Restauration bolts, screw and nuts.

pacho · Post by **pacho** » Sun Jun 17, 2018 5:28 pm

Hi fellows, I am restauring my m38a1, I would like restorer the bolts, screw and nuts, which is right finish treatment? niquel , cadmio I would like to do a factory restauration.

Thanks in advance

Post by **wesk** » Sun Jun 17, 2018 9:34 pm

The only way to get fastener finish factory correct is to carefully study all factory new photos you can find and review the description of each bolt in the parts manual.

Here's a good place to start looking for factory photos: http://www.willysmjeeps.com/v2/modules. ... _album.php

All parts manual are available free on our downloads page in PDF format: http://www.willysmjeeps.com/v2/modules. ... oad&cid=63

Here's a sample page. IE, the 4th item on the list is a bolt ORD# 7375174 is a plain steel bolt but the items 7, 8 & 9 are washers that were steel (S) and also Cadmium plated (CD) or Zinc plated (zn-pltd)

Jason86 · Post by **Jason86** » Wed Jun 20, 2018 10:17 pm

Wes I was just thinking about restoring the hardware on the jeep or sending it out to get yellow zinc plated for stuff that will possibly get remover or need repairs later like covers or drain plugs. Is it possible to paint nuts/bolts and screws OD and not ruin the finish assembling them, any tricks or just plain impossible? I find it easier to paint all the tub hardware like top bow brackets or hold down clamps while they are off but hate to have the screws and bolts showing. I've see some very nice jeeps pictures that don't have a single bolt showing but don't know how they painted all the nooks and crannys of all the small stuff.

Post by **wesk** » Thu Jun 21, 2018 12:04 am

Your original post above asked:

I would like restorer the bolts, screw and nuts, which is right finish treatment? niquel , cadmio I would like to do a factory restauration.

This indicates you want to make the bolts look like they did when the jeep left Willys. Well it left Willys with lots of unpainted bolts showing. No, Willys did not pay a guy to just hand paint all the hardware. Things bolted together before assembly on the production line were painted right over those bolts. Sub-assemblies fastened together on the production line usually never received any paint on their hardware.

Now you asked:

but hate to have the screws and bolts showing. I've see some very nice jeeps pictures that don't have a single bolt showing but don't know how they painted all the nooks and crannys of all the small stuff.

This states you do not want a factory correct resto.

With a ton of patience and long extra hours of labor you could minimize damage to the paint on the bolts. Is it worth it? You can't cover the bolt with cloth and then put a wrench on it. The wrench won't fit the covered (larger now) bolt.

Here's a shot of an M38 just getting the tub lowered into place on the chassis. Note how many bolts & screws that are not painted.

Here's an M38A1 in it's shipping crate: