Sometimes things you purchase don’t work so well out of the box. This Chinese MG mount is one of those things. The metal work was a bit unfinished necessitating some out of the box fixes like finishing the unfinished sharp metal edges and deburring drilled holes etc. I expect that, but I also expect that the parts will be fabricated to work together. With this MG mount it’s not the case.
As you can see from the photo the weight of the MG pulls the mount way over, as seen here. Worse the method of fixing the MG cradle to the top of the shaft is an allen screw. When it is tight enough to keep the cradle mounted, the cradle cannot be turned.
Here’s the mounting that the support tube fits into, its internal diameter is 1 1/8th inch as is the MG cradle. The problem is the tube they’ve used as the MG support shaft is only 1 inch in diameter, which makes for a sloppy and unsafe mount.
Here you can see the MG cradle and the undersized MG support tube.
My solution is going to be to machine a new support tube out of the T-6061 aluminum rod stock that you see on the left of the photo here. I will turn it down to fit the MG mounting, attach the elevation rack to it and cut a small grove in the top to use the set screw in the MG cradle to secure it to the top.
Next to start turning the new shaft…
Tonight I finished the left front floor insert, so now the left side is done. I’ll have to wait until I relocate the battery into a smaller box instead of the huge aluminum container it’s currently in on the right rear floor.
Here’s the new floor…
Another little thing that was bothering me was the extra length left on the inside of the door handle rods. They stuck into the passenger compartment by a good inch. Add to the a snaggly old cotter pin they looked a bit off.
Small details can make a difference so I removed the handle shortened the rod and drilled a new lock hole. While I was at it I ground down the bumpy weld that was left on the outside. looks better now; three more to go…
I upgraded the R-71 a bit, added a MG mount and an MG-34…
Here are the parts as received from China, a bit rough and in need of cleaning up. Fit and finish isn’t the best; but with some machine work they will become passable…
Here’s the mount and MG on Gerda the R-71…
I may make a mount for the gas bottles for the trunk…
Worked some more on the Kübelwagen’s interior, I’ve almost finished cleaning up, derusting and painting the floors. There is only a tiny bit of surface rust so far, but want to keep that from becoming any problem.
Here’s the right passenger side, you can see the old wooden mat is made from pine and kind of flimsy. It also is bolted to the floor so anything that falls in gets trapped and takes a fair amount of work to expose to clean. I’m fabricating new mats out of oak for sturdiness and with two other changes. First to have a wider slat distance so it’s possible to vacuum between them and then to have them snug fitted so they don’t require bolts to hold them down, yet provide good solid footing.
You can see that a lot of stuff gets trapped here…
Here you can see it all cleaned up and ready to sand off the rust…
Here it is all finished; primed with SW 988 catalytic primer and finished off with Luftwaffe grey.
Here’s one finished floorboard for the left side rear position. It drops into place and holds snugly…
I started work on cleaning and fixing up all the little things that are out of whack in the interior. It’s sand, not that I have anything against the Afrika Korps more events I can go to are European themed so a Luftwaffe grey paintjob makes more sense. It also allows me to cover all my sanding and restoration work.
The sand coloured interior, also lots of accumulated dirt under the floorboards…
I removed the driver’s seat it was loose on it’s mountings so I’ll fix that when I put it back in. Floors cleaned and a little bit of test painting…
The rear seat out and cleaned up too…
P&G catalytic primer and Luftwaffe grey topcover…
The Kübelwagen is deafening when on the road, everything rattles and the sheet metal is like a large speaker cone. To make things complete the boot behind the rear seat is a great natural amplifier. It is totally impossible to hear even the motor when under way.
Dynamat is the cure for this it is a sound damping material, easliy cut and applied to surfaces.
Here’s the boot with Dynamat applied…
George the cat has supervised the building of two airplanes, sitting calmly or sleeping in the fuselage even while the air compressor is bellowing and the rivet gun is hammering away. So a little grinding and sanding isn’t going to ruffle him.
Here he sits on the package shelf while I work on the interior…
I think you better look at the wiring…
Oh a rat’s nest, I can handle that!
More small stuff on the Kübelwagen project…
Here’s the Kübelwagen, snug in the shop…
The Kubelwagen had a homemade MG mount/carrier on the crossbar behind the seat. Really got in the way on ingress/egress and presented a lot of ‘hurt me’ edges if the car was used on the highway, as you can see…
The homemade rifle mount was kinda ugly and also mounted too low and in the way.
So off they both came; I’ll smooth off the bar with the grinder… also notice the huge battery box in the floor. I’ll replace that with a more accurate wooden box that is also way smaller.
Later I’ll add one of these rifle clip and mounts from Blitzbikes.
I’ve pulled the Kübelwagen into the shop and started working fixing up some things.
First up was the shifter, it was really hard to find a gear and it seemed like the reverse lockout spring was kind of weak. The shifter also had a leather covered modern knob on it. So I disassembled the shifter linkage to refurbish it. First surprise was the guide plate and the spring were missing, no wonder it was hard to find a gear.
I purchased a new shifter and replaced all the components. I also need to remove the shift linkage and install a new bushing for the shaft.
Here’s the new shifter in place…
The other problem is the tremendous amount of noise that the flat sheet metal in the rear makes when riding on the road. It is impossible to even hear the motor while driving. I’ll cure that by using some carefully concealed Dynamat sound deadening material on the large flat pieces of sheet metal. While it’s exposed I’ll clean up and do any routine maintenance on the drive train.
The exposed hindquarters of the Kübelwagen…
Lots more little cleanup and configuration items to follow as I get her ready for the new re-enacting season. Next up will be sanding some of the rough welds and touching up the rusty spots.
I’ve got the Kübelwagen and have started to cleanup and familiarize myself with it. It’s unusually cold here in Central Texas (last night my water pipes from the well froze solid) so I put the top up and side screens in for my driving around…
Here a couple of snaps of the Kübelwagen in the driveway…
Along with the Kübelwagen the former owner made me a present of the MG-34 gas gun and many German pioneer reenacting toys. More on those later…
