Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2018 10:29 am Post subject: 1953 M38A1 USMC project Jeep
Hey all, I finally procured a M38A1 project for my dad and I to work on. I get to pick it up this week and will know a lot more about it soon. So far, all I know is
1953 USMC (maybe) M38A1
ran 2 years ago when parked
deer camp jeep for a long while
Lots of rot in the floor pan
Drum brakes are cracked
Body is welded to the rear bumper
Engine Will manually turn over
Previous owner didn’t winterize and allowed water to get into the motor, that’s when he decided to sell it.
This is my first venture into buying and fixing a jeep, military or otherwise, however my dad's MOS in the army was as a jeep mechanic so I'm hoping to learn quite a bit from this foray.
Any advice for a first timer will be much appreciated!
Joined: Mar 21, 2017 Posts: 71 Location: Peoria, AZ
Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2018 11:05 am Post subject:
Same year and model as mine - lots of help on this site but be sure to view pics and manuals first or they will get after you.......why are you not sure if it a USMC or not? -your dash plates clearly show ordinance as Marines.
Get a parts catalog from Kaiser Willys asap - this served as a good manual for me with a lot of areas of the willys. Lots of places for parts other than KW - though they are also good - one of the few that still publishes a complete catalog. ebay has a lot of parts but be careful of cheap phillipine and chinese repros.
Original wheels hard to find unless you are willing to buy cheap Chinese repros - start looking asap on craigslist, etc. Get rid of rollbar asap - list on craigslist as people are always looking for these.
best of luck in your build - it is a great model - I personally like them better than the MB's as far as looks but not as valuable. Mine is running but working on lights and body right now. _________________ Lee Long
Peoria, AZ
1953 M38A1 USMC
Any advice for a first timer will be much appreciated!
1 - Get your hands on every manual that applies to the M38A1 or it's systems. Start right here on our downloads page. Don't overlook very useful civilian manuals that often have more info than the military manual or often have something missing from the military manual. A sample of these are: SM-1046 (civvy Willys Shop Manual 55 & up), Moses Ludels Jeep Rest Guide, Any of the many 1955 thru 1971 civvy parts manuals. A lot of these are on line and you often find free PDF downloads. Keep your eyes open at flea markets, garage sales and car/jeep shows.
2 - Open a build log. yes, an old fashion spiral ring divided note tablet or an actual loose leaf binder with plenty of paper and dividers. Dividers should be organized roughly like this:
a - The New Jeep: describe the acquisition, initial inspection and performance data. Here is where you write down how it came and what you determined it needs. Write down compression checks, manifold vacuum readings, fuel and oil pressures, and all gage readings shut down and operating. Condition of tires, brakes, suspension, exhaust, radiator, electrical system. Write in this section all you are able to learn of the jeep's past history. This is a good place to list all known past owners and any contact info you can find for them.
b - The Restoration: This section is where you track your progress by describing each part of the restoration as you perform it.
c - The parts I need: This is where you list all needed parts as their need arises. Don't trust this to memory!
d - Special Tools: Here you list the tools that you discover are needed to get the job done.
e - The Finish Application: Here you describe in great detail exactly how you refinished every part of the jeep and what you used. Again, do not trust this to memory!
3 - Get a photo album here. It is much easier to upload here and post with them if they are already here.
__________________________________________________
Same year and model as mine - lots of help on this site but be sure to view pics and manuals first or they will get after you.......why are you not sure if it a USMC or not? -your dash plates clearly show ordinance as Marines.
Only because I'm not sure yet if that is original to the vehicle. I'm almost 100% on it being USMC, though.
Thanks for all the suggestions, I will do my best to take them all to heart.
Well your serial MD62020 is right in amongst several other USMC jeeps procured by the Army specifically for the Marines. The responsible agency plate makes that very clear. Your fram is the transitional A1 frame with the small round hole up front but still has the grill hinge bolt holes on top and the grill is a rigid (not hinged) grill which is correct for that serial.
You do have your work cut out for you.
1 - Windshield defroster box repairs.
2 - Wiring, gauges and switches replacement.
3 - Vacuum wiper system install.
4 - Serious front floor repairs.
5 - Dumping the add on ball hitch leaves a very stock USMC rear crossmember setup. Only needs the special lift shackles peculiar to that kit.
6 - Correct tail lamp housings.
7 - Missing spare & gas can mountings.
8 - Missing canvas top bow brackets.
9 - Replace civvy gas tank. Tank well in floor is probably bad shape. And will need a lot of plumbing that's not there right now.
10 - Missing side view mirror.
11 - Missing canvas door bead channels.
12 - Wrong knob on low-high shifter.
13 - Wrong boot on tranny shifter. The military T-90 has an integral boot in the stalk cover.
14 - Needs correct choke & throttle push/pull controls.
15 - Needs correct steering wheel and horn button/rod setup.
16 - Need correct front parking lamps.
17 - Need Marine corp type front lifting shackles seen in photo above.
18 - When I see those funky steering stabilizers I know the front steering is crap. I immediately toss those converted shock absorber steering dampers and locate all the steering and knuckle slop and fix it.
I know you didn't ask for a list but I felt that with your original request I should give you an idea how to pick out what needs fixing and list it in your build log. Post some photos of the chassis and underhood areas.
