1954 Dodge M37 Restoration Project

[Blue Chips]

^ The arctic heater for series Land Rovers ran straight off the block 2" pipes thro the passengers footwell to the heater between the seats.
The ducts are for the screen demister and were an off white, but then in Theatre the whole Land Rover would have been painted white, inside and out.

The military Land Rovers were fitted with leather gaiters to protect the front axle swivel seals.
Were the Dodges fitted with anything like that?
Looks like you would have to replace the whole axle to fix damaged swivel balls.

I can see where white overall would be appropriate for arctic/winter operations.

The correct name for the heater kit that I have is "Hot Water Personnel Heater Kit." It's quite a job to install, but it comes with 17 pages of detailed instructions. The kit components are shown below:

Here's how the heater would look when mounted on the left front fender (wing):

As to the steering knuckle, I'm not sure if there was an option for a boot/gaiter to cover the ball. I've never seen one, but then again, it seems I'm always discovering specialized options for these old beasts. Perhaps the designers thought that a protective boot or gaiter could trap or hold moisture, with consequent rusting, or maybe they just wanted to make the unit easier to service in the field. The steering knuckle seals are easily replaceable without having to remove the steering knuckle from the axle. Here's the setup:

 

[Bobupndown]

I rather like the distinctive odor of old military canvas. For me, it's a nostalgic smell that reminds me of camping trips when I was a kid

Know exactly what you mean, old musty smelling Scout tents, happy times.

 

[Robotstar5]

Know exactly what you mean, old musty smelling Scout tents, happy times.

They weighed a ton when wet, memories of them strung up across the scout hut to dry out. Getting promoted to patrol leader sounded good until you realise you had to sleep at the door end of the tent and act as a draft excluder for the rest of the patrol

 

[Blue Chips]

More stuff arrived for the brake overhaul. 1/4" copper-nickel brake line, stainless protective spring sleeves, stainless fittings, brass couplings, stainless hold-down clips, etc.

I have several tubing cutters, but I thought I'd try this 'constant tension' cutter to see how cleanly it cuts small-diameter copper-nickel tubing. I haven't tried it yet.

My old exhaust manifold was cracked, and a botched brazing job (not by me) had ruined it, so I ordered a reconditioned intake and exhaust manifold set, which just arrived. The seller sandblasted the manifolds, painted them with high-temp primer (which will need to be heat-cured), chased the threads in all of the bolt holes, installed a new heat riser valve and gasket, bolted the manifolds together, and surface-ground the manifold-to-block mating surfaces for a nice flat fit against the block to help prevent distortion and cracking. I have a set of special fasteners for installing the manifolds, which include new studs, washers, tapered nuts, and tapered brass washers. I could have done the reconditioning myself, but the price I paid for the reconditioned manifold set was lower than what I've seen used exhaust manifolds in as-is condition selling for, so I'm not complaining.

Because I can't do any real work in the storage unit, I'll be switching back and forth between working on the brakes and working on other components that I can haul over to my workshop to tinker with.

 

[Blue Chips]

I dug through many boxes of books and managed to locate most of my official manuals for the M37, including the manual for the the M37's T-245 engine, which I thought was lost. I think there are still a couple more manuals waiting to be found.

The T-245 engine (230 cubic inch) was used in lots of military vehicles. If I recall, the early T-245 engines were only 78 hp, but by the time my M37 was built, it was up to a whopping 94 hp! The T-245 in my M37 has several interesting features. For example, it came from the factory with a forged high-carbon steel crankshaft, hardened alloy exhaust valve seats, and a totally waterproof ignition system...impressive for 1954, I think.

There are some ways of coaxing a bit more power out of the engine, but I plan to leave it stock, except for a breakerless ignition setup that I adapted to fit invisibly inside the stock distributor. More on that later.

 

[Blue Chips]

I was planning to restore all four of the original driving/stop/blackout/signal lights. The lights looked solid and easily restorable on the outside. Here's the face (or "door" as it's called) of one of the taillights: Note the very small red stoplight lens.

However, the lights were badly corroded inside. These are supposed to be "waterproof" lights, but that no longer applies if someone replaces a lamp and doesn't bother to install the rubber O-ring or replace a damaged O-ring. These obviously must have had water in them for some time. The one shown below is actually one of the better ones.

Because the lamp sockets and socket mounts are (AFAIK) specific to these lights, and because I haven't been able to find any replacements, I decided to make a minor modification to the vehicle and order some "upgraded" lights. These are used in the later M-series vehicles, and while they're not round like the originals, they still look 'military.' They're made of some kind of composite plastic, and I think that they're waterproof. One big plus is that the lenses are much larger than the tiny lenses of the original lights, which should vastly improve the visibility of the lights. They will be painted Marine Corps green to match the vehicle.

