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My M38A1 dash has a lot of extra holes in it. I've patched over the radio and speaker, but I'm going through the rest of them an inventorying which should be there and which shouldn't.

My TM 9 and ORD 9 manuals have several views of the dash, but not all holes are actually labelled, and I think in some cases at least some of the holes were airbrushed out of the illustrations.

I think I've identified all the holes that are originally actually present based on a NOS eBay listing for WO 680416. What's odd is that some of the extra holes that I have are obviously drilled out later, but some of them appear to have been punched rather than drilled. Of course some of the original holes are enlarged and mangled.

I think I know the purpose of all of the original holes with one exception - to the left of the ignition switch. I don't see this labelled in any of the following locations: TM 9 Fig 11, 12, 13, ORD 9 Fig 18-6.

I'm wondering if this is a hole that's present for an optional accessory that would be documented in that accessory's manual.

Can anyone help me with the purpose of this hole?

The hole to the left was for the cold weather fuel primer pump. The one to the right was for the fording cable.

4x4M38 wrote:The hole to the left was for the cold weather fuel primer pump. The one to the right was for the fording cable.

Great - thanks for the info. The right side one I figured out as it has the four holes for riveting the fording data plate.

I won't be driving mine in the winter (we salt heavily here) so I'll probably be leaving that blank.

On my M-38A1 I bought a new Fording plate and put it on with #6 Brass screws to fill and save the holes, not sure if I will put the cable in it, but it will explain why the hole is there...