Got my dad's jeep back....1955 M38A1

My dad bought a jeep when I was a kid....the late 60's...from a local fire dept. He tore it apart and fixed it up and it was a member of our family for many years. As a teenager with a drivers license and immortality, me and my friends had MANY adventures in the Jeep. Dad decided to sell it about 20 years ago and I didn't have anywhere to put it so I let it get away. I've been trying to get it back for the last 10 years and I finally brought it back home this past weekend. The fellow that bought it had grand plans. But he just took it apart and let it sit in a shed for the past 20 years.....with gas in the tank. Yep...tank is toast and I have 5 gallons of varnish if anybody needs any.
Many things to do....everything is rusty...he took clutch cable lose and dropped clutch fork in bellhousing so engine won't turn.
The list is long.....but it will run again!!!
Looking forward to the forum and tapping the wisdom when needed.....and it will be needed!!
Thanks in advance for the help!!!

Here are a few shots of my newest project......

At least it's not sitting outside with trees coming up through it. Enjoy round two, it looks good.

Awesome, best of luck and please share the ride with us.

Great story. Best of luck with the restoration.

More than enough there for a restoration. Sorry about the tank, yick. Hope to see your restoration thread start up shortly !
Bulldogger

very cool story!!! Kudos on the new (old?) rig!!! She looks to be in GREAT shape

A worthy restoration project. A great family story.

A couple of weekends, a few part/beer runs and she should be rolling. Looks like a solid ride. Good luck!!

If that tank was still holding the gas you might be able to clean it and reuse it. Mine was the same way and it cleaned up really nice. I used Eastwood motorcycle tank cleaning and lining kit. It came out really clean and then the liner has been in mine for years now. So don't trash that tank! Alan

Going to try and clean/repair the tank. I've heard bad things about the replacement tanks that are available and would like to fix the original if possible.
Thanks,
Keith

spillmk1 said:

Going to try and clean/repair the tank. I've heard bad things about the replacement tanks that are available and would like to fix the original if possible. Thanks, Keith

Click to expand...

Having only seen your photos, I believe that tank could be cleaned up nicely. It's a lot better if you can keep that original tank.

That's a solid looking Jeep! I would definitely go the extra mile and try to save that tank. It won't take much to get it back on the road.

Nice for restoration. And deserving re-home quest by you, As mentioned that tank will resurrect. Just look at it this way, the 'goo' preserved it for you. I also reckon that (surely) you had 'that' lump in the throat?..I definitely would've had..

My avatar is a shot my son took at the moment I walked in and saw it for the first time in about 20 years.
Yeah....it was a great moment.

Getting ready to start further disassembly. Going to pull engine/transmission and replace gaskets/seals and do a thorough check out of both. Engine was rebuilt and running good before
being parked many years ago. Not locked up. But can't turn it much. Guy who had it before me took the cable loose from the clutch fork and the fork appears to have fallen into the bottom of the bellhousing and is keeping the engine from turning but a few degrees each direction.

I dropped the gas tank and radiator off at shop to be cleaned and checked out.

I've pulled the engine/trans out of many cars. Reading the TM it looks pretty straightforward....aside from the skint knuckles and mashed fingers that seem to always occur.

Any tips before I dive in on Saturday?

Also hoping to pick up the parts that dad sold with the jeep. Lots of stuff for a 24v M38A1.....a couple of starters, a generator, a box of old YS carbs, voltage regulator, spare transfer case, etc....good stuff!!!

Thanks,
Keith

Just bag and tag all the little stuff you take off. It helps to take photos of everything before you take it apart too.

Great that you got it back, that does not happen often! It never had the alcohol fuel in it so I think the tank has a good chance of being saved. The alcohol fuel will destroy components with gusto. We can buy no alcohol added fuel at the Farm Bureau CoOp here and at marinas. We buy it even though it is more expensive to use in our older vehicles like yours that are not driven every day, in our farm tractors and combines and in our power equipment like chain saws, etc. Much less damage and resulting repair time to fuel systems which we feel justifies the higher cost of the no alcohol added fuel. The bio-diesel is not much better.
My son and I just acquired a couple of M38A1 jeeps we will be making one out of. The one has extremely low miles having been gotten from the government in a batch for forest service. They picked it to set aside as a parts donor, stored inside. It still has all of the military markings on it. The other one has quite a few miles, painted a kind of brown color, but with a rebuilt motor, not so good body condition, new clutch, and other things. We will make the military marked one the good one out of the two. I do not have them home yet, so no pictures to share yet.

Below are some shots from today's fun.
Got dad's parts stash back home and pulled the engine/transmission.

A few questions about the parts....
Can somebody give me info on the heater?
In the shot with the plugs, I recognize the M38A1 plug, but what are the other 2 types?
What is the 6 cylinder waterproof distributor for?


Thanks,
Keith