Choppa 63 M37 B1 (BUILD UPDATE)

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choppa
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Location: Clayton, OK

Choppa 63 M37 B1 (BUILD UPDATE)

Post by choppa »

Hi all.. I have asked a lot of questions over the last year and a half, and learned a lot from your replies. I thank you all

I am finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel if you will :D

As you all might remember, I bought a 1963 M37B1 out of Missouri in the fall of 2013.. It was a good deal, I think, with a great body. I thought it was decent mechanically, which it is with the engine and transmission, transfer, front end and diffs and all, but the brakes and fuel lines I found out were not so nice..

As its at my remote cabin/workshop, it has caused me enough grief in terms of time, lack of parts supplies locally on site, lack of services like sandblasters and automotive techinical advise, helping hands as needed, etc.

And in the process of all this time, I cut some corners to get this thing on the road so I could enjoy it finally! well cutting corners, as I should have learned, does not work!
after some setbacks, I am doing this complete and thorough.

I finally went and bought and installed a complete aftermarket armoured fuel/vent line set... I am / was tired of the carb / rust issues even after the complete fuel tank reline and new in tank stainless steel fuel filter. The lines and the fuel pump were a mess with old rust sediment, so bad, it basically ruined a perfectly fine rebuilt carb by clogging it all up again! argghhh

Now with a NOS carb, NOS fuel pump, brand new armored fuel and vent lines installed, new flexible fuel hoses, newly relined gas tank with stainless steel inside tank filter, new sending unit, that part of the system is 100% done.. and now reliable.

to all who have NOT done the job of replacing the fuel lines, its near impossible to do with the truck totally assembled. its pretty tight fit in the frame rail, also under the radiator. So to make my life easier, I disassembled the entire front end sheet metal, as well as removed the radiator and supports, frame to engine heat/road sheilds, generator, etc. anything that was in my way.

this allowed me the opportunity to not only get at the lines easier, I could also degrease and clean and re-paint all these previuosly unaccessable areas of the truck. it was a mess for sure. Man does it look nice now :D

while the whole front end was off, it was now the best time to also replace the brake lines...I decided to at lease attack the front brake lines. I already replaced the master and front brake cylinders last year, but again didnt get to the brake lines themselves. Now was my chance.. that I did, all the way back to the master..it was the best time of course because the radiator was out, and the fuel lines bundled and ran together with the brake lines at this point in the left side frame rail.. perfect time to address, which I finished last weekend as well.

while all the engine was this torn down, I decided to detail the engine a bit. I took off each vent line and cleaned to bare steel, and coated with a clear engine enamel to keep them from rusting.. I painted the engine block and accessories.

Last weekend I also rebuilt the distributor... I replaced the capacitor and installed a new pertronix kit, new capacitor to wiring harness unit, and installed new spark plugs and a new fresh set of plug wires.

After re-assembling the radiator and all other parts, I fired her up.. timing was off a tab, but after a slight adjustment, she started on the first rotation of the engine! man is it smoooooothhhh! :D

Now.. this coming weeekend, I plan to finish the rear section of lines from the master back to the rear brakes. I already tore out all of the old brake lines, tees and flexible brake hoses and old rear wheel cylinders. I degreased and repainted the rear axle, rear backing plates, frame areas, etc in preparation for this weekend. By the end of this weekend, Ill have a finished brake system too.. at that point Ill have a 100% NEW brake system: all 4 cylinders, master, all new lines, flex hoses, etc.

BTW.. I took apart each rear hub to replace the cylinders. damn.. much like the fronts, the rear brake shoes are practically brand new... and no oil or grease on them... so ill be using the brake shoes.... nice....my hubs all look good too..

anyway, thats my update! By this time next week ill finally have a driving truck.. heck, its only been a year and a half or so :oops:
Attachments
m37_rear.JPG
m37_rear.JPG (122.69 KiB) Viewed 1776 times
m37_engine_3.JPG
m37_engine_3.JPG (146.8 KiB) Viewed 1776 times
Last edited by choppa on Wed Jun 17, 2015 11:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
52 M-42
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Re: Choppa 63 M37 B1 (BUILD UPDATE)

Post by 52 M-42 »

Rome wasn't built in a day, and these trucks can take awhile to restore correctly.

It's always nice to have these trucks running, but it is much nicer to have them running and dependable.

Congratulations on completing those two projects; it a very good foundation on which to continue improvement.
T. Highway
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Re: Choppa 63 M37 B1 (BUILD UPDATE)

Post by T. Highway »

Congratulations on the progress so far, glad to hear that she is running smoothly now. All good things take time.

How about some pictures??

Bert
1952 M37 W/W Rebuild @ 59% complete
Engine rebuild @ 95% complete
1985 M1009, 1990 M101A2, 2008 M116A3 Pioneer tool trailer
MVPA # 24265
NRA Life Member
NRA Cert. Personal Protection Pistol Instructor
NRA Cert. RSO
Class III RSO/KCR
choppa
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Posts: 144
Joined: Tue Dec 03, 2013 9:37 am
Location: Clayton, OK

Re: Choppa 63 M37 B1 (BUILD UPDATE)

Post by choppa »

added pics to original posting!

I know, I know.. the rims are still blue on the rear drivers side :oops:

gotta get the rims cleaned up and painted next
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