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Bought two M37's today

91W350

Well-known member
4,414
57
48
Location
Salina, Kansas
Those all look sweet, I always thought I would buy an M37, but I have messed around and watched them go from cheap to high dollar! Nice find! Glen
 

gonorth

Member
98
0
6
Location
Rochester, MN
And here are pics of the '52. Lots of dust on this one. I think some of that is sand from sand blasting around it. Some of the inside is still primer so I don't think he was quite finished with this paint job. Maybe he ran out of spray cans of paint.
 

davidkroberts

Active member
1,453
23
38
Location
west tennessee
man im impressed, i wouldnt have wanted to sell them to you either, cant blame him.... glad you got them though. Some other guy would have cut them up or something for some silly project. Better old MV iron goes to a MV collector....
 

gonorth

Member
98
0
6
Location
Rochester, MN
Progress report on the camo truck:

pulled plugs and sprayed sta-bil oil in the cylinders


Progress Report on the Green truck:

pulled plugs and sprayed sta-bil oil in the cylinders
next day with no plugs in, sprayed more sta-bil in and cranked it a little without plugs in
changed the oil, old oil looked like it was changed yesterday, not 20+ years ago.
put new plugs in
changed the skunky gas
sucked the new gas thru the fuel line at the carb connection
(gosh I wish I had a vac pump)
put batteries in (not fastened in good, but hooked up)

And tonight it fired, almost instantly when I hit the starter
Unfortunately, it only runs when I spray carb cleaner in it.
It did actually move two feet.

Likely some sort of issue with the fuel pump
Tomorrow I will pull the 6 gallon boat gas tank with a squeeze bulb in the line out of my 53 jeep and hook that direct to the carb on the M37. Need to get a fitting to make that happen tho.

When draining the gas tank some skunky gas dribbled to the underside of the tank and that made the paint separate. Pat was good at making things look good but not always using the best of materials. This may not be a good paint. Might need to spray a seal coat over it before waxing, not sure yet.

When removing the front plug the wire stuck inside the plug and I ended up tearing the parts at the end of the wire apart. I just kind of stuffed it together but I am pretty sure this will not work long term. For now I will probably steel a wire from truck #2. I cut that plug apart and the spring on top of the connector was rusted solid to the inside of the plug.
 

gonorth

Member
98
0
6
Location
Rochester, MN
Well, I hooked a fuel tank direct to the carb. Squeeze pump on the line. As long as I sprayed some carb cleaner it would run. But as soon as I quit the carb cleaner it would clunk out. No fuel geting thru the carb. Might only be a stuck float but I ordered a carb kit.
 

dozer1

Member
833
13
18
Location
Sargeant, Minnesota
Sounds like a good carb job will make her fire right up. Then Sta-bil in the tank for storage will help to prevent it from varnishing up again. Some guys like to always drain all gas out of a carb for storage, but I just prefer to use the Sta-bil and keep the carb moist. Their is probably enough opinions on that subject for it to be a thread of its own.:-D
 

gonorth

Member
98
0
6
Location
Rochester, MN
Dozer, you got that right. It is getting harder and harder in Minnesota to find gas without any ethanol in it too. Only one station that I know of here and it only comes in a premium grade which is way more octane than any of the motors that I use it in. Up until about 8 years ago there was a station that actually carried leaded gas for antique vehicles but can't get that any more.

Thanks for your advice.
 

dozer1

Member
833
13
18
Location
Sargeant, Minnesota
I can't help but to weigh in on this ethanol topic. In the '80s, I was a motorcycle mechanic in Fl. and to my knowlege there was no ethanol or any other oxygenate added to the gas.
All I did day in and day out was carburetor rebuilds from bikes sitting too long. The moral of this story is that ethanol always gets the finger pointed at it just because it is there and people arent really figuring out what the problem is. ( poor gasoline quality is always overlooked) Big oil has unlimited resourses to smear biofuels so they do it. Why not nip the competition in the bud? Here is a site that omung other things, tells how Henry Ford designed the model T to run with ethanol. Pure ethanol non the less. I think the model T is an example of an antique car here in 2010. Ethanol fuel: Journey to Forever
This isnt to give you a tongue lashing gonorth, I respect your opinion. It is just to throw something out there once that isnt bio fuels negative for a change. I might also add that if you dumped a million gallons of ethanol in the gulf of mexico, it would kill some fish and make some fish drunk that get a more dilluted dose. iN a day or so it would be all over and you wouldnt know where it went. So both products have their ups and downs...Thanks
 
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Capt.Marion

Active member
1,811
15
38
Location
Atlanta, GA
Ethanol or whatever, if you let gas sit for a while, it ain't gonna work as well as it did before. Just grab a bottle of Sta-Bil and add that each time you fill up.

