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

Thanks man, the flanges i get cut by a mate that does laser cutting, i'm sure there will be somebody in the states doing the same.

 

Steve, The headers and exhaust work look fantastic. What a great job, and it looks like you are making very good use of the space you have. Very well done!! Mikey

 

Thanks Mikey.

 

Thanks Steve, yea theres all kinds of people that do that stuff around here. Keep up the good work.

 

Looks good as always Steve. I´m very impressed and you have inspired me and my project a lot. The result of your coupe was fantastic.
/Mike

 

Wow thanks Mike, we all need a bit of inspiration at some point, glad I helped.

 

Not much done this week but I did get some exhaust mounts made, the pics will tell the progress, got the system done back to the rear wheel but need to decide now if I go side exit or out the back.
I went with a bolt in mount as it was easier. Had to enlarge the existing holes in the frame to 3"

















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A bit more progress while I wait for the laminator to do his thing, popped into my mate Brians engineering shop to use the folder to do an aluminium tank, got chatting and mentioned I had to make a pickup bed, why not do it now half hour later walked out with 2 x 16swg bedsides , Initially went with a 6 foot long bed but got home and tried it in place and realised a 5 foot would look better, so hacked a foot off, interesting little tip was that although the top angle looks to be 45 degrees its not, its actually 55 degrees.
To get the roll on the top was way to expensive so i ordered a length of 1" OD x 16swg bright CDS tube and will weld it in place, could be a tricky job !!!

Seriously thinking of bonding the stake bed pockets on instead of plug welding.







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I'm in a similar boat as you right now, with reproducing a bed. I have a '60 Willys pickup, but the principle is the same.

My original bed was shot, but there was enough of it left to grab all the dimensions from it for a replacement. I figured that since a repro is about $3500USD (before shipping, duty, welding, painting), I could get one made locally for a lot less. I designed a bed in CAD and got the following for $350.





There are a few other bits and pieces that arent in the pics, braces and stuff, but that's most of it. I wont have the corrugated floor but for less than 1/10th of the price I can live with that.

I hear you on the rolled top, and was considering going the route you are with the tube. I'm not sure why, but I decided to do all the math and figure out the radius and the steel I would need to roll it myself (still haven't figured out a way). That's why mine has the extra along the rails. I guess soon we'll find out which of us made the better choice

Your bed sides look great, always nice to start with some new steel. I'm curious to see how it turns out for you

 

Yours is looking good, I found someone to roll the tops but it was out of my budget as this is gonna be my shop truck, luckily I have a friend fairly locally that has a hotrodded 40 truck, although it has the stock long bed it has been useful for dimensions.
I'm not going to get to wrapped up in getting everything exactly right and I shall be making my own bed cross rails in my own style, as long as it looks right I will be happy.
I also couldn't find anyone to fold the corrugated floor so I will go with wood and bed strips.

 

With all the SUV's in wrecking yards around, and considering how well protected the floors in back are; I'm wondering if the corrugated floor of a large SUV might not be a good donor to use in one of these PU beds?
I have a friend who is rebuilding an OT late 60's Suburban, and they originally had a plywood floor in them. He wanted metal and found a Ford full size SUV floor had plenty of material to easily do the big Suburban's floor. Even a small import PU bed floor might be good, if you found one that wasn't beat up.

 

Seem to have spent a lot of time today but very little to show for it !!! I bit the bullet and finished the tailpipes out the side, had to make a mount for it, bit simpler than the front mount, Got 2 rubber mounts up front so one is fine in the rear. just a piece of stainless bar scooped out to fit on the tube and drilled and tapped to take a old style Mini cotton reel mount. all bolt in for simplicity.














I also started to make an alternator mount but didn't take any pics, I was originally gonna stick with the original generator but I feel the alternator will be more reliable for a driver.

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Vall I think over in the states you would have more luck finding an undamaged floor, That was what I had in mind for my bed floor but everything I have seen so far is either really rusty or beat up

 

Steve - very clever way of attaching the exhaust hanger. I will give that a go.

I was also thinking of exiting the exhaust for my Modified just in front of the rear tyres pointing down in order to avoid all the problems of working it through the rear axle, panhard rod etc. I know that some people are saying that'll be a problem but that's the case with every Caterham 7 I've driven and you don't really notice it.

 

The cotton reels have to mounted in compression Geoff, they won't take the weight in tension, small and neat though.

