willysmjeeps.com

Hi Guys,

I'm trying to figure out what the original radiator cap for the A1 looked like. The ORD gives the Willys number and the Eaton number, but pics I find on the web show caps with no ears, 2 ears and 4 ears. Some have chains, some do not. The cap on my radiator has no chain and no ears, which I think is correct......but am not sure. I'm guessing the Eaton is a service replacement part.....but maybe it did come on the jeep from the factory. Don't know. I looked in Wes' albums and in the A1 Cooling pics and it looks like the illustration in the manual has 2 ears? Hard to tell from the pic.

So does anyone know if the original cap had ears?....and how many?.....and did it have a chain?

thanks,
bob

I am reasonably certain the original had two ears & no chain. This is fairly easy to see in the manuals. Cap, radiator filler, press type 7375030, 2930-737-5030, WO# 801728, EAT# 1E2249

TM 9-804A Fig 34, 45, & 71

TM 9-8014 Fig 9, 36, 37, & 60 Especially Fig 9!

TM 9-8015-1 Fig 1 & 2

TM 9-8015-2 Fig 16, 177

TM 9-2320-208-20P Fig 24

TM 9-2320-208-34P Fig 23

ORD 9 SNL G-758 Fig 05-1

Thanks Wes. Yeah, Fig 9 was the best. I just wasn't sure because that manual was only good until Jan 55 and my jeep was made after that. When they made the manuals they were made before the production started rolling off the line, so sometimes the pics are of earlier parts, in this case probably from the M38. But I found a guy who had a couple of the Eaton NOS caps sitting around........and they're on the way.

regards,
bob

Actually the pubs I cited were all published after production began. Even the TM 9-804A (the earliest M38A1 operator's manual) was published a month after production started on the A1. By and large those cited illustrations are clearly NOT an M38.

The only available source today for a document that will clearly and accurately describe the exact part that Willys or Kaiser installed at the factory is the BOM or factory engineering blueprints. We have access to some of them from the only two folks I am aware of who currently possess them. They obtained them at the Dayton OH factory auction years ago.

Wow.........that's pretty cool. Do those folks ever plan to put those prints online.......or will they stay in a private collection? It would be a shame to lose those to history.

thanks,
bob

They have been very helpful to us over the years. I am sure eventually when time and circumstance permit they will get them all out in the system one way or another.

Most of the information we have are on old, dirty/moldy microfiche.
It takes a lot of time to clean and look through them to find what is on them - and money.

Time and money... both useful items always in short supply.

Ryan,

Thanks for the info........I hear ya!

In regards to my cap not being correct.........I got the NOS caps I ordered the other day, so I tore open the box and went to install one. Mystery now solved as to why my cap was incorrect in the first place.......my radiator isn't original. As with just about everything else on this jeep that I look at closely......it's not correct......it's a new replacement radiator. Unless, of course, Willys sourced their radiators from Singapore!

This became obviously clear when I went to put the NOS cap on and realized it was HUGE compared to the cap that was on there. So I started looking at the radiator more closely and found the company logo on the radiator......and it said "Singapore". Knowing full well that Singapore is obviously where the world's finest radiators are made........I'm not upset. But I will be on the lookout for an original radiator at the meets. So my junky little radiator cap with no ears has to stay for now. One more mystery solved.........I can only imagine what I'll find wrong next.



regards,
bob