My M35A2 Project aka Big Betty

[TMNT]

I drove my "new" M35A2 home on Saturday, 12/31/2011. She did great on the 80 miles home. That gave us a chance to get to know each other better. We had been "dating" for about 3 months while she was living at Clinto's house so we weren't strangers, but this drive was the first "quality" time that we had spent together.

She is a 1970 Kaiser Jeep M35A2 WO/W, D-model engine and turbo. She's clean, mostly straight and rust free and in good running condition. The engine makes good power, starts easy and so far, she hasn't soiled the driveway! She drives good and makes 55 MPH on level ground, but I tend to drive her 45-50.

I've got big plans for Betty so I thought I would start a thread to document our progress.

A couple of important facts regarding the timeline:

1. My wife's birthday was 11/22.

2. Obviously its the holiday season with all of the Christmas expenses and commitments.

3. I brought her home on New Year's Eve which means that I spent pretty much all day along with my brother and Clinto getting her ready for the road and then driving her home. (Thereby causing me to miss a New Years Eve dinner with my wife's sister and her family!)

4. Today, January 2, 2012 is my fourth wedding anniversary. I think I can get away with spending 3-4 hours on Betty before stopping to take the wife out for our anniversary dinner. If it wasn't so cold I would try to talk her into driving the deuce to dinner. As it is, I guess we'll be taking one of the more modern vehicles with a heater!

From the above you should be able to determine that a) I'm pretty excited about my Deuce, b) I get into trouble with the wife because of my Deuce and c) I'm pretty well committed to getting my truck "right."

I bought this truck from Clinto and Clintogf, who are both stellar people and Clinto has worked very diligently for many weeks to get Betty ready for me to take her home. Clinto has gone above and beyond my expectations and he has fixed everything that we previously discussed and then some.

Nothing I find, fix or report is in anyway intended as a knock on Clinto. I've got a 42 year old truck here and I know there's plenty left to do, even after all of the TLC that Clinto put into this truck.

I plan to restore and maintain the truck while keeping it true to its original configuration. Its a piece of American history and it deserves to live a "retired" life of respect and dignity. I'll drive it for fun, for home projects, camping, and to the SSGA rally. I do plan to do some moderate non-abusive off-road driving.

With that being said, I'm glad to be here and proud to own my first piece of "green iron."

I've posted these photos elsewhere, but here's a couple just to start this thread.

 

[wreckerman893]

Clinto and Dawn are great folks.......Clint is anal about details and making sure the "green ladies of the evening" he pimps off are top notch.

I'm sure you got a good truck.

Will you be bringing your green mistress and you wife to the 2012 GA Rally?

 

[TMNT]

Definitely coming to the rally with Betty and probably my son and brother. The wife is far too delicate for that kind of trip. I haven't even been able to talk her into taking a ride around the block.

I'm planning on camping there for three days. My wife thinks staying in a Prevost Motorcoach is "roughing it." LOL.

 

[Heavysteven]

We need to line the deuces up front row center at the fireworks this 4th of July in Canton. That three now.

I like Clinto nice guy, very helpful, and knowledgable with these trucks.

 

[TMNT]

We need to line the deuces up front row center at the fireworks this 4th of July in Canton. That three now.

I like Clinto nice guy, very helpful, and knowledgable with these trucks.

Heavysteven, count me in. That sounds like a great idea.

 

[TMNT]

UPDATE

SUNDAY 01/01/2011

Day 1 with Big Betty at my house.


HORN
On the way home on Saturday, I discovered the horn was not working. I troubleshot that to discover a broken wire at the solenoid and a jacked-up horn button and steering wheel. I ordered Packard connectors, a new steering wheel and horn button kit from Erik's to fix it. The center hole in the steering wheel is pretty badly out of round so the horn button gets jammed in the hole. THe retainer clips on the contact plate are broken so the horn button falls out if I manage to free it up from the steering wheel.

WINDSHIELD WIPERS
I finished installing the new ANCO wiper arms and blades. I discovered the airlines to the wiper motors were rotten and leaking air in several places. Picking up new parts for that later to hopefully fix tomorrow.

MIRRORS
I managed to break the passenger side blind-spot mirror while trying to adjust it. I ordered a proper replacement from Erik's and picked up a temporary replacement from AutoZone.

