10/52 USMC M38A1 restoration project

[army inc]

Hey Guys,
I'm a new member here and am a member at a few other MV websites. It seems that this site is mainly for bigger, heavier MV's. But since there was a place for the good old A1 I figured I'd join and post my stuff here too . I got this Jeep in January after coming home from Iraq as a welcome home gift to myself. Basically here's what I've done so far. I've removed:

front fenders, grill, hood, winshield, seats, fuel tank, transmission cover and a few floor pieces, and all of the bolts keeping the body in place and the wires going to the engine.

The body is ready to be pulled. I have a replacement frame (bubba got a hold of the jeep and threw in a small block V8 ) that is uncut. Bubba had to cut the front cross support frame to shove the V8 in . But the new frame came with an extra transmissions, transfer case, and clutch with 2 axles and wheels. A good rolling chassis basically. Everything is removed except for the springs at the moment. After that, it will be ready for sand blasting and swapping of parts to start building it back up! It's getting exciting for me as I've never worked on a car before. Luckily, I'm a helicopter mechanic for the army and with these manuals and mechanical skills that the army gave me, I should be ok. I'll have a few questions, but hey, who doesn't? Here are a few pictures of the jeep and things bubba has done. The pics aren't too recent, but they give you an idea of condition and the jeep itself.

 

[clinto]

Cool! Welcome to the site and thanks for your service.

Sadly, all the neat stuff (Jeeps, muscelcars, etc.) have some kind of "bubba magnets" imbedded deep within them. It's up to us to undo stuff like this.

Although SS has traditionally been very heavy on the CUCV/6x6 vehicles, we've had a lot of growth of Mule/Jeep owners in the last couple of years. I think we are beginning to "round out" in terms of a broad cross section of vehicles and owners.

 

[RodUSMC1962]

Welcome and congrats on your find. Welcome home!

 

[poppop]

Welcome aboard. As Clinto said there are a lot more big vehicle owners on SS but there is certainly room for more jeep owners. The more of those we have the more talk will happen on site. I myself have a 65 M151 and just aquired a 1952 M37.

 

[army inc]

Welcome aboard. As Clinto said there are a lot more big vehicle owners on SS but there is certainly room for more jeep owners. The more of those we have the more talk will happen on site. I myself have a 65 M151 and just aquired a 1952 M37.

A friend that is in my unit was my roommate and he owns a 151. He got me into restoring a jeep. I originally wanted a WLA to restore, but I have a family and he recommended a jeep because it is more family friendly. I have to agree with him. It's been really fun so far to work on. I'm about to get to the hard part of putting it all back together and rebuilding all of the important stuff. I'll post more pictures when I get a little farther. Thanks again and I hope to see more Jeeps and the like here as well

 

[army inc]

Ok so I was able to remove the body from the frame today. The jeep is starting to look a little "thin" and I like it. It's moving a lot faster than I would've imagined. I'm starting to get green fever with these things. Now if only I could get a WLA to go along with it!

 

[jeeplvr247]

You have to watch out for bubba, he will get you every time. It looks like you have a long restoration ahead of you but that is a great looking jeep.

 

[army inc]

You have to watch out for bubba, he will get you every time. It looks like you have a long restoration ahead of you but that is a great looking jeep.

Yeah I'm pretty much thinking this will take me a few years to restore it the way I want it to be. I'm not going for a museum quality resto or anything, but I still want it to look good. Hopefully the Army won't put any dents in my plans either, but I'm sure I'll go somewhere for a few months in the next few years or so. As for now, I'll just keep posting my progess here and two other websites that I'm a member of that focus on the military jeep.

 

[NDT]

So far the Jeep is lookng good. The 350 for sure needs to go. Is the Jeep a true USMC? I think they had front locking differentials. About the WLA, my buddy and I both decided to do one about 3 years ago. He decided to build up from parts, and I decided to find a Russian lend lease and bring it back. He's about $4K into it with not much to see and I cannot find one.

 

[zout]

Just hang in ther on your build of the jeep - it is going to be worth the work.

There are a lot of members here with the jeeps so do not feel out of place here - your very welcome and the pictures are a great addition when your posting.

Speaking from experience - check out the other members threads on the M38A1 forum.

 

[army inc]

So far the Jeep is lookng good. The 350 for sure needs to go. Is the Jeep a true USMC? I think they had front locking differentials. About the WLA, my buddy and I both decided to do one about 3 years ago. He decided to build up from parts, and I decided to find a Russian lend lease and bring it back. He's about $4K into it with not much to see and I cannot find one.

You can find a WLA. I've been looking overseas and you can find them in decent shape for around 8 grand. I know it's a huge chunk of change and that's why my wife said no initially. Plus she doesn't want me to have a motorcycle while my kids are so young (3 tomorrow and 4). It seems we left a bunch over in Europe and possibly Greece. I just figured I'd buy one from a legit business over there and have them ship it here and go from there. They can be found, but it is very time consuming. The come up occasionally on eBay as well.

As for a true USMC Jeep. I'm not sure about the locking differentials and how exactly would one be able to tell? I'm not car mechanically inclined and this project was to help me learn. I can work on a Black Hawk Helicopter all day long, but know nothing of cars. Other than that, the data plate, bumper, black tar on the bottom, and other mods make me believe that it is a USMC Jeep. After it's service in the Corp, the Army may have acquired it as it was at Ft. Drum NY and then sold to the general public. The soldier that bought it at Ft. Drum then put the V8 in it. A man from Virginia bought it and wanted to restore it, but never did and I bought it from him. That's the story I was told anyways. I can believe it to as I've come across lockwire (safety wire, we use it on hawks all the time) and 550 chord. So to me, the story is legit.

Just hang in ther on your build of the jeep - it is going to be worth the work.

There are a lot of members here with the jeeps so do not feel out of place here - your very welcome and the pictures are a great addition when your posting.

Speaking from experience - check out the other members threads on the M38A1 forum.

I keep telling myself that. I have this vision in my mind about what I want the jeep to look like in the end. Every time I take something off of it, it seems like I'm one step closer to putting her back together. Now that the body is off of the frame, to me, it's getting really exciting because I'm literally going to be putting her back together in the near future. I know it's a lot of work though, but I'll be very pleased once she fires up and starts running. Then I'll have that satisfaction that I put her back together and made her run again. Not some auto mechanic that I paid to do it, but me. And no one can take that away from me. It'll be the first HUGE project that I did from start to finish and have a great looking jeep when I'm done.

 

[clinto]

Discussion of the differences between USMC and standard USA A1's:

M38A1.COM - Model Differences between years and variants.

 

[army inc]

Here's a recent pic with the body removed. Pulled it this weekend. Now I just need to pull that engine and Tranny.

 

[clinto]

How'd you pull the tub?

I did mine with an engine hoist.

Zout will recognize the tub in my pics.

 

[army inc]

How'd you pull the tub?

I did mine with an engine hoist.

Zout will recognize the tub in my pics.

A LOT OF BRUTE STRENGTH! I work out! In all seriousness, 3 people and I pulled it off and propped it up. Now I jsut need to get an engine stand and get that engine out!