Brush Buggy Build

[dozer_xj]

Thanks to Pirate 4x4, when I was growing up I turned my first car, a 98 Jeep XJ, Into a buggy with 42" TSLs and a big block Olds. It was pretty hack but it was a learning experience. I sold it in April 2012 to buy my first house and get married.



Since then I have been building jeeps and cars for people in town as well as a 65 mustang (which I sold to buy some land outside of town) but have not had a wheeling rig of my own since then. I never did have as much fun with cars as I did wheeling. What parts that were left from my go fast days got sold to fund a wheeling rig.

My friend muddermilitia's (on Pirate 4x4) dad up by Chicago has just a horde of cool military vehicles and old hot rods. He was thinning the herd and offered me this 53 m37 that had been, from what we can tell a fire truck in Wisconsin, along with a spare set of axles. He had it running and driving but it had a brake issue and he parked it. It has been sitting for 10 years.






So my current plans are:

Get it running with the stock drive train. As of 3-29-16 it will run for 5 seconds then die. I am going to rebuild the carb, install electronic ignition and adjust valves.

Fix cracked exhaust manifold

Get Brakes working

Keep stock axles

Install lockers and and lock out Hubs

Convert it to power steering

Recenter H1 Wheels and run a 38-40" tire with no lift

Cage

Maybe some seats in the bed with a cage as well.

These plans will probably change because I change my mind more than my underwear


So far I have drained the fuel tank and replaced the in tank filter with just regular fuel line. I removed the very expensive fuel pump and replaced with a new civilian pump and an inline fuel filter. I also pulled the oil pan off to check for sludge before I tried to start it. As of now I have tried to run it off an electric pump and mechanical. I have also tried out of a fuel can and out of the tank. I got it running long enough around Christmas to drive it to the end of my driveway then it died. As of now it will only run for 5 seconds before it dies.

[dozer_xj]

Working on rebuilding the carb, adjusting valves and fixing the cracked manifold. I apologize but this thread is going to be boring until I get it running.





Messed with it more the other night. The valves are very loose. Im hoping Im not having an issue with valves sticking open on me. One I slid a 0.018 feeler in on. I havent turned it over yet and checked them all.
Not sure how I got "perfect day" added to the one picture. Getting old and technology is running away on me i guess lol.




I did a compression test and the cylinders were around 85-90 psi with #5 being at 115. I did not squirt any oil in the holes. Someone told me to pull the head and lap the valves. Your thoughts on this?


My friend brought me what he thought was a spare m37 motor and it ended up being a 1955 car motor. I might try to use the car exhaust manifold with the m37 intake. I KNOW this is a no no but I might try and have them trued up by a machine shop. I also rolled up some 38.5 boggers my friend bought for his jeep for some motivation.




I ended up finding some m37 parts on craigslist of all places about 2 hours away. The guy was pretty proud of his parts and his prices show it but I ended up with a locked up motor, well worn trans, generator, starter, and voltage regulator. The exhaust manifold is in one piece which is why I bought it!

[RMS]

not boring at all. making good progress!

I would pull the head and inspect. valves are known to tulip and drag out seats, lap job is always good and plain some meat off the head say .080. take that 6.6 to 1 ratio and bump it to 8 to 1.

you can save that new manifold with a 2 bolt flange flex joint. also port match it to the block .

the carter over fuels on steep hills and will give out before traction is lost. setting the float a little low helps.

[dozer_xj]

not boring at all. making good progress!

I would pull the head and inspect. valves are known to tulip and drag out seats, lap job is always good and plain some meat off the head say .080. take that 6.6 to 1 ratio and bump it to 8 to 1.

you can save that new manifold with a 2 bolt flange flex joint. also port match it to the block .

the carter over fuels on steep hills and will give out before traction is lost. setting the float a little low helps.

I was avoiding pulling the head but I may just do it to check the valves. I seen in the TM that you can replace seats with a special tool if needed too. IDK i may be getting crazy at that point. Was hoping to drive it this summer. I have my first child due in July and I am sure progress will slow to a crawl.

I have a flex joint sitting on the shelf from another project that is going to find its way on the truck. I also noticed my exhaust hangers are wasted. I will probably replace them as well.

I know wheeling with carbs is not ideal but i was hopping the carter would be better than like a holley or something.

