Projects Oh no not another Willys Gasser build, this time a Willys shop truck

Dam that's cool Steve

 

Cheers Ponti, very light too [emoji106]

 

Had a good day today, no interruptions and managed to get a lot of pesky small jobs finished.
First job was to sort a heater fitting for the intake, I looked everywhere as I wanted a brass fitting to match the others but all I could find was chrome or stainless, so found a bit of brass hexagon bar and borrowed a 1/2"npt die off a mate and made one on the lathe.
While I was there I thought I would fit the aluminium thermostat housing I made ages ago but found both threadswere no good, so tapped them out to next size up, will have to get 12 point bolts to match the others.








Next up was the blower blow off plate, I did buy one but it was really billet looking so resold it, Made this one up and bought a pair of springs from Weiand. The other fitting is for the boost gauge.








Next job up was the weight bar, I made this ages ago but never found any rounded end caps for it, my stainless supplier found these so I welded them on, It can now be polished.
Thought I would bolt it on and then realised I hadn't cut the slots in the skirting panel, so sorted that too.














I've not had the blower drive all put together before so assembled it all and checked alignment, it all fits perfectly, just a few more bolts to order.





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Coming together nicely Steve.

 

Thanks bud, just wish it would come together a bit quicker !!!

 

Can't wait to see that Y block finished up. Steve, you are an amazing car builder. Following your build threads is jaw dropping. Much respect!

 

Must be waiting for the Halibrands to show up before mounting up those cheaters....good choice

 

Kev that's very kind of you, thank you, funnily enough I had wanted to do a Willys coupe gasser for years and it was after seeing yours that my mind was made up, thanks for that it's a great looking car.
Yes I'm really looking forward to building the Y block, never done one before so it's a new challenge, I've spoke to the various Y block experts and done my homework so hopefully I won't disappoint.

 

I'm sticking with the Radir 5 spokes Robert

 

While fiddling around with the seat I got to thinking about battery placement, I originally bought a drop down battery box which I was going to fit in the rear corner under the bed but I wasn't liking it much after thinking about it, I measured the clearance under the seat and it was a tad tight, luckily i'm using a Optima gel battery and they don't care how they are mounted so flipped it on its side and instantly loads of clearance.








Next I made up a battery box in sheet aluminium and added a bit of details to the ends, the extra layer is welded along the edges.













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While I was under the seat I thought about fusebox location etc etc, I'm not a fan of fusebox under the dash as they are hard to get to and you can guarantee when a fuse pops it will be dark & raining !!!
I usually fit them somewhere sensible like in the trunk or behind the seat or under the seat which is where this one is going, I'm using the 9+3 Universal Rebel harness kit I sell as I like to use stuff I sell, I've tried all the different makes and for price & quality the Rebel kits cannot be beat !!! They are simple to fit and each wire is marked every 6" with what it does, foolproof.

I laid the fusebox in place and decided it needed lifting slightly so made up a mounting plate from some 1/8" aluminium with 4 pillars on it to lift the fusebox 1.5"








Here's a shot of the markings on the cables.








For those that havn't seen one before this first pic is of a american fuseable link, yes it looks like a bit of wire but its actually designed as a type of fuse, Now I never use them for the simple reason you will struggle to find a replacement in England, I replace with a Maxi fuse or a mega fuse holder box as i've done here to protect everything, I will tywrap a spare fuse to this later.








Heres a pic of the terminals for the 3 spare circuits, just crimp the wire on and they click into place in the rear of the fusebox. I will be using them for fuel pump and electric fan.













Here's the proposed layout, the Rebel kit comes bundled together for under dash mounting and as i'm mounting under the seat first job I like to do is to cut off all the tywraps so i'm left with just the fusebox and the connected cables. I will add all the other cables as I progress








Here's the cables I removed, will sort them out for fitting later.








I also fitted a pair of remote battery terminals and a battery cutout switch and a 12v power socket, these are in the pickup skirt side panel just behind the cab.







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Had a change already, decided to locate everything on the same mounting plate so a bigger one was made

 

Great work Steve! Coming together nicely!

 

Thanks Eric, yours must be close to colour now ?

 

I don't often change my mind this much but here's Mk3, there won't be a Mk4 !!!





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Been taking it a bit easy this week as an old archiles heel injury flared up and made me hobble about a bit but I did manage to get the fuse board all finished and ready to plugin.








my mate Jason popped in to give me hand to remount the radiator, due to the addition of the blower the drive pushed the rad forward a couple of inches, it was either buy a narrower rad or cut into the front panel, I thought what would they of done in the old days so the front panel lost !!! I will tidy up the cutouts shortly. You can't see it with the hood shut !!!







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Got the battery cables made up today so could test the fuseboard, all works perfectly.








Next up was the new lower mounts for the radiator, made in 3mm aluminium and welded on.








Next job was to make a stainless trim around the grille opening, started with some pre polished 1/4" stainless round bar, On my coupe i made this in one piece and welded the joint but it was a real pain getting the radius's in exactly the right place so this time i'm making it in 4 corner pieces and then weld them all together.





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Very nice electrical work Langy!

 

Stellar work, Steve, as usual - do you ever sleep?!?! If you do, you are dreaming about assembling one of your projects no doubt! Now that is multitasking - sleeping and building cars at the same time! Cheers, mate!

 

Thanks mate, it will be better where it's on show

 

Hahaha cheers Ton, can you PM your number mate as I seem to have lost it

 

What a great read, think I remember seeing your coupe at pod a couple of times.

I also live 'Just north of London' whereabouts are you exactly? Really good to see details pics as parts progress not just the finished article, as they say its all in the details.

 

Watford, thanks

 

Nice electrical work, so many people just stuff it in and call it good. Can't go wrong with the Rebel Wire kit thats for sure. I used a 9+3 a few years ago, great product at a great price. Wouldn't think of using any other brand.

 

Yeah totally agree mate, I've used most kits in the past and they are all pretty good but the Rebel kits are also a very good price and I like to support Bob & Jean as they are nice people [emoji106]
It don't take much to keep it pretty neat really even though it won't be seen, talking of seeing it I'm intending to change the cable where it's seen to cloth covered cable which I will lace up as I like the look it gives.

 

You can't go wrong with the cloth covered cable and lacing, it looks so much better than tywraps. I learned how to lace wiring harness' back in the '80s and plan to lace the wiring harness in my next project, whatever it may be.

 

Mainly bench work the last couple of evenings, got the top half of the grille surround done, its held in place with small tabs welded to the back.











Spot the join








Another small job to finish was the battery clamp, Its basically a 5/8" slot, I couldn't bend it up so I milled a slot into a piece of solid rectangular bar. 2 small bolts hold it in.











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Guys in looking for a bit of help, I need to get some rear fenders, I don't want trailer type really as they always look flat & square, I'm looking for something with more of a nice curve, anybody got any ideas ???

 

My buddy's Willys pick-up runs '33? Dodge fenders. I've always liked the shape of late 40's International KB series fenders. With your skills and fab talent, you could modify some VW bug front fenders?? Run backwards, ofcourse.

Here's a International KB fender - beautiful!

 

You could always get out you paper mache, tin cans, clay or whatever else you have laying around and form some Ed Roth style