Pirate 4x4 banner

1952 M38 Build/Mods

88K views 327 replies 65 participants last post by  Troop 2865 
#1 ·
Alright, I guess its time I start my build thread. Ive read most all of the threads in the willys forum, so I feel compelled to share my story as it unfolds.
Sometime last year i found a M38 on craigslist, so I loaded up and went and took a look at it. Later that evening, this beauty/turd made its way to my house.


After removing 7,412 sheetmetal screws and the patch panels that the PO installed, I was left with this.


Next step was to remove the swiss cheese floors and put in some healthy metal. New floors and hat channels made from 1x2x(1/8)




After that I started working on the brake system. I adapted front disks from a 77 CJ5, very easy upgrade. Also, I installed swing pedals from a CJ5 and the MC and prop valve.




TADA! Here it is mostly put together. Notice the cooler as a drivers seat and the gas can bungeed to the front frame horn.


Next up was the cage. Measure, measure, measure, bend, notch, tack...over and over.




Ok. As all of the stuff was getting done I was browsing craigslist for other rusty gold and stumbled across a 71 CJ5 with a Buick 225, T14, D18, 2.5" lift. So I loaded up and went to take a look. It was a train wreck. Not salvageable at all. So, I gave the guy $250 and drove it onto the trailer. When I got it home the tear down started immediately. I kept the 225, T14, D18, the lift and the offset 30 spline rear Dana 44 with one piece shafts. Then I invited a few buddies over for beer and barbeque, started the oxy-acetylene torch, and the rest of the 71 was made into bite-size chunks.

Fast forward to a few days ago. I pulled the tub and was gonna start the engine swap. Took a few measurements and realized that the frame was tweaked...BAD. More than an in off square and the drivers side frame rail was trying to go horizontal. So, ******* ingenuity to the rescue.
 
See less See more
10
#143 ·
Thanks for the compliments guys.

So the other night I was feeling quite burned out on sheetmetal, so I decided to dive into the job of making my front Toyota 8" axle into a spring under application. Cutting off the old brackets was a huge pain, but luckily it only has to be done once. I'm running square u-bolts under the springs so that I free up some ground clearance.

Driver side


Passenger side


Top of passenger side


Springs mocked up


 
#145 ·
I've more or less finished up the body fabrication. Many, many holes punched and drilled, and lots and lots of spot welds. Heres a pic of the inside of the tub. I still need to grind down the welds and lay on some more primer.



The access holes are there so I can grease the u-joints without dropping the skid.




I had a buddy come by and help me put the engine back in. I wanted to make sure that the path I had in mind for the steering column didn't interfere with the header. This is the first time the engine and front axle have been in at the same time. Plenty of clearance between the engine and front diff.



And a pic right before I left the shop. For inspiration blah, blah, blah. Lol

 
#146 ·
I started working on getting the seats mounted up. I started with the rear bench for my boys. I added a piece of 1-1/4" angle at the bottom leading edge of the risers. This gives me some storage for small tool bags and such, and the angle keeps the stuff from sliding out from under the seat.



Same thing on the front. Front seats have sliders for when the wife wants to drive. Probably gonna mount the fire extinguisher on the outside riser.



 
#157 ·
I started working on getting the seats mounted up. I started with the rear bench for my boys. I added a piece of 1-1/4" angle at the bottom leading edge of the risers. This gives me some storage for small tool bags and such, and the angle keeps the stuff from sliding out from under the seat.







Same thing on the front. Front seats have sliders for when the wife wants to drive. Probably gonna mount the fire extinguisher on the outside riser.









Do you have more pictures, or the drawing file, on your seat brackets? They look bad ass! Well done.
 
#148 ·
After the driver seat was installed, it was time to work on the steering column and mounts . I ordered a nostalgia column from speedway motors in the 32" flavor. Once I figured out where it needed to go, I used a holesaw and cut a 1-3/4" hole in my nice new firewall, then slid the column in.

Here's the parts for the firewall mount. 1-3/4" exhaust clamp and some 1-1/4" angle.



Here it is assembled with the column mounted.



Here it is from the top with the lower shaft installed. I still need to cut a plate for the small carrier bearing on the lower shaft.




AND here's a side shot and a front shot of the front shock tower.



 
#152 · (Edited)
Thanks for the compliment. I wish I could say the end is near, but I feel like there is still a ton to do


After I finished up the lower column mount, it was time to tackle the upper mount. My dash looked like Swiss cheese, so I cut it out and planned to replace with fresh sheetmetal. This is the hole in the dash.



This is the panel that I whipped up. I used a pipe notch calculator to figure out the profile of the tube passing through the sheetmetal at 57 degrees. I also put a step on the edges to have a backer for some spot welds. It turned out very nice.



