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Hello everyone, I have what an old jeep which I thought was a 52 cj3a when I bought it but doing some research I believe it is a m38. Did they make a m38 in 52? The reason I am asking is that I am looking to buy a replacement carb and want to find out what one I need. Any suggestions anyone. Thanks in advance for your help! Matt

Matt,
An M38 Carter YS637S carb is very expensive. You want to be sure what jeep you have.

Here's a couple of quick checks:


CJ3A dash and windshield. Note gages are individually mounted directly into the dash and the hand brake handle is in the middle of the dash. Note the vent panel in the windhsield is hinged and can be opened.


M38 dash & windshield. Note instruments are mounted in a rectangular panel that is easily removed, the hand brake is on the far left, the windshield vent panel is bolted shut. The M38 aslo has a glove box at the far right of the dash.


CJ3A pedal support is riveted to the frame.


M38 pedal support is bolted to frame.


Right Side CJ3A note water drain slot, lack of indents for shovel and axe and Willys on side of hood..


Right side M38. Note tool indents, no drain slots and no Willys on hood plus cutout in hood.


CJ3A Engine installation.



M38 engine installation.

Okay thank you for all of the great info. Now here is my next dilemma...My jeep is definitely a m38. But I have the exact same carb as the red cj3a you pictured for me. The rest of the motor/body looks exactly like the m38 with the same oil bath air filter and oil fill is all the same. The jeep has always ran with the carb I have on it now but its plenty wore out and have already rebuilt it once. Do you have any ideas why I would have the same carb as the cj3a on my m38? thanks for your help and hope to hear back.
Matt

its very very common to find a wo carb bolted in place of the military ys carb. My guess is that parts for the civilian carb was much easier to find back then . The m38 ys carb is extremely hard to find and very expensive as everyone requires a core before they will sell you a rebuilt one. If your not going to restore the m38 to military spec i would just rebuild the wo and leave it, your jeep will run just as well with either of them.

Okay so the civilian carb will work? What is a good replacement carb? I see one made by Solex, doesnt look the same but says it replaces it. Is this worth purchasing? This is the site i found it... http://www.xtremeterrain.com/carburetor ... 3cj3a.aspx Thanks for the help.
Matt

Again to offer advice on this topic we must know the use the jeep will see. If offroad the Solex is not the best choice. For cold climates the Solex is not the best choice. I have not seen any appreciable or measurable increase in performance of a Solex over any of the three Carter carbs ( when using a quality Carter rebuilt ) you can use. The civilian Carter choices are WO and YF. Be careful when selecting a YF. There are only a few models that fit the smaller intake on the L134. The majority of the YF's were for the F134.

Do a little research of your own on the topic by using the search function of this web site and the G503 web site using "solex. carter, wo, ys. yf" in the search for line. Also visit Derek's CJ3B tech tips page for more data on both model carbs.