Gary forwarded these updates on his CJ-5.  See an earlier post about his jeep here.

“I first want to say the NP435 transmission was a challenge but it was worth the work. It shifts very well. I like the extra low first gear and reverse. In one of the pictures you can see the transmission cover with cup holders I made. I took and modified an electrical box and covered it with spray on bed liner then, I used the same boot that I had on my T90.

I decided to go back with stock manifold on my exhaust. Lawrence uses a good method instead of using a Y-pipe he uses a dual flow muffler with two inlets and one outlet. I am much happier with this. It puts all the fumes out the back and is a lot quieter. I will send you a picture of the build Lawrence is working on which shows this application. After looking at his, I took my Jeep to the same muffler shop and ordered a duplicate.

The master cylinder reservoir works nice as well, you can see it on the driver side in one of the pictures.

I added a detachable Reece brand tow bar, the brackets are on the front bumper.

I am finished working on it until cold weather comes again. I have some axles out of a parts Jeep that have 3.73 gears. That will be my next project.”

Below is the exhaust system Lawrence has installed on his jeep.

Jeri Norris contacted me today wondering if I could help her track down a jeep she and her husband sold in the early 1990s.

She writes, “I’m looking for a jeep we sold over 20 yrs ago. It’s a 1948 Willys flat finder. At the time it was sold it was blue with white top. On the driver’s side we had the name Bill and on the passenger side the name Jeri.  We called it Whiplash. It was powered by a V-8.  I believe she was sold to someone in silverdale WA. I’ve been trying to find her for over 15 yrs. Any help would be great. Thanks.”

So, if anyone recognizes any of this info, let me know.  Jeri and Bill jeeped in California as part of the Kangaroo 4wd Club.  They moved up to the Puget Sound area, bringing the jeep with them,  and then sold the jeep.

Here is one picture:

Gordon built this foldup/folddown back seat in his CJ.  If someone is interested he will provide plans for $20.

FEATURED JUNE 2010

As promised yesterday, here are images of Claus’ Brother’s CJ-2A. Really great work!!

Claus writes, “I also promised you my brother’s nut and bolt restoration of his late 1947 CJ2a. Both of us are very fond of these vehicles – a passion that developed from a simple photograph of a CJ2a that my grandfather had on his farm in the early 1950’s (Photo attached). As we grew older our quest started and we both started searching to only find the right vehicle some 12 years later.

Parts are always a problem as they are not readily available in South Africa. The majority of parts are refurbished originals – although 60 years old, these are usually still more durable than any reproduction parts you can buy these days. When we didn’t have the right parts, we were always very happy to order from Walck’s in the US.

I am not going to give a description of the restoration – I believe the pictures speak for themselves. Perhaps it must just be mentioned that he is a bit of a perfectionist. As you look at the chassis note the nickel plated parts ….“bling” … they were purposely not painted. All elements that could get damaged by brake fluid or a wrench have been plated. The only other thing that is not quite standard is the positioning of the spare wheel. He liked the view of a complete wheel arch and the thought of a wheel’s weight on the body was a bit daunting to him, hence he opted for a M38 style spare wheel mount. He has gone through great efforts to save the body – again body parts are not available and having to ship these to Africa would have cost a fortune. So this is the best he could do with the limited access to parts.”

Below is the front housing assemply:

Here’s the rear assembly:

Here’s the chassis assembled:

Here’s a closeup of the front assembled:

See many more pics here by clicking the link below ….

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Jeff has been a reader for a couple years.  Recently he shared some images of his jeeps along with his story.

“In 1970 I bought a 1943 GPW and had a lot of fun rebuilding.  After a few years I sold it and bought a 53 3b.  Living in Denver and having the  Jeeps I couldn’t wait for snow just to try out the 4 wheel drive.  I sold the 53 CJ-3B in 1992 and I always regretted selling it.  I bought the green 46 in 2004. but I really wanted another 3b so I bought one out of Wyoming that was disassembled in a field.

