The WC53 Carryall thread .

[vtunderground53]

Direction

Thanks for the responses People. There are just so many facets to our builds its sometimes overwhelming to choose the proper avenue to take. It all has to get done eventually...
Everyone looks to be moving along well. Desoto, I like the Linex idea on the fenders. I had that stuff on a truck bed before and its almost indestructible. Yours is one impressive build thread, well done.

[Desoto61]

Help me find an original radiator cap. Or an original looking cap that has a more modern engagement.

I've seen people make one by using the original cover epoxied to a modern cap, though replacing the cap in the future would be tough. Wonder what the hot-rod/model A type people do, might be something there.

I'm thinking of having a more modern square radiator with the fill cap on an "arm" into the engine bay. The aftercooler will sit in front with the inlet and outlet going over the top of the radiator through the back side of the shell, and then have the overflow tank built so that the fill port sticks through the original opening, since it's not pressurized I might be able to get away with a more traditional looking cap design, it also shouldn't need replaced as frequently.

Not sure I trust my tig skills enough to want to tackle welding this mess up myself though.

I also plan on running Evan's waterless coolant in the system, expensive stuff but seems well worth it for many different reasons, and with the engine having been drained for so long it should be pretty dry already.

[dirtfab]

I look at it like this... Anytime spent thinking about it is progress. A good idea isn't a good idea if you don't have some bad ones to compare it too. Heck, even last night I sat in mine on stacked wooden blocks trying to get ergonomics of the shifter location, column, gauges etc. Mental progress is still progress.

Everyone's project is looking good! This thread is hopping and glad to be part of it and glad to know people are enjoying our work!

Bruce! Thanks for those dimensions! I'm going to start sourcing my parts for the radiator and intercooler builds. Hoping to get them to fit with each other.


Help me find an original radiator cap. Or an original looking cap that has a more modern engagement.

Maybe have the radiator cap in the original location just a dummy cap and build a coolant system with a surge tank so the "real" modern radiator cap is under the hood.

[dirtfab]

Alex,

My WC53 is totally stock as far as I can tell. It measures 9.5" front front of the frame to the center of the bolt on both passenger and driver's side. From the top of the frame to the center of the bolt was 7/16" on the driver's and 5/8" on the passenger. Not sure what is tweaked, but a rough average of the two around 1/2" is probably good.

Edit: Also, I've been looking for those PTO/steering shaft part numbers. I can't find them. I still have quite a bit of stuff boxed up since my move last year. I'll keep looking, but they were not where I thought they were.

Scott

[WC53inTN]

Can someone advise me on how to rotate my pictures when posting? And also I can't do but one pic at a time. Am I doing something wrong?

Thanks

Bryce

[Desoto61]

Can someone advise me on how to rotate my pictures when posting? And also I can't do but one pic at a time. Am I doing something wrong?

Thanks

Bryce

You have two options to post as a subscriber, either from another service as a link using the little picture icon above the message window, or by attaching them to the post using the "manage attachments" button under your post from either your computer or another web site.

The pictures will need to be rotated prior to importing them, most modern programs do it automatically based on photo info, but not all. Photos added from the attachments feature can only be so big which may require you to re-size them on your computer first, you are limited to three per post. Posting as a link removes those limits but if the link is broken the pictures go with them. There are many ways to skin this cat e-mail me if you need help figuring one out.

[Bruce in BC]

made some door bumper thingies

Tucked up under the dash and attached to the back of the door post where a couple of bumpers. Mine were rock hard and worn out. I drilled the originals out and made some new ones from the side wall of a tire. The rectangular hole was cut with a razor knife, the round holes were cut with a punch, made from some brake tubing.
Picture #2 is if the bumper pop riveted back in place.

[Bruce in BC]

Radiator cap and wiring

how is this for a cap? This one uses a standard cap size , unlike the WC which uses a larger almost semi truck size.
Billet specialteeze
And this is a ground for the lights and gauges. Instead of ganging a bunch of grounds together I am keeping most separate, which should simplify tracing faults .

[W_A_Watson_II]

Looking great. The common grounding point is a great move, if I must say so myself. On my M37 I used an electrical panel ground buss (seen below, to the right of the ARB air compressor in the above photo) for my common ground point. I then ran a heavy gauge wire between it and the battery.

[dirtfab]

I thought I would throw these up here so people know about them. I have no association with the seller - Frank - other than that I almost bought one of his carryalls and he has been a good resource for advise on restoring/building etc. He mentioned that he was going to have replacement seats made for carryalls a while back and it looks like a batch are done and available. They are not EXACT copies and I am sure some purist will complain. For example heavier wall pipe was used instead of thin wall tubing to help with the common cracking issues with the stock seat frames. Most of the bends were matched and he mentioned they spent a fair amount of money on dies/tooling since the seats have multiple bends and the radius is not the same. Anyway, Frank has them listed on Ebay if anyone is looking for seats since they are almost always missing from the carryalls that are on the market today.

