New member from South Africa

Frans · Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2005 12:36 am Post subject: New member from South Africa

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.

This is how the Nekaf looks:

Frans

Ryan_Miller · Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2005 9:37 pm Post subject:

Frans,

Looks like you have a good solid jeep.

Also sounds like you have a very interesting job.

Thanks for the pictures.
Cool

_________________
Ryan Miller
MVPA # 22010

scar · Member Joined: Apr 13, 2005 Posts: 37

looks like you have a good start, congrads. yea, sounds like the best job to me.
_________________
keep on jeepin

Frans · Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2005 6:11 am Post subject:

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.

This came of the tub!!

Frans

Bob_C · Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2005 8:56 am Post subject:

Hi Frans!

Welcome!

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.
_________________
Bob Collins
1954 M38A1 MD79056

Ryan_Miller · Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2005 11:48 am Post subject:

There are several small companies that make replacement panels.

Jeep panels plus out of Maine

And a couple of others I can't seem to think of right at the moment.

Can you guys help me out here! Laughing

_________________
Ryan Miller
MVPA # 22010

GIJOE290 · Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2005 7:08 pm Post subject:

Frans, you're right. Shocked

From the topside she looks pretty good. Picutres can be deceiving, I suppose.

BTW, You work fast! Very Happy

_________________
David M.
08/1953 M38A1
Serial #56535
"The Green Goat"

Restoration Begins Summer 2005! ...Er Maybe 2006? 2010? 2015? 202...?

Jeff_H · Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2005 7:43 pm Post subject:

Welcome Frans,

I am in the process of re-building as well and have documented it at:

http://www.m38jeepproject.com/

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).

cheers

Jeff

Frans · Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2005 2:18 am Post subject:

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?

Thanks
Frans

Frans · Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2005 3:24 am Post subject:

I found the (STEEL) material thickness tabel:

Gauge (inches) (mm)
3 .2391 6.073
4 .2242 5.695
5 .2092 5.314
6 .1943 4.935
7 .1793 4.554
8 .1644 4.176
9 .1495 3.797
10 .1345 3.416
11 .1196 3.030
12 .1046 2.657
13 .0897 2.278
14 .0747 1.897
15 .0673 1.709
16 .0598 1.519
17 .0538 1.367
18 .0478 1.214
19 .0418 1.062
20 .0359 0.912
21 .0329 0.836
22 .0299 0.759
23 .0269 0.683
24 .0239 0.607
25 .0209 0.531

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

Jeff_H · Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2005 6:23 am Post subject:

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

OKCM38CDN · Guest

Frans,

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.

Hope This helps...


Create an account	Home · · Forums · · Articles · · Downloads · · Photo Gallery


PHP-Nuke Copyright © 2005 by Francisco Burzi. This is free software, and you may redistribute it under the GPL. PHP-Nuke comes with absolutely no warranty, for details, see the license.