That is the turquoise 3b in the picture. Of course I had to buy a trailer to haul the 3b back to Denver.   I saw a add in craigslist for an original 57 3b so when I went to look,  it wasn’t 100% original but close, so I bought it as well.  The blue 2a I sent you picture of I got after a friend told me he knew a guy with an old jeep. So, thats how I ended up with that one.   I wanted disc brakes and gear reduction starter and electronic ignition. These parts added to the fun building the blue 46, It starts easy and stops great!”

Larry has begun doing research on his M-38 that he has begun to restore.  However, the only numbers he has so far are his hood numbers.  Based on my research, I couldn’t find any pattern between hood numbers as a tool for determining an exact VIN number.  So, we thought we’d post what he has in case anyone has other ideas.

Larry writes, “I realize that hood numbers were put on in random lots but it is possible that they were put on sequentially. I am narrowed down to 32 serial numbers producd for 6-52 and they begin with MC71350 -MC71382 and I know four of those numbers are assigned to M38s on another website data base My hood number is 20945312. I want to find anyone with a 6-52 M38 with numbers above or below this hood number. If they will contact me by email so I can get their hood numbers and serial numbers by seeing which way the serial numbers go as compared to the hood numbers I may be able to figure out my number. yeah its a long shot and there are those that said it cant be done that way.

Now I dont know much about the way things were done by the Willys factory but I did get assigned to a military paint shop and we were tasked to take all the vehicles we had just received straight from the factory and repaint them camo with all the numbers done in subdued black. We all had to keep records of the vehicle, the serial number, unit number as assigned, etc. While doing this I noted that the serial numbers went up consecutively and the registraion numbers assigned all went down.

So, if there are any owners of Army M38s with DOD of 6-52 and hood numbers above and below and close to the hood number 20945312, please send an email to loop_m@hotmail.com and please put M38 REQUESTEDINFO in the subject line.”

Wade shared these two photos with me yesterday.  He writes, “We were walking a site in Mission Hills of San Diego and saw this jeep at the end of a cul-du-sac in an older house’s driveway.  Also is a shot of my nephew and their jeep.  Thought it was just a good jeep shot.”

Here is his nephew and their nice looking flattie.

And this is just sad, even for a DJ . . .

Flint got this modified wagon as part of a trade with a reader named Dan.  Since that time he’s been doing some additional suspension changes and having some fun with the paint job.  His faded school bus art fooled me into thinking it had been there for years.  Thanks for sharing Flint.

Gary sent me an update on his CJ-5 project.  Thanks for sharing Gary.

Gary writes, “I wanted to share a few pics of my project. I am very close to putting my body back on. (hopefully this weekend)

Also, I included a couple pics of an idea that I have for the old style master cylinder. I always hated having to unbolt the plate to check the fluid.

This is my solution- I took the cap and drilled and tapped it to 1/8 pipe threads. Then I took a small drill bit and opened up the vent hole that is on top of the cap so it could be filled with a JB weld type material. I threaded a tubing adapter to the top of the cap.

I purchased a fluid reservoir off ebay for around $10, this has a cap with a modern style vent and your brake fluid can be checked at a glance.

I don’t know if anyone else has tried this, but I see no reason yet why it will not work, but I will let you know if I have problems with it.

Today, Jim sent me some pictures of his CJ-5 and a recent trip along the outskirts of Tucson.  Thanks for sharing Jim!

Jim wrote, “A few pictures of me and my wife running around in the Rincon Mountains east of Tucson,AZ. There are a lot of forest service access roads around the area. Some are easy, and quite a few are challenging. Our Willys is mostly stock. The only thing not stock and original is the engine and a Warn overdrive. It is a Ford 289 donated from a totaled Mustang. The rims and tires are from a 74 CJ-5 that I sold a while back. I still have the old rims and tires for it in my garage. There is no lift kit on it. The tires on it now are too big, but we like the look. Just have to be cafefull to keep the fenders off of the rubber LOL!!”