BODY SQUEAKS and RATTLES
THere was a severe screeching rattle coming from the hood when the truck idled. These truck abound with squeaks and rattles but this one was severe. I had previoulsy tracked it down to a point where the cowl was bent upward causing an edge to rub against the inside of the hood. The cowl was probably bent up during the last head removal.

I straightened out the bent metal, sanded, primed and painted it to stop the rust. I added a small piece of rubber pad and that quieted that particular noise.

ENGINE OIL
Clinto had previously changed the engine oil and filters. I drained a gallon of oil out and added a gallon of LUCAS OIL stabilizer. I've had really good luck with that stuff in other heavy equipment.

FUEL
On the way home Saturday, I added a gallon of LUCAS OIL fuel treatment to an almost full tank of fuel. Running that through for the 80 miles home seemed to have helped the injectors quite a lot. Betty had previously missed pretty badly immediately after firing up for 15-30 seconds and she smoked a lot. She fired right up on Sunday with no missing and much less smoke. She starts instantly on a warm engine now.

TRANSMISSION
I double-checked the oil in the tranny since she was shifting kind of notchy and fifth gear has a pretty loud whine at 50MPH. (Is that normal?) I topped it up with a quart of LUCAS OIL stabilizer for now, but I'm going to switch that out to synthetic in the next few weeks.

FUN
We took Betty to Lowe's to pick up the new flooring materials for the house and ran a few other errands around town before heading home to unload. She did just fine other than belching out a pint or so of coolant at AutoZone. She wasn't hot at all but she was just burping out liquid coolant for 2-3 minutes. She hasn't done it again and she isn't running hot at all.

 

[missleman]

nice truck. my wife will ride with me if i make a big enuff deal out of it. the grandkids love it. they can't see over the dash, but they like all the racket. yours is almost exactly like mine. i can't wait till the weather gets better so i can get more time in it. have'nt had mine but a couple of months7 just been puttering around alpharetta.

 

[TMNT]

Monday 01/02/2011

MIRROR
Figured out a way to tighten up the driver's side mirror that was kind of floppy. The mirror metal is kind of rotted out and I need a new one. I'll replace it as soon as I find a good one somewhere.

WIPERS
Fixed the wipers with new air lines. They work pretty well now except the driver's side seems to get stuck. I'll work on the wiper motor a bit and see what it takes ot get it working better.

AIR LEAK
The passenger side gladhand was leaking a bit so I fixed that by tightening up the flare nut on the copper line. The gladhand mount itself is loose on the frame and the nut is seized. At some point in the future I'll cut that one off and put it back together with new parts to make it right.

KING PIN?
I noticed the right front tire has quite a bit of camber angle (bottom of tire angled in with respect to the top of the tire). The metal shroud/cover over the rubber boot is bent at an odd angle as well. There was definitely some kind of impact on that right front wheel. The truck drives straight, but it is eating the outside edge of that front tire pretty badly. I'll have to tear that corner down to see what is bent and fix/replace it.

FUEL LINES
I noticed a small fuel leak (1 drop every 30 seconds or so) dripping from a clear line coming from the line between the filter and the IP. I also found a pretty severe kink in the line between the tank and the filter. It looks like it got caught on somehting and it pulled the line down and back. 'nother project! I'm going to replace all of the fuel lines as a high priority project.

>>I'm wondering if the kinked fuel line is restricting the amount of fuel available to the IP? I find myself dropping back to 4th gear on most hills.

Took a drive over to my Father-in-Laws house to show off. He has a grading and hauling business and they do most all of their own truck and equipment maintenance. He volunteered to help me with that right front king pin problem and I'll take him up on that for sure. He also wants to check the flow on the IP but I want to get the fuel lines replaced before doing any adjustments.

 

[clinto]

Thanks for all the kind comments. We appreciate it.

We're glad you like Betty, there was a lot more to do than we ever anticipated! But it cleaned up really well.

I shot some pics as you were leaving Saturday. Enjoy.


You guys are more than welcome to visit anytime.

 

[TMNT]

I drove Betty to work today. It was an even 30 degrees and she was a little cranky getting started but once she started firing she woke up really nice.

I gotta get that heater installed!

 

[TMNT]

Betty just scared the crap out of me. I was on the way home from work and about to turn left into my neighborhood and she just died leaving me stranded in the left turn lane with 60MPH traffic running by in both directions. I had lights but no motor. She would turn over just fine but would not fire.

I called my brother for some help and and started checking the obvious. Couldn't find anything wrong and the fuel level was good.

