steel second heat shield ready for installation.”

“With the second heat shield installed I think most of the exhaust manifold heat will be deflected away from the steering linkage thus preventing damage to the U joints and shafts.”

“An underside view shows the clearance between the steering linkage and the heat shields”

Today’s the last day of the year, so let’s go out in style with Alaska Paul’s placard progress. Paul understands that his one-of-a-kind electrically and mechanically designed jeep will require information assistance just in case any of us lesser mortals attempt to drive it. So, he spend some time over the holidays playing with placards.

Paul writes, “It’s been a while, so I figured I’d send some Willys progress photos your way. This photo is of the fuel valves between the front seats with an engraved placard sitting on the metal cover. A local sign shop (Alaska Laminated Signs) made up some test placards so I could see how different colors would look with the stainless, gray and blue interior of the Willys.  While this placard has all the necessary information and the correct shape to fit the metal cover plate I wasn’t too happy with the black background and the white lettering.  I wanted something with more visual appeal so Dave (the sign shop owner) duplicated this placard using a brushed aluminum outer layer over a black base.(see next pic)”

“This aluminum/black combination looks good by itself but I didn’t feel it looked good when it was placed next to the stainless steel parts so Dave made a third placard using a dark blue upper layer and a white base (see next pic).”

“Now this is what I was looking for.  While the blue on the placard isn’t a perfect match to the blue on the seats they’re close enough so they look good together and the contrast between the white letters and the blue background makes it bright and easy to see.  Now that we had a color selected I gave Dave my metal full size patterns for the five placards needed for the little Willys and he began the cutting and engraving process.”

“Here’s the finished product. From left to right we have the overhead switch placard, the circuit breaker placard and below that is the fuel tank selector placard and the final two placards are for the 12 Bosch relays (two rows of six each) in the electrical bay just aft of the passenger seat.

The placards fit perfectly which made installing them a fast and simple task.”

“The electrical bay with the placards installed.  It’s hard to see but just below the row of number 1 thru 6 relays is another row of 7 thru 12 relays but not all are in use right now.  I wired in some extra relays and extra circuit breakers incase someone wanted to install additional electrical equipment in the future.” Continue reading →