GAZ69 restoration

[Lahti35]

I introduced myself in the new members section and thougth i'd share a few pictures of my GAZ 69 restoration from across the pond.

[portamurda1]

that is one nice beast!!!!!

[iannima]

That's a very nice Gaz69M with a nice 2.4 litre engine. 8) I am VERY envious of the NVA numberplates!

[Lahti35]

That's a very nice Gaz69M with a nice 2.4 litre engine. 8) I am VERY envious of the NVA numberplates!

Those plates took some time to find..... bought them from an ebay seller here in the US. Don't ask me how they got over here in the first place.

I've got some valve guides on the way from Bulgaria....3 weeks he says... hopefully they arrive sooner! That russian spares guy was great to bumb into while searching for parts one night.

It is a frame of restoration, but not so nice you can't use it. I like to drive my toys. Alot of the plated stuff that was corroded badly i just painted because i couldn't find replacements and i was low on cash to replate them. I'm very proud that i have done all the work myself except for balancing the clutch/flywheel.

How can you tell its the 2.4 litre engine? GAZ engiens have been a little confusing.... I do know that i have 88mm pistons and the carb is a K124.

[LOGGERS]

Smart vehicle. Dare you take it in the mud n water when finished?

[iannima]

How can you tell its the 2.4 litre engine? GAZ engiens have been a little confusing.... I do know that i have 88mm pistons and the carb is a K124.

They are indeed :lol: There are two ways of identifying a 2.4 litre cylinder block, designed for 88 mm. pistons: you can read the part number on the side of the distributor which should start with "450" and NOT with "20" or "21", or, on the side of the manifold you can look for two SMALL round protuberances just under the rocker covers. These are hard to see with the manifold fitted, but yours isn't, so I could see them 8) ...
You might also want to check the cylinder head that you had and the one that you have replaced. On the distributor side look towards the back of the engine, and see if you can see a number "450" or not. If you do, you have the cylinder head intended for the 2.4 l. engine with a 6.2-6.7 compression ratio developing up to 65 Bhp. If you do not... then you have put together the very elusive combination of the 2.4l engine with 7.2-7.4 compression ratio, developing up to 70 Bhp.
You might be inclined to think that all this is good news, and it undoubtedly is 8) but having myself the 55 Bhp engine, which was for me a big disappointment, I was interested to read on the German Gaz 69 forum that the estimated difference between the two main side valve engines, is THREE seconds in reaching the speed of 70/75 Kmh, which is -to a large extent- the only speed that can be reached consistently regardless of the engine. A higher speed of 80/85 Kmh can however be reached (with much pain to the eardrums :lol: ), again regardless of engine size. The theoretical maximum speed of 90-95 Kmh, I understand is BEST avoided, if you care for the vehicle, and wish to remain on this planet for your full allocated lifetime... :lol:

[Lahti35]

You might also want to check the cylinder head that you had and the one that you have replaced. On the distributor side look towards the back of the engine, and see if you can see a number "450" or not. If you do, you have the cylinder head intended for the 2.4 l. engine with a 6.2-6.7 compression ratio developing up to 65 Bhp. If you do not... then you have put together the very elusive combination of the 2.4l engine with 7.2-7.4 compression ratio, developing up to 70 Bhp.

Very intersting! Its always nice to know what all those numbers are.

.....And the old head had 450... the new one doesn't 8) I guess that means I have a hotrod GAZ if there is such a thing! Back when i bought the new head i just told the guy i wanted a head....now i feel extra special!

[Lahti35]

Smart vehicle. Dare you take it in the mud n water when finished?

Its got some mud under the fenders from earlier test drives if you look close in the first picture.... I play with my toys 8)

[iannima]

Very intersting! Its always nice to know what all those numbers are.
.....And the old head had 450... the new one doesn't 8) I guess that means I have a hotrod GAZ if there is such a thing! Back when i bought the new head i just told the guy i wanted a head....now i feel extra special!

Well that's exactly what I would have done, when rebuilding a 2.4 engine 8) as the extra Bhp can only be good and I am sure they will come in useful at some stage or other... But I would continue to recommend a sedate pace whilst driving... :roll: I presume you have seen the brakes :lol: Although they do work :roll: as I found out...
May I ask unrelated questions motivated by my insane passion for the NVA?
You said that your vehicle was East German and I can tell from the towing pintle and the fog lights. Which side indicators did it come with (egg shaped Russian ones or dome shaped DDR ones)? And which are you going to fit? I cannot see any holes in the wings for fitting either. Have you plated them over?
As far as I can tell you have finished the vehicle in the Soviet green RAL6014. I presume that's the original colour. Or was it the base layer you came to, after stripping the rest (possibly DDR green RAL6003) ? It is in any case correct with either colour as not always were these vehicles repainted in the DDR green.

[iannima]

ah... and sorry for reference purposes, here is what I believe a side comparison of the two colours (the DDR one on the Gaz 69 A ):

Notice on both the Russian egg shaped indicators.

[iannima]

And again for reference purposes, here is a nice example fully done to DDR specifications, i.e. DDR indicators, RAL6003, fog lights, offset towing pintle... (except the Soviet stickers that are inconsistent :roll: and the wing mirrors God only knows :roll: ... )

You will notice the tyres which are the same as yours: DDR produced Pneumant with a pattern that is SURPRISINGLY similar :roll: to one used by the Wehrmacht on many vehicles.

[KarlJ]

I suspect the plastic VW number plate holder is a later addition too!

