Building a retro M37

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Re: Building a retro M37

Post by Monkey Man »

Aww Dammit, I was gettin to like ya and your project but I saw that Can-Am quad in the background of your project picture, I am your Evil arch enemy, a Polaris owner :twisted: , now I have to figure out wether I should ban you from the forum for ever.... :shock: :lol: .....But you know I am Joking - Right???
Love your work, the truck looks awesome and your Fabrication is excellent and is an inspiration to folks like me, That Can-Am-ish yellow is nice though, are you making a similar schemed rig so you can put the quad in the back and have it looking like an awesome matched set?

Regards - MM :D
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Re: Building a retro M37

Post by retiredguy »

LOL good one! The Can Am colors inspired me to paint the M37 the same. The M37 is my passion and the Can Am is my frustration relief. Ya slowly the M37 is getting done. Summer is here and I want to be driving it. So no hood and no doors I don't care I am to put it on the road. Got my new ID plates today and getting the VIN plate engraved. Hopefully get the running boards back by the weekend and off I go. Wahoo, I'm getting exited. I'll take some picks when I have it out.
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Re: Building a retro M37

Post by Cal_Gary »

Retiredguy,
I hadn't reviewed this post in quite a while due to the sheer size, but I took a look tonight, and that is one fine project and video! I was especially appreciative of how easy you took it down the road, turned around and returned to your garage with minimal effort on the steering wheel--great work, and I am very impressed!
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Re: Building a retro M37

Post by retiredguy »

Well I put about 140 miles on the M37 this weekend. Man this thing is a pleasure to drive. So easy to manuver around in traffic. Lots of accelleration . Radiator is plenty big enough to cool it even at 28C outside. Tranny cooler is also more than adequate. used about 1/3 tank of fuel (city / hiway combo). I'll monitor it more closely on a longer run. At 60 MPH pyro is at 950C and boost about 5 psi. 70 MPH pyro goes to 1200C. could use a little bigger turbo. Has lots of wind turbulance at 65MPH but if you open the windshield about 3" then has a lot less terbulance. Big tires are not as true to round as smaller ones so has a some tire hop at 50 MPH plus. I think is from the tires having some cupping issues from prior usage. All in all this thing attracts a lot of attention. Very much fun. I'll try to get a driving video done, if it ever stops raining :roll:
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Re: Building a retro M37

Post by SOTVEN »

I AM REALLY GLAD IT ALL WORKED OUT NICE FOR YOU MY FRIEND, AND THAT YOUR TRUCK SEEMS TO BE WHAT YOU EXPECTED :) I HOPE YOU HAVE TONS OF MILES WITH IT IN THE YEARS TO COME. YES, A VIDEO WOULD BE NICE.
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Re: Building a retro M37

Post by Josh »

950C or F? 950 C is WAY too hot. I hope you mean F. If it is C, you need to stop driving it immediately and find your timing problem because you'll burn it down running that hot. It should be running somewhere between 800-1000F at cruise, and 1250 or so WOT full load. Im curious what you'll get for mileage. Mine is getting a confirmed 21.2 with the 4 BT. I run about 900*F at 60. I have the HX35 on mine, I push about 3-5 PSI of boost at cruise. It is wind and tire drag related, as mine will run 1100 or so when I first start out, and after about 15 minutes or so, when teh tires warm up and round out, and the gearboxes get warm, mine drops to about 850-900 or so.

Are you going to put a roll cage in it? I'm paranoid to run faster than 60 with mine with those big tires. If you lost a tire, you have very little to protect you and that tall of a truck it is going to go over.
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Re: Building a retro M37

Post by k8icu »

Glad to see you posting there Josh! We've missed you.

I was wondering that temp too but just figured it was a Canada thing... :lol:
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Re: Building a retro M37

Post by ZGjethro »

I just discovered this thread, and I went through it all. Wow, impressive work! I have a pretty much stock 52 M37 which spent time from 1985-2009 as a brush fire truck. It is painted the bright yellow/green fire dept color. I was thinking of going gloss black on the fenders, and your truck makes me want to do it even more.
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Re: Building a retro M37

Post by retiredguy »

Josh wrote:950C or F? 950 C is WAY too hot. I hope you mean F. If it is C, you need to stop driving it immediately and find your timing problem because you'll burn it down running that hot. It should be running somewhere between 800-1000F at cruise, and 1250 or so WOT full load. Im curious what you'll get for mileage. Mine is getting a confirmed 21.2 with the 4 BT. I run about 900*F at 60. I have the HX35 on mine, I push about 3-5 PSI of boost at cruise. It is wind and tire drag related, as mine will run 1100 or so when I first start out, and after about 15 minutes or so, when teh tires warm up and round out, and the gearboxes get warm, mine drops to about 850-900 or so.

Are you going to put a roll cage in it? I'm paranoid to run faster than 60 with mine with those big tires. If you lost a tire, you have very little to protect you and that tall of a truck it is going to go over.

Silly me! yes the temp is in F! I'm so used to talking C I said.... you know, my bad!

No roll cage, just going to run hard top after this year. If was going to run rag top I would consider it though. I'll post the mileage up later when I do a proper test.
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Re: Building a retro M37

Post by T. Highway »

Don't forget to shoot a video when doing the proper test. :D

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Re: Building a retro M37

Post by retiredguy »

Well it's been a busy summer and I havn't had much time to work on the M37 because I was too busy cruisin it! I got the doors on but no limiter straps and no door glass yet. Put on about 1000 miles and all good. Gets 22 mpg on average (Canadian gallon). Here is some shots of the doors before they went on and a short cruisin video.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrMQwtoZ ... ture=g-upl
Last edited by retiredguy on Thu Apr 26, 2018 6:24 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Building a retro M37

Post by m-37Bruce »

man you are crusin'!
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Re: Building a retro M37

Post by Tuko »

simply awesome! keep the pics and vids comin!
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Re: Building a retro M37

Post by retiredguy »

m-37Bruce wrote:man you are crusin'!
that is only 50 mph. It cruises very nicely at 60 mph too. A lot of wind turbulance though. I run with the windshields open about 2 inches so it take a lot of the "woof woof" out that I get with the windshields closed. I must have something to do with the windshield being at a 90 degree to the wind.
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Re: Building a retro M37

Post by PWRWGN NJ »

I was wondering why you decided to use a leaf sprung frame, opposed to a later model coil front end. Is it because of the 12v, or do you just like the simplicity of the earlier model truck?

I was considering doing the same type swap, but use a 94-98, 2500, 12v.
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