M38 rebuild completed
Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2018 2:58 pm
Below are some pictures of my newly completed M38 rebuild. The jeep was owned by my late brother who bought in back in the late 70's. It was a lot of fun but in pretty rough shape. In 1980 it finally broke down for good. He took off the rusted out body and had the motor rebuilt but then life got in the way and he never got back to it. He passed away in 2006 and I got it in late 2009. I started working on it on and off in 2011 and working on it more seriously the last three years.
Before my brother owned it someone converted it to key start, 6 volt, and put in a May of 42 Willys MB motor that has all GPW internals and head. I ruled out a full restoration to original M38 specs because so much was missing, the motor, head, body tub, brackets, vent system, wiring harness, starter, generator, distributor, etc. So my plan was to pretty much rebuild it using what it came with. The MB motor was an early version with the down draft tube so I tried to keep all that together.
I bought an MD Juan reproduction body, hood, fenders, grill, tail gate, and windshield. I wound up using the original fenders, grill, windshield frame, and some of the floor panels because they fit so much better than the reproduction parts. Eighty percent of all the difficulties I had were related to getting things to fit on the body. Without the new tub I wouldn't have been able to finish this project but I certainly had a large number of issues. I don't know how to weld which would have been very helpful getting things to fit.
So far it's running pretty well. The last time I drove a jeep it was an Army M151A2 in the late 80's. I'm getting reacquainted with three speeds, manual steering & brakes and a 60 HP engine.
I want to thank all of the forum members who have helped me over the last seven or so years while I worked through many problems. I always received great advice here. I want to thank Wes in particular who was able to pinpoint solutions that really had me and others stumped. I wanted to do all the work myself and only farmed out some transmission work and a little bit of machine shop work. Thanks again to all. I'm sure I'll have new issues going forward but heres some pictures for now. Marty
Before my brother owned it someone converted it to key start, 6 volt, and put in a May of 42 Willys MB motor that has all GPW internals and head. I ruled out a full restoration to original M38 specs because so much was missing, the motor, head, body tub, brackets, vent system, wiring harness, starter, generator, distributor, etc. So my plan was to pretty much rebuild it using what it came with. The MB motor was an early version with the down draft tube so I tried to keep all that together.
I bought an MD Juan reproduction body, hood, fenders, grill, tail gate, and windshield. I wound up using the original fenders, grill, windshield frame, and some of the floor panels because they fit so much better than the reproduction parts. Eighty percent of all the difficulties I had were related to getting things to fit on the body. Without the new tub I wouldn't have been able to finish this project but I certainly had a large number of issues. I don't know how to weld which would have been very helpful getting things to fit.
So far it's running pretty well. The last time I drove a jeep it was an Army M151A2 in the late 80's. I'm getting reacquainted with three speeds, manual steering & brakes and a 60 HP engine.
I want to thank all of the forum members who have helped me over the last seven or so years while I worked through many problems. I always received great advice here. I want to thank Wes in particular who was able to pinpoint solutions that really had me and others stumped. I wanted to do all the work myself and only farmed out some transmission work and a little bit of machine shop work. Thanks again to all. I'm sure I'll have new issues going forward but heres some pictures for now. Marty