Just purchased my 2nd MV...M38A1

[Maverick1701]

More news on the Jeep progress.
I made it home from work around 530pm. I changed my clothes and was off to work on the Jeep. I finished cutting out the old wiring harness, removed my tail-lights (I have two new ones coming via snail-mail), and fully installed the new wiring harness.
The whole process took between 5-6hrs. I was done by 1045pm (my back was sore from being hunched over for so long & I was super hungry).

The most difficult part of the install was connecting all the Douglas connections. The connectors on the new harness were a bit tight. I was forced to use to use pliers on most of the connections.

The only items not hooked up are: tail-lights (they haven't arrived), horn (fenders are not installed and it mounts on the fender), and blackout drive light (my M38A1 didn't come with one).

Attached is a pic of my "old parts tub" which now contains all wiring & brake bits/pieces which come standard on an M38A1.

 

[Another Ahab]

In my wife's home country (Philippines) they have something similar called the annual Jeepney festival.View attachment 669674
I'm sure Brother Ahab is familiar with the Jeepney.

Oh, yeah; I didn't know what they're called but those are great; like a rolling art gallery!

 

[Maverick1701]

Today I installed my new tail-lights (the old ones were pretty far gone). Unfortunately they came wired with Packard connectors (the new military standard) as opposed to the Douglas connectors (the old standard). I didn't want to cut any wires (I am going to try and build some Packard-to-Douglas jumper wires in the future) so I was able to connect the Douglas connectors to the Packard connectors with the help of some electrical tape (they already somewhat fit together anyway...but just somewhat).


I re-connected the batteries and did some testing of the new wiring harness. All the lights work but I have a few strange issues. The instrument panel lights work only on bright...on the dim settings I get nothing. Also if I push the blackout light selector all the way up I can activate my headlights (that shouldn't happen). Those two symptoms lead me to believe that the culprit is my light switch I bought used off eGay.


Tomorrow after work I am going to pull the switch off my M35A2 6x6 and try it in the jeep since I know that switch is fully operational. That will tell me if the issue is the switch, if I mis-wired something in the dash, or if I need to look elsewhere.


Another issue I will be tracking down is when I turn on my ignition switch, my gauges don't turn on. I don't know if my gauges are jacked or just not getting power.


Another issue I need to take a look at is my brake light switch. It worked on the initial light test & then just stopped. when I press my brake pedal my little am/fm radio plays significantly more static. So that leads me to believe I have something electrical activating when the brake pedal is pressed. A possible cause of this issue is related to a cover plate which covers the tail-light & trailer wiring. The issue started when I replaced that plate. I am going to remove the plate tomorrow and see if the issue persists. I don't really see the panel causing issues but you never know...stranger things have happened.

 

[Maverick1701]

my carb rebuild kit arrived today. I have never rebuilt a carb before (just taken apart & cleaned) so I am a bit apprehensive. I may take it to the local mechanic and see if he will let me watch over his shoulder as he does the rebuild so I can watch/learn.


I am off tomorrow and the high temp is 81* so it will be a GREAT day to work on the Jeep. I'll report back with my findings.

 

[Maverick1701]

Also good news on the electrical side. It turns I wasn't pressing my brake pedal hard enough to activate the brake-light switch while testing last night. I was using my hand to test the lights last night as opposed to my foot. Once the switch had enough pressure (when I used my foot) the brake-light came on w/out any issues.


also I tracked my gauge power issue to a faulty "wiring harness to ignition switch" wire. I bought a new set and apparently the wire which brings main power to the ignition switch was DOA. I have checked with a test-light as well as a voltmeter.....and "he's dead, jim".
I am trying to get the seller to send me a replacement wire. I may try to splice it through just so I can continue testing my stuff until the new wire arrives.


I pulled the light switch from the M35A2 and stuck it in the M38A1 and everything worked well. It turns out my used eBay military light-switch is only partially functional....so I will be ordering a replacement switch here in a few min.

 

[Maverick1701]

The new ignition wire arrived today. I installed when I made it home from work and now I have power to my gauges. The fuel gauge works great. The others I will have to troubleshoot using this method: http://willysmjeeps.com/downloads/instruments.pdf

The generator gauge only has one connector on the back but the wiring diagram shows two wires which should be connected. Any ideas here? I haven't figured anything out...but am still researching.

I went to rebuild the carb today and I discovered several issues. 1. It turns out I bought the wrong rebuild kit....doh! 2. I thought I had a carter-YS when in fact I have a carter-YF 928SD. Apparently the PO replaced the real carb with a CJ3/5 carb. I also noticed that I am missing some parts from my carb. Specifically the link which connects the throttle arm assembly to the pump.