I think the rear lights will work with the original mounting brackets, but I had to modify the front turn signal mounting brackets by extending a round hole into a slot to make room for the wires to pass through. A few minutes on the mill took care of that.

Grit blasted, primed, and ready for paint:

I'll keep the old lights, just in case I ever find some proper replacement innards for them.

 

[Ton-up]

Change those horrible screws on the new ones too

 

[Blue Chips]

Change those horrible screws on the new ones too

Yes, that's already in the plan. I need to check to see if the original captive straight-slot screws will transfer over. If not, I can at least use straight-slot screws that externally match the originals.

 

[Blue Chips]

It looks like I might be able to use the original round lights after all. I just found...and ordered...four repair kits for the lights that include the internal parts, as well as 2 large amber lenses and 2 large red lenses. I was able to disassemble two of the lights with no issues, but I'll have to drill and easy-out a few small internal screws in the other two lights, which shouldn't be too hard, as I've done lots of those over the years. The repair kits should arrive by the end of the week, and I'll post any progress. If it goes well, I should be able to return the unused late M-series lights.

 

[Blue Chips]

I started cleaning up the M37's light body castings today in preparation for the repair kits that I ordered, which should arrive by the end of the week. I began with a light that had pretty bad internal corrosion. The small screws were rusted solidly in place. My first efforts to persuade them to depart were in vain. No amount of penetrating oil, applied heat, or yelling would budge the little buggers. Finally, I resorted to drilling. A few screws surrendered peacefully to an easy-out, but the others put up a good fight and had to be removed in pieces. I ended up tapping the holes to a slightly larger screw size (10-32) to get clean threads. Next, I inserted some old screws in the newly tapped holes to protect the threads and fired up the sandblasting cabinet, followed by a coat of self-etching primer. The exterior turned out great, and the interior came out better than I expected.

Before:

After:

Now I have to do three more of them.

I also managed to salvage all of the original captive screws that mount the light 'doors' on the light bodies. I soaked them in acetone for a while to loosen the paint. They will still need a bit of cleanup with a soft wire brush. Most of the slots are still in good shape; only a couple will need a touch of filing to clean them up. When working with straight-slot screws, I always use a hollow-ground screwdriver of the correct blade thickness and width to avoid damaging the slots.

 

[marlinspike]

Re rusty nuts. I've just bought this, Normfest Super Crack Ultra. Only bought it because it was cheap, £7.39, but will be interested to see if it is any improvement on the usual sprays.

Normfest Super Crack Ultra - Ice-Rust Remover 400ml | Car Parts 4 Less

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[Blue Chips]

While I'm waiting for some parts to arrive for the lights, I thought I'd turn my attention to the wiring for a while. I have one new wiring harness for the M37, a good reproduction that I bought several years ago. It was expensive then, but I was amazed to see how much more they cost now. Fortunately, the one I already have is the most complex and expensive one.

Main wiring harness:

The other harnesses are still available as reproductions, but they're not cheap. I could easily spend hundreds for the rest of the harnesses. However, I already had a lot of the tools and materials for making new harnesses, so I think I'll make the remaining ones from scratch. The original connectors are mostly "Douglas" metal-shell type connectors with a 'bullet' tip/contact/terminal that's supposed to be crimped with four indents, one at each of the 12, 3, 6, and 9-o'clock positions. When properly made, these connectors are waterproof.

Parts of a Douglas connector:

Douglas connector assembled:

Crimped indents:

To do an accurate job, I wanted to have the appropriate crimping tool(s) for making up the connectors. I already had a crimper that would 'probably' do the job if push came to shove, but I got a very good deal on a crimper that I've read is supposed to be more appropriate for these connectors. I found a nice old crimping kit (maybe from the 1960s?) that's based on the Buchanan 10692, mil spec MS3191-1 crimper. I read somewhere that this crimper is called a "controlled cycle ratchet crimp tool." The kit includes three different "positioners" and three go/no-go, gauges. The positioners are used with different wire gauges to control crimp characteristics such as crimp depth and point of ratchet release. The kit even has the original instructions and warranty/registration cards. It's all in nearly new condition...just a bit of patina (NO rust) and very little evidence of use, and from reading the instructions, it appears to me that nothing is missing. I suspect that the extra holes in the case are just for future expansion/options. In typical usage, two of the three positioners are stored in the hollow handle of the crimper for quick access.

Nice wooden case:

The contents of the kit:

Crimp tool with three positioners:

Go/no-go gauges:

Crimp tool features:

I'll post more images as I start to use the new tool. I'm also looking at a second type of four-indent crimp tool, which uses an adjustment knob instead of positioners for crimp depth and ratchet release. More on that later.

 

[Bobupndown]

Fantastic connectors but it's gonna take a hell of a time to make a whole loom full of them.

 

[Blue Chips]

Fantastic connectors but it's gonna take a hell of a time to make a whole loom full of them.

