Projects Willys PU build....from sedan panels.

Shades of deja vu there Kev, looking cool already.
Looks like you've got a Willys pickup production line going on there.....lol.
Are you going to build this pickup to keep for yourself or sell on again?

My next job on the truck is going to be a straight axle install, I remember you pointed out that the axle on there at the moment is a little too wide and may be a bit weak to take too much abuse from wheelstands so with the extra horsepower I've got I think it's time, so I got the tubing already and will be making my own in the next couple of months.
Might need some old school wheelie bars too.
BTW when I pulled the old 396 from the truck I stripped it before I sold it on, it was a really sweet motor.
Turns out it was a .030" over '66 Chevelle motor, steel crank too. The guy that bought it from me put it in a SS Camaro so it's found a good home.

Ray

 

Hey Kev, in the picture of the engine mounts, can you tell how long is the motor mounts and the degree of angle that you used, I like the looks and I need to get my engine up some so that the fan is more in the center of my radiator, also do you have any idea what those header came off of, I like the way they come together and dump down and go on back to the cab. It would be great if you would share that information. I really like the way you build the Willy's that you are involved with at the different times you build, your work is nice and clean but engineered well. Keep up the great work. Thank you for your time.

 

man I would love to own that truck

 

I couldn't ask for a better guy to do the work on my truck than Kevin !!

 

38 2 dr sedan...... I have no clue what those headers were made for. As for the engine mounts, measurements and angles won't help you. If you need your fan higher then block your engine in place where you need it and grab some cardboard and scissors and make a pattern of the shape you need for your situation. When I made those solid mounts I never measured anything, you just make an accurate pattern and copy it to steel and weld in place. On Tonys truck I just copied the engine height from my coupe, the center of the crank is in line with the top of the front crossmember. I always try to make things as basic as possible so a triangular plate bolted to the engine and a piece of round tube between is about as simple as it gets. This works for solid mounts. For rubber mounts it's the same principle, just bolt the mount on then bolt a piece of tube in the mount and grab the cardboard. also, the sides of the frame are boxed with 3/16 plate.

 

Ok, I see where you are working on of for a location point now and that makes good sense, Using the top of the cross member will move my motor up from where I have my motor located right now and that will move my fan up to the location that I need, then I can build my mounts from there. Thank you for the help, will be looking forward to some more posting on the truck build.

 

Looking great Ray, I reckon you will see an 11 on a good track pretty soon

 

Nice job Kev

 

Cheers Steve, will find out this weekend Are you joining in?

 

I needed some new interior door handles for the truck but they don't exactly grow on trees this side of the pond so decided to make a couple out of aluminum, milled them to shape and broached a square hole in the middle, thought I'd make some inserts to cover the square out of phosphor bronze to go with the copper theme of the interior, not exactly period correct but functional.

Also someone at the track slammed the passenger door and the lock fell to pieces, after further investigation I realised it was just old and worn out so I searched on Ebay for a replacement.
There were no Willys door locks but I found that '37/'38 F*rd are identical and I found a guy in Florida selling a couple of NOS ones for $55 a piece, lucky day eh shipped to me in under a week too.

 

Hey 9sectruck, this is good to know I haven't got that far on mine but if I need to replace mine now I have an idea what I can use, as I remember mine work so might be ok, but it is always nice to know what can replace something. Thanks for the idea.

 

Nice trucks!

 

This past weekend I took the truck to Shakespeare County Raceway for the first round of Gasser Circus.
This would be the first time out on a prepped track so kept a soft tune in the new motor, there'll be plenty of time in the future to lean on it a bit harder.
Came away with a new pb of 11.43 and 117mph and didn't break anything.
But the cool factor went up about 100% when I also came away with these babies
8.5" x 15" American Racing 5 spokes that match the front wheels perfectly fitted with a pair of virtually brand new Radir M/T piecrust drag slicks, probably won't do much for my 60 ft times but they look perfect on the truck.

 

Getting very close to actually being a "9 second truck"

 

Looking good ray I don't know about the radirs but the towel city tires seem to work pretty good but then again I don't have near the motor you do lol

 

Haven't talked to you in awhile Kev. This whole thread has been awesome. I love your work pal. Glad you found a buyer right away. He seems to be doing a bang up job on it and it looks great. Winners all around. We should talk soon to catch up.

 

Username dates back to when I joined the HAMB and had a 9 second Austin pickup that I owned for best part of 20 years and vowed I'd never sell. Then I saw Kev's build thread on this truck and things changed.
Wish I could change my username now as I don't think I've got big enough balls to drive a straight axle truck into the nines........

 

Think I got lucky with the Radirs, done some research and they seem like a good compromise between an all out racing slick and a cool looking nostalgia tire. Will find out soon enough lol

 

As you probably know by now I didn't make it mate, couldn't get a trailer for the car and work is manic at the moment , gutted !!!

 

Ray I've got the Radir 32 x 9 x 15 on mine but I find them pretty hard to be honest, the Towel city's I got on the pickup are much softer.

 

Although I hated to do it, the hood scoop had to go so the blower scoop could poke through.
This left an oversize hole in the hood and because I'm much more comfortable working with metal rather than fiberglass I decided to make a frame from aluminum to cover the gap, finished it off with an orbital sander to give a nice dull finish. Took the opportunity to sand blast the blower scoop to remove the shine from that too
At the same time I decided to make the hood completely removeable as it's difficult get to the back of the blower and the mag with it hinged so I made up some quick release pins out of stainless and secured them with R clips, now I can run with or without the hood in a few seconds.
I also fancied some tinted headlights and thanks to Swade41 on here who pointed me in the right direction I found some lens tint spray which was a cheap and easy option.

 

That is too Cool

 

That scoop sticks out exactly right. Looks awesome


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Thought it was about time I got around to making some wheelie bars for the truck because in my opinion if theres one thing that spoils the look of an old Gasser it's long modern ones.
I really liked the ones Quain Stott uses on the Southeast Gassers cars
so asked him if he would mind if I copied them to which he graciously agreed.
The look I was after was more like a castor attached to a leaf spring this was achieved by using aluminium flat bar and giving it a slight curve then making the wheel housing from box section. Getting the correct size wheel is often a problem but I found these cheap ones on ebay and turned them down to remove the tread and give a more square look.
The front of the leaf spring lookalikes bolt to a bracket welded to a cross rail that is attached to the lower shock mounts on the axle and the top bars are located in tabs on the top of the axle and are adjustable in length, just require some finish welding then a coat of black paint to finish off.

 

great build! I just bought a 37 4 door to do this same pickup conversion on. how much was the rear window opening narrowed?

 

Great thread. Keep up the good work '9sectruck' and 'Kiev'. Dick M.
1960's at Long Beach, Ca

 

You should be able to find most of the information on the rear window opening on page 1 of the build thread, Kev did a great job on making the truck look almost stock at the back considering what he was working with.
Good luck with your build, are you going to start a build thread?

 

Thanks dmorago, thats a cool shot at Lions. Have you had it made into a poster?

 

I made that picture and used that shot for the back of a custom T-shirt I had made. Attached is the pic I used for the front. This is my car we raced in SoCal in the mid 60's early 70's. We raced a lot at Lions, we liked the sea-leval conditions.

ps: I like your wheelie bar construction shots. And, I'm a fan of your non-shinny engine parts; blower & scoop.​

 

Wheelie bars look perfect!

A stock Willys pickup back window opening measures ..... 27" x 9".