1990 Willys MB Jeep - Mahindra based |
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DAAN
Member Joined: 02 Jan. 2019 Location: UK Status: Offline Points: 43 |
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Posted: 05 June 2019 at 8:46pm |
Hi,
I have been lurking in for some time here, but I thought it was about time to put my project here, a Mahindra Jeep. I came across this when looking for a Willys MB jeep, which are by all accounts are very expensive, and not very user friendly, and pretty slow. I want it to be able to get along with normal traffic. Which is 70 MPH in the UK and ideally a bit in reserve as well, say 80. So then my mind goes into modifying ideas, but the problem is that this devalues the car, which just does not make sense to me if you spend a lot of money in the first place. There is, for us in the Uk an alternative though: the Mahindra Jeep. So what is it? They were sold in the UK between 1990 and 1995. They were license build Willys jeeps, build in India with the blessing of Jeep. Their spec is based on the Willys CJ3B Jeep, which is the latest and greatest Willys jeep ever build; They have a 4 speed gear box (as opposed to 3 speed of the original Willys), hanging pedals with a brake booster, a Peugeot Diesel engine, A dana 44 rear axle (very strong) and a chassis made out of thicker material. They seem to be out of favour as they were withdrawn from the UK market due to quality problems and a following dispute between the importer and the mahindra over who was going to settle the bill. Problem is of course that if you try to sell a car 50 years after it was originally was designed, you will have to deal with different expectations. I suppose it didn't help that Top Gear did a feature on the worst car ever made, and guess which car came out on top; The Mahindra. Anyway, That sounded like a recommendation (what do they know anyway) . I decided it is worth looking into. The rolling chassis is basically identical to the MB, so a replica MB body bolts straight on. The only real difference is it being RHD, and there is no such thing as a RHD Willys MB. So a bit of modding will be required in this area. Anyway, A mahindra it is, and this is what I bought: From 1990, with a V5 on diesel and a body falling apart from rust holes, it was ideal for what I want with it. And it was very cheap. Engine did run, but the clutch was seized solid. 50K miles on the clock, these things don't travel far, as they aren't very quick. with a bit of work I dismantled it into this: Into this: Attention so far has mainly been on the chassis. There is a strip spot welded to the bottom of the chassis rail, and this formed some rust sandwich of about 5mm think in places: I removed the strip, by drilling off all the spotwelds. This also meant all the spring hangers had to be removed. After all this, I replaced the rear crossmember and front bumper for willys MB items: So this is where I am now, plan is to fit PAS, discs, overdrive and more engine under the bonnet, topped of with a willys MB body, to become my modern day classic car. Thanks for reading, Daan |
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Joe Friday
Moderator Group Sponsor Member x 2 Joined: 26 Dec. 2010 Location: Jeep Central Status: Offline Points: 3654 |
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With the resources visible in your photos, converting the Left hand drive should not pose a problem.
just but a hole in the other side of the belhousing for your clutch fork, or with hydraulic, just move the pedals and fit a longer hose...
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jasonbass
Member Joined: 28 Mar. 2018 Location: little rock ark Status: Offline Points: 261 |
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nice rover! i like the trophy style decals
i sell 80s camel trophy and other auto memorabilia on ebay
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You have only to believe if you wish to achieve. That rhymed. Unintentional - Rod Kimble
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Stev
Member Sponsor Member Joined: 27 July 2016 Location: Cincinnati Status: Offline Points: 2384 |
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DAAN,
Welcome to the CJ2A Page! It sounds like you are making a MB tribute vehicle with a modern power plant and running gear. You might check out the modified section to see what people have come up with. Keep us posted. Stev
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Stev
1946 CJ2A Trail Jeep (The Saint), 1948 CJ2A Lefty Restored |
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DAAN
Member Joined: 02 Jan. 2019 Location: UK Status: Offline Points: 43 |
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Cheers, I read most of the current threads on here before I started my project. Daan
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DAAN
Member Joined: 02 Jan. 2019 Location: UK Status: Offline Points: 43 |
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Thanks, The rover I had for 28 years and has seen a lot of off road action the world over. But I decided it was time for a change, so the Jeep is my new project. Less off road more of a classic car basically. Daan
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Ol' Unreliable
Member Joined: 25 Sep. 2016 Location: CO Springs CO Status: Offline Points: 4226 |
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So what kind of engine are you going to put in there and how will you fit it under an MB bonnet if it's too tall?
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There's a reason it's called Ol' Unreliable
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DAAN
Member Joined: 02 Jan. 2019 Location: UK Status: Offline Points: 43 |
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I have a VW TDI 1.9 ready to go in. I saw the thread of Millenium Falcon I think it was, so I know it should fit. Daan
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Ol' Unreliable
Member Joined: 25 Sep. 2016 Location: CO Springs CO Status: Offline Points: 4226 |
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Oh, you should have plenty of room for that powerplant. Mr. Falcon certainly proved that.
