Projects Gene (Moonlighter) Cromer's A/G Willys Resurrection

I was able to get the pics from yesterday to come through this morning I thought they were gone for good. This one is the almost finished firewall Still some sanding to be done. The out side sheet metal pieces will be painted, the aluminum will be polished like before. It will hide the front bars good when a complete engine is installed I think the bar that shows in the pic will hardly be noticed.

 

I've been getting a few emails asking how I made the end caps on the dash so I thought I would show some details on the top for the shifter cover it's going to be made the same way.I have a lot of different dolly's that I have made over the years to do different things this one is round on one corner and has an angle on another for rolling a lip.

 

Here's the dolly in being used to roll the lip in the rounded corner. I'm to be the photographer and metal man at the same time.

 

The same dolly using the bevel to roll the straight side.

 

The finished lip all the way around.

 

A test fit in the car.

 

From the other side you can see why it had to have the odd shape to clear the linkage. It would have been a lot easier to have mounted a newer model cable shifter in the Moonlighter be we know that ant going to happen. This is the shifter that was in the car when it was parked.

 

Now for the top cap. It's a little easier to roll this lip. I made a die for my bead roller to do this I think you can buy these it's called a tipping die but they are easy to make. It's just a flat surface on the bottom and a rounded edge on top you just tilt the metal how ever much you want your lip. It can be used for a lot of other things also.

 

The finished top.

 

Now you just weld it up then sand the weld back off. When doing it this way you should weld the back side also if not it will crack later. Most of the top will be cut out I'll just leave a small lip to bolt a removable cover to later.

 

The other side there is still some final sanding to be done but it was getting late last night I was beat.

 

This is some great workmanship!

 

Incredible craftsmanship !

 

subscribed!!

 

Not much to post today I've laid out and drilled what seamed like about 1000 rivet holes. Did a lot of filling and sanding the edges of the sheet metal trying to get ready for final assembly. Here's the trans cover with the hole cut for the shifter it had to be this big to come off around the shifter. I'm thinking about a removable panel that will bolt to the top to fill in the big hole if I have time. Remember this side looks odd to clear the linkage.

 

The other side

 

Very cool, it's all in the details...

 

Looks like a 65-66 Mustang shifter.

 

BITCHIN tin work Quain!! Chris

 

That's right early Mustang it's the one that Gene had in it when it was parked. It looks like there was some work done to the notches to change the shift pattern but I don't know what a stock one looks like in that area.

 

Very nice Quain. I love this thread.

 

These wheelie bars were put on the moonlighter around 67 or 68 I think. Gene can tell us for sure. They are made from an old leaf spring.

 

This is what I came up with to mount them. If we have time we are going to build a set of bumper mount wheelie bars also that way we can set it up like it was in the early 60s for shows.

 

I got a good start on the panhard bar mount. We are going to use the original mount for the other side it's still on the chassis.

 

It's been over 40 years since these wheelie bars have been hanging under the Moonlighter. Now they are back home.

 

ya bringing it back quain. fantastic work!

 

I discovered when I put my dad's car back together that when you dig these old parts out and hold them up to the car you don't really expect them to still fit but I was amazed at how many of them just fell into place much easier than I could imagine. I think Quain will agree that rebuilding an old car like this using as many old parts as you can does seem to go faster somehow. Maybe it is because you don't keep second guessing yourself when building a piece, mounting a bracket, ect. It is already done and you just need to put it back. Hard to describe but it seems kinda magical... like the car is helping you and wants to race again..especially when you are there alone with it.

Sorry if I meandered off there for a minute...carry on..

 

Your right sometimes it does feel magical like if the car could talk it would say thanks. It's neat to be able to see the effort that was put into this car over 40 years ago when times were a lot different.

 

love this rebuild---great craftsmanship

 

Quain.. OT but will you be at ZMAX in April? A bunch of us are coming down. We will make that one of our in the pits stops. Again great work. Your real reward will come at Henderson.