Seat Cushions for the Flattie

New seat cushions for the flattie . . . . moving along! Now if we can just get it painted, I got the paint in the other day, a beautiful 'Normandy Blue'.





Imagine this without the stars, numbers & with the tire mounted on the side . . .

A Really Drab Day . . . .

Well, I can't say much other than it was a really drab day, today in Memphis . . . . an Olive Drab day, that is. Finally took the jump & painted the jeep today. Can't say I'll be quitting my day job to pursue a career in auto painting, but at least it's painted, and the right color at that.

Progress Continues

Progress continues! I've finished sanding the interior of the tub, with only the dash & steering column left to sand & prime. I've finally gotten all the guages out of the dash plate, so I can get it cleaned up & primed. I began to make some headway on the floor panels, which is going to take some additional time due to the angles & shape . . . there's only so much I can reach with the wire wheel brush on my bench grinder, & will have to sand some of it. I get a little more excited each day as I pass it by in the garage, feeling like I'm finally getting somewhere. I hope to paint it in mid-May . . . looking forward to finally seeing this thing in olive drab again.



Above: Replacement grill looks good & ready for some OD paint.

On another note, want to direct you to a fellow blogger, Roberto Flores, who is doing his own restoration on a flatfender. Not only is he talented when it comes to his restoration, but he's also an accomplished artist. Visit his sight & enjoy! http://thejeeperwarehouse.blogspot.com/

Leaps, Bounds & Crawling

It never fails to follow the classic pattern: sometime you make leaps & bounds in progress, and other times you work at an absolute crawl. I found myself last weekend with some spare time while my beatiful bride & kids were visiting GrumPa & Mema in Texas & managed to make some significant leaps in a few hours. But I get ahead of myself, let me back up to the crawls . . .

I finally did the smart thing & got really organized, at the expense of my bride's stock of Ziplock bags. This has also helped speed up the disassembly process, as now I'm taking things off & bagging them for work later, rather than taking a part off, cleaning it up, priming, then putting aside. It was a great feeling to actually have a large collection of parts put together in an orderly fashion in the "Finished" box, awaiting installation.

Some bounds include getting the seats out & cleanup started on the frames, as well as getting the CJ2A fuel tank installed by a Bubba pulled out. Here's an ugly picture:

Here's an uglier picture: can you identify how many pieces of wood are cobbled together to level the make-do tank?

Finally, here's where I made a serious leap in progress. After removing the seats & tank, I've continued to remove the floor pans, so (1) I can get them cleaned up, primed & ready for re-installation with weatherstripping, & (2) gain better access to the transmission & transfer case to clean up the accumulated grease & dirt of 30 years. This pic is just before I removed the floor pans, but gives you a good idea of the sanding work facing me:

The second leap of progress was getting the passenger side wheel well, area around the tool box, passenger side floor & space between the tool box & fuel sump sanded down & primed.

It's now a week later, & my plans today are to sand & prime the grill I got to replace the existing one, as well as complete sanding the driver's side of the interior, bed & driver's side wheel well, completing the interior clean up with the exception of the dash. After that, I have only to sand & prime the windshield & clean up the undercarriage. Once that is complete, I think I'll be in a position to finally shoot the entire jeep with a new coat of the correct Olive Drab paint. Once that milestone is passed, I will focus on the mechanical repairs: rebuilding the carb, fuel pump, & distributor; replacing the entire brake system with newer components (stock, though), etc.

The Boss & the Hired Help

I won't sell my Dad short as just the Boss on the CJ2A progress, as he got his hands plenty dirty, plenty of times. But it's funny to have it in a picture the glee he takes in having me do some dirty work, especially when it's cleaning up greasy parts. This is just a great picture & one of the few I have of us together, as it's usually he or I taking pictures of the other as we work or just pictures of the project on it's own.

Sabbatical

OK, OK, maybe sabbatical isn't the best excuse, I just haven't gotten much done due to family schedules, weather, illnesses, etc. The only significant work I've done in the past 4 months was a weekend with Dad working on my CJ2A getting a lot of the interior parts & front cap on. Dad went a huge step further & has nearly completed the work. We finally got to drive it for the first time at Christmas, the first time since we've owned it, putting 4 miles on it before we developed an issue with the oil pressure, requiring a replacement pump, & a problem with air in the fuel line. Hopefully we'll get that worked out soon when time allows & I can move on to finishing up the body work & paint. I also recently scored some brand-new canvas seat cushions that will make for a nicer ride and a great look. As you can see from the pictures, we have come a long way on this project.

Original Condition, Spring 2003:

Current State, December 2005:

As far as the M38A1 is concerned, I've completely sanded & primed the exterior of the tub. I continue to hunt for parts, with the latest finds being the correct military breather & a generous donation from a friend of a pintle hook. Beyond that, not much progress due to colds, busy home schedules & temperatures that prohibit priming, so sanding or buffing parts is not possible. I hope to start back on it in March & begin some steady progress. As it's not a frame-off restoration, & I plan to spend more time, money & effort finishing the other Jeep, this is definitely a long term project. Here's a pic of the sanding/priming progress:

Meanwhile, I've spent a lot of spare time foraging through the forums & learning a lot, with a lot of quality time spent on some outstanding websites:

http://www.willysmjeeps.com Wes Knettle & Ryan Miller's website devoted to the M-series military Jeeps. You will not find a better source of information or anyone more knowledgeable about M38, M38A1 & M170 Jeeps. This site is the next generation of the original group Wes & Ryan ran on Yahoo!

