Indians For Guns

Nice but not exciting. The WILLYS logo, bumpers and footrests may have looked better in black. Or maybe not. Were the wheels painted same as the body originally?
The lack of side view mirrors is also noticeable.

Did you make a new soft top as well and where did you pick up that seat upholstery material from?

pretty cool could you also tell me what engine and other parts have you used(if you have changed em i.e.)

Cheers
Sid

could you also tell me what engine and other parts have you used(if you have changed em i.e.)

A diesel kirloskar engine is being used, pretty awful.. will be going back to the original petrol engine.... most of the other parts are originals. The mechanic wanted to change the braking system which I was not keen on since it would have not been original...

Did you make a new soft top as well and where did you pick up that seat upholstery material from?

The seat material I purchase years ago in a small shop in Udaipur.. its no longer available when I checked last....

Not yet made a new soft top, on the lookout for suitable coloured canvas. Any suggestion on colour?

Sat

the orignal hurricane engine is a good one but then you can be sure it would no longer be a very reliable/economic every day vehicle.
plus hw did you fit in the diesel engine without changing the rest of the drive line.
and a suggestion(i'd recommend u don't follow it) try going in for a toyota 2c or a 3c engine along with it's drive line and ask you mechanic to make you that GARI (that what it was refered to as in delhi) to make it a 4wd with the toyota engine i believe many ppl have gone in for it and aint complaining or there is the all time favourite offroading engine the tractor one

Cheers
Sid

Speaking of tractor engines- I was thinking of going in for one for a MM540 that i was looking to pick up.
any idea on its performance / maintenance and mileage.

Hey Sniper

MM540 would certainly rank as a reliable yet powerful jeep, but alas it all depends where you pick it up from, some one known its good but, from places such as Maya Puri(delhi) be a little careful. Just be sure to carry along some one with some knowledge on engines and all.

Performance it definitely up to the mark, mileage is something i wont know off but if its with the army it ought to be a vehicle with not too much of maintenance(dont expect to just fill it up with gas and start driving, it does require some or the other thing every 2 - 3 months, the only reason i could never get one)

Cheers
Sid

Thanks Sid.

what about installing a tractor engine in it. how will that be?

Know a few people who have done that. i believe a few MM540's with the tractor engine were on sale in chennai, probably you'll love to check out jeepthrill.in (what little i know i read it there).
I am not too sure if the orignal gearbox and all go well with the tractor engine, so you might have to change it aswell. But rest assured a MM540 with a tractor engine u'll have one hell of an offroading vehicle.

where do you intend to pick up an MM540 from??

Cheers
Sid

hey cool, ill check out that site.
was looking for one in Bangalore - but now that you mention Chennai - i shall check there too.

Sat,

It's come out really nice... I'm quite fond of sand coloured Jeeps myself, in fact mine wore the same shade/ colour in it's last avatar (before I sold it)... it's also a very practical colour as dirt/ sand isn't that visible, mine was earlier black which was an absolute b**ch to clean every day! Quite like the desert camo seat covers as well... nice touch

For the hood, I'd suggest you purchase plain un-dyed canvas from the wholesale market in Delhi. If you want I can find out who/ where you can pick this up... you can then have it dyed to the exact shade you want.... while there also remember to pick up the right size brass buckles, brass rivets, etc. as the ones you'll commonly find at the small town hood fabricators would be either aluminium or iron/ steel... they don't cost much, but really make a difference in the look, especially when one is up close and also pick up right size canvas webbing (nawar in local parlance) for making the loops/ belts that go into the buckles... Also, don't bother with those plastic windows on the sides or back - they barely last a winter and once they start to crack it ruins the entire look. In stead have a cut out window at the back with cross webbing of canvas and a "roll up" cover - which can be buckled in place when it is raining... Would be nice if the hood fabricator can make the sides and rear in such a way that they can both be rolled up completely, just leaving the roof in place for shade... comes in really handy at times - especially if you are out sight seeing/ photographing... Avoid using zips/ velcro in the hood design as neither seems to last very long...

I'd say go for the Hurricane engine! It's a different experience driving it (much better), compared to any of the diesel options out there... IIRC there was some chap based out of Bangalore who was making replacement engine heads on order - for any engine - using some sort of proprietary technology which substantially increased fuel economy without compromising on power... the dude was featured in Outlook or India Today a few years back in their list of best Indian inventors of the year... claimed to have gotten a Daewoo Cielo to put out 15 or was it 18 Kmpl (I forget which) Not sure of the details though and whether his claims were authentic... but worth finding out more...

If budget allows I would suggest changing the braking system to the one used on the Mahindra classic - it's simply much much better and also a lot more reliable. The original CJ3B braking system does not have diagonally split circuits, which means in the case of a leak on any 1 section you loose ALL 4 brakes!! It's actually happened to me a couple of times and can be very difficult to nurse it back to civilisation (and a motor mechanic) with zero brakes This would also change the handbrake to apply on the rear two drums as opposed to the shaft (as is the case in the original system). You could always keep the original parts with you, in case you wish to restore it back to original... If I am not mistaken you do intend to put this vehicle to regular use? In any case with the original petrol engine missing... even if you replace it with another Hurricane engine, the car would not really be considered as being in "original" condition... so take the practical route and try and improve on the original, while retaining the "soul" of the car

Cheers!
Abhijeet