So....what do I do now?
My first thought was to buy a used carburetor off eBay & rebuild (that way I would get those specific missing parts & still have the experience of rebuilding my first non-motorbike carb). If I am going to spend the money on a carb, I would rather buy the correct carb for my jeep not one made for a cj3 which seals poorly w/the 1/2 civilian & 1/2 military cobbled together intake system.

What are y'alls thoughts? At this point I am looking at buying the "real" carb for my jeep (since I am already spending the money). Specifically, a carter-YS 950S. They run about $275 from midwest military.


****ADDED A FEW HOURS LATER***
I was able to get the voltage meter sorted. It turns out the wiring harness company sent me an incorrect wiring part...but I was able to MacGyver a solution.


I have a spider harness which branches power from the ignition switch to all my gauges. There is a 5 "leg" harness & a 4 "leg" harness (depending on which gauge you have....volt or amp). The wiring company sent a 4-leg and I should have had a 5-leg spider harness. The 5-leg harness supplies straight power to the voltmeter (one input) while the 4-leg harness uses those two wires shown in the diagram (which I mentioned in the last post) to supply amps. This turned out to be an easy fix.


It turns out I have an extra power wire coming off the ignition switch (this extra wire is used on newer military vehicles but it is extra when the new style switch is used on older jeeps). I used some of my old wiring & made a jumper wire from the extra switched ignition wire to the voltmeter (which is the exact same thing the spider harness does) and my voltmeter now reads good voltage. One step closer.

 

[Another Ahab]

It turns out I have an extra power wire coming off the ignition switch (this extra wire is used on newer military vehicles but it is extra when the new style switch is used on older jeeps). I used some of my old wiring & made a jumper wire from the extra switched ignition wire to the voltmeter (which is the exact same thing the spider harness does) and my voltmeter now reads good voltage. One step closer.

Progress sometimes comes only in inches, but however many the miles all the inches add up. It's all "ticks" in the plus column, and THAT'S progress. Good luck, Brother!

 

[Maverick1701]

Progress sometimes comes only in inches, but however many the miles all the inches add up. It's all "ticks" in the plus column, and THAT'S progress. Good luck, Brother!

Thank you sir! I need all the luck I can get with my project.
I knocked out a few minor things today after work. My replacement headlight and new military light-switch arrived today. When I made it home from work I mounted up the fuel/jerry can mount/holder (it has taken me a few tries to get the right sized bolts), installed the new headlight, and installed the new military light-switch. I tested the lights and everything works great now.
I also uninstalled my incorrect spider harness and will be exchanging it for a 5-leg spider harness via snail-mail. I thought about just keeping my jumper cable fix but I decided against it for two reasons. 1. I want it fixed & working correctly 2. I want to keep that spare 24v power output free in case I decide to add a 24v accessory (a small 24v-to-12v inverter, ham radio, etc). It is usually used for a heater on the newer vehicles so it can support an average sized accessory...but I don't plan on adding anything which pulls a heavy load.

I also ordered a Carter YS950S carb from a fellow jeep guy on Facebook. I am going to check it out once it arrives and decide what to do. If everything is there, I'll pick up a rebuild kit, rebuild it, and slap it on the jeep. If it turns out that it is more of a core then I'll but a rebuilt one from a jeep supply company and send them this one to fulfill my core exchange fee.

 

[Maverick1701]

My Jeep progress is a waiting game at the moment (waiting on USPS/UPS). The only Jeep tasks I could complete today after work was re-install the passenger fender (it has been off since I initially removed it back 2-ish years ago) and re-rivet by data plates on the body panel.

Apparently the rivets which came in my rivet kit are the wrong type. I need to find some which are flush with the "rear" of the riveted surface (since that surface lays flat on the dash of the jeep). The current rivets I have are not flush which causes the data plate panel to not set flush against the jeep dash (and it looks odd).

I found a guy on my M38A1 Facebook group who had a correct model carburetor for sale (Carter YS950S). It arrived today (now to start the rebuid). I also ordered a set of new hard fuel lines. The correct fuel line setup should have hard lines going directly to the carb. The PO of my jeep replaced some of the hard lines with a re-routed soft line.

Once I finish the rebuild & the new hard lines arrive I'll slap everything together & can re-install my drivers fender, hood, & windshield.

I'm also waiting on the replacement spider harness to arrive from DeBella Jeeps.