[isaac_alaska]

i had no problem at all wheeling with stock carburetor, and lost traction (crawling, with a few inches of snow, but massive tires) with the carb still working perfectly. also crawled through a steep sideways bit where the guy in front of me with a hotrod street carb kept flooding out.

if you plan to install twin lockers, you're looking at something like $3k, and you could probably have a set of modern axles with lockers for not a lot more than that. maybe more work to narrow them though.

looks like you are making progress!

[dozer_xj]

if you plan to install twin lockers, you're looking at something like $3k, and you could probably have a set of modern axles with lockers for not a lot more than that. maybe more work to narrow them though.

looks like you are making progress!

I bought a lightly used lock right off of ebay for $175 and a new one is $335 http://www.summitracing.com/parts/pwt-1 ... aQod-QgG9Q

So I am not sure where $3000 came from unless you are talking about ARBs. I will say I would swap axles in it before I paid to put disk brakes on it!

If I do swap axles I will probably put a chevy or dodge dana 60 in it . I think the long side has to be narrowed 3" then you just find a rear out of a van or something to match.

[dozer_xj]

Tried to share a video. It did not work

[W_A_Watson_II]

So I am not sure where $3000 came from unless you are talking about ARBs. I will say I would swap axles in it before I paid to put disk brakes on it!

I probably should have followed my original plan to swap axles in rather than doing Disc Brakes, custom Bead Locks and then adding ARB's. But then again I'm special, in some sort of demented way.

[isaac_alaska]

if you plan to install twin lockers, you're looking at something like $3k, and you could probably have a set of modern axles with lockers for not a lot more than that. maybe more work to narrow them though.

looks like you are making progress!

I bought a lightly used lock right off of ebay for $175 and a new one is $335 http://www.summitracing.com/parts/pwt-1 ... aQod-QgG9Q

So I am not sure where $3000 came from unless you are talking about ARBs. I will say I would swap axles in it before I paid to put disk brakes on it!

If I do swap axles I will probably put a chevy or dodge dana 60 in it . I think the long side has to be narrowed 3" then you just find a rear out of a van or something to match.

i was talking about ARB, in which case you have to buy the lockers as well as the 24V air compressor plus the air lines, air dryer, and various fittings. i hadn't considered the lock-right, mostly because i've read nothing good about them. never having used one though, i cannot speak from experience. if you put them in and they work, let me know!

[52PLOWERWAGON]

i had no problem at all wheeling with stock carburetor, and lost traction (crawling, with a few inches of snow, but massive tires) with the carb still working perfectly. also crawled through a steep sideways bit where the guy in front of me with a hotrod street carb kept flooding out.

looks like you are making progress!

I never had problems either and I was climbing near vertical hills !

[dozer_xj]

So I was having trouble getting a socket on the crank so I pulled the fan and radiator. While I am this deep I am going to replace to water pump and thermostat as well as have the radiator cleaned and tested. I also pulled out all the studs and cleaned the mounting surface up. I plan on replacing the studs with new. I got the valves adjusted. They were pretty tight. I set the intake at 0.012" and the exhaust at 0.014 when cold for now.

[isaac_alaska]

looks good! i had mine at the very same stage just a day ago. should have adjusted the valves when i had the manifold off, but i didn't.
i turned to ebay to find new studs because i didn't trust the ones the local hardware store stocked. if you put a stock cast manifold back on, make sure you use the tapered washers and inverted acorn style nuts out on the ends, or the new manifold will crack pretty quickly. on mine, some of them had been replaced with flat washers, and the ones that were correct, had been over-tightened to the point of splitting the tapered washers open

[dozer_xj]

looks good! i had mine at the very same stage just a day ago. should have adjusted the valves when i had the manifold off, but i didn't.
i turned to ebay to find new studs because i didn't trust the ones the local hardware store stocked. if you put a stock cast manifold back on, make sure you use the tapered washers and inverted acorn style nuts out on the ends, or the new manifold will crack pretty quickly. on mine, some of them had been replaced with flat washers, and the ones that were correct, had been over-tightened to the point of splitting the tapered washers open

Mine had split tapered washers and some flat washers. One of the tapered nuts were holding the carb on There were two intake nuts missing too so I may have had a vacuum leak that was fighting me too,

[isaac_alaska]

tapered brass nuts and washers are only needed on the 4 outermost studs, so two studs at each end of the exhaust manifold.

if you are going with a cast manifold you can find everything you need on page 16 here

[dozer_xj]

Got the new valve cover gaskets, water pump, and manifold studs installed. The Gates 42554 water pump from rock auto worked fine and it was $36 compared to $60 or more from other sources