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There's a reason it's called Ol' Unreliable
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DAAN
Member Joined: 02 Jan. 2019 Location: UK Status: Offline Points: 43 |
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A quick update on this project: I did a mockup of the adapter plate: I am trying to marry a ALH VW 1.9 TDI engine to the Mahindra gearbox. It takes some doing before they say 'i do'. To make it as easy as possible, I started with a longitudinal mounted version of this engine, from a Passat, as this has the starter motor on the engine side, as well as more favourable engine mounts, a vacuum pump at the side of the engine, rather than at the back, and an engine mounted viscous Fan. At the heart of this is a Valeo solid flywheel conversion kit for a 130 HP TDI. The 130 HP engine has a larger diameter clutch, and this clamps the Jeep friction plate perfectly: I don'e have much in the way of machining equipment, but I do have CAD. I also got the factory drawing with mounting pattern dimensions for the VW TDI, as well as a Factory drawing for the mounting pattern of the Peugeot Indenor engine that normally lives in the Mahindra. This gave me the bolt pattern for the gearbox. On CAD, marying this up ended up looking like this: The good thing is that this will be acurate by design, and via a waterjet cutter, I can get the adaptor plate cut from CAD. But first the plywood adapter:
To this can the Mahindra bell house now be fitted: So this is where I am now. next is dropping this lot in the chassis and see what obstacles we find next. It takes a while though.. Thanks for looking! Daan |
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Ol' Unreliable
Member Joined: 25 Sep. 2016 Location: CO Springs CO Status: Offline Points: 4226 |
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Progress is always good. Keep it up!
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There's a reason it's called Ol' Unreliable
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Lee MN
Member Joined: 13 Aug. 2008 Location: Harris, MN Status: Offline Points: 4949 |
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Interesting project If your going to drive an 80β wheelbase rig at 70+ MPH in traffic, good luck
Lee |
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LEE
44 GPW-The Perfected Willys 49 2A βIf you wait, you only get olderβ 67 M715 American Made Rolling History |
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DAAN
Member Joined: 02 Jan. 2019 Location: UK Status: Offline Points: 43 |
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Cheers. I have no intention of going faster than 70 MPH, but any slower in todays traffic I find dangerous, if only because of other traffic users trying to overtake you on single carriage ways. I see this every day with agricultural traffic. I am looking for a comfy cruise of 70 MPH. I think it is perfectly feasible, seeing suzukis do it on the same wheel base. It obviously needs the steering, brakes and gearing upgrading to do it, but that is the part I find the most interesting on this project. Daan
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Lee MN
Member Joined: 13 Aug. 2008 Location: Harris, MN Status: Offline Points: 4949 |
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ππ½ππ½ππ½
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LEE
44 GPW-The Perfected Willys 49 2A βIf you wait, you only get olderβ 67 M715 American Made Rolling History |
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davidover
Member Joined: 22 July 2007 Location: Kansas City Status: Offline Points: 118 |
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Daan, hows your project going? It's been some time since we've heard anything at least over a year. Cheers
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1947 CJ2A #93851
1947 CJ2A #99701 1947 CJ2A #95504 1950 CJ3A #59575 1946 CJ2A #53228 1948 CJ2A #????? 1944 MB ROLLING CHASSIS #????? 1946 CJ2A #38008 1945 MB |
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DAAN
Member Joined: 02 Jan. 2019 Location: UK Status: Offline Points: 43 |
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Hi, In a word: slowly! I spend most of the year getting my Land rover back on the road. A lot of work, but It is now running and soon to be going for its yearly test.
There are updates to show though: I got the engine and gearbox in and looked at mocking up the steering: I dropped the bulkhead on as well, to see if it needs any cutting. It is a reasonable fit, but the alternator is hanging outside the frame rail. I think it will go with a bit of modding on the wing. The steering box is interesting for a Right Hand Drive due to the diff being close. It took me a while, but I found this box, which is a LHD Rangerover P38 steering box. Not much work was done after this, but I went shopping and found this: It is a willys body, of sorts, an M38 I am led to believe, but with an MB grille. It was imported from Thailand, and the owner realised the body was not the same year as the WW2 chassis. So he got a matching WW2 body and sold this on ebay. It is in mint condition and is a very close fit to the Mahindra chassis; The grille mounts fit and the crossmember bolts to the rear body. There is a clash with the shock mount and the mount under the drivers seat needs moving 1 hole. It is RHD converted, neatly done. The steering wheel will be replaced for something more in keeping with the willys jeep theme! Thanks for looking, Daan
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sam16v
Member Joined: 04 Sep. 2013 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 35 |
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Cool project Daan, be nice to see some more progress on the jeep!
im also in the Uk and have a few Jeep projects of my own. I couldnt find
a sensibly priced willys chassis for my off roader, so ended up finding
a Cj5 Chassis. Did you buy the mahindra of chap called Kev Morris? looks like one he had?
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DAAN
Member Joined: 02 Jan. 2019 Location: UK Status: Offline Points: 43 |
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Hi, good to see another UK member! The mahindra is a good way to go, as it tends to be cheap, and is the CJ3B chassis with thicker main rails. The name you mention is not familiar to me.
Daan
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