'52 m38a1 v6 sm465

Hi guys! I've started a resto/mod on my M38A1 and have kept finding myself referring to this web site for info. So, I decided maybe I should start a thread of my own. There is tons of good info on here and maybe I can give a little something back to another person in need!
First off, sorry to you die hard military guys, I'm sure what I'm doing may turn your stomach a little! I've been at this since January 2011, so i'm into this project a little already and will try to catch everyone up! This Jeep was overall in great shape until I spun a main bearing in the 134. That's when i came up with the current plan, Buick 225 V6 for a little more power and i was always looking for another gear, enter SM465. This will look as close to the original military when I'm done with some drivability upgrades, motor, trans, front disc, 11" rear drums, saginaw power steering, hydraulic clutch...
I really want to post pics, i got hundreds of them already, but can't figure out how!! Can anyone help me with this?? Not real good with the computer, the fact i've made it this far is suprising!! Thanks for any info and i'll post pics as soon as i can and catch you guys up!

 

I am also doing a M38a1/V6/SM465 project, upgraded axles and rear tank.

I am using a Chevy engine, not the Buick however.

http://www.earlycj5.com/forums/showthread.php?74891-In-the-beginning

As to posting photos, in reality you do not post them here, you put them on a site that specializes in hosting photos, and you link to the photo using the icon above the window where you type the message. The icon looks like a square with dots at the corners. Hover your cursor over the various icons, and one of them will say "image". You copy the URL of the hosted photo and then paste it into the window that opens when you click the "image" icon.

I use "Picasa" to host my photos, free site, and excellent software to manage your photo collections.

http://picasa.google.com/#utm_campaign=en&utm_source=en-ha-na-us-bk&utm_medium=ha&utm_term=picasa

There is a sticky on this forum as to the procedure. and here is another lesson from a different forum, that also uses the same software.

http://www.vansairforce.net/articles/ImagesInForums/images.htm

Good luck

 

Thanks for the pic info Mike! I'm gonna try it right now. Looks like you got a fun build! I'm gonna keep my eye on it!

 

Well, lets Try this. Should be a pic of the jeep the day it rolled into the shop!

 

It looks like i got it! I'll try one more for a better size. Here is the 225 V6 I picked up. Heard it run and it's got an hei, Edelbrock 4 barrel carb, and a spare motor that came with it!

 

Started with a 2 wheel drive SM465. Gonna use Novak adapter and new main shaft kit.

The first step was to get the chevy trans, out of a 1978 3/4 ton, to fit the bellhousing. I believe it's a buick bellhousing, not sure from what. The bolt holes line up, but the input shaft retainer is too large. with the pieces i have, i couldn't machine one or the other to make them fit, i had to machine a little off of both bellhousing and input shaft retainer. Retainer is turned to 4.995 and bellhousing id opened up to 5.000. Also, i had to get rid of the 4 hex head bolts holding the input shaft retainer and replace with 4 round allen head bolts.

Now the pieces fit.

 

The next step is to get the trans mounted to the original Dana 18. This is where the Novak adapter came in. I didn't know you had the change the mainshaft for this conversion.Oh well, i guess i'll learn a little something! This is one of those times you get soo far into one area, it would be foolish not to go all the way, so, yes, i will be replacing all the bearings! Trans was not too hard to get apart. Got the case hot tanked at this point, just to start all the way from scratch.

All the internal parts look solid. None need replacing. The size of everything is amazing in this trans compared to the old T90! I don't think i'll ever have to worry about braking this!

After painting the case with eastwoods chassis black, it was time to reassemble.

Novaks instructions are very good. i needed that. Having a 20 ton hydraulic press really helped. I removed everything from the old mainshaft and tried to keep it all in order. One trick i learned, if you are replacing the mainshaft bushings, which for $10 each i think you should, a hammer and a cold chisel will crack those babies right off. I can't remember exactly, but i think the third and fourth gear syncro hub and gears all come off the front of the shaft, and the first and second hub needs to be pressed off the rear. It took me a minute to figure that one out. You can see the boss on the old mainshaft that will not let the hub slide forward. right in front of the splines int the middle of the shaft.

Shes all back together now! I used a wax-based assembly grease that i got from Novak on all the bearings and syncos for the initial start up. Thats the blue stuff you see in there.

 

Now i'm getting into the transfer case. Not quite as lucky on this one as far as the internal parts go. This is the original transfer, so i guess not bad for being 59 years old!

