1953 M37 Project

[Sokoji]

Got the pistons out by punching them out from the bottom. The rings were definitely rusted good, ended up buying new old pistons and rings. Cleaned up the head and the block as best I could, honed the cylinders a bit and but it back together. Points needed replacing, checked the carb and surprisingly it was one of the cleanest ones I have ever seen. Finally after fighting it for 8 hours, flooding it badly, I finally got it figured out enough that it started and ran till it drained the bowl. Thing hadn't ran in probably 40 years. Sounded pretty good and blew out a bit of rats nest.

[Cal_Gary]

Congratulations with your monumental task on that engine!
Gary

[Sokoji]

Congratulations with your monumental task on that engine!
Gary

Thanks Gary, yeah I never thought this engine would run without a rebuild. These are pretty tough engines, compression isn't the best but enough to get it in and out of the garage.

[Sokoji]

My truck didn't have a gas tank and I haven't been able to find a tank nearby so I decided to try fitting a s10 blazer gas tank. So far it looks like it shouldn't be to hard.

S10 Fuel Tank

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Somewhat Fitted

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[RMS]

I also installed a s10 tank. fits good. alittle smaller @ 80L vs the stock 100L tank.

ive been without a fuel gauge for 15years so if you get the 12v s10 sender working with the stock 24v gauge I would like to know.

[Sokoji]

So the cab I have is pretty rusty on the floors and where the windshield attaches so I picked up another cab for free. Its better in almost all aspects except for the back since it was off the truck and sitting on its back for 20 years. I guess you get what you pay for .

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[Cal_Gary]

Nothing wrong with that! I had to replace my cancerous cab too, and got a free one from Kirt Hirte of this forum back in the day-never forgot his kind gesture; indicative of the quality folks we have here!
Gary

[Sokoji]

So I got the body swapped which turned out to be a pain by myself, but after swapping the bodies the more I looked at the back panel of the new body the worse it looked so I ended up cutting it off. Plan is to remove the back skin of the original cab. The bottom of the original cab was quite bad, the seams were bursting with rust if they didn't crumble at my touch.

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[Cal_Gary]

Youch-that's a lot of work ahead.
Gary

[RCrombie]

Good for you for going for it, but I agree that is a doozie of a job.

[m-37Bruce]

I can go along with that, IS a ton of work, hopefully your welding skills are up for the task? Are you planning on blasting anything?
Good Luck,

[Sokoji]

That's pretty much how this whole project has turned out, I bought the thing on an impulse and it's been fighting me every step of the way. I think the only thing that has worked on the whole truck is the oil gauge. I'm okay at welding but don't really have the patience for good body work so I guess we'll see if it turns out. I probably won't sand blast since the budget is super tight, probably will just wire wheel it and replace the rusted out parts and treat and paint it.

[RMS]

big job, good progress! 50g 3m twist locks on a die grinder are your friend. they are so much faster than a wire wheel and less likely to take out an eye. also a wire wheel will polish more rust than it removes. twist locks are also great at blending steel and hiding poor welding skills. also the high nickle content of the m37 body will help with the welding skills.

they seems spendy but I have stripped an entire Datsun510 with less than a dozen 3m 50 grit

I also recommend not removing the stock red led primer. there is nothing on the market today that compares

[Cal_Gary]

I used flapper wheels in a drill for much of my interior stripping-worked wonderfully but time consuming. Probably my most-hated task is stripping off old paint.
Gary

[Sokoji]

Thanks for all the suggestions on better ways to get rid of the rust, I'll have to try them out sometime. I got the skin off the original cab, its in a little bit better than the one its replacing but still not all that good, the more I look at it the more I think I'll just do the minimum on the cab and just look for a more pristine cab.

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