My willys truck gasser build thread

Recently I bought a 38 Willys truck with the plans to build a gasser. It was a stock truck that was in pretty good shape. I plan to have this truck done by April, and debut it in May down at Eagle Field. This thread will document the journey from here to there.

First, here is a rendering my friend Eric Black is working on for me. This is exactly what I'm shooting for in the end-the stance, etc.



Here is what I started with. Stock 38 truck I bought from a local Willys guy here in Portland:

More pics to follow. It will be running a glass 40 nose, bobbed bed, etc.

I have it stripped to bare frame at the moment and just got done boxing it. I have a front axle and springs coming for it. Rear end is a 9" with a spool. I will be using a healthy .060 350 and a Muncie 4 speed for motivation.

I will round up pics of what I've done so far and continue to take pics along the way for this thread so you can follow along if you want.

 

dig it! looking forward to see the progress ..good luck with your build

 

I'll be tuned in.

 

subscribed!

 

Good stuff, looking forward to it

 

Wow...! subscribed...Love it

 

YES! Subscribed!

 

Wanna sell the front sheet metal? I have a glass one and would rather have the steel?

 

^
Yes I do.

 

Subscribed, man what a clean Willys truck to start with, I bet the restorer you bought it off is not happy


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PM sent!
Damn the '39s are ugly, but it's growing on me for some reason......................

 

I bought it from Troy Thompson who builds Willys body panels. If you've ever seen that hand formed all steel coupe, that's him. He's a Willys guy, but not offended that I'm building a gasser out of it. He likes them all.

 

This is gonna be good. Subscribed

 

Sooooo nice !!!!! Can't wait for more pic's.

 

Straight off the tilt bed and onto the rack for disassembly. We set the 40 nose on it to get a little inspiration:

 

notice the scoops someone put in this old glass nose years and years ago... The ones on the top of the hood are staying. The ones on the sides I cut out.

 

Shortly after:



The axles came out next and the day after the frame was sent out for sand blasting. Once I got it back and we really looked at it hard, it was determined that there would be so much work involved with straightening it and making it square that starting with another, better frame might be best. Luckily Troy had another frame that was much much better and was nice enough to let me have it. We went and got it saturday and sunday I boxed the whole thing. I'll post pics of that as soon as possible.

 

Cool, another gasser Willys pickup build in Oregon! Look forward to watching your build.

 

This is SOOOOO Cool! I'll be watching this and looking forward to MAY! Rocky

 

Cool project, I really like the rendering. It reminds me a little of the truck I am building at the moment. I was wondering why you aren't using the Willys front axle but from the rendering I am guessing you are getting a straight tube axle. Look forward to following the build.

 

Can't wait rocky!!! Gonna be a blast!

 

The stock axle and springs were in pretty bad shape. The amount of time and money it would have taken to make it work properly and run disc brakes it made more sense to order one.

 

Nice build , subscribed ! Getting ready to start an ugly 39 2 dr. sedan.

Hell Kevin , do you have a garden out there and you are growing willys??

 

nice start

 

I've subscribed,,HRP

 

Thank you guys. I'm excited to get this thing done. I'm lucky enough to have great friends to help me make sure I do.

 

this will be sweet

 

When/Where the hell did you pick that thing up????

Will probably stop by tomorrow if you're around.

 

Here's the frame, all boxed up.

 

Just got word that my front axle kit showed up. For ease and convenience, I just went with a speedway tube axle and springs, disc brake, etc. I want it to be tight and stop well, so it made the most sense to just replace it all with new rather than piece together what I had (which was all worn and broken)

Going to the shop shortly to work on it. I'll post pics soon.