> Sounds like the original tank rusted and someone felt compelled to fix it
> with a junkyard discovery tank. When you get your stock tank together, be
> sure to watch out for short dip tube syndrome. A serious problem (at least
> that's what the ladies say). Oh, I'm gonna get in trouble again!
> Steve Johnston
Actually, there is hardly any rust on the vehicle (except a couple of isolated spots, such
as under the battery box), so I suspect that someone managed to punch a big hole in the
original tank and installed an automobile fuel tank. I'm now in the process of obtaining
the rest of the original-type fuel system parts. I have a very good OE tank and the filler
neck for it is coming soon. It kind of surprises me that there wasn't a skid plate for the
tank on the M37 series, considering the ruggedness of the rest of the vehicle. Several of
the M37s that I've seen have dented fuel tanks.
I mentioned rust under the battery box. That's my current project. I carefully removed the
rusted area of the floor under the battery box, trimmed the opening out to good solid
metal, and ground the edges nice and straight and square. The next step is to have a
replacement panel fabricated. I took careful measurements and will make a drawing tonight.
I'd do it myself, but I don't have a bending brake (I had a small one that could handle
18- or 16-guage steel a couple of feet wide, but I lent it to someone a while back...'nuff
said). I'm keeping an eye out for a good used bending brake that can handle 16-guage,
48-inch steel sheet. They're extremely handy.
While I'm on the subject, here's a good TIP for people with basic bending brakes that
don't have radius adjustments: Get some sheets of "dead-soft" aluminum in varying
thicknesses and place an aluminum sheet between the metal you are bending and the brake
fingers. The dead-soft aluminum is extremely easy to bend and doesn't overtax the bending
brake, but it increases the radius of the bend on the metal underneath it. The thicker the
aluminum sheet, the larger the bend radius. In fact, in some ways it is a superior method,
since it produces a nice uniform radius and doesn't scratch the steel.
QUESTION: Does anyone know of any pre-fab replacement floor panels for an M37?
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