M37 Restoration (53-41242)

[Wayne Hingley]

Finished with painting for now. All the body parts, other than the cab tub and doors are painted and stored.

The remainder of the truck is back inside for further disassembling. As usual, I have fallen well behind my desired timeline.

[Bob Carriere]

Never worry about the time line............ years from now you will still be tinkering on it to add some details.....besides until it is completely fully finished it keeps you from starting another vehicle....

Bob C

[Wayne Hingley]

Good point Bob... another vehicle project is exactly what I don’t need. I already have a couple of trailers lined up that need a bit of work to get on the road. My biggest problem is space for all the M37 parts scattered everywhere.

[Wayne Hingley]

Another small step this morning.

[SteveJ]

Hey Wayne did you do your sand blasting down at Consolidated in Calgary. I thought your pictures looked like a familiar place. Nice work as usual by the way.

[rob love]

Originally Posted by Bob Carriere

Never worry about the time line............ years from now you will still be tinkering on it to add some details.....besides until it is completely fully finished it keeps you from starting another vehicle....

Bob C

And add to that statement that when you finally do finish it, it will all be downhill from there. The first scratch, the first dent, the first breakdown, the burned out headlight.........

[Wayne Hingley]

Originally Posted by rob love

And add to that statement that when you finally do finish it, it will all be downhill from there. The first scratch, the first dent, the first breakdown, the burned out headlight.........

Yes, I don't expect that I will get bored. There always seems to be something to do.

Steve: Yes, Consolidated Compressor is the spot. Its so nice to have unlimited air and sand. I sold my sandblaster because it was so frustrating waiting for the compressor to catch up, and then stopping to dump another bag of sand in the tank.

[Wayne Hingley]

The most widespread issue on this truck is the aged and damaged wiring. Almost every single wire has bare sections where the insulation has dried, cracked and fallen off. If I bend a wire, the insulation immediately disintegrates. One large power cable for the slave receptacle was routed in such a way that it was pinching between the brake peddle arm and the floorboard. It would be a fairly major (and frustrating) undertaking to replace a vehicle wiring harness without removing and stripping the cab from the frame. For me, one if the things I’m looking forward to is getting all new wires, fuel lines and brake lines on the truck.

Some examples of crispy and damaged wires:

[Wayne Hingley]

Lifted the engine and transmission out yesterday. Unfortunately I need to go away for work, so it will be a couple of weeks before I can get back at this.

[Wayne Hingley]

At some point someone had a need to cut a crude series of 4” to 6” holes to create a passageway from under the drivers seat, through the back wall of the cab, through the front wall of the cargo box, and then through the cargo box floor into the tool storage area. I have no idea what it was for. Some of the holes were cut out with a torch, and some with a mechanical cutting tool (possibly something like an air chisel). The holes were not pretty.

I repaired the cargo box floor and front wall many months ago, and finally started on the cab repairs.

A few photos of the tunnel of holes... I’m puzzled by this one.

[Wayne Hingley]

This is what the holes in the cargo box looked like.