[Alxj64]

Franks seats are NICE! He sent me an email a few days ago saying that he listed them and I need to get on Ebay and take a look at them. My plan is to build something pretty much similar to the original seats but with a few minor tweaks to make them function a little more comfortably... i.e. sliders and maybe an adjustable back.

Many thanks to all in regards to the dimensions for the front shroud / cowl. Between all of the responses I should be certain to get my parts lined up in the right spot.

As for the radiator cap, I dig the idea of masking a newer cap with an older shell. I think it would be cool to have the original fill cap still function as the original fill cap but it will depend on where I can route hoses and such for the 50 lbs of parts I have to fit into a 5 lb sock in regards to the cooling system and intercooler, etc.

Back on interior stuff... I am running power steering and probably going to pick up a very plain Jane, tilt column that has the self defeating signal levers, and hazard harness built into it already. Beyond that, it will have no other features... Since I am going to be running a pretty stout power steering system with a cross over box I wanted a wheel that is similar in size to what more "modern" 4wds are running. I live and build heavy into the custom J**p world so I go with what I know and my rig and my wife's are both rocking 16" diameter wheels. Given that, I decided to hunt down a nice 16" wheel. Well, all of the "aftermarket" wheels are really expensive, and nothing really matches the genre of this project. Its all fancy wood grain Grant wheels with chrome and mahogany, etc that belong in a Cobra kit car or something like that... So, I found a nice replacement wheel for $60 that looks old school seems to be of high quality, and fits my dimensions requirements very well.

Its a replica farm tractor wheel from a '50s and '60s model IH farm tractor. It came from Steiner Tractor parts. It was affordable and shipped quick. Its the 806 series. I'll drill a few more bolt holes in it and use and adapter plate rather than using the splines. I mocked it up tonight; took me about an hour to make a dummy adapter out of AL to slide it onto a piece of 2" x .120" DOM tube that I snagged from a friend. Its just zip tied in for the sake of photos and for me to sit on some wooden blocks and hold the wheel. Made me smile!

[dirtfab]

Alex,

I LOVE that wheel. As I plan my build out, I too struggle with the balance of modern creature comforts without losing the old school character of the carryall. I'll probably steal the wheel idea from you. I'm not a big fan of most of the aftermarket wheels out there either. I can't wait to get my shop done so I can start on this project. Not having a functional shop is driving me nuts.

Scott

[Alxj64]

Alex,

I LOVE that wheel. As I plan my build out, I too struggle with the balance of modern creature comforts without losing the old school character of the carryall. I'll probably steal the wheel idea from you. I'm not a big fan of most of the aftermarket wheels out there either. I can't wait to get my shop done so I can start on this project. Not having a functional shop is driving me nuts.

Scott

No worries, feel free to duplicate whatever works out or change it as necessary.

In regards to resto-mod builds like ours... I too cannot stand the "Lets make everything out of Chrome!" mentality that most people have. I'm going for a "functional -Form" but chrome is never a "function" based coating in my experience. And yes, the blending of old with new and keeping the balance right has proven very challenging.

Such example as... 4wd shifter and parking brake handle. I know it belongs on the passenger side, but since i offset my engine to the passenger side to make room for the gear train and such the passenger is already short of floor space. I am planning on going with bench type seats up front but if need be for clearance I can put a little "shifter" step back in the frame for handles to clear at full pull. I can also adjust and fabricate my linkages to put the handles where I want them. I salvaged the locking mechanism from a parts truck I had and am going to use a disc brake setup with a spot caliper on the rear output of the NP205. Part of my "positioning" of it was with intention of fitting such a device under the floor and still hiding it somewhat.

Ergonomics are still funky on the 4wd lever so I am going to put a dog leg in the handle itself and possibly even shorten it some. I have the TIG with the Nickel-Monel rods so welding it back together wherever it gets shortened is not a concern at all.

[dirtfab]

Alex, an option that I am going to end up doing to my Jeepspeed is using a push-pull cable like the Atlas cable shifters use. A standard mechanical linkage would be to complicated IMO for where I eventually want the shifter. Ergonomics are important- especially at speed in the rough. You could always mount the stock shifters wherever they are comfortable and then use cables. It might simplify the linkage some too. I got my cable from McMaster if I recall correctly. I like the look and feel of the stock shifters, they really give it that 1940's feel.

FYI: The NP205 in the Broadsword Racecar that I built used an aftermarket cable shifting kit as well. I added a picture of the interior. You can see the cables are headed up towards the cowl. The cables then loop back to the T-case. Anyway, point is the cables give you almost unlimited mounting options- you just can't make tight bends with the cables.

[dirtfab]

Here is the tentative rough plan for my WC53. I've been compiling lots of parts in order to pull this one off. I started with my WC53, 4 additional Power Wagon doors, and a second carryall body. Silver with black fenders is my color choice. I don't want to stretch the wheelbase. I want it to look and feel like a WC53 at 1st glance. I've seen the other 4-door conversion on here and the large middle window that matches the front window just does not feel right to my eye. I played around with door placement so that the space between windows is similar. It will require a wheel-well cut-out for the rear doors much like a modern Chevy Tahoe etc. What do you guys think?