Some thoughts on the battery location

32sbct · Post by **32sbct** » Fri Oct 19, 2012 9:44 am

So, someone in the past removed the engine bay battery bracket from my M38. As you can see in the picture it looks like it was broken off as opposed to being cut off. The same goes for the voltage regulator bracket. I have no idea why this done. The military 24 volt system was removed years ago and it was civilianized to 6 volt. I did not view the missing bracket as a problem because my thought was to use the cowl battery box. However the cowl battery box is very narrow. So far, I can't find a battery that will fit the narrow confines of the box. I don't have any metal fabrication or welding skills to build a new bracket. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks.

RICKG · Post by **RICKG** » Fri Oct 19, 2012 9:56 am

Have you tried an agricultural supply outlet? Some of the 6V ag
batts were fairly narrow. They may still be available but not off
the shelf at napa..

Post by **wesk** » Fri Oct 19, 2012 4:47 pm

It appears you are doing a serious amount of restoration work. What voltage are you goin g to use on the finished jeep? I can't imagine staying with 6 volt after that much work on a jeep that was not originally 6 volt?

32sbct · Post by **32sbct** » Fri Oct 19, 2012 7:05 pm

wesk wrote:It appears you are doing a serious amount of restoration work. What voltage are you goin g to use on the finished jeep? I can't imagine staying with 6 volt after that much work on a jeep that was not originally 6 volt?

Wes, actually I am going to keep it six volt. Let me explain. This Jeep was my brothers back in the mid 70's right after high school. He took it apart in 1979 and never got around to putting it back together. It was always his dream to get it running again but he never seemed to have the time or money to get it done.

He passed away in 2006 at age 50. I got it from his wife a few years ago as his sons had no interest in it. Many of the original M38 items were missing. It had an MB motor and a GPW head. All of the 24 volt parts were gone. The original rusted out body was gone. He had purchased a really bad generic replacement body back in 1979 but never put it on the frame.

I spent a lot of time deciding what to do with it. Getting it back to original would have been very expensive based on the volume of M38 parts missing. Instead, I decided to rebuild it as close as I could to the way he had it back when we were kids. We had a lot of good times in that jeep. Hence the six volt system.

Post by **wesk** » Fri Oct 19, 2012 8:10 pm

12 is still a better choice as far as parts and cost are concerned. It's your choice but there are 12 volt batteries that fit that cowl battery box and there are no 6 volts that do. If your brother was driving that jeeps 30 + years ago as a 6 volter then he must have had the battery sitting on the frame rail.

That tray is usually removed when a larger engine is installed. Usually when a larger engine is installed the battery is installed on a shelf on the far right of the firewall since the aircleaner is usually replaced with a engine mounted low profile unit. Also the larger engine installs usually result in a chopping of the firewall to make them fit. This is probably why your brother went with a replacement tub. Most big engine installs end up 12 volt so I find it very odd that your brother elected to run a 6 volt system years ago.

The brackets in your photo look more like they were cut off with a torch.

skyjeep50 · Post by **skyjeep50** » Sat Oct 20, 2012 8:48 am

I had a CJ2A with a repop M38 tub as a project jeep. The frame battery shelf was severely corroded so I considered using just the cowl box for the one 12v battery and cutting off the shelf. Eventually I did get the frame shelf fixed. But I'm guessing that when your jeep was converted from 24v to 6v, it was decided to remove the frame shelf and regulator bracket to gain space in the engine compartment - those fixtures take up a lot of space on the right side of the engine. For my M38 project, I didn't have any problems finding a battery to fit, just took the measurements to the store and bought the battery with the largest capacity that would fit.

32sbct · Post by **32sbct** » Sat Oct 20, 2012 6:42 pm

All good points. 12 Volt it is!