Barn find CUCV recovery

[dmetalmiki]

A spell binding story, That was an amazing amount of work completed in so little time. Pity about the difficulty posting pictures.

 

[rhinob]

Great story. Appreciate you sharing it. I got lucky with my M1009 find - the CL advert stated a located of Wilmington DE - about a 3 hour drive for me. When I called the number, he was literally 15 minutes away.

 

[cucvrus]

Spent more of my quality time in the barn today working on a 7 year project.I put new rubbers back in the fuel fill door, new gate cables new tail-lamps and lenses, new front park lamps, new headlamps, new hood and fender rubbers. And last but not least the Truck-lite LED B/O drive light in awesome green. These are the type on the latest HMMWV's. I have been using the Torx 40 drive 5/16" self taping bolts for several years with great success. Unless I am restoring to exact OEM they are the perfect replacement bolts. I try and replace all of the old fasteners as i work on these vehicles. That helps me have the OEM ones for the people that want everything OEM. Most guys don't care as long as it fits and looks good when I am finished. I will update this post as I progress on the project. This weekend I want to flip the roof over and change all the roof seals and rubbers.

 

[ssdvc]

Hi Rick, Scott here saying hi from Afghanistan. Folks, I have seen this truck in person and I have to tell you, it IS awesome !! The pictures do not do it justice at all. This thing is MINT !!

Rick, I hope you are doing better and that warmer weather will treat you well. Be safe and I will see you in the spring (2016) to pick my baby up !!

I actually saw an M1009 over on Warrior last week. It was abused, but looked like it was still going strong. Hung out for about 15 minutes, but didn't see who was driving. I'll catch up to it again and take some pictures.

Cheers for the dust bowl !

 

[cucvrus]

I will be working on the CUCV M1009 again today.

 

[cucvrus]

I started out after lunch today. I made some progress. I wanted to show my repair technique to the side tabs on the grille. That is always a weak point in the grilles. Next week I will be mixing paint to paint the shackles. And i will be sliding the roof back and replication the seals. I need this truck out of my barn. It has been there for 7 years. Slow but sure.

 

[Mg84648]

Rick, that truck looks right off the assembly line! Well done as usual. It's funny you mention the grill. Both my corners were broken and repaired with globs of epoxy putty by the boys in green.

 

[cucvrus]

Thank you. I am fussy when I have to be. I am inventive and low budget at times also. I don't think I will ever take this M1009 to Rausch Creek or any other 4 X 4 park. My other M1009 all day everyday if the need be. And I maintain that one just as well but don't worry about the blemishes it has and receives. Thanks for looking. I will post more. I need to slide the roof back and replace the front seals.

 

[cucvrus]

Back on task again tonight after working on the injection pump and nozzles. Man that fuel feed line would have so much easier to replace. Oh well to late for crying over spilled fuel. Tonight I will get the mirrors back on the M1009 and get the roof seals installed so I can keep moving along. That seems like enough for 1 night. I will post pictures later. Have a good one.Well here are the pictures. This is 3 guys and 2 hours work. The seals are not the most cooperative . They are LMC not OEM GM. That is what you get. I think they will work fine. but they are more difficult to install then the OEM seals. Or I am just getting worse at installing them? They are on now. Tomorrow we will slide the roof front and bolt it down. I have the seats all cleaned and the pedestals repainted in flat black. All the dash parts are painted in 383 green CARC. I will post more pictures with the progress. Slow but sure. It is tuff working around flat paint with tools. Even your finger nails make k marks in the paint. Thank you for looking.

 

[cucvrus]

Tonight was a productive night. We were able to get the roof bolted back down It fits really tight with all the new rubbers and seals in place. We remounted the seats on the pedestals and mounted them in the M1009. We cleaned out all the excess bolts and fasteners. I have been using all new fasteners as I went thru this build. I don't see any Barrett Jackson auctions coming up in the near future for this vehicle. And I don't care for complete authenticity as I am sometimes accused of. As long as I have new hardware and it is the proper size i use it. I also have better tooling to use the production fasteners that I use. I did not do any photography tonight. I will post the progress pictures tomorrow.

 

[cucvrus]

Another productive evening. I scored a class 3 receiver from a civilian K5 Blazerat the upullit. It was a good one that was 1 piece and had no bolt together parts. I made some modifacations to the mounts on the receiver to fit the M1009. I had it powder coated and I also had some of the M1009 rear draw bars made up. I noticed that all the M1009 rear draw bars are very rusty and in need of replacement. I also had them powder coated. I worked at getting the receiver , draw bar installed and the rear pintle hook. I had a very successful evening. Tomorrow is another day. I replaced all the hardware on the rear frame area and upgraded everything to grade 8 zinc. It looks nice. I have a small amount of touch up coating and painting to do and i will be installing the rear bumper. The seat-belts were all scrubbed and cleaned and reinstalled tonight also. I hope you enjoy the pictures. I will post more later.

 

[the skull]

^^^^All I can say is WOW^^^^

 

[Mg84648]

Very nice Rick, as usual!

 

[cucvrus]

Major progress today. I drove the M1009 out of my barn that I have been working on for 6 years.I started this project in 2009 and have worked on several other vehicles during this build. I have been busy with other things and other trucks. This M1009 was a frame off resto. It is not ready for Barret Jackson and I don't care to put it in a car show for judging. It is the best I can do in a barn with no heat. I have lots of things to finish up on it but it will soon be on the road being driven to and from church only. . I fear to go near it with anything. It runs real good and fired right up and drove out of the barn. My family was in attendance for the bay departure. I will post more pictures later. Thank you for looking.

 

[the skull]

Free rides for Grandkids or no kids allowed?
Just Kidding. That's a real nice truck.

 

[corvette9]

I saw this truck a few weeks back. The pictures don't do it justice. Looks great Rick. Maybe I'll get to see it next week.

Brian G.

 

[cucvrus]

Tonight I took a break from the M1009 power train refurbishment and went out to work on the M1009 rebuild and appearance enhancement project. I scored the center console at the upullit. Thank you for looking. I wanted to show you my repair method for the transmission shift indicator. I use one of the aluminum cup washers from the vent windows inside the door jam. I picked up the SEMs interior paint today and will be painting the new dash pad and the center console. I painted the door sill plates the spare tire rack and the wiper arms today. They will all be installed tomorrow. Have a nice day.

 

[Beretta92fs]

Whazzup dude, have talked to ya in a while. Diggin the M1009 ! Youre making a lot more progress than my M1008. The cargo cover parts are going to work out great. I just need my truck back at the house to put it on. Talk to you soon.

 

[dougco1]

Rick
Are you doing all this just to sell to a new owner or do you plan on keeping it as your personal show piece? Either way it looks great.

 

[cucvrus]

I did this all for a good friend that has deep pockets. This is about the 8th CUCV I have done for people. I like to do it at a slow even pace. No rush jobs at my shop. I have some I have been working on for 8 years and know exactly where I am with each one. A little at a time and it gets completed. This one is getting completed rather quickly at this point. I was just waiting to find some nice dash pads and interior trim pieces. I will post some progress today when I complete a few tasks on it.