Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2022 5:10 pm Post subject: The Orange Jeep
Hey everyone! My grandpa was an Army mechanic in WW2 and ended up starting a shop after the war. He was a big collector of old military vehicles and ended up with about 30. So, I grew up around a bunch of different vehicles (mostly M38s and M38A1s).
Fast forward to high school, one of the M38s that my grandfather modified was passed down to me and was my daily driver. When I went off to college, I stored it with my uncle with the intent of taking it back after college and rebuilding it.
Well, I finished college about 3 months ago, so now's the time to start the rebuild. It's already pretty heavily modified, and I have no intention of restoring it to factory. My main goal with the project is to get it into a state when I can safely drive it when I want to. (Mostly in the evenings or the weekends). I don't really plan on using it as my daily driver to and from work.
I currently don't have a garage, so I'm not going to be able to do a full frame off restoration.
It has a broken rear axle, so the first step is to fix that and get it running.
For those who are curious, here is a list of modifications that my grandpa made to it back in 1970:
- Buick V6 swap (I think a 231, but it could be a 225)
- 12 Volt conversion
- Roll bar
- Bigger wheels and tires
- Orange paint job (but OD gas tank)
- Mustang front seats (I was told, not sure if that's true)
- Road runner steering wheel and horn
- Air conditioning unit
- Radio and speaker (Radio doesn't currently work)
- Overdrive
Here are some things that I'm thinking about doing to it:
- Fix broken axle
- Rebuild engine
- Rebuild transmission
- Rebuild transfer case
- Regear diffs to let it drive a little faster (not planning on actually driving over 55 mph, I just don't like it when the engine is screaming at 4000 rpms at 50mph)
- Electrical work (there's something drawing power from the battery, so I have to disconnect it most days)
- Bikini top
- Body work and new paint (same color)
- 11" drum brake conversion
I just bought the M38 reference book, as well as a service manual. I saw that we can download it from the website, but I like having hard copies.
This is the first time I've ever done some serious work on cars, so I'm pretty excited. When I have technical questions come up, I'll post them in the other discussion board.
Let me know if you have any general advice on a first time rebuild or if I forgot to mention anything.
I asked for a photo album, so I'll post some pictures when that gets approved.
Joined: Nov 18, 2014 Posts: 128 Location: Connecticut
Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2022 4:22 pm Post subject:
Welcome to the forums! There's a lot of great knowledge here so make sure you familiarize yourself with the Search function. You already have a good plan for what you want to do, and what you don't want to do, so you're on the right track. Don't be afraid to make lists of parts you need and search regularly for them, M38 parts are not impossible to find so just always keep your eyes out for them.
Looking forward to seeing some pictures! _________________ Jake, Central CT
51 M38 s/n 35627
Here are some new ones. Its condition has deteriorated, but not as much as you might expect for such an old vehicle. It's still in pretty good shape. I had to move it today, and the engine fired right up.
Small update: tried to remove the broken rear axle today, but had no luck. I couldn't figure out how to remove the shaft nut because the axle with nut spun every time I tried to loosen it.
I posted a question about this in the technical skills forum. _________________ Cooper
1952 M38
Hey all, I've been getting back into Jeep work over the last couple months, so thought I'd post an update here.
The last couple years weren't too kind to the Jeep. I didn't have a garage, so it sat out in a parking lot with a tarp over it through an entire Georgia winter with a ton of rain. After the winter, when I tried to start it, a bunch of gas dumped out the top of the carb. I ended up moving up to Maryland, where I now have a garage, so thought I'd figure out what was wrong.
I pulled open the carb and found out that the float had a hole in it, so I'm thinking that the float got stuck and flooded. Currently in the process of rebuilding it, but it's my first time, so I've been running into some issues getting it all clean and running smoothly.
After getting the carb completely rebuilt, I'm thinking about redoing the fuel system before starting it up. The tank is in pretty rough shape and has a lot of particles sitting inside it. When I was in high school, the tank rusted through, so as a temporary fix, we fiberglassed over it. It's probably time to think about a permanent fix, so I'm debating on whether I should try to repair the tank or buy a new one. I looked into getting a reproduction one on Kaiser Willy, but I'm not sure what the correct tank is. The dimensions on the M38 tank on their site is 34x21, while mine is about 24x18. Does anyone know which one is the correct M38 tank? I looked at the green book, but couldn't find any dimensions on the tank.
Other than that, the rear axle is still broken. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to fix that myself, so I may need to take it to a local shop to have them fix it. That's a problem that I'll solve after I get it running again. _________________ Cooper
1952 M38
Joined: Oct 02, 2014 Posts: 1904 Location: South Carolina, Dorchester County
Posted: Wed Apr 17, 2024 8:32 am Post subject:
The dimensions of my M38 tank --- as it sits in the jeep --- are:
8 inches tall
18-3/4 inches front to rear
24-1/2 inches drivers side to passenger side
I assume you removed the differential to see if you could stop the axle shaft from turning and found the shaft snapped inside the axle housing. If you haven't checked inside the differential housing then do that first. There are other failures internally in the differential that will lead you to believe you have a broken axle shaft when your shaft is actually still in tact.
If your axle shaft has snapped leaving you no way to hold it still while trying to turn the axle nut it is probably easiest to simply cut the nut off. _________________ Wes K
45 MB, 51 M38, 54 M37, 66 M101A1, 60 CJ5, 76 DJ5D, 47Bantam T3-C & 5? M100
Joined: May 30, 2014 Posts: 3444 Location: Texas Hill Country
Posted: Wed Apr 17, 2024 2:22 pm Post subject:
You can boil that crap out of the tank and ospho it, and seal with gas tank sealer. Unless you have huge holes. But as you say, you have to get the fiberglass out.
Thanks for the tips! Back when we fiberglassed it, the hole was pretty small, but it was surrounded by a lot of rusted, rotted metal, so I think it's pretty bad. I've never done any metal repair work, so I think I may just take my chances with one of the reproduction tanks.
I did look inside the diff housing and didn't see anything that looked wrong. I assume that it would be pretty noticeable if something inside the diff failed, right?
I was actually able to get the axle nut off. I just had a lot of problems trying to pull the actual axle out. Would the broken part of the axle come out easily if it actually was broken? _________________ Cooper
1952 M38
Normally yes. Did you have someone hold one rear wheel still while you turned the other one and observe the behavior of the differential gears? _________________ Wes K
45 MB, 51 M38, 54 M37, 66 M101A1, 60 CJ5, 76 DJ5D, 47Bantam T3-C & 5? M100
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