willysmjeeps.com

On a 9/51 M38, was the under hood battery box coated with the tar spray like the battery box under the windshield?

Thanks
Keith

NONE that I ever ran across .. BUBBA did it !!

well, have 3 all coated....inside

Mine is coated inside as well.

Neither of mine are. The vehicle came from an
Indian Technical School in Oklahoma and was
pristine (ex works) with very low milage.

Jim in Darkest Arkansas

57 to 60 years is more than enough time for the box to be coated many times with many different coatings by many different agencies and folks. The only reliable source for then answer to this question is the factory drawing for the battery boxes where the interior finish will be specified in detail.

My M38 was pretty much original when I got it, it also had a black coating on the battery boxes.

I always caution folks when examining their 50 to 60 year old jeeps that Original is a very relative term. Generally speaking any part that has been installed on most any vehicle for over 20 years will appear original.

Both my underhood and cowl battery boxes were coated with a black mung that had to be removed off by heating with a torch.
The outsides are now painted and the insides are coated with a urethane bedliner material to try to hold back corrosion. In 50 years someone may curse me because that stuff is going to be hard to remove.
I am unsure what is "correct".
Tom

Botht the Battery boxes in my jeep are recycled from other jeeps, they both were coated with roofing tar and I left them that way... They seem to hold up better.

I am willing to bet somewhere along the line that the military coated them to save on maintenace...

Hope this helps...

Like Wes stated, be careful, what you think is original to an old jeep; this just may be an early "bubba" mod.
My M38 was originally blue, however I have been told different by different people, even though they were not standing in front of the jeep.
My battery box, (cowl) was blue inside with no coating of any kind. The under hood box was missing like most M38's. I have seen the tar covering on different M38 as I have restored a number of them, but I could not say that they came from the factory that way.
Some M38’s have had the entire battery box inside covered and some have had only the actual tray covered. I know that the tar type coating was very easy to get by anyone. I expect that “bubba” could very easily have done this mod or for that matter even a military person working on these jeeps for the military thinking that they were improving the situation.

What you find today is not necessarily what was released from the factory.
BTW, this is not a bad modification as it is easily reversed with no damage.

Cheers
Pat