Anderzander 942 Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 Wow !! That looks great - and looks to have made things a whole lot easier ! Looks like fate is smiling on your project 🤩 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Blanco 180 Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 Looks like a result,.... just looking at that photo with the front chassis,... is that cracked to the right of the mount?? 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Maverik 584 Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 That's cheating - getting a body pre prepared, all the grief, torment and cost go into that part of the project - you've basically side stepped the most boring bit (very good find! ) Mav 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Gazzar 848 Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 I am so jealous. I firmly believe that the Willy's Jeep is the best proportioned of road vehicle. Ever. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Anderzander 942 Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 What’s the story with the steering wheel ? The wheel and the column looks much more modern than 50’s .. ? I saw this one on eBay, and it seems to have the same steering wheel design as the ones from the 40’s https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/254690792169 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Daan 488 Posted September 8, 2020 Author Share Posted September 8, 2020 20 minutes ago, Blanco said: Looks like a result,.... just looking at that photo with the front chassis,... is that cracked to the right of the mount?? No, just been scraping paint off. The chassis is structurally very good actually. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Arjan 385 Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 Good Move ! Very nice 110 ! 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Daan 488 Posted September 8, 2020 Author Share Posted September 8, 2020 1 hour ago, Anderzander said: What’s the story with the steering wheel ? The wheel and the column looks much more modern than 50’s .. ? It is a Toyota steering wheel and column. This was included in the sale, together with a toyota steering box. It is the horendous box in front of grille arrangement, and is, together with the steering wheel, going to the only right place for it; the scrap bin. I have a plan for the new steering wheel. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Daan 488 Posted September 8, 2020 Author Share Posted September 8, 2020 20 minutes ago, Maverik said: That's cheating - getting a body pre prepared, all the grief, torment and cost go into that part of the project - you've basically side stepped the most boring bit (very good find! ) Mav That's waiting for the right deal to come along! I reckon I took a year build time and several thousands out of the budget by buying this. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Anderzander 942 Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 It’s a massive result ! You’ll leap from rolling chassis to nearly done now I would think. Can’t wait to hear the wheel plan.... Are you going for the kind of approach I did - sort of useable but needs an eye with some knowledge to pick out what’s modern? 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Daan 488 Posted September 8, 2020 Author Share Posted September 8, 2020 I am aiming for a jeep that looks cool and is nice to drive, and can keep up with traffic on a motorway basically. The end result won't get any of the rivet counter crowd excited, but i specifically did not cut up any original WW2 parts, as it is just not the right thing to do. As you can see, there is so much other stuff you can use and achieve almost the same result. It also can be very cheap this way if you play your cards right. I have spent 2k so far and I have all the parts to build a working car. The boys are trying it for size: 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Anderzander 942 Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 Similar approach then. Are those body mounts welded on or bolted on? It seems like most things bolt on to those old jeeps ! 😊 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Daan 488 Posted September 8, 2020 Author Share Posted September 8, 2020 Riveted! 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
daveturnbull 284 Posted December 12, 2020 Share Posted December 12, 2020 Any more updates on this Daan? I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Anderzander 942 Posted December 12, 2020 Share Posted December 12, 2020 I mistook Dave’s post for an update ! 😱 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Popular Post Daan 488 Posted December 12, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 12, 2020 2 hours ago, daveturnbull said: Any more updates on this Daan? I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out. Glad to hear you have not forgotten about my project! I have many updates in my head, but nothing physical to show you unfortunately. All my spare time is on the Landy right now, but the end of this is in sight. Hoping for an MOT this side of christmas As a bit of a test I have ordered a couple of Mahindra bits from an indian Ebay shop: Clutch plate, steering ball joints and heavy duty shackles. I really wondered how that was going to turn out, but they arrived 2 weeks later. The quality of the parts looks good to me, and they are about 1/3rd of the prize of the identical jeep CJ parts. The bit that puzzles me is that of the free postage from india; quite how that works is beyond me. Anyway, that test was successful, so that route to get mahindra parts is working! Daan 5 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Popular Post Daan 