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Hi guys,
I am the new kid on the block and would like to introduce myself. (I see a couple of familiar names from the G503 forum). My name is Frans Lategan and I live in the world famous small town of Vryburg in the North West province of South Africa.
I am an engineer in the Department of agriculture, conservation, environment and tourism and I am responsible for cattle- and game ranch development and planning.
My hobbies are jeeps, jeeps, jeeps and hunting. I have a professional hunters and outfitters license, so if you are interested in hunting in Africa I can do it legally.
I have a couple of CJ2A jeeps and a week ago I bought a Nekaf M38A1 that I want to restore. So you will see a lot of me on the technical page, asking a lot of stupid questions.
Thanks guys,
Yes I do have an interesting job. It is basically land use planning and the planning and designing of conservation- and utilization structures to ensure sustainable utilization of the natural recourses.
The jeep looks good from the outside, but after stripping out all the fiberglass and bondo it looks different. I hope I did not saddle a horse that I can't ride!! The floors are real bad!! I took some pictures of the big bad patches.
Lots of jeeps look like that after 50+ years of corrosion. Mine looks about the same as yours actually. These are pretty easy to repair - after all, the military designed them for simplicity.
Buying replacement panels is a good way to go, however if you like a challenge you can do like I did and buy 18 gauge steel sheet and repair the body yourself. I have not yet run up against something I haven't been able to fix (although some of the things I fixed, I probably should have purchased a replacement and saved the agrevation).
I have thought about ordering replacement panels and I do have MD Juan's price list. The problem is time. It will take months before I have it. And of course our currency (Rands) is worth nothing. Buying things in US$ can set you back a bit. But after reading through your posts I have new hope. All (or most of) the bad patches are on straight panels.
Jeff, your site is excellent. After looking through it my hopes are high. My tub is not much worse than yours.
Just one question: I am not familiar with sheet metal thickness in gauge. We have 1mm and 1.6mm available (1.2mm is available on special order). The floors look like 1.2mm to me. Will it be a problem if I use 1.6mm instead of 1.2mm? What is the thickness of the different gauges of steel?
It seems that the 1.6mm sheet is between 15 and 16 gauge.
Do you guys think it will look bad if I use it on the floor?
(Sorry, this is getting technical now?)
Frans
It should be fine, maybe a bit heavy to work with some tools. Many of my air tools and the sheet metal brake say they are good to 16 gauge but they really work hard at that thickness.
If you are doing a full replacement of a panel the difference shouldn't matter. If you are joining it to an existing panel it still won't be bad. Try and put your seams someplace they won't be seen like under the tool box or gas tank.
Jeff
Last edited by Jeff_H on Fri Jul 08, 2005 8:23 am, edited 1 time in total.
Welcome to the group. I just finished a year of working on the tub for my M-38 CDN... I was not able to get 18ga steel easily, however the school where I was taking an adult class on welding had 16ga available. I replaced a spot on the drivers side and both floors without any problems... using 16ga steel sheet.
See tub photos at OKC M38 CDN Progress...
Take your time and do a little bit at a time... it pays off.
From the topside she looks pretty good. Picutres can be deceiving, I suppose. 