Yeah, it will be a bit tedious, but the other wire harnesses (or looms if you prefer) are quite a bit simpler than the main harness, so it shouldn't be too bad. Some of the wiring will be non-stock, since I plan to add or modify a few things, such as a better turn signal unit, electric wipers (currently vacuum operated), brake system failure warning light, a keyed ignition switch, a bed light, etc., so the OEM-type wiring harnesses would have to be added to or modified anyway.

 

[Bullet2012]

That looks very similar to the modern Deutsch connector crimp tool.
Maybe not a lot has moved on.

Deutsch Crimping Tool 14-18 AWG Cables for D-Sub Contacts Connectors Terminals | eBay

D-Sub Crimper has adjustable pin height locator. 4-indent crimper for 14-18 AWG cables. Applications include printer connectors, joystick connectors, video connectors, analog connectors and electronic connectors.

www.ebay.co.uk

 

[Blue Chips]

That looks very similar to the modern Deutsch connector crimp tool.

Similar crimping geometry with 4-way indenters.
Production-grade crimp tools such as used for Deutsch DT connectors can be crazy expensive, such as these or these.

 

[Wildefalcon]

Proper work.

 

[marlinspike]

That crimping kit and its box is a thing of beauty.

 

[Blue Chips]

The taillight repair kits from Army Jeep Parts arrived yesterday. They look good, and I think they should work well. One had been sprayed with cosmoline (or something similar) as a preservative and had to be cleaned, which was easy enough to do. I plan to paint/touch up the divider plates in white before installing.

For mounting the kits inside the light housings, I obtained some new rubber grommets (for what I assume are vibration-isolating mounts) and made some thick-wall copper grounding sleeves to go inside the grommets, which originally had thin-wall brass rivets inside them. More photos to come when I have time to work on the lights.

I also ordered 200 feet of M13486/1-5 14-gauge wire, which should be a good match for the original wire. It has thicker insulation than typical primary wire, and the resulting outside diameter should provide a proper fit with the rubber waterproofing sleeves inside the connectors.

 

[Blue Chips]

I've made a bit of progress on the light and wiring restoration work for the M37.

I've started stocking up on supplies:

Supplies also include a bunch of Douglas and Packard connectors for both 14- and 12-gauge wire. I have 200 feet of the correct mil-spec 14-gauge wire (which is more than I need, but the price was good), and I plan to order a smaller quantity of 12-gauge. The thicker insulation on the mil-spec wire provides a large enough outside diameter for the rubber parts of the connectors to seal snugly against the insulation.

After blasting and priming the light 'cans,' I painted the insides white with the idea of boosting the light output a bit. I installed NOS internal parts in two of the lights. For the other two, I salvaged some internal parts from a couple of used lights that somehow had never leaked over the years, so those parts actually looked newer than the NOS parts.

One of the lights (below) is shown with NOS internal parts installed. The new parts are a bit tarnished, but not rusty. They came without the rubber shock-isolation grommets, so I installed red silicone grommets with internal zinc-plated brass spacers inside the grommets to make the grounding connections through the grommets.

The light below is shown with a set of the used (but like-new) internal parts installed. These internals are a bit different from the original ones in my M37's lights, as they use a different shock-isolation design, but just eyeballing it (I'll measure it to double-check), the bulbs appear to be in exactly the same positions as the originals, so I don't think there will be any functional/performance difference.

I also worked on some of the light mounting brackets. Below is a photo of the right-rear bracket. It's solid but rather bent up, and the Douglas connector clips are toast. I dismantled those parts and straightened them (not shown).

The next image shows the left-side light bracket parts after removing a welded-on license plate holder and straightening the bent parts, but prior to prep and paint work.

The photo below shows the above light brackets and a few other parts after straightening, blasting, priming, and painting:

I have amassed an assortment of light 'doors.' These include a few NOS doors, a couple of good used ones, and a nice repro door. Whichever doors I end up using will be prepped and painted matching Marine Corps green.

I also obtained a couple of amber light doors/lenses for a "Gama Goat." These fit the original M37 light cans perfectly, and would provide a larger illuminated area and probably an increase in visibility. The downside is that they don't have a pure-stock appearance. I haven't decided if I'm going to use them or not. If the visibility is greatly enhanced, I'll probably use them in place of the original light doors/lenses. At least it would not be an 'invasive' change, since there would be no permanent alteration involved, and the original light doors could be swapped back in minutes. I also have a pair of red Gama Goat lenses on order.

Among the supplies I've ordered are a number of 24V LED red and amber bulbs in several different size and pattern variations. I plan to experiment with various LED bulbs (as well as the original incandescent bulbs) in combination with the stock lenses as well as the Gama Goat lenses to see which combinations appear best to me in terms of brightness, beam pattern, viewing angle, etc.