1952 M37 CDN Restoration

[R1830]

Here you go Andy.

[RMS]

ya just forward of the 230 mounts. rad bracket mod, hood trim and toss the filler from rad to grill.

nice to see you have the stock t249 251cid "Long block" L head with 21 head bolts and a 25in long head . that 251 weighs in @ 610lbs bare and 845lbs with accessories. the 251cid has a compression ratio of 6.6:1 a 3 7/16th bore with a 4 1/2inch stroke and a rod ratio of 1.75 to 1. four mains support the 31 1/32nd inch long 90lb high carbon drop forged crank. a six blade fan, sodium filled valves, bronze guides, stellite seats. a brass water distribution tube.

I see most of the hardware removed from the manifold are the long ones through the exhaust being a pain ?

rebuilding the 251 ?

[R1830]

Hi Robyn, thanks as always for the pointers. The long bolts through the exhaust might be a pain, I just haven't got to them yet. Was busy taking off the other hardware and getting the cab prepped for removal. Now that it's off I'll finish stripping the engine down and hopefully get it pulled in the next day or two. From what I was told by the previous owner the engine was a 0 time rebuild from military stock and he put very little time on it. That said while I have the truck apart it seems prudent to at least have a good look at it and see if it is as advertised. It was running a couple years ago and turns over nicely now. If you have any advice or parts I'm always open to what you have to say.

[ashyers]

R1830,
Thanks for the photos. I'm now kicking myself for not picking up the 251...

It looks like a swap would be pretty easy. I picked up a copy of the David Doyle Dodge books and there's a bit about a 251 powered prototype for the US. It was canned for a variety of reasons, but I guess it lived on up in your neck of the woods!

Andy

[R1830]

Not a lot of photos lately as the progress hasn't been exciting. Steadily working away at getting the frame stripped down. Finally got there today. The plan is to straighten the rear crossmember on Sunday and then it is off to be sandblasted, primed, and painted.

[Cal_Gary]

Excellent work! I still need to do that with mine.
Gary

[R1830]

More work done today.
Got the banana bend out of the rear frame crossmember, also straightened the front fuel tank support and ground the rivets off to separate the front and middle crossmembers so the sandblaster could get in there to clean them up.

And got the frame delivered to the sandblaster. This time next week she should be cleaned, primed, and painted.

[R1830]

All primed and waiting for paint.

[RMS]

no messing about there! what have you decided to use for paint ?

[Jess]

Looking good! Lots of grinding to get those riveted pieces off, but they won't be a problem after you prime and paint. Once you get the rest of the parts and have them done, it will go back together nicely.
Thanks for posting the pics.

[R1830]

Thanks guys. It is a 2 part epoxy primer and 2 part epoxy gloss black paint that is going on it next. I'm getting it done through the local heavy truck repair shop where I have some contacts so the paint is whatever they use there. They say it hold up well on their trucks.

[R1830]

Quite a bit has been done in the last couple months.

Frame is all painted up and back home. The paint is armourshield.



Also stripped out the old cab so I can get it out the door and bring in the new one.

Front and rear axles are apart as well. I'm going to pull the axles from the parts truck and see what kind of shape they are in internally then do a parts order while the axles get blasted and painted. Hoping to be back on a set of axles by summer.

Got the rims all cleaned up and repainted as well and mounted Yokohama Geolander M/T+ 315/75R16. CHarles T used them on his builds for a while and had good things to say about them. Tubes and flaps were hard to find but eventually an old tire guy came through.

Tubes, flaps and tires may also be available through universal vintage tire:

https://www.universaltire.com/catalog_f ... ize=900-16

[k8icu]

Nice Tires. Can you post more information about them?

[R1830]

A bunch of progress since the last post but I didn't have photo hosting figured out again until now.

There was a lot of priming and painting done over the summer:



Springs were all taken apart, cleaned up, fixed loose rivets and broken leaves and then got new hardware:



Built up brakes with new wheel cylinders.



Back on 2 wheels, front axle was rebuilt with new seals, gaskets and bearings etc.



And back on all 4 tires, rear axle and hubs also rebuilt.



Running boards straightened and repaired. There is still some minor pitting but I'm planning to put bedliner on them so it shouldn't be visible when done.



My truck has lockout hubs, they are different brands but functionally the same. They were looking pretty rough so cleaned them up:



Then finally got the engine up on the stand. It was apparently overhauled and installed shortly before the truck stopped being used 20 ish years ago. I did get it running when I bought the truck but I still want to have a look inside and clean it up. Upgrades planned here are electric fuel pump and electronic ignition.

[Kaegi]

ya just forward of the 230 mounts. rad bracket mod, hood trim and toss the filler from rad to grill.

nice to see you have the stock t249 251cid "Long block" L head with 21 head bolts and a 25in long head . that 251 weighs in @ 610lbs bare and 845lbs with accessories. the 251cid has a compression ratio of 6.6:1 a 3 7/16th bore with a 4 1/2inch stroke and a rod ratio of 1.75 to 1. four mains support the 31 1/32nd inch long 90lb high carbon drop forged crank. a six blade fan, sodium filled valves, bronze guides, stellite seats. a brass water distribution tube.

I see most of the hardware removed from the manifold are the long ones through the exhaust being a pain ?

rebuilding the 251 ?

are you sure the Canadian 251 has the sodium filled ex valves and bronze guides? i have only seen that in industrial and larger truck mopar flatheads. Never in a 1 ton or under truck engine. but, I have never pulled a Canadian M37 version either one and looked inside. . that would be awesome if they do. you could never burn a valve!