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Basher Willy M38 upgrade

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While restoring several used Willy M38s, I've ended up with a couple of basket-case Jeeps. I let Willy drive these as bashers - with no restrictions...

They're cobbled together to run with spare parts and mods - a la Mad Max. Willy ends up doing a lot of field fixes on these rigs due to their age, but they're a blast to really drive hard. The Beater is his current favorite runner...

img42077_01062015200453_6.jpg

After catching some serious air a few weeks back, Willy botched his landing and shattered the J1 (servo saver) steering linkage. Super-glue did not really work as a fix. The part was done and we had no spares.

img42077_01062015200453_2.jpg

So, I helped Willy fire up FreeCAD and design a new linkage with a built-in reinforcement. The reinforcement carries through both faces of the part and basically triples the thickness where it was broken. We sent it off to Shapeways for a print in Hot-Rod Red...

img42077_01062015200453_3.jpg

The part came in this week, and Willy is very pleased. We measured correctly during the design, and it dropped right into the Beater. We may end up designing an upgraded J4 part too...

img42077_01062015200453_4.jpg

Willy got the Beater out for a good day of bashing with the new part. Much fun was had.

Then, he hit a tree and completely sheared off the end of the right front arm (H5) inside the bearing. Woo-hoo then Boo-hoo.

Back to FreeCAD to see if we can make an upgraded H5 replacement (in Hot-Rod Red, of course).

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Are your front tyres pointing wrong way? :)

ha! ooops. Willy must have reversed them. He's always missing details like that... :rolleyes:

You should see the sidewalls - those things are more superglue than rubber at this point!

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You should see the sidewalls - those things are more superglue than rubber at this point!

slather on the superglue on the inside... reinforce with strips of old cotton t-shirt if necessary; try not to set anything on fire...

Pretty darned hard to kill these M38s. :)

Probably motor is the main weak spot that's hardest to patch up. New cans don't fit well and one needs to do some surgery for the pinion. But the old plastic endbells are amazingly durable too... keep punching even after brushes have worn to dust and only running on stubs, or overheated so badly the rear bushing has melted thru the plastic endbell and sunken down.

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That is really cool. I love seeing original Wild Willy's being used.

Probably motor is the main weak spot that's hardest to patch up. New cans don't fit well and one needs to do some surgery for the pinion. But the old plastic endbells are amazingly durable too... keep punching even after brushes have worn to dust and only running on stubs, or overheated so badly the rear bushing has melted thru the plastic endbell and sunken down.

it surely cannot be too hard to redesign the motor mounts in CAD to take newer motors. Simensays has done some lovely work for the WW M38 as can be seen in this thread and on Shapeways.

Simensays%252520Wild%252520Willy%2525201Simensays%252520Wild%252520Willy%2525202

I hope he turns his attention to the motor mount option.

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That is really cool. I love seeing original Wild Willy's being used.

it surely cannot be too hard to redesign the motor mounts in CAD to take newer motors. Simensays has done some lovely work for the WW M38 as can be seen in this thread and on Shapeways.

Simen really does some incredible work - Work like his and Toykid's designs on Shapeways is part of what inspired me to join TC, re-learn CAD, and start printing. :)

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Work like his and Toykid's designs on Shapeways is part of what inspired me to join TC, re-learn CAD, and start printing. :)

Do you fancy turning your skills to redesigning the motor plates to accept a modern 540? :rolleyes:

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Do you fancy turning your skills to redesigning the motor plates to accept a modern 540? :rolleyes:

stuff that, why not just BRUSHLESS :D

Gears are plenty chunky probably won't need uprating, already has that slipper thingy and the uni joint isn't hard to replace with a heavyduty version if needed.

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Do you fancy turning your skills to redesigning the motor plates to accept a modern 540? :rolleyes:

I'm honing my skills on some plastic parts right now - a retro CJ2A windshield, windshield hinges, basher bumper, and a set of new wheels that allow rubber like the Gmade MT1902 to be mounted on the M38. Once I get the hinges right, I'll try them in stainless. After that, maybe so!

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and a set of new wheels that allow rubber like the Gmade MT1902 to be mounted on the M38.

what about Wheeler wheels, any modern off-road rubber fit those?

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Once I get the hinges right, I'll try them in stainless. After that, maybe so!

I will buy a set of them straight away! I am currently reshaping a WW2 shell into WW1 and the missing link is the window brackets.

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what about Wheeler wheels, any modern off-road rubber fit those?

I haven't been at this long enough to know... Everything I find seems to indicate that the WW wheels are the only game for the M38, and since they're an odd size nothing works. Are the Wheeler's wheels more standard that would fit new rubber?

I will buy a set of them straight away! I am currently reshaping a WW2 shell into WW1 and the missing link is the window brackets.

