Seabee M38A1 Build

Looks great!

This is not at all a criticism, just a question... with the boots that high above the shifter pivot for the t-case shifters, do they allow enough throw to fully engage? (And not pull it out of gear?)

And I guess this is a general M38A1 question, what is the removable plate on the passenger’s floor for?

 

I've checked the throw of the shifters and they don't move that far at all... Time will tell if everything has enough clearance... I've gone for at least an inch or so where stuff might move...

I have no idea why there is a removable plate there. I know the voltage regulator is down there on the chassis, on the inside of the engine compartment. But I can't imagine pulling that cover to work on the voltage regulator...

 

Heater access panel? I've never seen heater in one of these so I have no idea...

 

Probably just remove it for engine heat.

 

I probably shouldn't be left unsupervised...
I got to the point on my build where I felt like I could take it all apart and finish alot of the little jobs along the way that haven't quite got done...



So I tore the whole thing down in about 4 hours... This way I can do alot of the tedious jobs coming up like running fuel lines and brake lines, exhaust and other stuff...

 

Bad weather is coming build a big fire in the stove turn up the tunes and get busy with it..

 

I have Thursday and Friday off, otherwise I'll be out there amongst it all...

 

After this week you probably need some good shop time to destress

 

So this is how my Thanksgiving week started... This was Tuesday evening on Interstate 5 at about 5-10 miles per hour...

Just north of the city of Weed there was sustained 60 mile per hour winds and heavy snow... Behind my patrol car was about 5 miles of cars and trucks stuck behind the jack knifed truck... He was trying to get by without all the correct chains on...
There was another 500 vehicles stuck on Hwy 97 trying to go south. They predicted a snow cyclone bomb for over a week, but of course nobody bothers to check the weather where they plan to drive through and make plans to accommodate...

 

Today I managed to get out to the shop and get the tub turned over so I could clean up some ugly...



With all the modifications to the floor of the tub I had some sharp edges and unfinished welding to take care of.



That's better... It's not perfect, but good enough for the underside. I just don't want to cut my hands up working on this thing...



Next up is enclosing the bottom of the tool box...

Thanks for checking it out, laters

 

[QUOTE="tymbom, post: 1527972, member: 25772" They predicted a snow cyclone bomb for over a week, but of course nobody bothers to check the weather where they plan to drive through and make plans to accommodate...[/QUOTE]
People get mad at highway patrol when you close the road, they think you don't trust them to make it....... people get mad at you when they get stranded, they think why would the highway patrol allow us to get stranded.....
You just cant win....

 

Mmmm more CAD.... I really should be using thinner poster board for this stuff, but this is what I got laying around... Besides, I always cut the parts oversized, then trim them to fit...


Part one...





All done... Or so I thought. It wasn't until I moved the tub over to the corner and stood it on its side that I noticed I had forgotten to put captured nuts on the four holes you can see in the pic...

Moving on to the chassis....

 

Making headway... I've finished all the welding on the top side of the chassis and stripped it down...



The bottom is all done as well... I used a bunch of half empty cans of primer to cover everything up... I'm also started on building a cross member under the radiator. It's not going to be for reinforcing the frame, but it's going to route the passenger side brake line over to that side and I plan to mount a power steering fluid cooler there as well.
Thanks for checking it out guys. Laters

 

Moving along... I fabbed the crossmember power steering fluid cooler mount brakeline bridge thingy... It got kinda ugly when I was cutting the big holes in the web, but it'll work out.

Steering box arrived... This one is for a early 70's Chevy Impala, so it has the slow steering ratio and the 4 bolt mount. Also some of the innards are a little bigger...

The way my steering box mount worked out I have to have the driver's side leaf spring out in order to access two of the mounting bolts. I don't have a picture of it anymore, I think photobucket killed all the photos in the first part of my build... I can snap another when I'm putting it together.

I need to drill and tap the steering box for hydraulic assist before it gets bolted on...
I've done some research and bought the wrong tap... For those that don't know, NPT threads are tapered. The problem is that when you drill and tap a steering box, the fittings push outwards on the casting and can cause cracking... So after doing more research I have found the correct fittings to use.

These fittings just need a little countersink for the O-ring to seat on. And Surplus Center has the hoses to match for like ten bux each... That makes it super easy to carry spare fittings and hoses... I might even have the tap already. So maybe this weekend I can get the box tapped and mounted back on the chassis so I can start reassembling this thing... Thanks for checking it out, laters

 

Drilled and tapped the steering box... Notice the depth of the hole... I was kinda freaking out because I thought I was drilling into something important... It finally broke through to my relief...



If anybody does this, I would advise taking the box apart. I didn't and I'll probably have to take it apart and reseal it down the road. I greased the drills and taps, then I cleaned the holes out with magnets, then squirted some brake clean in the holes while holding it upside down... It looked pretty clean when I was done, but who knows...

All done and ready to bolt on. Now that I'm ready to start putting parts back on the frame, I fixed a major snag on the rear axle housing.



I cut the ring and drain plug off. Then played over the hole with a piece of 1/8th inch steel. I welded it on inside and out, then smoothed it over...



Then I relocated the drain plug to the back side of the housing.


The drain plug needs to be tapped a little deeper, and I might weld a little piece of tubing around for some armor. I'm.not too concerned since I'm not much into hardcore rock crawling and stuff... I'm off for 4 days this weekend so hopefully I can get back to having a rolling chassis... Thanks for checking it out, laters

 

All the images are showing up as broken links.

 

Hmmm... I can see them okay...

 

Me too

 

Spent an hour getting the rear axle centered... Don't pay attention to the pinion angle, that's just a wild guess. I'll need to set the pinion angle when I get everything out back together and a driveshaft and stuff. I'm planning for a CV shaft, so it will be pointed at the transfer case...



The main reason it took so long was the huge webbing on the axle housing...



I clearanced the U bolt plate and made plenty of room. I'm currently thinking about eliminating the U bolts on that side and running some big bolts and a plate welded to the spring perch... We'll hafta see...

 

I know the pictures are gone from the beginning of the thread... The great photobucket disaster of whatever year that occurred is responsible for that...