 

[Another Ahab]

Apparently the rivets which came in my rivet kit are the wrong type. I need to find some which are flush with the "rear" of the riveted surface (since that surface lays flat on the dash of the jeep). The current rivets I have are not flush which causes the data plate panel to not set flush against the jeep dash (and it looks odd).
View attachment 671526

You can find flush rivets, but the plate has to be countersunk for it.

 

[Maverick1701]

You can find flush rivets, but the plate has to be countersunk for it.

that is awesome news. I need to do some hunting for the correct pop rivets. I am assuming my main plate is setup for rivets since that is how the jeep came to me (everything riveted to the main plate which was bolted to the dash without any funky-ness).

I ended up taking my carb to the local mechanic for the rebuild because he is the expert...also because he has a glass bead blaster so he was able to REALLY clean out the crud in the carb I bought off FB (and there was A LOT of crud).

I picked it up about 20min ago on the way home from work. The plan is to install it sometime this evening (if I don't get called out). I am waiting on my new hard fuel lines to arrive. Once those get here I can throw them on and hopefully rock & roll.

Here are a few before/after pictures of the carb

BEFORE REBUIILD:



AFTER REBUILD:

 

[Another Ahab]

Here are a few before/after pictures of the carb

AFTER REBUILD:
View attachment 672020

The carb cleaned up real nice.

Wonder if hitting that rubber boot with a little preservative of some kind might be a good idea before it goes into hiding under the hood.

Most marine stores carry product like that. Have you given that any thought?

 

[wilfreeman]

Apparently the rivets which came in my rivet kit are the wrong type. I need to find some which are flush with the "rear" of the riveted surface (since that surface lays flat on the dash of the jeep). The current rivets I have are not flush which causes the data plate panel to not set flush against the jeep dash (and it looks odd).

View attachment 671526

Who did you buy your plates from? Every time I have bought new ones they came with the correct ones. It slips my mind who I bought them from though. I would call around to everyone that offers repro plates.

 

[Maverick1701]

Who did you buy your plates from? Every time I have bought new ones they came with the correct ones. It slips my mind who I bought them from though. I would call around to everyone that offers repro plates.

I didn't buy any of my plates. These are the original data plates which came mounted on the Jeep. I just removed them and then restored them (see earlier pics in the thread for before/after pics). The only thing I bought was a pop rivet tool which came with a few different rivets.

The carb cleaned up real nice.

Wonder if hitting that rubber boot with a little preservative of some kind might be a good idea before it goes into hiding under the hood.

Most marine stores carry product like that. Have you given that any thought?

thanks! and that is a GREAT idea. I'll see what I can track down and throw some on the boot. I don't want it to crack or disintegrate causing my motor to suck dirty/nasty air.

 

[wilfreeman]

Wow, they look great! I can't remember which vendor I bought them from, but I bought a set of rivets when I restored my last plates. I just did a quick search for data plate rivets - http://www.dataplates4u.com sells them.

This is the type you need to use:
https://www.bing.com/images/search?...tedIndex=13&qpvt=data+plate+rivets&ajaxhist=0

 

[Another Ahab]

Wow, they look great! I can't remember which vendor I bought them from, but I bought a set of rivets when I restored my last plates. I just did a quick search for data plate rivets - http://www.dataplates4u.com sells them.

Checking out the links, and never realized how strong the resource support was for the old jeeps. There must be a lot of them out there.

 

[wilfreeman]

I had never heard of that site either - it just showed military vehicles and had the rivet I was looking for.

Sent from my SM-J320V using Tapatalk

 

[Maverick1701]

thanks for the heads-up on the data plate rivet website. I'll be ordering tonight.

I was off work today and REALLY churned & burned on the Jeep.

I started the day by installing the carb and hooking up all the odds & ends. I lubed the choke & throttle cables so they actually actuate now. I'm waiting on my new fuel lines to arrive. They should be here Tuesday according to ups tracking.

After that quick job I removed the PTO (Koenig Model-51). This project took most of the day if you include cleaning up the PTO after removal. I ended up splitting open the case while still installed on the jeep for two reasons. 1: I was having clearance issues reaching the final bolt needed to removal 2: the other bolts had fallen into the PTO after removal.

I am glad I did split the case because....wow...it was full of water!!!!! This water was probably from 1990 when the jeep was last operable. I was able to remove the case clean everything up (interior, exterior), lube the chain and put everything back together (thankfully the interior was not full of rust). The exterior of the case was a mess and cleaning took several hours with a wire wheel, wire brush, and screwdriver scraping.