One way to test your fuel pump vs. clogged fuel line is to hook your spare tank right up to the intake side of your fuel pump==> just make sure the hose to your spare tank goes down to the BOTTOM of the tank so the fuel pump can pick up all of the fuel in it.
 

gonorth

Member
98
0
6
Location
Rochester, MN
Dozer, ya whatever. I still won't use ethanol mix in any boat, old motor vehicle, or small engine. It just spoils faster even with Stabil in it. I jhate that the state mandates it's use, let a free economy control what fuel people want to use.

Capt Marion, I got this thing running tonight. I was looking where I could unhook the line to the fuel pump and couldn't find any place I could easily unhook it The hose between the shut off valve and the pump has fitings that would not allow removal without removing the fuel pump. There is a plug in one hole of a 'T' fiting right at the fuel pump, not sure if I should apply air pressure there but I could maybe hook a waste hose there and blow from the tank end.

I noticed a plug at the bottom of the carb bowl and took it out. It was dry which got me thinking about why my portable tank/hose did not push fuel to there. There was no fuel primed thru the squeeze builb. Aparently the friend that was squeezing it for me couldn't tell the difference betweek pumping air and fuel thru it. after primeing it the engine fired right up and runs good until the prime from the bulb runs out. Gravity feed puting the tank on the hood wasn't enough. I wish the bulb was close to the tank end instead of the engine end because I run out of gas every hundred yards or so.

Anyway, back to the fuel pump and fuel line problem. Once I figure out which is the problem and fix it I will have a running truck. I had a hose hooked to the output of the fuiel pump while I drove the truck about 300 yards and it maybe pumped an ounce or two into a pail that I had it runing to.
 

gonorth

Member
98
0
6
Location
Rochester, MN
Capt Marion, you were right it could be done. There is a little hose between the shut off valve on the fuel supply line and the inlet to the fuel pump. I thought both fitings were fixed fitings and would end up twisting the hose to get it off but the end at the shut off valve was actually a flare fiting so it would spin freely.

All I had was a male pipe thread on the portable tank hose so I put a quarter inch pipe coupling between the new fuel line and the flare fiting. I had the portable tank up on the roof of the truck. I didn't expect that to leak so bad with the mis matched figings but it was bad even with just siphon pressure comeing down from the tank.

I think I did conclude that my fuel pump is bad tho. I had left the outlet pipe from the pump unhooked at the carb and gravity was pushing fuel thru the pump and out the pipe at the carb. I think if the pump was good that wouldn't have been possible. Also the manual pump lever moved freely, no resistance.

Is my logic correct?

I may still have a bad fuel supply line situation. Have not tested that yet. Won't be able to work on it again for a while now.
 
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Capt.Marion

Active member
1,811
15
38
Location
Atlanta, GA
Capt Marion, you were right it could be done. There is a little hose between the shut off valve on the fuel supply line and the inlet to the fuel pump. I thought both fitings were fixed fitings and would end up twisting the hose to get it off but the end at the shut off valve was actually a flare fiting so it would spin freely.

All I had was a male pipe thread on the portable tank hose so I put a quarter inch pipe coupling between the new fuel line and the flare fiting. I had the portable tank up on the roof of the truck. I didn't expect that to leak so bad with the mis matched figings but it was bad even with just siphon pressure comeing down from the tank.

I think I did conclude that my fuel pump is bad tho. I had left the outlet pipe from the pump unhooked at the carb and gravity was pushing fuel thru the pump and out the pipe at the carb. I think if the pump was good that wouldn't have been possible. Also the manual pump lever moved freely, no resistance.

Is my logic correct?

I may still have a bad fuel supply line situation. Have not tested that yet. Won't be able to work on it again for a while now.
That's how we've got ours hooked up. I couldn't remember exactly where the connections were so I wanted to double check, but you beat me to it.

Yes, it does sound like you've got a dead pump.
 

cyberspace_7

Member
223
0
16
Location
Albert Lea, Minnesota
GoNorth,

How are they comming? If you get over Albert Lea way, I would love to see them! I had a buddy inform me about the auction, but I was bust that weekend and had no money! Glad they all went to SS members! Congrats!
 
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