Willys M38 A1 - "Klinger"

**pajeff02** · 08-08-2018, 10:47 AM

Here is our latest addition to the collection. It is completely outside the realm of GM muscle and I blame my brother for this one -- it is a 1954 Willys M38 A1 that we picked up a few weeks ago in western PA. We have been enjoying my brother's M151 A2 that he acquired a couple of months ago and liked the fact that we can off road whenever, and wherever, we might want. Our Jeep came with a pile of new parts and a couple of issues that I have been slowly working through...

***SMWS6TA*** · 08-08-2018, 01:25 PM

Did the clothes rack come with it?

**pajeff02** · 08-09-2018, 04:42 AM

No, unfortunately. That was where we looked at it and my brother took it for a test ride in a parking lot. New/spare parts that came with it include brake and clutch pedals, top bows, canvas top, miscellaneous brackets, firewall grommets, choke and throttle cables, air inlet hoses and clamps, radiator hoses, radiator cap (does not fit my CJ5B replacement radiator), Jerry can strap, shift boots, seat covers, e-brake shoes, shift knobs, NOS steering wheel, fuel tank grommet, instrument panel, glove box gasket, tool box gasket, replacement wire harness for distributor, ignition switch bezel, after market front bumper, and other stuff that I am probably not recalling.

And, the Jeep came to us with a name -- "Klinger". The guy's wife that we purchased it from christened it that after he brought it home from Ohio. We only have one other car with a name... and that is one that we cannot use in public.

**pajeff02** · 08-09-2018, 04:48 AM

A few more pics before the work began under the hood. This is the Willys Hurricane F-head engine that makes right around 70 h.p.

**pajeff02** · 08-09-2018, 04:54 AM

A few issues that I noticed from the get go -- the engine was making noise. Not rod knock, or anything hugely bad, but something just did not sound right. The water pump pulley was incorrect, hence it was running one belt rather than two; most of the gauge sending units on the engine were unhooked; the radiator leaked in a couple of spots and the top was crushed in; miscellaneous hardware here and there is missing; the front seat bottoms are in bad shape; jerry can and shovel are missing; it leaks oil at the front of the engine; the transfer case leaks; the brakes worked, but required some pretty good pedal effort; and the spaghetti under the hood -- vacuum lines and such, were a mess.

**pajeff02** · 08-09-2018, 06:21 AM

I started off by cleaning the oil bath air cleaner assembly and replacing the air inlet hoses. From there, I wanted to address the noise the engine was making and a valve adjustment seemed in order. Sure enough, both the intake and exhaust valves were too tight. Once adjusted and buttoned back up, the engine started faster, ran better and pulled harder.

Being an F-head, the intake valves are in the head and the exhaust valves are in the block, with adjustment being via a side cover.

**pajeff02** · 08-09-2018, 08:47 AM

Next issue to address was the engine oil leak. No question in my mind that one of the prior owners was named "Blow My Load Smurf" -- there was blue goop absolutely everywhere:

The oil leak was centralized on the front left corner of the engine so I pulled the oil pan and front cover. The oil pan was coming off regardless in light of the amount of sludge I found in the pan on my brother's M151 A1. Our pan had some sludge, but not all that bad since the pan had certainly been removed previously.

The majors that I found during teardown included a torn front seal -- pieces were both laying in the pan and caught in the oil pump pickup screen, and the bolt was completely missing on the camshaft driven gear. Fortunately, my stash of bolts included one that fit perfectly and that was within 1/8" of the correct length. You can see that the bolt is missing in the above pic. Here is the torn crank seal:

While the pan was off, I pulled out the heat wrench and straightened the nose on the skid plate before painting it.

***SMWS6TA*** · 08-09-2018, 09:11 AM

Check the cover and pan for straightness. A lot of times those old covers tend to warp or get bent. I'm betting that's the reason for so much smurf snot.

And oil change, never heard of them.....

***SMWS6TA*** · 08-09-2018, 09:16 AM

Check the cover and pan for straightness. A lot of times those old covers tend to warp or get bent. I'm betting that's the reason for so much smurf snot.

And oil change, never heard of them.....

**pajeff02** · 08-09-2018, 11:20 AM

Done. I hammer tweaked both the front cover and oil pan bolt holes and got things as flat as I could before installation.

***SMWS6TA*** · 08-09-2018, 11:30 AM

you check the block surface too? That shit is over 50 yrs old...

**pajeff02** · 08-10-2018, 02:21 AM

The block looked great, as did all the internals. I only removed the oil pickup to clean the screen once I had the pan off.

**pajeff02** · 08-10-2018, 02:55 AM

While I was toiling away on our Jeep, my brother brought his M151 A2 up to swap out the windshield to cowl seal.

***SMWS6TA*** · 08-10-2018, 06:01 AM

Just need a couple of Maxim M/32-33 MG's

**pajeff02** · 08-10-2018, 05:24 PM

I'll have to go look that up.

**pajeff02** · 08-18-2018, 08:39 AM

Work kicked my ass last week so did not get to work on Klinger at all. This morning, I removed the oil pressure sender from the side of the block to clean it up. The hard line that runs between driver side oil galley and the sender is missing and I have no idea if it works. The sender bracket is attached to the block with two bolts that had to be removed. While I am inspecting and cleaning the sender I notice coolant under the Jeep. I look and it it weeping out of the bolt holes for the sender. Someone installed bolts that were too long and broke into the water jacket. Ugh.

**pajeff02** · 08-23-2018, 02:50 AM

Since the old tractor is now back in action, I can get back to working on Klinger. I did re-mount the fan shroud and am pleased that it bolted right up to the new radiator. I also purchased some 1/2" long bolts for the oil pressure sender and cut them down on my lathe. I will probe the holes to see how deep they actually are to ensure that I do not cause further damage. As the coolant was not gushing out I am guess that the jacket is simply cracked and not punched all the way through.

**Y2KArcticSS** · 08-23-2018, 07:29 AM

**pajeff02** · 08-24-2018, 02:48 AM

Well... we have a correction. I inquired on G503 and the guys there indicated that the factory bolt holes for the oil pressure sender did in fact penetrate the coolant jacket. Go figure.