M38A1 Restoration Project

wilfreeman · Post by **wilfreeman** » Sun Mar 25, 2012 4:50 am

Now thats a find!

whydahdvr · Post by **whydahdvr** » Sun Mar 25, 2012 8:10 am

Fantastic! Getting 2 carbs and 3 fuel pumps out of that is worth the trip alone. I've been thinking about having a back-up carb and most places want a core in order to restore a carb.
Great find!

army_inc · Post by **army_inc** » Sun Mar 25, 2012 8:29 am

whydahdvr wrote:Fantastic! Getting 2 carbs and 3 fuel pumps out of that is worth the trip alone. I've been thinking about having a back-up carb and most places want a core in order to restore a carb.
Great find!

Well, I will say that one of the carbs isn't complete. Although I should be able to make a solid good working carb out of the two. I'm not sure about the fuel pumps. They look complete. Since this is my first resto though, I'm no sure what they "should" look like. They all basically look like the new one in the box though so I'm assuming they are complete.

53a1 · Post by **53a1** » Sun Mar 25, 2012 6:22 pm

Buy a parts stash, sell some and keep some. Love it when I find deals like that.

If you want to sell one of the BO fender lights let me know. I'm also looking for a BO rear light.

BullRun · Post by **BullRun** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 1:34 am

There is a guy down your way in Hampton. Saw him driving a freshly painted M38A1 in white outside NASA/Langley AFB. Maybe you have seen him. First M38A1 I ever saw just being driven down the road for fun. Never forgot that.

army_inc · Post by **army_inc** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 5:53 am

BullRun wrote:There is a guy down your way in Hampton. Saw him driving a freshly painted M38A1 in white outside NASA/Langley AFB. Maybe you have seen him. First M38A1 I ever saw just being driven down the road for fun. Never forgot that.

I've seen a nice 38a1 on craigslist for a while. He wants $8,500 for it. It looks nice. Maybe it was his or the new buyers? I remember I saw something like that in Hampton by the old Collesium Mall whenI was around 9. The guy was driving an old WWII Jeep and I thought it was the coolest thing.

army_inc · Post by **army_inc** » Fri Mar 30, 2012 4:51 pm

Engine block may have a possible crack... Arg. Or it's a casting flaw. Hard to tell. I had a few friends look at it and they recommended a machine shop check it out.... Oh well.

army_inc · Post by **army_inc** » Sat May 12, 2012 8:44 pm

Ok. After a lot of hard work and getting through all the USMC Tar on the bottome, the tub came off! It's getting exciting as my back up frame is pretty much stripped and ready to be my primary frame since Bubba chopped mine up. Pics will soon follow. Getting ready for sand blasting. It's going a lot better than expected at this point

army_inc · Post by **army_inc** » Thu Nov 29, 2012 1:27 pm

Ok. So I got the '54 frame. I've literally cleaned everything off of the frame and am in the process of tearing off the old brackets (rear spring shackle and Shock). It's primed and now I'm just waiting on parts to finish the rear axle. Things are looking up now that I'm rebuilding her.

army_inc · Post by **army_inc** » Fri Aug 16, 2013 9:08 am

Ok so it's been a while since I've commented on my thread. With my three kids, wife, change of job from the Army to the Air Force, I really haven't had a lot of time to work on the jeep. I made the decision to send it off to get it restored... I like working on it, just don't have the time to do it. It is being restored by Jim Lurba (apparently a Former MVPA Judge). I told him I was looking for a Motor Pool restoration, not a Museum Quality resto so we will see what happens. I'll post pictures as soon as I can.

army_inc · Post by **army_inc** » Thu Mar 27, 2014 6:04 am

I finally got some pictures back from Jim. I'm waiting on the body to arrive and it'll start looking like a jeep soon enough! Here's a link to what's been done.
http://www.willysmjeeps.com/v2/modules. ... _album.php

RICKG · Post by **RICKG** » Thu Mar 27, 2014 8:27 am

Coming back together nicely Dave!!

army_inc · Post by **army_inc** » Mon Jan 26, 2015 10:23 am

Got some more pictures of the jeep. I had to get rid of the old body because it was just too far gone and Bubba really did a number to it... I hate Bubba. Now after all of that, my wallet hates me and my wife isn't too happy with me either.... at least my jeep is starting to look like a jeep again.
http://www.willysmjeeps.com/v2/modules. ... _album.php

Post by **wesk** » Mon Jan 26, 2015 10:43 am

The body looks good. The tub and front clip are a lot easier to paint before installation. Is there a reason you mounted them first?

army_inc · Post by **army_inc** » Mon Jan 26, 2015 10:54 am

The underside and inside engine area of the jeep is already painted. So all that needs painting now is the exterior that you can see. Does that answer your question Wesk? I'm assuming I interpreted it correctly.

M38A1 Restoration Project

Update on Resto.