M37 Restoration (53-41242)

[Wayne Hingley]

41242 finally made its way inside today.

[Wayne Hingley]

My goal this evening was to get the fuel tank out. Breaking down the cargo box went well. I drilled most of the Phillips-head bolts out, due to the difficulty of getting enough torque on the Phillips heads to break them free after 65 years. For the most part, everything is very solid. I have a small amount of corroded area to fix where the welting was between the inner and outer left side rear fender.

[Wayne Hingley]

A bit more tear-down today. A few dents and dings, but no major issues found so far. As can be seen on the frame, few different shades of green have been applied over the years. The bottom layer on the frame is a glossy black.

[Wayne Hingley]

The fuel tank had been impacted from the bottom, and was bashed in a bit. About a month ago, I cut the top of the tank open to get access so I could press the dents out. It worked very well.

While it was opened up, I sandblasted the tank inside and out so I could apply some tank sealer. I used POR15 Fuel Tank Sealer, and it turned out quite nicely. I brusher on a couple of coats (inside and out), and it hardens up to a very solid smooth surface. I left about 1" strip around the cut edge until it was welded. Ill brush some sealer on the outside and swish some around over the inside welded seam when complete. I would use that product again.

[Alex van de Wetering]

Wayne,

Your work on the tank looks excellent! I have some similiar work on my CMP tanks coming up. Did you have any trouble with remaining fuel gasses? Did you cut the top open with a normal grinder?

Keep up the good work!

Alex

[Wayne Hingley]

Hi Alex,
I decided to do this to the tank after seeing the excellent work Super Dave did when salvaging/restoring the tanks for his carrier My first carrier: some assembly required, post176

After draining the very old yellow stale gas from the tank, I added a few liters of hot soapy water and sloshed the tank around to remove any remaining fuel. I repeated that process two times. The soap I used was a concentrated degreaser type of soap. I then left a fan blowing fresh air through the tank overnight. I couldn't smell any fuel the following day.

To cut the tank, I used a 3/64" cutting disk on an angle grinder. The thin disk leaves lust the right gap to have a full penetration weld when you put it back together. The wall thickness of this tank was 16ga.

[Alex van de Wetering]

Thanks Wayne for the extra tips on how you repaired the tanks. I have to gather enough courage to work on mine!

There is so much on MLU that I completely missed Super Dave's resto thread!

Thanks,
Alex