Willys M38 Build

So the screen was completely stripped and the more paint and bar work removed the worse it looked. I first removed the centre cross brace and replaced it to keep things square. I removed and made new sections of lower frame as the old ones were rotten just above the forward bend for about 150-200mm. The section below the vent was removed right across at this stage too. We flattened out the old bottom section to get a basic shape for the new one and cut it out. Then dummied it on to see how well it fit. Don stepped in as master manipulator of metal and got some nice curves going on along the cowl edge. Two monkeys in a Jeep Nest was to hammer weld the bottom section and another couple of patches in. Don to the rescue again with  his pretty welds - kind of important as I'll be able to see the backs of them every time we go out! Next a bit of a clean up where I'd tacked panels, drill the cross braces for the wiper motors and then ...

The view from Dons MB on our weekend away So after a little interlude over Christmas (lucky enough to have a certain friend lend me his MB so I could tag along on his weekend away) I'm back in to it. I need to get the windscreen frame all sorted so we can get the roll cage to suit. I had started to modify a Mitsubishi Jeep frame a while ago but an Auckland guy came through with a genuine CJ3A one so I bought it sight unseen. He wasn't tech savvy enough to send me pictures but rated it about a 8/10 if a brand new one was 10/10. Either his eyes aren't crash hot or he has low standards but whatever - I bought it and now I need to make it pretty. I swore I'd never manually strip anything again but I figured the blasters aren't going to be open until next week so what the hell?    I'll need to replace both cross bars as I go and there is a heap of small holes in the panel steel where water must collect along the bars. Also the actual fra...

Been toiling away on the body - bog, sang, bog, sand, bog, sand and so on. Lots of thanks to both Don and Dave for their labour. Once that was done I laid another coat of the pink etch on before a coat of high build primer to pick up sanding marks and things.  After that another sand then green everywhere!  If you look closely at the body you can still pick up imperfections here and there but overall I'm happy with it.  The old girl has certainly had more attention than the real M-38's back in the day would have had.

Once again no posts in a while.  That doesn't mean I haven't been doing anything though.  The chassis has been finished and painted: I finished stripping the body tub, etch primed the whole thing and painted the underside and fire wall in olive drab: I stripped all the old paint, primer and underseal with wire brushes, strip discs and sanding discs as sandblasting concerned me in regards to panel distortion and to potential cost. Anyone reading this please just take it to a blaster and deal with what you get. There are so many parts you can't get to without a blaster. This has to have been the most time consuming and least enjoyable part of the build.  In saying that I am happy with how it's come out. Because the body was going to take a while to do, I took it home to deal to it. Today was exciting as it went back to Dons to be sat back on the body and from here on out it shouldn't have to come off again! The M38 foreg...