Don't toss the white spokes. Those 15 x 10" wheels support very nice size tires for mud/snow/hwy driving. I always ran those for street/hunting work on my early M38A1 in the 80's they ride like a Cadilac compared to the GI 16" x 4.5 wheels and 7:00x16 NDT's. I kept a set of 5 of those for military shows and enjoyed wonderfull offroad and highway performance with my Wranglers. Since I hunted a lot in the Black Hills back then I had a dual gas can & spare mount on the back. Unless you are working towards a trailer queen I would think hard on driveability/enjoyability which translate into a few of the little things that make big differences. IE 10" or 11" drum brake upgrades, dual master cylinder, Shoulder harnesses. Even a nice vinyl civvy soft top! Or if northern assignment a nice civvy full cab or half cab for the winter. Just about anything stock or aftermarket that fits the CJ5 from 54 thru 71 will fit your M38A1.
This is the A1 I owned in the 80's while stationed in South Dakota.
Remember this: IT'S YOUR RIDE, IT'S YOUR DIME, IT'S YOUR TIME! _________________ Wes K
45 MB, 51 M38, 54 M37, 66 M101A1, 60 CJ5, 76 DJ5D, 47Bantam T3-C & 5? M100
Thanks Wes! That is a great list of things for us to start on. I'll be picking the jeep up this week, so i will post more photos as we start cleaning it up and taking it apart.
For now, i want to get it running and road worthy. My main goal is to spend some time with my dad and learn how to mechanic a bit. Eventually we will get it period correct, but i know we are in for the long haul on that.
I am trying to get my dad on this forum, i think he would be able to contribute quite a bit since these jeeps were his bread and butter in the service.
Again, thanks a ton for all the info. I have been pouring over all the source materials listed here for a few weeks now.
Joined: Mar 21, 2017 Posts: 71 Location: Peoria, AZ
Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2018 2:31 pm Post subject:
Wes has some good advice as he usually does -
My experience has taught me to separate the build into two main sections:
1 - get it running
2 - make it look correct for your goal
Completing the first phase will give you the motivation to finishing it since you will want to start driving it around. There is something about backing it out of the garage that is cool for an old vehicle and gives you limited bragging rights.
Also, you need to decide early on how perfect a build you want - are you going to trailer the queen around and have it judged or just enjoy a jeep that is very unique? This will affect how you decide to repair many items including whether to keep the 24v system. My Willys may not be perfect but in the end, it is mine! For instance, I chose to use bucket seats covered with canvas material for comfort (my wife!) and to save a lot of money over replacing all of the frames and seats. It also let me slide the seats back for my 6' 2" frame. You are lucky to have original in this area.
welcome aboard - there are great guys on this board that know every bolt on these beasts..... _________________ Lee Long
Peoria, AZ
1953 M38A1 USMC
Well, we got the 52' M38A1 back to the house yesterday, and started looking it over and removing parts to see exactly what we are working with. TONs of bubba fixes, driver side floor pan is going to have to go, passenger side might be salvageable. The toolbox is in OK shape, not rusted through same with glove box and bed. Removed the roll bar, seats, and gas tank. one seat frame is good to go, the driver side seat is all kinds of broken. My dad wants to get a new tub and toss the old one, im not sure im there with him just yet.
40K is way to small a file size to get any detail from your new photos. Try to stay with at least 200K photo file sizes. _________________ Wes K
45 MB, 51 M38, 54 M37, 66 M101A1, 60 CJ5, 76 DJ5D, 47Bantam T3-C & 5? M100
Sorry about that, I didn't realize I had transferred them so small. They should be OK now. Full size photos are in the Google Drive link at the top of the post as well.
I know you recommend 200k files, and that the rules are asking for 150k, but is it OK to go larger than that? What I uploaded are now 5x3 @ 72 dpi and are still a bit over the 200k mark.
When you start posting photos larger than 250K they won't fit the normal screen size of most browsers and will force the viewer to keep scrolling left to right to read each line of words. A real Pita to viewing posts quickly. Also when they get that large they take up too much room on the server (Band width) and finally for those folks out in the boonies trying to surf the site it lengthens the time to download each page through their provider.
This photo did not grow much:
Was 39.4 K now it is 109K _________________ Wes K
45 MB, 51 M38, 54 M37, 66 M101A1, 60 CJ5, 76 DJ5D, 47Bantam T3-C & 5? M100
Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2018 10:20 am Post subject: Electrical System - 24 vs 12
So the electrical system was converted to 12 V sometime before I got a hold of the Jeep. What are y'alls thoughts on leaving it 12 V or restoring it back to a 24 V system?
If we leave it as is, ill need a new wiring harness anyways. If we restore the 24v system, I will either need to find a cowl with a battery box, or put one in the current cowl as someone removed it and welded over the opening.
Joined: Mar 21, 2017 Posts: 71 Location: Peoria, AZ
Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2018 10:56 am Post subject:
Different views are coming but I don't like a new tub -seems you are not restoring history anymore but building a kit car - might as well put an S10 chassis underneath it too.....harsh, I know...I like the character of an old metal box that is dinged up like this old man..... _________________ Lee Long
Peoria, AZ
1953 M38A1 USMC
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