My M37 Restoration Thread

[jrodjared]

This may be a dumb question, but what did you do to the wheels? How did you get them to separate from the drums like that? Good idea for priming and painting.

[JStinson]

Primer: Part Deuce

I got the second coat of primer on the frame. Unfortunately, I'm now at the mercy of the elements. I can't get the first coat of paint on it because the remnants of Lee are sending the humidity off the charts. I got the frame pulled inside the shop to keep it out of the elements. But, I'm pretty much stuck for the next couple of days.

[jrodjared]

love it!!! right behind you

[JStinson]

Second coat coming tomorrow.

[JStinson]

[JStinson]

Frame Priming: First Coat

After a week and a half of preparation, I finally have a first coat of primer on the frame and axles. The preparation included hours and hours of stripping the 97 layers of kevlar infused paint with chemical stripper and a steam cleaner. After the big sheets were off, work began with a giant side grinder and a wire wheel. Smaller places were gotten to with a die grinder with either a wire cone or a small wire wheel. Yesterday, as I was working on it, I decided that today would be the day that the first coat of primer went on. After hours and hours of final preparation (and a few incidents that made me wonder if the cosmos were going to let me paint today) the first coat went on.

As it turned out, the setup in the following picture served two purposes. First, it made it easier for me to get under the frame to remove paint. Secondly, it let me know that the left and right oil seals in the front axle are shot completely out.

[Frank Irons]

I don't believe I'll be needing it. Appreciate you remembering me though.

General question: the layers of paint on this truck tell some story. The the earliest coat I can find seems to be blue, and a yellow on top of that. Ideas anyone?

Air Force trucks are Strata Blue, trucks used on the flightline are yellow. My truck had the same color scheme, blue, yellow, and then olive drab.

Frank

[JStinson]

I dont know where you live but if you any place where they salt the roads aluminum may not be a good idea.
Bending and flaring is not real hard if you have a flare tool. Bending , same thing. I have seen sand packed into a line prior to bending to keep it from closing up inside.
I made up a line and was being sooo careful with the bend and flares that I forgot to instal the cap nut on the line first . A few cuss words were spoken then.

Packing sand in tubing is an old moonshiners trick. They would put sand in the copper tubing and wrap it around a tree trunk or a pole of some sort to make the spiral. Blamo, condenser.

I think I've decided to go with a mechanical fuel pump (at the behest of the hippie friend) and, at the behest of Gordon, steel line. That will keep the truck mechanically original, which has been the goal from the get go. Thanks folks!

[Kaiser2boy]

I dont know where you live but if you any place where they salt the roads aluminum may not be a good idea.
Bending and flaring is not real hard if you have a flare tool. Bending , same thing. I have seen sand packed into a line prior to bending to keep it from closing up inside.
I made up a line and was being sooo careful with the bend and flares that I forgot to instal the cap nut on the line first . A few cuss words were spoken then.

[Gordon Maney]

I think I've settled on buying some generic aluminum fuel line and learning how to bend and flare. It'll be an adventure learning how to build fuel line.

Think 3/8" line is ok?

I would not use aluminum. It is subject to failures due to vibration. There is nothing wrong with a good, plated steel line. It is strong and will remain clean. Learn how to bend and flare that.

[JStinson]

Nylon wont rust. However it may become brittle in time.
I dont know what was on my truck when I first got it but it looked ok until I tried to move the electric fuel pump and the line just cracked like it was made of glass.

I think I've settled on buying some generic aluminum fuel line and learning how to bend and flare. It'll be an adventure learning how to build fuel line.

Think 3/8" line is ok?

[Kaiser2boy]

Nylon wont rust. However it may become brittle in time.
I dont know what was on my truck when I first got it but it looked ok until I tried to move the electric fuel pump and the line just cracked like it was made of glass.

[JStinson]

Soft vs Steel Fuel Line

When I did the original "restoration" on this truck, I replaced the hilarious conglomeration of water hoses and copper lining with nylon fuel line all the way from the tank to to about two feet from the carb. I ran it through the frame so it was protected. Worked like a charm.

Here's the question of the day: Should I go this same route and use nylon fuel line again, or should I invest in some steel line? What are the advantages of one over the other?

[Kaiser2boy]

I was steam cleaning and stripping the frame today and I think I found out the order of the layers. On the front right leaf spring pack, you can see that the original layer is OD, then the blue and then yellow.

The front axle has some red on it, but the leaf spring doesn't. I found some white on another part of the frame.

I think the truck might be some sort of frankenstein monster...

Yellow, Maybe it was a TAXI at one time, ha ha ha. Digging down through the layers and trying to figure out the odd holes and wires is sort of like being an Archaeolgist. Finding different colors on different parts has to make you wonder just what happened and hope it was not the result of a frame bending crash at some point. If you drive it down a wet road and it leaves two sets of tire tracks you will know.

[JStinson]

The red on the axle was likely the primer.

Makes sense to me.