• The Roadster Factory Recovery Fund - Friends, as you may have heard, The Roadster Factory, a respected British Car Parts business in PA, suffered a total loss in a fire on Christmas Day. Read about it, discuss or ask questions >> HERE. The Triumph Register of America is sponsoring a fund raiser to help TRF get back on their feet. If you can help, vist >> their GoFundMe page.
  • Hey there Guest!
    If you enjoy BCF and find our forum a useful resource, if you appreciate not having ads pop up all over the place and you want to ensure we can stay online - Please consider supporting with an "optional" low-cost annual subscription.
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this UGLY banner)
Tips
Tips

Jeepster Commando

Share this page

S

SaxMan

Darth Vader
Country flag
Offline
Not mine, but I'll probably be turning some wrenches on it. Jack Kosko recently closed his aircraft restoration operation in Fawn Grove, PA, so we've set up a new one on a farm in Emmittsburg, MD. Besides airplanes, we'll be tinkering with old cars, too, and this Jeepster is going to be project #1. It was given to the guy who is running the facility by one of the customers from his A&P business. It's a '66 with the Dauntless V-6. It's rough, but it looks like the bones are half decent.

DSC_0004 by David Cohen, on Flickr

You can see the right front fender of my Sprite in this pic:
DSC_0044 by David Cohen, on Flickr

DSC_0045 by David Cohen, on Flickr

Not sure when we're going to get started on it. The facility is still pretty new, and the aircraft restoration bays have priority. First project at this facility is a 1946 Commonwealth Skyranger...a relatively easy project and a good one to get used to working in a new facility with some new people, too.
 
D

Deleted member 8987

Guest
Guest
Offline
We've got two in the family...a 67 and a 68.
They are full of surprises.

Wimpy rear axle assemblies (put a 73 in), lousy brakes (upgrade fronts to match 73 rears), steering....lordhavemercy....takes a special piece on the right to extend the drag link and make the bump steer minimal...but I'd have to double check that.

Body mounts (not just the rubber...the actual metal on the body)...break, fracture, disintegrate.
Totally fixable, just be prepared.

They squeak. They rattle. They leak.
Just like they were British.

Early clutch is cable, and really, really bad..poorly designed. When new, you had just enough to disengage clutch....but when things start to wear..no. Watch where the cable mounts to the floorboard...they like to pull through at the most inopportune times.

Wiring....at this point, the vinyl insulation will be hard, brittle and cracking....BTDT. Just be careful. Instrument cluster...PC board is even MORE fragile. Factory has about as many fuses as an LBC..two, if I recall.

Add more as you go.

Be prepared to re-shim the windscreen as the tend to lean aft over time.

Door hinges...well, careful.
 
Mickey Richaud

Mickey Richaud

Moderator
Staff member
Gold
Country flag
Offline
Well... :rolleyes:

On a positive note, what a great project! Great opportunity to correct all the faults listed above - good on ya for resurrecting the beast! :thumbsup:
 
NutmegCT

NutmegCT

Great Pumpkin
Gold
Offline
We *might* have POH and maintenance manuals on the Skyranger (Rearwin or Commonwealth). Let me know if you want me to check. Also could check on engine manuals if you let me know what engine it has.

Tom
www.neam.org
 
D

Deleted member 8987

Guest
Guest
Offline
NutmegCT said:
We *might* have POH and maintenance manuals on the Skyranger (Rearwin or Commonwealth). Let me know if you want me to check. Also could check on engine manuals if you let me know what engine it has.

Tom
www.neam.org
Click to expand...
"It's a '66 with the Dauntless V-6"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buick_V6_engine
[h=3]Dauntless[/h] In 1965, Kaiser-Jeep began using the Buick 225 in Jeep CJs. It was known as the Dauntless 225 and used a much heavier flywheel than the Buick version to damp vibrations resulting from the engine's firing pattern. Buick sold the tooling for this engine to Kaiser in 1967, as the demand for the engine was waning steadily in an era of V8s and muscle cars. When American Motors (AMC) bought Jeep, they replaced the V6 with AMC Straight-6 engines.
Applications:

 
OP
S

SaxMan

Darth Vader
Country flag
Offline
Tom was talking about the Skyranger. Tom: PM Sent
 
OP
S

SaxMan

Darth Vader
Country flag
Offline
TOC said:
BTW, the PM came to me, not Tom.
Click to expand...

Yes, I realized that after I hit "Send". Tom did get one from me, too. Sorry for the mixup!
 
Popeye

Popeye

Darth Vader
Bronze
Country flag
Offline
BAT is not the place for pre-war cars; vintage European seems to be the preference for its bidders.
 
AngliaGT

AngliaGT

Great Pumpkin
Country flag
Offline
......and I can't imagine being able to back up a $500,000
bid on that Toyota 2000GT.
 
G

George_H

Jedi Warrior
Country flag
Offline
Great memory's in my fathers commando. I went with him to pick it up at the dealer in 71. It was raining out and it leaked so bad inside that you couldn't believe it. First year AMC, built with whatever parts they could find. Great V6, everything else, no so much. And yes, I still want it back.
 
Popeye

Popeye

Darth Vader
Bronze
Country flag
Offline
OP
S

SaxMan

Darth Vader
Country flag
Offline
Back on topic. We decided to part with the Jeepster. At this point, we're just not set up to work on cars, and the revenue from the sale will help continue to get the new restoration hangar up and running. The guy who owns that barn (and the Jeepster for that matter) put the ad up on Craigslist and he has been getting blown up almost immediately. Amazing how in demand these things are.

We still plan on setting up a bay to work on cars, but not yet. It's possible the first car we work on will be my Sprite when it comes time to either rebuild or swap the motor.
 
OP
S

SaxMan

Darth Vader
Country flag
Offline
Actually, it's plural: Skyrangers -- we have one complete Skyranger, and a second Skyranger that is missing its wings, and unfortunately, it's paperwork.

Skyranger #1 is serial 1609, one of the first 12 hand built Skyrangers by Commonwealth in late 1945. We actually have a pic of it sitting on the ramp factory fresh.

Skyranger #2 is a mystery. The only identifying mark is the number "27" on one of the interior door panels. We think this is serial 1627, but need to do some legwork to track the ownership trial. The only other possibility was serial 1727, but that one was written off in 1950. This one has too many coats of paint to be from a plane that was written off at 4 years old.
 
SD Bugeye

SD Bugeye

Jedi Warrior
Country flag
Offline
Had one in high school
Buick odd fire v6 fun to have for hunting in the fall
sold in the spring as the thought of a one more North Dakota winter with the fridge was frightening
It would get you were you wanted to go just frozen.
bought a used J10 WITH A STRIGHT 6 PICKUP much better
drove that to Wasilla AK.
 
Similar threads
Thread starter Title Forum Replies Date
LBCs_since_1988 1971 Norton Commando Awoken After 30+ Years! British Motorbikes 4
cbrvfr Ordered a new Norton Commando 961 SE British Motorbikes 15
Steve Norton Commando British Motorbikes 4
LBCs_since_1988 Norton Commando British Motorbikes 19
C New to BCF/BBF -- Commando Pics British Motorbikes 15

Similar threads

Top