Well, the parts are coming in. We will have plenty to do Sunday.



We have parts now for new electric wipers, u joints for the stock driveline so we can get rid of the B/W overdrive and a HEATER

Much more than we can do in one day. Top canvas hasn't arrived yet either.

 

Paul and I worked on HUM WEE Jr. again today. Had a good day and took lots of pics, only to find out I forgot to put the memory chip in the camera. So to make a long story short, HUM WEE went on a diet again today and lost another 90# We stripped out the B/W overdrive and all the iron holding it in. We found some wiring hooked up to it and this dash switch that went to nothing. I guess it might have worked, we don't know now. What we do know however is that now we have reverse in two wheel drive, which is a real plus in town. We also know that thing was assembled by the PO with lots of the other stuff removed. We had to take the hot drill to it and cut it up a little to get it out without removing the rear suspension. Then in all the melodrama, I set my arm down on a white hot piece of metal I cut off. Really woke me up.



Anyway, it was not serious. It felt a lot better once i picked off the melted coat material. Here is the stuff we stripped out today.



The pics we lost was the ones that showed how far it hung down.



This is the best pic we have of it now taken from the back. You can see it hung down quite a ways and was the lowest point on the whole vehicle.

Here is the driveline in place now. Lots of room under there now.

 

This is by far one of the coolest builds I've ever seen!
That suspension is pure genius! Simple, effective, and bulletproof. Too bad the M151 didnt get it!

Being a subie guy, i'm wondering if you've considered any of the EZ series 6 cyls? They wont net you over 500hp, but they ARE torque monsters in N/A trim. They were designed to fit in EJ engine comartments, and bolt to EJ trannies. They will be cheaper, and you dont have to worry about the stupid immobilizer in the early models. Another plus is, if you can find them, you can get a true dual range 4wd subie trans. 4-low with minimal mods(and weight gain).

EZ motors are in L.L. bean outbacks, legacy SUS and tribecas.

No matter which way you go, I'm sure Hum Wee will be a beast!

 

I have had dual range tcases in Subies. They weren't very low though. The thing is we have a dual build going on here. His will retain the stock running gear, which is good stuff and performs very well. Mine will receive new guts. On mine, I have pretty much settled on the late EJ engines. Lots of stuff available for them. True, they are pricey in a wrecking yard, but lets face it, this is pure toy for me. Technology has finally caught up to my pipe dreams. I want to keep it as light as possible. That is why we have been stripping all the heavy iron off Paul's. We want to come in at less than 2000# total for both of them. That is one of the secrets of the Mighty Mite. Because it is so light, a positrac is almost as good as a locker in most situations. Mine will run a Samurai tcase which I can put 4:1 gears in for a good crawl ratio.

 

The down side to late model subie stuff is that you almost have to run a stand alone ecu. The immobilizer will hamstring you every time. Google numchux conversions to get any and all info on swapping anything subie. He's good people and reasonable on a full custom harness for your EJ.

 

Thanks

 

Thanks for the pics. That's from when people thought for five mins about how stuff works. I'm fascinated by early engineering,and looks like you got a good example there. I'll be watching! God speed!

 

Thanks. You might be interested to know that the original design was made during WWII, but production was not initiated until over ten years later. The problem was there was no engine for it. The original was supposed to have a Porsche boxer engine but there was a rule that no military stuff could be manufactured outside the country so it was shelved until AMC had their air cooled V4, which was junk anyway and heavy for what it was.

 

I guess Dr. Porsche wouldn't have been too willing to do business during ww2! I really think designers/engineers cared more back then. That would still be a great design today. Was it ever used elsewhere?

 

No, pretty much unique. But the M151 had some similarities, such as the same design of tcase and the idea of independent suspension. However with that vehicle, it was designed to keep production costs down. The overall design of the suspension of the MUTT was later scaled up for the HUMVEE.

 

looks like a pee wee hum vee

 

That is why it is HUM WEE instead of HUM VEE

 

So that's a trailing arm setup? Only ask because they look like old vw arms. Is the front the same?

 

Yes, but unlike the VW that used a torsion bar and had a radial support from the axle in the rear, this uses a true trailing arm with a quarter elliptic spring. There is no radial support.