:D I'll keep you posted... my plan is to have all my WW2s with hinged windshields like the old WW1s. I just like that look better and you can lay the windshield down flat - which was my preferred driving mode when I had my 1:1 CJ2A.

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I haven't been at this long enough to know... Everything I find seems to indicate that the WW wheels are the only game for the M38, and since they're an odd size nothing works. Are the Wheeler's wheels more standard that would fit new rubber?

Wheeler, OpelAscona/AudiQuattro and M38 share same drivetrain and their unique wheel mounting system.

Each wheel is different sized though, pretty unique sized. Unlike M38 the sedan wheels are 1pc not beadlock 3pc like M38.

Wheeler has just been re-re'd otherwise that used to be the most HTF for spare wheels & tyres.

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Wheeler, OpelAscona/AudiQuattro and M38 share same drivetrain and their unique wheel mounting system.

Each wheel is different sized though, pretty unique sized. Unlike M38 the sedan wheels are 1pc not beadlock 3pc like M38.

Wheeler has just been re-re'd otherwise that used to be the most HTF for spare wheels & tyres.

Pardon the newbie questions, but are the re-re Wheeler wheels the same as the old ones? I'll have to check them out. I have a new Wheeler at home that I have not unboxed yet. Guess I know what I'm doing tonight!

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Pardon the newbie questions, but are the re-re Wheeler wheels the same as the old ones? I'll have to check them out. I have a new Wheeler at home that I have not unboxed yet. Guess I know what I'm doing tonight!

From what I've seen the shell tires and wheels are the only similarities. The chassis is that of a ww2

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From what I've seen the shell tires and wheels are the only similarities. The chassis is that of a ww2

I guess I had just assumed the re-re Wheeler wheels were different since the chassis is completely different. (In my head I related it to the different wheels/tires on the WW2 vs the WW1). Now I cant wait to get home tonight and check them out in the re-re Wheeler kit.

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I guess I had just assumed the re-re Wheeler wheels were different since the chassis is completely different. (In my head I related it to the different wheels/tires on the WW2 vs the WW1). Now I cant wait to get home tonight and check them out in the re-re Wheeler kit.

There's adapters in the kit for the wheels to fit. I never owned an original wheeler but have several original Wild Willys
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Do you fancy turning your skills to redesigning the motor plates to accept a modern 540? :rolleyes:

stuff that, why not just BRUSHLESS :D

Gears are plenty chunky probably won't need uprating, already has that slipper thingy and the uni joint isn't hard to replace with a heavyduty version if needed.

Me again with the newbie questions... What would be a good version of a modern 540 to make fit? I'm looking for one to pick up and play with making a plate for... Is the modern version pretty similar from one "modern" motor to the next - or are they all unique?

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Make a stock silver can fit and anything else will follow

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Update...

So Willy manages to break the Beater as soon as we have it back up and running. To date we've replaced steering components, a shock mount, a steering upright, and the motor. I'm wondering how soon we'll have a completely Hot-Rod Red rig. I'm also wondering if I can get Willy in a driving course...

img42077_04082015045233_1.jpg

ALSO - there's a red motor-mount ring in the back now. Made a huge difference stabilizing the non-original motor.

img42077_04082015045233_2.jpg

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This is fantastic work. I love seeing a vintage Willy used properly. Are you making these parts available for sale?

I would love to see how the red motor mount works out. What motor have you used and what pinion?

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This is fantastic work. I love seeing a vintage Willy used properly. Are you making these parts available for sale?

I would love to see how the red motor mount works out. What motor have you used and what pinion?

Thank you!

I'll get some pics of the motor-mount and post them (I thought I had some, but they're not on the camera...) I used a silver 540 (Mabuchi?) that came as a bonus with another Willy wreck I bought. Looks same as the one that died, but the back-end has the smaller round bump. So, the washer fits around that and snugs into the metal bracket. I pulled the old stock pinion off the original and pressed it on the new one...

Also - I'll have some pics of the windshield hinges you asked about above - over in my M38 Resto-Mod build thread soon. They came out ok. I modded them a little with a dremel to fit, so they're not exact yet, but as time and $ permits, they'll get there!

Anything I've made that's different enough to be a hop-up from stock I'll probably open up on Shapeways for purchase. I'm working on a new grilled front-end right now. Check out the pic above again. That's the custom one.

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I would love to see how the red motor mount works out. What motor have you used and what pinion?

img42077_04082015045233_3.jpg

img42077_04082015045233_4.jpg

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With all the post-apocalyptic and Mad Max builds, I built Willy one of those horse-mouth respirators like Immortan Joe uses in the Fury Road movie.

(I think I have a new driver for the Beater now. Just need to paint a body for him)

img42077_31052015033338_3.jpg

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