Do you have other info on Soviet markings? I've not found anything suitable for the Zil yet.

[iannima]

Do you have other info on Soviet markings? I've not found anything suitable for the Zil yet.

I fear I don't know much about Soviet markings. Trapper might have a better idea. All I know is that many Soviet vehicles in the 1950s and 1960s appeared to have had NO national markings at all. Then the roundels with the star and CA appeared (= Soviet Army in cyrillic, but at one stage jokingly said to mean "Camping Afghanistan"... except that the joke is not so funny any more :roll: ). Guards regiments on the Red Square have often sported a lovely and BIG sticker version of the guards badge worn on their uniforms too. I would love to find these stickers. I have in the meantime acquired reproductions of the CA ones which are available in Germany for €10 or so a pair. That's the same place where one can obtain stickers for all the other DDR markings: tyre pressure; wading depth; location of the first aid box etc.
http://nva-militaerfahrzeuge.de/pageID_7210014.html

[Lahti35]

Very intersting! Its always nice to know what all those numbers are.
.....And the old head had 450... the new one doesn't 8) I guess that means I have a hotrod GAZ if there is such a thing! Back when i bought the new head i just told the guy i wanted a head....now i feel extra special!

Well that's exactly what I would have done, when rebuilding a 2.4 engine 8) as the extra Bhp can only be good and I am sure they will come in useful at some stage or other... But I would continue to recommend a sedate pace whilst driving... :roll: I presume you have seen the brakes :lol: Although they do work :roll: as I found out...
May I ask unrelated questions motivated by my insane passion for the NVA?
You said that your vehicle was East German and I can tell from the towing pintle and the fog lights. Which side indicators did it come with (egg shaped Russian ones or dome shaped DDR ones)? And which are you going to fit? I cannot see any holes in the wings for fitting either. Have you plated them over?
As far as I can tell you have finished the vehicle in the Soviet green RAL6014. I presume that's the original colour. Or was it the base layer you came to, after stripping the rest (possibly DDR green RAL6003) ? It is in any case correct with either colour as not always were these vehicles repainted in the DDR green.

It came with the dome type DDR indicators and it did have the ugly mirrors that mounted to the the tops of the front fenders. I welded in patches for all of these as i wanted to ditch the mirrors and fit the earlier egg shaped indicators. I bought the fog lights off ebay.de, it did not have them originaly. At some point i plan to get rid of the DDR headlights in favor of the smaller russian ones which i think look better. I'm probably going to swap out the NVA plates for soviet ones and recover the seat in black. I have removed the DDR data plates from under the hood when i put russian ones back in. I think i'm going for a Soviet impression for sure... one piece at a time. I'll get there eventualy but until then nobody around my town can tell me its not correct 'cause it the only one of two in my state.

I'm fabbing up a smg holder for the drivers side door as i have a dummy ppsh41 i built and think it would look cool! I wish i had the tool kit it came with but i'll be happy if i can get one of those blow torches for the engine :lol:

I was unclear where i was going with the restoration when i got it but i figured i would paint it the original color. It had been painted 4 times. 1st coat was the Soviet RAL 6014, 2nd was a mustard brown, 3rd and 4rth coats were two slightly different shades of DDR green. Under the dash data plates, and instrument cluster i found the color you see. I had no idea what color it was officialy so i had the local paint store match it for me.... LOL they called it "Soviet jeep dirty brown" because they'd never seen it either! I'm the 4rth owner since the vehicle was sold as surplus (i have the original German title going back to 1991) but other than one of those guys replacing the starter with a dash push button unit i don't think they messed with it.

[Eastblock]

Very nice job to date. It's nice to hear it gets used as well. I was a bit apprehensive about taking my off-road the first time but was pleasantly surprised at how well it coped. Lots of fun!

[iannima]

I'm probably going to swap out the NVA plates for soviet ones and recover the seat in black.

Well remember me when you will want to get rid of those! :lol:

I think i'm going for a Soviet impression for sure... one piece at a time. I'll get there eventualy but until then nobody around my town can tell me its not correct 'cause it the only one of two in my state.

I am a somewhat similar situation: my vehicle is East German and I want to keep that way, with German plates etc. but there are occasions when I want to play the Soviet, so I have bought the CA stickers and put them on magnetic backings, so that I can swap from the NVA, the Grenztruppen to the CA as I see fit. Of course it is not correct... because of the colour, lights etc. but I am nearly the only one to know the difference in this country :roll: ... except for the very few on this forum who bother to read my posts, but who are MOST unlikely to remember them :lol:

[KarlJ]

I've put a new sticker in the Shop:



It's ~7"/157mm diameter which maybe a little small for some people, maybe Ian can check it?

[iannima]

The ones I just got from Germany are 20 cm. diameter, and therefore a bit bigger. On another note, does anyone know of where one can get hold of reproductions of the GUARDS stickers? It should be something like this:

It is the sticker born by most vehicles in the victory parade.

[KarlJ]

I had a go at designing one of those - really need a higher resolution image though (I found that one too). What size were they?

If I make the CA sticker 20 cm / 8" the price would be £21.49 which may be a bit steep when you want two of them - what do you think? Could do both and let people choose I suppose.

Edit: There's small (5"), medium (7") and large (8") now, starting at £14.99 each.

[iannima]

The size of the guards one is a bit of anybody's guess. I know they fill the door of a Gaz 69 8) if it is of any help.
As for the marketability of these things, it is always a bit difficult to judge as we cannot be that many wanting to have them.