After removal of the PTO I installed the cover plate on the x-fer case with 5 new bolts & gasket since I am not going to run a PTO. What is the value of a Koenig-51 these days? I would like to sell it and put the proceeds back into the jeep.

After I tacked that job I installed my e-brake handle, and e-brake mechanism under the jeep. I ordered a new e-brake connecting rod from KW because I couldn't find the one I bought off eBay. Of course...wouldn't ya know it...the day after I order a new one I found the old one...doh.

My next project was quick/easy since I getting tired & hungry. I installed new shiftier boots on the x-mission and x-fer case.

I have a few more parts coming in via snail mail. e-brake rod, fuel lines, new wiper arms/blades. all these should be here in a few days.

Attached are some pictures of the PTO cleanup project. Enjoy!

First opening of the case:


Exterior Cleaned:


Interior Cleaned:


Putting humpty-dumpty back together again:

 

[Maverick1701]

I was able to sell my PTO on my M38A1 Facebook group. Coincidentally, the buyer was the same guy who sold me the carburetor. The plan is to put the proceeds right back into the Jeep.

Late last night I went to connect the horn switch (so I could test my original horn). Being dark outside, I didn't see the frayed wires on the switch...because it was 1230-1am. Well, when I plugged in the wires I had a shower of sparks. I was able to pull the wires (I only had the interior plastic connector connected since I as just testing wires) before anything caught fire...but it was an impressive show nonetheless.

I was able to remove the horn switch with the help of an impact, cutting the wires, and a prybar. I replaced the switch wiring with some wires I saved from my old harness. I tested switch functionality with a voltmeter before re-installing...removing the switch is not a job I want to do more than once. The switch repair tested good and was re-installed. I now have power to my horn wire when the horn button is pressed. **thumbs-up**

During work today I was able to run to Oreillys in Childress TX which is about 40mi away (the closest auto parts store to me). I had to pick up two little brass fittings for my fuel pump. I needed to turn 180* and move up approx 1in to clear my fuel pump housing. I figured that buying two fittings was easier and had less risk than trying to do a tight 90* downward bend in my new hard fuel lines. These fittings were the last parts I needed for the fuel system. I turned over the motor and had fuel to the carb with NO fuel leaks **thumbs-up #2**

Unfortunately, for some reason I was unable start the motor. I began to troubleshoot.

I removed the plugs to see what I could see. It turns out I am not getting any spark. Also, all four plugs showed signs of dry fouling which usually is a symptom of running rich/carb issues (if I remember correctly). I have only run these plugs twice (they were purchased new when I originally got the jeep running) so I am going to attribute the dry fouling to running the motor with the original crappy/leaky old carb. I cleaned the carbon from the plugs and reinstalled the plugs on the wires. I grounded the plugs to the block while cranking and still could not see any spark (when I originally got the motor running 1.5yr ago I was able to see spark by grounding the plugs)

Now, the spark plug wires are also new and are still in great condition (purchased the same time I bought the plugs).

My next step is to make sure I am getting power to the distributor (since that is the next easiest job). If I have power to the distributor I may have to open up my distributor which I really don't want to do. Opening up the dist is breaking new ground for me and, honestly, makes me a little nervous (especially if I have to mess with finding TDC and all that headache).

I had to quit tonight due to mother nature not playing nice. I'll report back when I know more.

 

[Maverick1701]

Last night I decided to break new ground in my automotive experiences. I opened the distributor and did some maintenance. This was my first time to EVER open a dist. I cleaned all contacts, set my points gap (.020), and lubricated everything before re-assembly. The whole process was much easier that I thought it would be. Apparently distributors are pretty simple things, but in my mind I had them made out as some super complex machine which will break if I touch it wrong.


Unfortunately it wasn't all butterflies & roses.....I had one casualty. One of the spark plug wires decided to get stuck in the distributor cap (when I was removing the wires to open the dist) and the tip broke during forceful removal. Unfortunately a new set of wires is between $220-$250 and they are only sold in sets of 4....because why wouldn't they be.


I don't really want to dish out $250 for just one wire if I can avoid it. I posted up on my M38A1 facebook group asking if anyone had a spare wire they would sell me. It looks like I found a guy who will sell me one of his spares. Once it arrives I can hook it up and see if my plugs have spark. If I still don't have spark then the issue is probably related to the condenser. Thankfully, a distributor repair kit is only $40 and comes with new points, rotor, and condenser. So if I have to go that route it will be a super cheap fix.