http://www.g503.com/ Ron Fitzpatrick's website dedicated to WWII jeeps, but with excellent forums for all other military vehicles & Civilian Jeeps. Great place to start & an excellent community of people.

http://www.thecj2apage.com Best place to start if you want to learn about Flatfenders.

http://www.film.queensu.ca/cj3b/ I'd have to say this is the best Jeep page on the web, & believe me, I've looked at hundreds. Can't say I'm a high-hood fan, but you have to respect the passion this page demonstrates for CJ3B's & all things Jeep. This site has jeep stuff you didn't know existed.

http://www.earlycj5.com/index.shtml Site devoted to the early models of the CJ5 & CJ6, but with forums for flatfenders

Finally at it again

Been a while since I've put up a post, but that's also indicative that it's been a while since I've laid a hand on the jeep other than to drive around the neighborhood to warm the engine up.

Attended the military vehicle show last weekend in Mobile, picked up a few parts, got a bargain on the correct (I think) oil filter for my M38A1. The one I have is mounted on the driver's side fender, & I haven't seen one like that on any other jeeps. Could that have been a CJ5 (early model) feature?

Today I got the battery box cover & several of the parts I picked up in Mobile sanded, & primed. Nothing to really take a pic of, I'll post a new one when I make some progress on the body. Other than sanding, next major objectives are to replace the brake lines, overhaul the motor & acquire the correct breather & military fuel pump.

Me & my CJ2A w/M38 Tub, Summer 2003 

Sanded hood before priming, original OD paint. 

Dad & Audrey's Jeep, 30 years later . . .  

Jan 15, 2005

Began on the monumental task before me of restoring this Jeep. I don't plan to restore this one to the degree I am with the CJ2A with Dad . . . that one is a frame-off restoration, due to the extensive work to get that Jeep in shape again. This Jeep is in running condition, & will not require a full restoration to make the return to the look of an Army Jeep. Considering this Jeep is made of several, I figure I have a blank template to work from. My thoughts range from making it a medic's jeep or even possibly one used by the military clergy, but I have to take into account that most of what I've seen on the M38A1's history, they all look very similar, as there seem to be a limited selection in markings. That said, I have plenty of time to research it before I have to make any decisions, as it will be a while before I reach that point. For the moment, I have plenty of work just reconditioning the jeep.

Rather than sandblasting, I plan to sand everything smooth (basically to remove the existing blue Krylon paint job), down to the original OD paint & repaint with the correct OD for whatever version I settle on. I think I'll keep most of the minor dents & dings, for character (as well as keeping costs down). I'm not particularly interested in this jeep looking like it just rolled off the production line.

Today's work: removed the hood & sanded smooth, removing all the remaining blue, & sanding the rusted spots to clean metal & painted with rust-inhibiting primer. Also buffed the hinges, hood latches, hood tie-down footman's loop & the hood latch ring, priming all. I've left the underside of the hood original, as it has retained it's original OD paint (was not repainted) as well as the correct stencilings. I'll post a pic when I get the time in the coming week.

Next: Probably will begin sanding either the passenger side fender or the cowling & work my way backward on the body. Dad has another grill in better shape than the current one, & I will need to replace the driver's side fender, so no work to do on those other than remove them at the appropriate time. We're expecting a cold front in the coming days, so I may not get to it for a couple of weeks, as the garage gets rather cold!

First Steps

November, 2004

With the help of Eric Patton & Ed White, I removed the hard top. Jeep immediately looked better, no longer resembling an old Postal Jeep, as my lovely bride loves to point out.

Beginnings

This Blog is my chronicle of restoring an early 1950's Korean Era M38A1 Army Jeep.

This particular M38A1 was originally revived in the early 1970's in Marshall, AR by my father, Rick Horton, for his uncle, Audrey Horton. He took 3 Jeeps & assorted parts and built 2 good Jeeps. The other was an M38/CJ2A combination for Dad's other uncle, A.D. Horton.

Basic Information on the Jeep:

• M38A1 Frame, tub, transmission/transfer & front end
• M38 Rear end
• Front fenders, grill & hood from another M38A1
• Crated motor that Audrey acquired - brand new or rebuilt motor
• Ford Falcon Carberateur
  

At some point the Jeep which had its original olive drab paint & Army markings (including the star on the hood), was sanded lightly & repainted blue, presumably with spray paint.

Years later, after Audrey's passing, his son & daughter, Stephen & Stephana, took the Jeep to Stephana's father-in-law's place at Greer's Ferry Lake, doing time as a Lake Jeep. In 2002, I played in a golf tournament with Tim Loyd (Stephana's husband), & learned they still had the Jeep. I impressed upon Tim they were to call me first if they ever decided to sell it. Tim's dad, John, called me in July of 2004 & offered me the Jeep for what he had in it for parts, a sum total of $400.00. The Jeep was still running well, & I recruited Dad & Uncle A.D. to go pick it up. We took delivery of the Jeep on August 21, 2004.

Dad did some initial work in the fall on the jeep, re-plumbing the oil lines & replacing the electric fuel pump with an original mechanical fuel pump (civilian), as the motor tries to die when you give it that initial increase in fuel. Apparently someone had tried their hand at rebuilding the carb at some point, as Dad said the motor ran much smoother when Audrey had it. He brought the Jeep to me in November from his place in Marshall, AR (to my place in Lakeland, TN). Now begins the work!

Jeep & Uncle A.D., circa early 1970's