OZM29C

@Patrick Tipton Good to hear from you Patrick. I thought that you had been lost in the world of Jeeps 🙂 I do believe that replacing the fibre timing gear with an Aluminium gear is a no brainer. I can draw on @Byron Byron Kay's recent experience of having a fibre timing gear disintegrate after only 70 miles of driving post engine rebuild. As you quite rightly pointed out, there is no way you could honestly distinguish the difference between the two types of gears when driving a weasel. Could I suggest that you ask the engine rebuilder to do a full balance on your engine. It was recommended by my engine rebuilder and I can assure you that my engine runs sweet. Personal choice though but IMHO its worth the extra $$$$$$. Look forward to seeing your T24 come to life. Cheers.

This information may help you to fabricate one of those missing 'Weasel Jewellery' parts. The placement of the single retaining hole may vary from vehicle to vehicle. To finish the job, I used facsimile staples and 3mm thick felt. I was unable to find an original to validate the type and thickness of the felt?????? Shaft Seal for gear slectors.pdf

@rml1708 I know its a long shot but back in 2010 Jim Gilmore @Jim Gilmore was selling the Weasel coaming button sets. I would suggest that you get in contact with Jim as he is the person best placed to offer good advice on where to get these button sets reproduced.

@aktrapperbrad I hope that you get the opportunity to rescue all of this.

@aktrapperbrad What an Amazing find especially the float gear. In particular small hard to find pieces of weasel jewellery like the track apron braces that are still in place. The heated battery box was part of an Arctic heater kit fitted post war to weasels.

Years ago I believe that Rob W. @Rob Whad modified some after market panel light switches and made them work as a push to start switch. I could be wrong but hopefully Rob will see this post and offer his educated thoughts on this subject.

@D.R.H. I will let you in on a little secret. I had to do the same thing and do a guestimate on my hull number. My hull number is very close as Jim Gilmore had the sister weasel to mine. One ORD number different. Jim like James D is very knowledgeable on weasel serial numbers and suggested a close if not actual hull number for my weasel.

@D.R.H.Not that I know of. Robert at Dataplates4U reproduced mine but I am led to believe that nowadays he does not reproduce the hull tag. Having said that, It might be worth again asking the question of Robert. I must admit he did an excellent job on my hull tags. Not quite concourse but better than no hull tag.

The silver paint is just a single pack aluminium epoxy paint that I used to preserve the inner surfaces that were exposed during the repairs. I only brushed it on as no one will ever see it once the hull was fully repaired. The black colour is just a phosphoric acid based rust inhibitor.

@D.R.H. Dave, thanks for the BZ 👍, my weasel hull was in a similar condition to yours so just posting a few more photos showing how I repaired the 'forward of the bulkhead' sponsons in my hull. Like you I chose to repair the sponsons in the hull. The repair sections are made form heavier gauge metal. I think that OEM was 1.2mm but I used 1.6mm. Easier to weld the thicker metal and also the thicker shett is less prone to deforming from heat.

@D.R.H.Saw your Video on receiving Rob's great hat channel kit. I also noted the condition of your sponsons. Not sure what repair method you are going to employ to repair your sponsons but I repaired a T24 hull by assembling the replacement sponsons off vehicle and then fitted the newly made sponsons into the hull later. Might be worth considering as it is a damn sight easier to work on the sponsons away from the hull. Just a thought😀 Photos below for reference.

I just googled LAR, https://larexperts.com/ still there but I don't have Russ or Tom Morgans contact details. Perhaps a question for the Weasel FB group.

@Dan Klatt Try Russ or Tom Morgan over in Colorado or Mike Howard at Liberty Auto Restorations in Iowa.

@D.R.H.Whatever you do DRH, don't discard or sell the Crankshaft. My engine rebuilder rejected 5 donor crankshafts for my engine rebuild before I managed to get a NOS Crankshaft from Norway. All of the rejected crankshafts had hairline cracks in them. I would recommend to any weasel owner out there who for whatever reason has their Crankshaft out, to go to the added expense of having their Crankshafts thoroughly crack tested.

Here is another photo for future reference. It shows the contents of an Arctic Heater Kit. @Patrick TiptonPatrick I could not find this photo using the search function however if the photo has been posted previously, please delete this post. The manual has already been uploaded on this forum.

@Patrick TiptonEspecially when I have driven a grand total of 28miles in the last year. Take a lot of convincing that I got value for money by spending over $5 grand having the motor rebuilt. 🤑🤑🤑

@Patrick TiptonSo true Patrick. My engine was badly corroded in way of the cylinders and valves that necessitated a good deal of metal surgery.

@D.R.H.The colour is 'Pewter'. It is a commercially available industrial paint here in Oz. The engine rebuilder paints all of his reconditioned GPW engines in that same colour. I have installed the engine as is. As you know there is not much to be see of the engine when its tucked away down in the lower hull.

@D.R.H.Just did a random search of Studebaker parts vendors and it appears that 0.060" OS pistons are available, however can I suggest that you should seek advice from a reputable Engine reconditioning shop on what is the best option for your motor. In my case, the engine had sleeves fitted that returned the motor back to a standard bore. One small tip I got from my engine rebuilder was to let them assemble the motor. That way they can ensure that all fits, tolerances and clearances are correct. I understand that others do prefer to do their own assembly work but in the overall scheme of things, the assembly cost is only a fraction of the total engine reconditioning cost. In my case I chose to have the engine assembled in the shop. I received a turn key engine from them with a Workmanship Warranty. Piece of mind when I had spent over $5000 in total on the engine.

@Patrick TiptonPatrick, I do agree with your initial report that more testing needs to follow. There appears to be a lot more vibration for want of a better word when comparing the prototype French track with your OEM track. It appears that the vibration is coming from both the bogey wheels falling into the belt cavity between the two grousers and the timing between the track sprocket and the track appears to be not quite right. Having said that, the track does need to be tensioned so that might help to alleviate some of those problems. Look forward to seeing more progress reports.

@dragon Sorry can't help with the fuel sender unit but you might want to try Brian Asbury in Canada for spotlight parts. He may still have some stock. Details attached. Brian Asbury 1.pdf Brian Asbury 2.pdf

Finally I had to drill a hole in the instrument panel to allow the accelerator connection rod to pass through. I got the hole location a bit off centre so I had to elongate the hole. The modified accelerator assembly works great. Cheers. JW

Here you can see the linkage rod cover plate fitted to the instrument panel

The next photo shows the cut-out made in the instrument panel and the modified bell crank support. The OEM bell crank is re-used in this mod. Disregard the accelerator return spring and bracket. I relocated these for ease of access.

The next photo shows the cut-out made in the ventilator lid.