I tried 3-4 more times to fire her up and finally she started up. I jammed her in gear and got out if the highway. Now, she's running just fine. Starts fine idles good.

She's staying in the driveway until I can go through the fuel lines and check everything out.

 

[Flyingvan911]

Nice truck. Wierd that the engine wouldn't crank. You might check the fuel filters. Maybe the Lucas loosened up some junk in the bottom of the fuel tank.

 

[TMNT]

Nice truck. Wierd that the engine wouldn't crank. You might check the fuel filters. Maybe the Lucas loosened up some junk in the bottom of the fuel tank.

Thanks, it is a nice truck. I'm thinking the same thing on junk from the tank. I looked in the tank with an LED light to verify fuel level and to check for junk. There's definitely stuff in there.

I'll clean the tank and prioritize reworking the fuel lines. I also noticed I have two injectors that are leaking fuel.

 

[Heavysteven]

I would reccomend pulling the pump and making sure the hose is on still. If that good then follow the fuel lines to the pump, double check every thing, and change the filters.

Good luck

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57sST-mVt9U&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

[TMNT]

I think I found the cause of the problem I had on Thursday night. I used a manual vacuum pump to vacuum some crud out of the bottom of the tank. I didn't get much, maybe 2-3 tablespoons of crusty bits and pieces. No water that I could detect visually.

But, I didn't have as much fuel in there as I thought! I discovered I only had about 2 inches of fuel in the tank. I filled it up and she's been running fine today. I assume that with the fuel that low it sloshed forward when I stopped to make a left turn and the pump gulped some air and killed the engine. The multiple attempts to restart it that night eventually pumped fuel back into the IP and it started up.

Does that sound plausible? Is 2 inches in the tank not enough?

Another oddity, obviously the tank was near empty but it only took 25 gallons to fill it to the point where fuel was visible well up in the strainer cup. I thought the M35's had 50 gal tanks?

 

[TMNT]

I picked up a tag for Betty today. No problem since it was previously registered in Georgia. I was pleasantly surprised to find out the cost is only $23 per year. I wish the rest of my vehicles were that cheap!

 

[clinto]

Does that sound plausible? Is 2 inches in the tank not enough?

Another oddity, obviously the tank was near empty but it only took 25 gallons to fill it to the point where fuel was visible well up in the strainer cup. I thought the M35's had 50 gal tanks?

Believe it or not, most everyone assumes anything below a 1/4 tank to be the danger zone.

Part of that is because the designers intentionally let the pump pickup hang a little high, so if trash were to get into the tank, the pump wouldn't pick it up.

Once you take the fuel pump out, you'll see what I mean.


The M44 series tank is 50 gallons, when the fuel reaches the bottom of the strainer, you probably still have 20-30 gallons of empty space.

 

[TMNT]

Believe it or not, most everyone assumes anything below a 1/4 tank to be the danger zone.

Part of that is because the designers intentionally let the pump pickup hang a little high, so if trash were to get into the tank, the pump wouldn't pick it up.

Once you take the fuel pump out, you'll see what I mean.


The M44 series tank is 50 gallons, when the fuel reaches the bottom of the strainer, you probably still have 20-30 gallons of empty space.

Thanks Clinto! I had assumed it must have been something like that. I should have known not to put so much trust in the fuel gauge. It performs about like a fuel gauge in a boat; If you get below half a tank, you better start looking for fuel.

Once I get through replacing the floors in the house, I'll start working on the fuel system in the truck and pull the in-tank pump and wash the tank out really well. I've got to replace that primary fuel filter as well.

 

[clinto]

I've got to replace that primary fuel filter as well.

The replacement showed up, so ended up replacing all 3 fuel filters.

 

[TMNT]

The replacement showed up, so ended up replacing all 3 fuel filters.

Thats great! I didn't realize that. I'm still concerned that the combination of the junk in the tank and the heavy doses of Lucas that may have loosened up junk that has ended up in that primary filter. It will probably be a couple of weeks before I can get to it, but I'll pull that pump and clean the tank. That way I'll know for sure what I have there. From there, I'll just work my way toward the IP making sure everything is 100% all the way. I know I have a kink in the fuel line just before it transitions to the rubber fuel line at the filters. I estimate that the kink is probably causing a 40-50% restriction in the flow.

After I am 100% certain of the fuel delivery to the IP, we'll evaluate her performance for improvements and then see about taking some fuel pressure and EGT measurements to optimize the IP setup.