I struggled a little with the front bearing retainer due to not knowing about the pill and some burrs on the end of the shifter rods. I think i got lucky getting it off, maybe someone could tell me the proper position to have the transfer in when removing that cap. It may be useful later down the road! Again with this one i got whole rebuild kit from novak. When i got inside i found the intermediate shaft was totally worn out, so back to novak for their o-ringed intermediate shaft to try and keep leaks to a minimum. That thing was a pain to get the o-rings into the case! Lucky they gave me 2 extra as i tore one. Is there an easy trick for those things? Next i found the main output shaft and i believe the high range gear were shot, so i replaced those too.

Had to get the case hot tanked as well, and began assembly. Instructions were a big help again and i used that same assembly grease for bearings and any sliding surfaces. Checked the output shaft end play, and using the original shims, with a light coat of silicon between them all, the shaft was right on the original specs. I believe it was around .008. Someone correct me if i'm wrong. Don't wanna give out bad info!

The finished assembly, ready tho be mated to the SM465 via the adapter plate.

 

Here is the adapter plate. So far i am happy with novak. All parts have been right and the quality seems really good!

Just waiting to be put together!

With some careful sanding and trying and retrying, i finally got the two to fit together! I did have to shorten the pin that holds the shifters on as it stuck out too far after the sanding.

Here they are, all together!

 

The last part of this puzzle is getting all 3 pieces together. On the first try, with the bellhousing bolted to the motor, i could get the trans almost all the way in, but it stuck back about 3/4 of an inch. With a little force it went together. After reading a little on novak site, they explained how the check if the bellhousing was centered on the crankshaft. I thought i'd check it just for kicks. I thought there was no way it would be off. I was wrong once again. They were misaligned by .016. I believe it needs to be less than .005. From what understand this helps reduce wear on the input bearing and some other benefits as well. I picked up a set of .007 offset dowels from summit racing and got it within .003. Now this time the trans went in smooth and all the way!!

I'm not sure if i have the right throwout bearing in. Does anyone know which bearing i should be using with this set up?

 

Time to get the old tired girl out.

Out she came!

Now it was time to make room for the V6. got rid of all the ross steering, getting ready for the saginaw setup. With the motor/tans/transfer stillon the ground, i figured this was a good time to get started on the motor mounts, while I still had room. i know i can buy them for novak or advanced, but this was a god place to save money, and it's fun! i started by making the piece of the mount that bolts to the block out of 1/4 steel. Just tacked it all together cause i'm not sure how it's all gonna work!


Passenger side.

Now that i got the motor in, i can figure out how to build the rest of the motor mounts. The motor sits about 1 1/2 inches toward the driver side. Even though the V6 is a small package, it is kinda tight when you take into consideration; the new steering shaft, firewall clearance, driveline length, shifter location, radiator clearance, front axle to oil filter clearance, front driveline clearance, exhaust routing, etc... At this point i decided i didn't want to cut down the original radiator mount or relocate to front crossmember, so i will be using an electric fan for cooling.

 

Very interesting and cool.

 

Thanks oj! It gets more interesting, i promise! From here, i took a piece of 2" x 2" 1/4 wall tubing and cut one side off then welded it to the plates i had made for the motor. this is the passenger side.

I used the aluminum blocks clamped to the frame for mock up until i could figure out how to make the frame pieces.


Here's some pics of where the motor ended up sitting in the engine compartment.


After buying some rubber bushings from novak, here is what i came up with.

I leveled the motor side to side, but it's got a very slight rearward lean, due to the fact the front axle, at full compression, would contact the oil filter. After i was happy with the rest of my clearance issues, this is what it ended up looking like. Passenger side

Driver side

 

It's going to be a thing of beauty! Awesome so far.

 

Thanks posi! Can't see real well from the pic, but what did you do with your front fenders? I like the look! Got any closer pics? Good call patrick! they're upside down so i can still read the firing over if i go *** over tea kettle!!

 

With the motor in place, it was time to move on to the trans mount. With the thought of keeping it as original looking as i can, i wanted to use the original crossmember. I made some lowering blocks out of 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 solid bar. This gave the trans enough clearance to the floorboards, and kept it tucked up as high as possible so i wouldn't loose too much ground clearance. This also allowed for a pretty acceptable driveline angles. I think the rear is around 15 or 17 degrees and the front is much less. I picked up the trans mount front novak, it bolts directly to the bottom of adapter plate. If i had put the mount in the original location on the crossmember, it would have had to sit almost 5" lower than stock. so i moved it to the rear lip of the crossmember. The original mounting hole for the crossmember to the frame also were in the wrong spot, so i drilled new holes about 1 1/2" back. You can see the original front mounting hole in this pic.

The issue i had with putting the trans mount on that piece of the crossmember is, that piece was not designed to carry that much weight. When i lowered the trans, that piece flexed more than i was ok with. So i came up with this the strengthen the crossmember. Now it doesn't move at all with all the weight. It's just some 3/16" plate gusseted to the stronger piece of the crossmember.