Hot Rods steel 41 willys gasser build

well after finally finding a steel willys {in pro street form} in fall of 2015 and then having a serious health issue in march of 2016 were starting on putting this willys back to its former glory.hope you guys enjoy! going for a 62-66 a/gs look. originally it was a c/g car in the early sixtys. starting with a few as I got it pics

 

I'm watching to see how this turns out

 

cool ...you can save it...

 

wanted to just raise front end and throw cool wheels on front and back + bolt some bomber seats in and cruise it but figured better off biting the bullet and do it right the first time {this time lol} while it sat in my garage I rounded up some tires and wheels to throw on it and put some aluminum blocks under springs to raise it up, then jacked the rear 4 link all the way up via shock mounts so at least when I was working in garage I did not have to look at it all lowered. f

 

hard HARD decision to cut firewall out but I have seen too many willys gassers with motor to far forward. so out the firwall comes along with the front frame stubs as we thought they were not worth messing with.

 

much cleaner look

 

more pics, my man randy with crazy fabrication skills!!!!

 

going to be a sbc, with 6-71 and hilborn 4 port injection setup. electronic injection because i know the true headaches of trying to run old school mech injection on the street. also a m-22 4speed will be doing the shifting. i wanted to put a olds/pont 9.3 out back as i love the one i put in my 57 chevy but after talking with dave at fabcraft {great guy} i will be in for about 4,100 plus i have to put brakes together, . just cant do that when i can get a 9 inch drum to drum for 3000 shipped with all the goodies. still wished i could have the olds rear though!

 

will post a couple more pics later tonight with more info on car.

 

Looking forward to this...

 

In the end with what the redo will cost how much is the difference for the Olds rear really going to matter? In for a penny in for a pound.

 

Subscribed , blown sbc steel willys! Great job so far !


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There are still lots of early Olds/Pontiac rear ends out there at swap meets and occasionally on craigslist. Have you checked the HAMB classifieds? There's also lots of tech here if you do a search.

 

Great build! But you should do the olds rear, like you really want.

 

I know,i know, build cost is already out of control. just trying to keep things as reasonable as possible! does not help that I am 49 and remember picking up complete 12 bolt posi and ford 9" rears in working order for 250-300 bucks.
ya know back when I was a kid.......... yada yada lol

 

I am kinda on a time crunch as I want this on the road in spring and I got lots to do. I am familiar with the olds 9.3 as I had one that I shortened and built the pig {centersection} for my 57 2dr sedan sbc 434 + manual trans. if I could find a complete olds rear axle I would use that instead.

 

randy in driver seat, checking seat position for proper arm hangout, ya gotta look cool!!! lol

 

Cool

 

I love how the fire wall came out, very simple and clean!! due to my health issues I am not doing this part of the build myself and it bums me out. even though I have plenty to do {complete wiring, gauges, motor/trans, interior ect,ect} I would of loved to do the fab work even though it would of not been as nice and would of took me twice as long. I keep posting as work goes along.
thanks Charlie,,

 

Looks like fun.I`ll saddle up and go along for the ride.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

 

Subscribed !! But I don't quite understand your balk at the Olds rearend, they are out there,
and available , and after all you're cutting up a $teel Willys !!

 

Congrats on getting project and going forward with it. good that you have someone to help you out.

 

I am the first one to say a olds/Pontiac belongs in this car. if anyone can help me locate a complete rear to work with for a fair price I am on it and will shorten and rebuild it. I do see center sections on ebay now and then but some of these prices are goofy! lets face it the 9.3 is no better than a good aftermarket ford 9, and there is only one good player out there that I know of for parts {fabcraft}. and brake parts are getting hard to come by. but like I said if you guys can help at all with finding a rear let me know!!!!!!!

 

Good save. This makes me want a Willys again so badly. I may even be apt to trade/sell a 32 coupe for one.

 

Bitchin' car!! Please use the big Pontiac rearend. Real period correct gassers ran the Pont./Olds! $4,100 is way too much and you should shop around a bit. The Fab Craft Posi Is a good choice and stock 31 spline axels are plenty strong. I have access to housings ,axels and 3rd members . But really for the extra money It is a far better choice if you just wanted to order a complete from Fab rather than the baby Ford for $3,100. But thats just my opinion.


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going with my original plan of the olds rear, but changing to ford housing ends so I can order assembled ready to bolt on drum brakes. that will save me a couple bucks and the hassle of messing with old olds/pont drum brakes.

 

started checking out rear suspension {4 link} and frame rails to see what was needed and what could be saved, decided it would be better to just scrap the whole rear clip and start fresh!

 

a couple more, man that old rear clip was some heavy duty stuff.

 

new frame rails, lean and mean.

 

body was very poorly mounted to old frame before and interior floors were crappy 22 gauge metal. new floors going in out of 16 gauge.plus some custom made torque boxes made to bolt front of cab to frame.