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My M38 restore

ICEMAN7273

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Noma Ca
Its A Long Post of Progress of the last 21 months of my Military jeep Build. I have done everything myself except the sand blasting. Hope you enjoy the build progress. I copied and pasted this from another thread i started since day 1. ^party0031

These Pictures are from the Last 3 weeks of frame up restore on the M38...Though I would play catch up and post some stuff


Picking up Jeep in Coquille OR.(Redding was 108 degrees coming home)




Day i Dropped off at parents house


The Exhaust, Gas Tank and Wiring all got Stripped out (Found the first minor Rust Spots)




Rear Panel Repair

Found Original Spec. Plate on Tub. Had to strip 4 coats of paint to see what it said.. Jeep number is 53,984 of 61,423 Ever Built. Delivered to the war dept. Feb 52


Removed Tub from frame, Made up drawings of new sheet metal Body Frame Mounts, Found Original OD Green paint on frame and body.





Made sheet metal tabs for broken and rusted fender and fender mounts, Made new sections of of floor panel braces out of 16 gauge sheet metal. Cut out Passenger side step.





made this channel to slip over part of the original frame. Before i weld in in place i need the new step and fix a patch of rust


My Dad is doing the Passenger Fender Work, A lot of cracked supports and missing sheet metal. He welded up holes throughout the years and is rebuilding the fender. (Leaving Factory holes)


This was the fender 1 week later


Changing the oakie Bubba Mod steering that came in the jeep. Someone fab a channel to support the steering and radiator. The Radiator was in the wrong location by 4". cut out all the old welds and channel. Fixed the top of the frame. The hole in the frame is where the original bell crank support was installed, why it was removed is beyond me?




After plasma out the crappy channel and welds




I cut the support plates out with the plasma, And jigged up to the frame. I welded in the plates. Ground down the plates to look flush with the frame. I Designed the new steering/Radiator support since the bell crank support tube was missing when I bought it. Everything should be close to factory locations.



I finished building and welding the new Bell crank and radiator support bracket today, Came out good and should put everything close to stock location.


Here is the new support welded in place



Pulled the engine and trans


Another horrible weld job, makes me sick. These mounts was use for the Buick V6 Conversion (Going back to 4 cyl.)


after cutting the oakie mounts off i found the whole frame was cracked from the bad welds, re welded and smoothed out


All prepped and ready for new rear bumper to be fitted and rivet on (Old bumper was missing both ends)



Cut the bumper off, was more of a rock crawler style (ordered NOS stock m38 bumper)


Found a rust spot on cowl support, put in a patch piece before the step and channel can be fitted





Tested the OD Semi Gloss Green on front and rear Drivelines (Love the Color) It's a perfect match to the original green that the jeep got from willys


Started to tear into the trans and transfer, going for full overhaul, seals and new OD Green paint


Some more pictures of the slow progress of the jeep.... Found and Picking up the original L-head engine Sunday for the jeep

The frame was cutoff for the home build bumper, I had to make a new front frame to fit the new Repo oem Bumper.




Before/After


Cut the rust out of the driver side floor, Replaced with new sheet metal


Made a Patch piece for the fuel pickup hole


Here is a few before and after pictures of the major improvements so far







Some more updates on the jeep.....

Back Bumper was broken off when i got jeep, got a new bumper/pingle plate and rear support along with rivets.





Picked up a better cowl and dash. Going to cut out mine and replace with this one




Did Complete Transfer Case rebuild, everything but main shaft and gears were replaced. T90 Trans is next





More Updates on the jeep build.....................

Rebuild the Bellcrank Steering Arm


Rebuild drag link



The Emergency brake arm bushing had a lot of play in it. Bored the arm to .500 and pressed in a new oil light bushing .500 o.d x .375 i.d. The fuel handle had a split in the arm, straightened arm and tig welded the gap.




The Cowl dash got sand blasted and primed under the cowl, since the cowl is still not welded to the tub. The Battery box lid came today (Month Long Search)




Plugging all the none stock holes in the firewall and rear bed tubs. over 60 holes just in the 3 spots.





The transmission pan had a big cutout in it to clear the old Buick v6 and t18 trans, Made a sheet metal piece and rolled in to fit into the cutout area. Made a new rear tail light holder for the driver side, the original was missing.






Painted the Frame,Bumper,Under the cowl and cross member Original Semi Gloss OD Green. Turned out very nice. Also primer the springs.





Tore the Ross Steering Box apart, pressed out the bushings and degrease. Bead blast all the parts to new, Going to rebuild everything on and in the gear box.