488 Posted March 21 Author Popular Post Share Posted March 21 Hi, getting back on this project again. I have started with for me the most interesting part of this project; the chassis modifications, starting with the springs. I want to stay with leafs in the interest of keeping it real, but the original spring packs were in a bad state. New ones are available, but that would be too easy; I wanted something a bit more 21st century, basically. Parabolic springs are all the rage, due to giving a much improved ride, so that was what I was looking for. These are not available for the willys jeep, so I was into adapting something. Land rover aftermarket para’s were an obvious choice, and it turns out the front springs of a landy are identical in length compared to a willys jeep spring. That was too good to miss obviously, but the rear spings were more of a problem; I have been looking at just about every parabolic spring available, but nothing is quite right. Then a car set of rocky mountain springs appeared on the bay, which I snapped up, mainly for the front springs. I did offer up the rears as well, and with some measuring, I decided, they are going on too. Parabolics vs. the rust buckets: Mounting them was not straight forward; I tried to make use of the existing (rivet) mounting holes on the chassis. Although the front springs are the right length, they are not the same width, 2.5” as opposed to 1.75” of the Jeep, so still won’t fit. For the fixed points, I designed a bracket in CAD, that I got made by Blackbird industries; Mike Brown did a great job turning my drawing into reality, Cheers Mike: The shackle ends I made myself. I drilled a load of holes in a 100 x 50 x 5 box section, then welded the tubes in: A few grinding discs later, I had 4 shackle hangers: Mounting the front was easy, the brackets being bolted to the original holes on the chassis. The rear was more interesting, the springs being about 5” longer: The front hanger uses one original hole, effectively move the bracket up to the next hole. and one new drilled hole, using the bracket as a drill jig: The rear hanger uses the 2 original holes, as well as the hole used to bolt the rear crossmember in place: The rear springs were original 3 leafs, but I removed 1 leaf out of them, turning them into 2 leaf springs Next problem is mounting the springs to the axles. The rear was straight forward using of the shelf parts: Due to the wider springs, you cannot use the original spring plates any more, so I got Jeep CJ7 spring plates, which have 2.5” springs as well. The U bolts also won’t fit, as the spring packs are half the thickness compared to the original springs. So I found some aftermarket jeep U-bolts, that have more thread on them: The front was more complicated. I bought CJ7 front spring plates too, but they did not fit, as they have 2” springs at the front. There is also a clashing problem with the shock absorber. I improvised for now with some wooden battings, but are going to have to make new spring plates for this to work. Heavy duty shackles are also in the works. The springs are compressing quite a bit when I put my weight on them, which is better than the original ones, being rusted together solid. I keep an open eye out on how the ride will be, the Mahindra is obviously lighter than the land rover they are meant for (about 150kg lighter), so we will see. Thanks for reading, Daan 6 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Anderzander 942 Posted March 21 Share Posted March 21 Fabulous !! So happy to see you on with it. 🙂 How heavy is the engine you’ve got Daan ? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Daan 488 Posted March 22 Author Share Posted March 22 19 hours ago, Anderzander said: Fabulous !! So happy to see you on with it. 🙂 How heavy is the engine you’ve got Daan ? The VW TDI is about 150kg. Daan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Anderzander 942 Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 Wow - it’s going to be feather weight ! 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Arjan 385 Posted March 23 Share Posted March 23 Netjes !! Looking good. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
landroversforever 1,100 Posted March 23 Share Posted March 23 How does that weight compare to the original? and any idea on the final all-up weight? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Daan 488 Posted March 23 Author Share Posted March 23 1 hour ago, landroversforever said: How does that weight compare to the original? and any idea on the final all-up weight? The indenor 2.1 engine originally found in the Mahindra is 184 kg according the manual. But With the adapter plate and heavy steering box, i'd say the end result won't be much different. According to the specs a mahindra jeep weighs 1200kg. If the front springs don't compress enough, I might have to weigh it down with a PTO winch! Daan 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Badger110 331 Posted March 23 Share Posted March 23 It’s looking much roomier in there since the last pic I saw What’s the plan for the chassis, clean and galv or paint or go with the original patina effect 😁 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Daan 488 Posted March 23 Author Share Posted March 23 1 hour ago, Badger110 said: It’s looking much roomier in there since the last pic I saw What’s the plan for the chassis, clean and galv or paint or go with the original patina effect 😁 Only because I parked the land rover outside! Chassis is planned to get blasted, zinc sprayed and painted green. The logistics are easier to do it after the mods are done and fully welded. All in good time.... 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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