Thanks for posting the info about your album, Texbillhs. You went through alot of work to get it back to a M38! As I was looking up info about the M38, I read about the reproductions and miscellaneous replacement parts and spent a lot of time comparing the body parts to M38 pictures.
The arctic top window through me off at first. It sits straighter and connects differently. I later read an article about winterized vehicles and the cab closure hard top or arctic top. I have seen a couple of pictures which have the hooked piece on each side above the cowl (5th picture), but most have a screw there instead. Does anyone know about the hook and if it is seen on a M38 window?
The firewall (late model picture) and body panels seem to match or have holes in the correct places. There's a rubber plug in the bottom picture which doesn't belong and doesn't seem to do anything though.
The next part I questioned was the dash and the heater hole. A little more reading and I figured it out. The part that keeps bothering me now is the battery box. It could be the wrong cowl, but I think it's been covered. There's a slight depression and a rusty outline. I guess we'll find out when we start working on it.
Now that you know where my focus has been, I didn't even notice the front spring shackle. I mentioned your comments, Kendall and Wes, to my husband and he laughed at the description and said he noticed it was "raised" already. As you get closer to the engine compartment, I'll probably notice less...
We've had some news the past 24 hours. My brother knows an older man who was in the Korean war and has always liked the M38. He has collected Jeeps in various states of repair for years. They started talking about the restoration project and the older gentleman said that he was clearing out the clutter from his property and he had a 1943 GPW for restoration and wanted someone who could appreciate it to have it. They talked some more and ended up coming to an agreement. We went today to pick it up. It's basically a frame, tub, and body, with no engine parts or wheels. The body and tub are in pretty good shape, straight with minimal surface rust. I don't know so much about GPW's/MB's, but will probably be learning soon. This one will be a longer term project in the future. Its in fairly good condition, but missing so much.
Joined: May 30, 2014 Posts: 3447 Location: Texas Hill Country
Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2015 9:24 am Post subject:
Hi Tammi,
Your jeep has a winter top windshield, but doesn't have the reinforcing
plates on the top of the rear corners. These were a later modification
to keep the body from tearing from the weight of the cab.
It had a cowl battery box and lid. Hard to see but it almost looks
like there is another layer of sheet under the piece covering where
the cowl box went. It was there. The "mung" is a different shade
right where the lid would be, indicating a different base or metal
from the surrounding area. I do not see a box from your dash
photo. Look under the dash and let us know what if anything is under
that cover piece.
If you are talking about that rubber plug on the top right of the
firewall that hole is where the batter cable from the hood battery
entered the cowl box to attach to the cowl battery.
Yep, i saw Bubba's lift kit on the rears!
It's kind of like an archaeological dig. One never knows what the
next layer might reveal.
The arctic top window would be of value to someone with the top minus the windshield. In fact just as much value as a regular windshield is to you right now.! You should advertise the arctic top windshield for trade for either a CJ3A or M38 windshield. It is very simple to convert the 3A windshield to a M38 windshield.
Your cowl is stock M38 and the battery box area has been filled in. Note the 4 holes on top of the cowl in front of the driver. They were for the arctic personnel (Gas) heater. Those two plumber pipe clamps have no military significance for your jeep at all. They were added after it left the military by one of it's civilian owners.
The heater hole in the dash was not there on early M38's and the dash data plates screwed directly to the dash. The factory added the hole to the dash at SN MC34151 Sept 1951. Then the dash data plates were riveted to a large plate which was then crewed to the dash covering that latge round hole. When the heater kits were installed the plates were removed from the large plate on the later M38's and on early M38's the plates were removed from the dash and that large hole was cut. With the heater kit installed the dash plates were reinstalled single file across the rear side of the windshield defrost duct. Look through your parts for this duct. Your dash plates may be on it.
Thanks for confirming what I thought about the cowl Brian. I don't remember seeing a box under the cowl and I'm pretty sure it's missing. I will be sure to look under it for another sheet of metal. We have it at a friend's garage while getting our garage ready for work. I do think my husband is planning to bring home the hood to decorate our livingroom so I can look for hood numbers and get it cleaned up, lol.
It's definitely like an archeological dig. I'm having fun learning about the history as each new thing comes up.
Thanks for clarifying about the windshield clamps, Wes. And a special thanks for the picture of the defroster duct. I haven't seen one before, and probably would have looked for the square-ish panel with data plates. This gives me something new to look for and solves some of the mystery as new and different parts appear.
When you get to the point of replacing some of these missing pieces i.e.; the battery box and cover ask on this site -somebody's been through it before and in the members photos there is a lot more than just photos, there are how to do diagrams. I had to fabricate that battery box. Also somewhere this winter I saw a M38 drop-in power plant for sale. Get TM - I don't know the number, it's too snowy to go out to the jeep to find out, but you will need it. Don't be surprised that you will spend 10 hours researching for an hour's hands on work _________________ 1952 M38
Joined: May 30, 2014 Posts: 3447 Location: Texas Hill Country
Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2015 6:56 pm Post subject:
Tami,
I would not go sanding away on that hood in the living room.
At least the first and or second coats of original paint are lead
based paint.
Do it outdoors, and wear a paint mask at minimum, just to be safe.
Use fine grit paper and go slow as you get close to the blue.
It will be very easy to sand away any numbers if you aren't careful.
I have a battery box cowl lip that was cut from a cowl. It includes
a lid. Both are sandblasted, have holes and cleaned up corrosion,
but if you are going to reinstall a cowl box this would make it a
little easier. Check out my photo pages.
Joined: Apr 17, 2005 Posts: 891 Location: New Hampshire
Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2015 7:16 am Post subject:
4x4M38 wrote:
Hi Tammi,
Your jeep has a winter top windshield, but doesn't have the reinforcing
plates on the top of the rear corners. These were a later modification
to keep the body from tearing from the weight of the cab.
My 2/52 USAF m38 also does not have the reinforcing plates and had a hard top on it. My was a factory blue m38.
I will definitely be doing all work outside. I'm also in charge of cleaning the house for the most part, lol. I didn't think about lead paint, but always wear mask and eye protection and usually gloves when sanding anything. Thanks for the reminder about lead paint, that's good information for new people.
Thanks for the pictures of the box. That is a huge help. I've looked through some of the pictures, but there's so many albums. It's like a treasure chest with unlimited resources.
I noticed that you don't have a windshield yet Bill. Were you planning on putting the hard top on or regular window? I found a technical manual for the hardtop and the reinforcing brackets looked pretty simple. That probably means more difficult to spot in a box of parts. They're on my list of things to look for.
Joined: May 30, 2014 Posts: 3447 Location: Texas Hill Country
Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2015 5:16 pm Post subject:
Hi Tami
If you mean the reinforcing plates for the rear corners they are
just a couple of pieces of sheet steel bent to go partially around
the corner and welded to the body panels.
Simple to do, but if yours had an arctic top and no reinforcements
I'd forget about them and do something more pressing.
After all, yours didn't have them when in service anyway!
Joined: May 30, 2014 Posts: 3447 Location: Texas Hill Country
Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2015 4:53 pm Post subject:
Hi Tami,
If you are going to replace that 6 banger with an original 4 cyl engine there are some modifications you'll need to make to the frame to return it to as close to original as possible.
All times are GMT - 6 Hours Goto page Previous1, 2
Page 2 of 2
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
Forum FAQ
Search
Usergroups
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