And in the hole.



I slid the column in, and down through the firewall mount. Very pleased with how it looks. Next I needed to figure out how to mount it to the dash.



This is the bracket I came up with. 14g bent at 57 degrees and another 1-3/4" exhaust clamp.



Bolted to the back of the dash, and the finished project.



 
#153 ·
I got the draglink and tie rod made up. Tube is 1-1/2 x1/4 wall dom with ruffstuff heims and weld in bungs, I think. The toyota front axle came with highsteer arms on it. Running the draglink and tie rod above the arms was gonna kill my uptravel. So, I drill them out to 5/8" holes and I'm running 5/8" grade 8 hardware., and now they're under the high steer arms. So now I have low-highsteer, or high-lowsteer, one or the other. I also swapped a flat pitman arm onto my steering box.



I have 1-1/2" of clearance, fore and aft, from the draglink/pitman arm to the tie rod. I really hope that's enough clearance once the spring compresses and the axle shifts forward.

 
#161 ·
The fuel tank is a poly unit from a YJ. I chose it for a few reasons, first was that I never wanted to worry about rust, and second I wanted the fuel filler on the driver side. The tank is a 15 gallon unit from MTS. It has a 8"x8" ish sump molded into the bottom of the tank. Hopefully, that will keep enough fuel around the pump to keep it happy. Im going to use the fuel neck and bezel from a CJ7.

The tank is in the rear, sucked up between the framerails. I had to raise the rear floor to accomodate the height. In the last pic you can see where I made an access panel to pull the pump and sending unit without dropping the tank. The sending unit is a fuel injected yj unit that I will hook the toyota pump to. Toyota pump output is 5/16" and the yj sending unit pickup tube is 5/16".



From the side. Not much to get hung up on.



Heres where the floor is raised behind the rear seat. You can also see the access panel.

 
#165 ·
Alright gentlemen, I'm having a bit of an issue. The front springs I'm running are 4" Alcan/Toyota RUF springs, but I'm running them in a SUA configuration, so not really much, if any, lift. I thought the hi-steer arms/tie-rod were going to limit my uptravel, so I broke down my spring pack and put the main leaf back in to check clearances. I'm looking at 3-3/4" of uptravel using these springs. The spring goes flat about 1/16" from tie-rod/frame contact. So, the tie rod is fine, but the spring will only allow 3-3/4" uptravel before the spring goes inverted.
I was going to notch the frame for more uptravel, but that's pointless now bc that would mean the spring would go inverted with any more uptravel. Spring inversion drastically reduces spring life to my understanding, so I need to figure something out.
Strongly leaning toward a 3 link front. I would use existing frame mounts for the lower links. That would put my lowers around 22-24" long.
Thoughts? Opinions?



 
#166 ·
The roller looks great. Seems like a perfect Willy's family rig.

3.75 inches of up travel isn't bad. I would run it. As far as inverting if your only inverting a half inch or so I wouldn't worry about it to much as long as the shackles not going to invert which based on your pictures your fine. I have had a few set ups mostly with flat YJ leafs that got all there up travel from inverting and never ran into to much of an issue.
 
#168 ·
I agree with zuzu, it's not much inversion and it's only after the other 3-1/4" of travel is used up. I've run springs flat and regular and reversed arch, they all seem to hold up ok.
Shackle angle is way more important for ride quality.
Maybe put a factory rubber bumper in there and call it good?
 
#169 ·
Ok guys, after reading y'alls responses, I've decide to keep the leaf springs. I'm still going to notch the frame and make up an adjustable bump pad. Minor inversion seems not to bad. Probably going to run a 1" longer shackle, which will give 1/2" of lift, and move the shackle hanger rearward a little bit so that it has more angle, which will negate the 1/2" of lift. The idea is to get a little softer ride, maybe a bit more droop, and a plethora of other issues to work around to make it all work. Lol.
 
#170 ·
Not really any actual progress, but I have a solid direction to move in. I started mocking up my cage tonight. I've drawn it in CAD and sketched it on paper, but I needed concrete info/pictures of the jeep with a mock-up cage. I grabbed some 1" pvc pipe and a propane torch and started my arts and crafts hour. Slow gradual heat allowed me to bend the pvc around my tube bender die and a little bottled water cooled it down, back to rigid tube. It worked ok. I got the visual I wanted and I only spent $10, versus ruining a bunch of DOM.


Plenty of room for my noggin.




Room for the oldest boys tater head.






 
#172 ·
Of course, lol. The pvc is built to take just one roll, then rebuild.


Started bending some tube. Committed to making progress. There's a charity ride at AOP in March that I've set as my deadline date. The wife is on board, so I'm about to lose a lot of sleep trying to get this thing rolling.

Cage progress.



 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top