 

It was like summer at the weekend so some progress was made, I ordered some tube for the bedsides and it arrived in time, I knew right from the start welding the tube to the top of the sides was gonna be a pain and also a 2 man job, so I got my mate Gary to help out, I like working with Gary as he knows what he's doing and don't keep asking "why are you doing it that way "

First job was to get the tube tacked in place, it was cut longer than needed to allow for somewhere to clamp the ends. Welding 16swg sheet to 16swg tube is always a challenge as the tube tends to bow, Tig was out of the question due to the heat involved so we both decided to Mig and quench each weld as we danced around the joint.

We tacked it every 10" while checking with a straightedge first








Then clamped it to a piece of 2" x "2 box section, we were both convinced if we laid down 1/4" welds by dancing around in lots of different places and quenching with a damp cloth as quickly as possible every thing would be fine Here it is unclamped after cooling but when we checked it for straightness it had bowed very slightly, I can correct this with a touch of heat and a damp cloth later as it isn't too bad at all.








We decided on the other side to try and predict the bow by using a 1/4" packer in the centre and 1/8" outers and only clamp at the middle & ends, we used the same welding & quenching procedure, result was it came out perfectly straight when unclamped







Next job was to sand down the welds and metal finish it all.










Heres the bowed side and below the straight side










Here they are all metal finished and ready for the stake pockets to be welded on.










Next job was to mark out and drill the holes so the pockets could be plug welded in place










To protect in between the seams 3 coats of Epoxy primer were applied. then the pockets were clamped in place, and thats as far as it got until next time.







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Thats some very fine metal work !

 

Looks way better than an original bed side! Very nice Steve!

 

Dragged my Mig welder out tonight, use it very rarely these days, everybody wants to see Tig these days, Anyway plug welded the stake bed pockets onto the sides and sanded down the welds, it will need a thin skim of filler (gasp shock horror !!!) to sort it out straight as the sheet pulled around slightly.
I also went and collected the front panel we bent up that I forgot the other day, thats the next job to sort.







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Not sure about that Vall but thanks mate, would of loved an original bed but not in this budget

 

Picked up the front panel I had left at the machine shop and last night made a start on it, first job was to prepare the tube that gets welded to the top edge to be the roll, I like the idea of having a bolt each end on this to anchor it to the bed sides so first job was to cut the tube to length and turn up a couple of weld in bungs with threaded holes in them.








These were then welded into each end of the tube and the welds smoothed out.








Then the tube was tacked to the front bed panel the same way as we did the sides, this is where I realised I had my a slight error I had measured the tube but not allowed for the 2 thickness's of sheet either end so each end was slightly shy school boy error but thats what you get for rushing








I found an easy solution though, well 2 easy solutions, the first was to split the tube and extend with a piece of solid, the 2nd was easier so went with that, a standard washer was the same thickness as the sheet and with one side trimmed was a great fit








The washer was tig welded in place and sanded smooth, no one will ever know










The sides had to be drilled for the small bolts that hold the front panel to the sides, so measurements were taken and the sides drilled.








Today I took it all outside to see how it looked bolted together, looks pretty good to me








The open ended tubes on the sides were bugging me so I turned up some stainless bungs to cap them off, nothing fancy but practical.









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Great build thread Langy. I have a pair of those Radirs, 15 x 8 x 5" backspace we scored from ebay a couple years ago for $200. I really like them, and always thought it would be cool to have the lettering guy put a spider & web on one of the spoke "gussets". Please get ahold of me when your ready for pistons, can't put some crappy ole cast jobs in a build this cool. Ric.

 

Thanks for thumbs up Ric, The radirs came my way by accident really, I was looking for 8 x 15 rears but beggars can't be choosers and at the price I saw them at decided to make them fit.
When I get closer to pulling the Y apart I will get hold of you, thanks

 

Great metal work as usual Steve, looking good. Love the progression! Hope to come and visit you again soon and see the new project in real life.

 

Seem to have been hard at it today but achieved very little Started to make up the tailgate but all I got done was the hinge tube and brackets.

Brackets go into urethane bushes in the ends of the tube which forms the bottom of the tailgate.











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Not sure about great Eric but its certainly ok, Look forward to seeing you buddy, always a pleasure.

 

Geewiz Langy. You have a plating business in your backyard!?

 

Hahaha, no Ric I made them in stainless steel and polished them, I'm not have much shiny on this truck but I think the rear of a truck needs some highlights.

 

Fooking brilliant, really enjoying this.

 

Cheers Bud, I'm having fun !!!