Hot Rods 1934 Willys Sedan to Ute build

I’ve been on this forum for many years and have learned a lot of tricks and tips and gained a ton of knowledge. Build threads are a favourite of mine to visit here. I figured it was time I should start to contribute one of my own.
My build will be fairly traditional in style of this forum but will not be traditional on the way people expect a Willys to be built. I have always built my cars with a nose down stance and this will not be any different.
Onto the car, I purchased this sedan out of an estate auction in San Jose about 5 years ago. My high school friend and I made a bonsai trip from Iowa to pick it up. I feel like I bought the front clip and got the rest of the car for free. It’s a solid rust free South African car. And a plus of it being a 34, my favorite year and I like the hood sides the best.

 

Never a 4 door fan I reached out to my buddy
@BigJoeArt for a quick scetch which I felt would be the easiest and cheapest way to rid it of the extra doors a raise the coolness factor.
Now that I had something to work towards I started to make room for a small block. I widened the factory K member(in hindsight I should have just make a complete new one).
I likE the looks of the factory firewall in these cars but the way they follow the rear hood seam would leave the last two cylinders covered so I pie cut it and pushed it back til it was vertical.

 

glad to see you start a build thread on this!

 

I grew up with Willys from my earliest childhood. I bought this 36 sedan from a loft in Brooklyn NY. I know 4dr. sed. are not the sexiest but I built this one to travel. My wife and I put on 13,000 miles in 6 weeks driving all over the US coast to coast and north to south. 34's are my favorite also because of those side panels.

Pat

 

Pat, you should click full size image

 

I started to brace the k member back in trying to tie the stock look of the original crossmember. I built some c channel boxing plates that tie into the k member go past the rear axle and rosette welded them in and later installed hot rivets
I will be running ladder bars and quarter elliptical springs. At this time I took some time off to finish up an OT project that needed to be finished.

 

This past fall I was able to start back on the chassis fab. I have finished up the rear suspension with the panhard bar, bump stops, and the rear shock mounts. I do need to determine axle width but will wait to get the body back so I can make sure I have the right backspace for the wheels I am building.
I wanted the rear view of the car to be unobstructed as I don’t plan on running a rear bumper. When looking at the rear you can see the 9” housing and the ladder bars mounts-no shock mounts hanging down and no springs.

 

For the front suspension I am sticking with the stock Willys axle and parallel springs. I bought a pair of Posie’s drop springs and sent the axle to Sid to have dropped.



I had a friend of mine machine some bushings to press into my early Ford spindles to adapt to the Willys axle. He also made the kingpins for me as well. The Ford spindles and the Willys spindles share the same kingpin inclination. The Ford spindle uses a much larger kingpin and the ford kingpin is longer as well



I located a set of 40-42 Willys wheels. They are 16” and have the same pattern as small Ford/Dodge. The Willys wheels are about 3 1/2 wide.



I wanted a little wider wheel that that for the rear so I ordered a pair of wheel shells from Miller Tire.



the wheel shell has an ID that was about 1/4 smaller than the ID of the Willys wheel. To correct this welded 1/8 strap to the inside of the Willys center. I had a coworker that had a lathe with a large enough swing that we could mount the wheel center on a Old Ford axle and turn it down so that I could install it into the new shells from Miller.



I have yet to weld them as am waiting to get the housing length determined to make sure I have the offset correct. The last time I did that was on model a coupe back in 1992. I mounted the wheel center to my front hubs and with the wheel shell on I used a dial indicator to make sure everything was true and then welded up. The plan is to do the same this time around. I was able to locate a set of NOS Willys caps that I will be running.

 

Wow that is one big machine . Hate to see him turning with sleeves loose , scary stuff .

Accidents happen mostly to I have done it for years . Be safe , great build

 

Guys, the feed handles are not up near the spinny parts. I don’t think his sleeves are in danger.

I really like that you are using original wheels with some mods on your Willys. Reminds me of Jerry Hagens’ 40 coupe from a couple decades ago. Subtle but powerful.

 

Good stuff Jason. I forgot about the wider rear wheels.

 

I'm not a sedan fan, and mid 30's Willys pickups are too tight in the cab. So your plan to make this an extended cab pickup I really like!

 

I appreciate the concern guys. This is not me running the lathe, but my coworker that owns it. He grew up on a farm and has been around machinery his whole life. I didn’t feel it was my place to tell him how to operate his equipment. I did mention to him that it looked like it could put a hurting on a guy pretty quickly and he said that yes you have to respect the machine.

 

I also like the '34 side panels the best. Wish my '36 had them.

 

Funny that Jerry started with this coupe that he bought in Des Moines, a 77k mile original car. And I thought I knew of all the central Iowa Willys

 

Knowing your other cars, I'm sure this one will be a knockout too.

 

Cool build! Will be following.
Love the one off or Phantom type builds!

 

] I put the body back on and have been working on the steering. Can’t show pics of that here. With little to zero room between the frame and leaf springs I went with a side steer.
I have also been working on the pedal assembly. I purchased a c10 style master and pedal assembly from Cory at RJays. I asked him not to bend the pedal assembly as there isn’t much foot room in these cars.



I wanted some detail around where the master bolted to the firewall. So I made a pattern about 1/4 larger than the mc flange and proceeded to cut my 3/16 plate with my trusty angle grinder and cleaned it up with a file,belt sander, grinders and a DA. I rolled the outside edge over and once I weld a patch in the firewall where I had to cut the bump out for the x brace for the radiator I will be able to weld the plate to the firewall. I can then brace the inside mount and then move onto mounting my steering column.

 

good stuff, are you putting any more bracing behind the firewall?

 

I got the patch installed last weekend and the passenger bump out cut out and new piece tacked in before the subzero temps hit.

I am going to build an 1 1/4 hoop to install behind the firewall and I will attach the bracing for the pedal assembly to that.

 

I’ve been bouncing around on this project. I pulled the radiator apart to prep it to send off to Brassworks for a rework. I widened the lower support and side rails to fit the new wider core they will be using.

I’ve also been working on the bracing at the cowl. I had an old co-worker/ friend that I worked with at the hot rod shop that has a tubing bender. We bent up an 1 1/4 hoop.
I removed the dash to be able to install the hoop. This needed to be removed anyway so I could install the left hand drive dash. I am adding a stiffener to the bottom of the dash before I weld it back in.

I have the hoop welded to the subrails and a brace to the A pillar. I then built some tabs to attach to the hoop to the pedal assembly.

 

Your car will probably have half as many rattles as a regular Willys, just because of that nice hoop.

 

I’m hoping it will help. When I get to the body conversion I’m going to run one behind the b pillar up about shoulder height and tie it in in front of the tires and again at the rear of the car. I’m hoping it helps. This car has a ton of flex in the chassis. I’m going to build a top plate right behind the tail of the trans on the K member.
I saw you halfway across the swap today but never saw you again. Pretty weak-but I don’t expect much from it. I did find a small base 2cg as a core for the 2x2 intake I’m going to build. Did you find any treasures?

 

Tools and sanding belts. One vintage coil.

 

I spent more on the waitress' tip for lunch at Jethro's than I did at the swap meet. But it was still a good time getting out and seeing friends.

 

W0W, dig the vision. The transformation will be solid, as shown to date.
You are 'growing' a better built car. I sometimes over look that Willys meant low price.
Plus, You have paid attention, over the years, to following the J.Journal.
Thanks

 

Some good work going on

 

Thank you for the kind words. Sometimes I get in my own way when something doesn’t look 100%. There’s a lot of talent out there and it’s hard sometimes to not compare my work to others.

 

Looking forward to more updates