I started bolting parts onto the frame. Master Cylinder, Bell Crank, Engine Mounts. I rebuilt the Pedal assembly. I order a new pedal shaft, springs and washers. I pressed 2 new 1" x 1 1/8" x 1 oil light bushings into the pedal shaft support bracket, then using a adjustable reamer, i over sized the oil lights to 1.003. The pedal has no slop at all. The brake rod was egg shaped and had alot of movement on the pedal pin. I over sized the hole and pressed in a oil light bushing reamed to 7/16 i.d. This took all the play out of the brake pedal plunger shaft







Finished clutch/brake assembly




More updates on the jeep......................

I wanted a little more ride height than stock, so i used the Rancho 2" springs. I made all the original m38 hangers work with the newer spring to give it the same look. Lots of mill and lathe work






Ross Steering box got completely rebuilt with new steering column shaft





Got the T90 transmission stripped and painted. Parts were gone through. Needs a new 1st gear, reverse gear, lower cluster, rebuild kit with gaskets, seals, bearings and 2nd gear.






Had to change out the cj front plate to the M38 plate, took 3 months to find the plate, A guy had one in Vermont.




Rebuilt the L-134 Engine, Upgraded to a GM 12 volt One wire Alt. The stock system was a 24 volt originally. Fabbed up some custom bracket to mount the Alt.






Body came back from sand blast today, primer tomorrow. The guy who blasted said this is the best looking non rust tub he has seen yet... Ended up filling 112 holes that were not supposed to be there with the mig.







I can finally start to see light at the end of the tunnel with this restore...................................................... :sha: :sha: :sha:
 
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ICEMAN7273

New member
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Location
Noma Ca
A small update... Body work is getting there, located the rest of my missing parts, frame is about 90% done. Finishing up front end. Rebuilt trans with all new parts from novak. Starting to get down the the nickle and dime stuff. Lots of plumbing and wiring ahead. should be on road by September... another update soon........



















Here is some shots of the body when i got the jeep to compare above

 

ICEMAN7273

New member
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0
0
Location
Noma Ca
Small update on the jeep, still plugging away at it along with other projects....

Vaccum lines and fuel lines. I bent the lines close to factory specs.



All new steering completed


Rebuilt and found NOS seals and plugs for Headlight cans. Original sealed bulbs were 24 volt, found 12 volt bulb's





Blackout Light/Headlight switch


The Bulb ring seals were still in the wax sealed box stamped 1953



Fuel tank resealed, rebuilt sensor and fuel pickup


military 7.00x16 ndcc tires


Test fitting all the body pieces before paint, Painting jeep in a few weeks



Body is finally straight
 

ICEMAN7273

New member
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0
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Location
Noma Ca
Got it all shot early this morning. Turned out really nice. Here is some pictures.... I will share more when get the body back together






 

ICEMAN7273

New member
12
0
0
Location
Noma Ca
Update.

Few updates on the jeep build... Dana 25 spiders were wiped out which took out the ring gear. Backlash was lose also. Ended up putting all new king pin bearings, inner bearings and seals. Shim kit, 5:38 gear set and spider gears. Shimming was a pain in ass since the shims are under the pinion race and carrier bearings. Got the lash within .006. Installed new NOS brake lines. I will get the knuckles done this weekend....







Rebuilt the Trico Vaccum wipers and install


Restored all the blackout gamma goat front and rear lights. Rewiring with original Douglas connectors and adding turn signals and brake lights but will look totally stock.



Rebuilt and buffed out the fire extinguisher and mount.


Get the rest of the knuckles and steering hooked up this weekend...

Had to hand staple the radiator felt to the grill.
 

ICEMAN7273

New member
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0
0
Location
Noma Ca
Few things. Found a spare set of old sears hub off a cj. I used the internals to rebuild my broken Selectro Hubs. Everything was bead blasted and painted. Fuel lines and emergency brake cable parts came in. I also installed the slave plug and bracket on the fender.




 

nodavies

New member
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Location
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Absolutely stunning ICEMAN - you've set the bar for our restore! We're slowing breaking our 1951 down and are looking closely at the carburetor and trying to get as close to original. Do you have the original Carter YS637S and if so what do you have sitting on top of it? Normally there's a right-angle and then the hose, but you have another piece there?

Just wondering - thanks!
 

ICEMAN7273

New member
12
0
0
Location
Noma Ca
Absolutely stunning ICEMAN - you've set the bar for our restore! We're slowing breaking our 1951 down and are looking closely at the carburetor and trying to get as close to original. Do you have the original Carter YS637S and if so what do you have sitting on top of it? Normally there's a right-angle and then the hose, but you have another piece there?

Just wondering - thanks!
I am running a Carb off a 1946 CJ2A. I Used a MB Horn and modified crossover tube.

I never updated this thread. But all that are interested here is the link to my jeep blog. From day 1 to the end. [url]http://52m38.blogspot.com/ [/URL]
 
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