Nasty Habit Willys....part 3. Cowl mods, rad' mt, collectors etc.

I have made a little more progress on my Willys coupe project. I modified the sides of the cowl where the old firewall was cut off. Boxed it in so the fenders had somewhere to bolt on. I made some mounts for the radiator, modified the collectors, made a new drag link and some front shock mounts that also reduce the caster and move the front axle forward. Here are some pics.......

Here is what I did to the cowl.......

 

I'm using a 55 Chevy radiator ($20 swap meet buy). Radiator mount.....







I notched the front crossmember a little for hose clearance....

 

You're really starting to piss me off with this car...

Keep it up!

 

I have these headers that work well but I never liked the collectors. I don't know what brand headers they are but they are high quality.

Before...






During....( I used 4" truck stacks to make the new collectors)




After....

 

I hope you are keeping this one! Put a passenger seat in it so I can have a ride when it's done!!!! Once again,Kev. Amazing work!!!!

 

I have had this pair of heads for years and finally took them apart and cleaned them up. They had a really nice porting job done a long time ago. I thought they might be Mondellos but they are not stamped. They are power pack heads that now have 2.02 intake valves. They came off an injected 301 that was in a Willys coupe my friend Vic Young bought and sold years ago.



I had an old pair of fiberglass bucket seats but they were too narrow, luckily I found this pair at the CA Hot Rod Reunion swap meet for $10 each.....



I also found these Moon velocity stacks at the same swap meet for the same price.....

 

You always find the coolest stuff! Like a Hotrod Indiana Jones,LOL....

 

Kev-You can bring your project to my garage!!!!

 

I had to get creative with the front shock mount. It turns out the Don Long axle I have was built with 20 degrees of caster so I made a 14 degree wedge block that also moves the front axle an inch forward to center the wheel in the fender opening. My chassis is a 37 and the fibrglass front end is 41. There is a wheelbase difference between 37 and 41. I also moved the rear end back a little to center the rear wheels.
I have an N O S pair of 90-10 Cure Ride front shocks coming from Satanherself.





With the front end moved forward and the steering box moved back the drag link was too short. It used to be one piece so I cut the center out, threaded the ends and made a threaded tube to go back in the center.....

 

sweet build man!

 

Awesome work, keep posting.

 

That is one BAD ASS car!!



keep the pix coming

 

those headers look sic. keep up the good work.

 

I love the talent that IS the H.A.M.B.!

KooL build Kev!

 

GOOD WORK!! i sure could use your skills here at our shop.of all the cars we build or wirk on id just about work on WILLYS FOR FREE. (just about)lol. like that intake. you ever decide to sell it im here all the time. just let me know.

 

ruler!

 

nice work kev,i really dig the headers

 

Go kev go!!!!

 

Wow! Can't wait to see more, great work!

 

Very nice...............Littleman

 

Wow ..that's came a long way since I saw it, very nice fab on the cowl (and the other stuff). Thanks for the shop tour..

CC

 

Those collectors are PERFECT!

 

GREAT work!! sure makes most of us envious, can't wait to see the finished project.

 

I have these same buckets in my Henry J, a free-bee from my old drag racing uncle, pad the hell outa them, they destroy my ass. I have a lot of trouble with mine cracking on the top center edge, and on the drivers outer lip where I hop in.

 

Awesome!

 

Kev I have always admired your rides and that garage is just the Shit!!

Clyde

 

Damn Kevin, how did you get all that done when you spend so much time on the HAMB??? Nice work, gotta drop by and check it out and get me motivated again... Vic

 

Those collectors remind me of a Trosley drawing......RAD!

 

That is the nicest take on fenderwell headers I have seen in a long time. Great work sir!

 

Hey Kevin, Willy's is looking good. I like trying to see what you have going on in the background. Seems like there is always something coming and going at your shop.