HMMWV A2 Project

[dilvoy]

That looks really good Ted! I think you should try to make the soft top fit over that Turret/rear support setup. It is way stronger in a rollover than a normal soft top setup. You will have some problem at the rear Curtain area and maybe near the top corners of the B and C Pillars, because of the different shape of the curvature, but you could add some metal to take care of those things. CIVI Soft Top Hummers have pieces that are added to the windshield frame to make each top corner more Square and maybe you could do something like that for the B and C Piller corners. That leaves the rear curtain and those support tubes that extend back. I gave up at that point and went for a Four Man Hard Top with no turet hole. With your fabrication skills, you may be able to make some sort of Hard rear curtain to take care of that area.

 

[TedG]

Hi George,

We (me, JG, RV), looked over the options with my new 4 man soft top and found that the b-pillar area would be an easy bracket to build and weld on. I will look into the a-pillar brackets that you mentioned. On the c-pillar, I would install the twist fastners (like on the soft top c-pillar) on the turret rear cross member and modify the corners. This perhaps would allow for a rear curtain to connect to the same twist fasteners. I have some travel time coming up for me to ponder the options...

Regards,

 

[dunedigger]

Looking great Ted

 

[Jetnoise400]

Outstanding Ted! I'm loving the way your project is coming together! It helps me keep motivated on my fire truck project so that I can start on my Humvee.

 

[dilvoy]

You probably don't have to do the civi thing to the windshield if you are going to use a military top, as long as you have the channel on the top to slide the leading edge of the top into and the extra mounting plates of the turret assy don't get in the way.

 

[TedG]

George,

I found that the side rails with cross bows attach are over 2" to high at the rear/c-pillar. I will have to make some blocks to insert in the bow ends to extend them. This may cause the soft top to be to narrow and correctly fasten. I will be mocking something up once I have time. If it works, it will be a nice looking truck with a concealed turret...

Regards,

 

[TedG]

Update...after getting in 4 deuces & a 5ton cargo, I got side tracked from this hmmwv project plus the weather is finally warming up! So I finally got to drive my it & perform a shake down prior to painting. I found that this combo on a 4 door soft top has a crap load of power! It shifted very smoothly though all gears & overdrive engaged at 55mph!!! 60+ is not a problem and after some more safety checks, I'll see where she cries uncle! The new engine does run 210-220f so I am going to add water-wetter next like all my other hmmwv's! I'll post painted pictures hopefully soon.

 

[dunedigger]

Sweet! Must be a relief to drive it. I'm so jealous of that thing

 

[Chevytruck]

man that's one nice HMMWV!

 

[TedG]

Thanks for the kind words.

Well after the shake down tests and puting about 20 miles on it, I stripped the truck back to bare bones. I got out the 3m scuffing pads and went over the whole truck plus the H-turret set up. After 3 days, the truck is ready for carc'ing! I delivered it to the painter today via flat-towing with my M1037! They will wash it, tape it, spray it and un-tape it. If all goes well, I should have a shiny new solid 383 humvee, just in time for Memorial Day!

BTW: I decided to not mount the H-turret assembly but I am having it painted. I will first go with the 4 man soft top and maybe one day I will mount the H-turret. I also am having a set of X doors painted so everything will match.

Enjoy the pictures!

 

[Armada]

Ted, you rock! Can't wait to see the new skin and go for a ride!!

 

[ida34]

Nice work. I hope I can start posting pics of the M151 restore soon. I am just about done with the cucv for now. I got the thing registered today.

 

[frodobaggins]

I'm confused, why is there a big box on the front ?

 

[TedG]

frodobaggins,

On the front of the later style humvee's (ECV=Expanded Capicity Vehicles) such as this one, a larger cooling stack is installed. To make room for this larger cooling system, AM General extended the grill out and then made the hood pivot over the grill. They also modified the cooling stack to let the triple cooler (oil cooler, power steering cooler, tranny/tcase cooler) pivot away from the radiator for cleaning.

Anxioulsy waiting for a phone call to view the taping of the truck prior to carc'ing!

Regards,

 

[TedG]

Cleaning and degreasing today, taping tomorrow and hopefully painting Monday! Their shop is slowing down so I might send in a Deuce and an M813A1 to get prettied up.

 

[TedG]

Well, we're are done taping and we did several walk throughs for applying the carc. This will be a challenge since it is not a government job! If all goes well it should be painted this afternoon. I will stop by afterwords and snap another round of pictures of fresh 383 green. Tomorrow they will paint my H-turret setup, X-doors, and a ton of misc pieces.

Enjoy the taping pictures!

 

[Jetnoise400]

Don't leave us hanging Ted! Show us the finished paint pics!!!

 

[TedG]

The truck is sprayed and it looks sweet! Nothing like fresh CARC before the small scratches go on! It was just being untaped when I arrived and they are to do some touch up today. Then tomorrow the other parts get painted.

This weekend I will be prepping one of my deuces for a fresh coat as well. It came back from Iraq with chalky carc so I figured it deserves a new coat!

Enjoy the pictures. I forgot my good camera so I hope these are good enough to show the paint job.

 

[Jetnoise400]

That looks so SWEET!!!

 

[dilvoy]

That looks great Ted! What are you going to do as far as color for the Grille area?