Projects Oh no not another Willys Gasser build, this time a Willys shop truck

Are you going to take a mould off this when it's done?

 

Inspiring work as ever

 

Yes absolutely Geoff, that's why I'm making an effort to get it right.

 

Could anyone tell if Willys pickup doors had garnish mouldings ???

 

Langy, That body is sure coming along real nice. Will the bed be aluminum ? Be a sharp way to advertise your business . . . . .

Dave

 

Funny you should mention it Dave as I was thinking about making a aluminium bed but it was just so more expensive and I thought the Steel would be better for a driver, I made the bed a few weeks ago.

 

found this thread too late, red for the last two hours, ... not much stainless, he said .... just a driver, he said.... man Steve, what's goin' on here?

a good read again, and amazing craftmanship again.. fun to watch your work!

Cheers, Carsten

 

Just because its a driver don't mean it has to be lacking in detail mate, If you look at it again it has minimal stainless, just a few highlights to stop it looking bland.

 

I like the way you think Steve!!

Can't wait to see more!!

Bill

 

Thanks Bill.

 

Well a little bit of progress, started glassing the various pieces together, most of the glasswork is underneath but I had to get it stuck together solidly to turn the shell over.

First the sills were attached to the rear of the body









Then in between the bits of aluminium sheet was glassed to hold it together while the aluminium was removed. Then it was glassed up fully.













The lower cab rear corners had been hacked about quite badly so these had to be repaired before the flloor went in.









The floor was then bolted back in and glassed at the rear & front, next job is to glass the flloor to the sills and then turn the body over for the underneath to be done.







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Great watching it come together.

 

Nice glass work Steve! It's itchy, but I enjoy working fiberglass.

 

Yup it's getting there now, thanks

 

Yes Vall it's a very adaptable medium, I don't mind it at all, cheers

 

Well got to a point where I needed an extra pair of hands so Allan (53pop) popped over to lend a hand, I needed the body upside down to glass in the floor and its getting heavier and awkward to move around.
First job was to glass in the rear of the floor, I had had to cut the floor into 2 halves to get it in so the joint had to be fixed, while there we bonded in 2 short pieces of 1/2" square tube as strengtheners.







Next up was the front section of the floor & the sides









Next up was the cowl joint which came out real nice.







Had to alter part of the rear lower panel, I had the measurements from a stock pickup and I checked the rear panel and found out the lower cut out that fits over the frame was 1.25" to high in the panel, so I cut it out and moved it down to the correct place, the rear panel needed repairing anyway so no big deal, the pics tell the story.









This meant the last 4" of the floor needed to be angled very slightly so some more cutting was needed.







Dropped the body back on the frame for a looksee and it now fits much better so can glass up to finish it.







While the body was back on we loosely held the frontend in place for a looksee, the front is slightly high at the front by about 2 or 3" but you get the idea





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Looks really nice. Were you able to sneak some extra length into the cab? Are you needing to build doors as well, or are they the same as the coupe?


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I didn't bother stretching it in the end as I have kept most of the stock firewall so it seems to be about right for me (I'm 6ft), as far as I can see you need to keep as much foot room as possible in a truck for it to be comfortable.
The doors need work but have them, they can be seen a few posts back in post 300
The truck doors are completely different to coupe doors in many ways mostly on the inside though, the obvious differences on the outside is the length and the rear upper radius.

 

Looks plenty roomy to me Steve! I also like that you kept it the stock size cab.

 

Yaknow....When I saw the header "shop truck" and Langy together, I kinda knew it wasn't going to be just another "shop truck"......

 

Had a good day today and got a fair bit more done, the rear that I had started was finished off & the topside of the fllor that meets the rockers finished up.









Next up was the rear panel joint to sort, a piece of flat wood was screwed to cover the joint and pull every thing flush and glassed in.











Next I turned my attention to the firewall, I found that the centre was bulging out slightly so this needed to be pulled back slightly, this had the added bonus of giving sufficient clearance for the dizzy to come out which saved me some work. A suitable prop was made in some scrap timberand screwed in place.









I glassed up 3 layers of matt on a piece of Melamine (this is great as it don't stick to it) as panels to cut to size.







The panels were cut to size and held in place with tape so the could be temporarily fixed in place with some bridging paste, then 3 more layers of matt will be applied to the inside to fully glass them in.












That's as far as I got.

 

Yes Vall, my motor is fairly well forward so managed to keep most of the cab front.

 

Good tip Steve. Will have to try and remember it.



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Formica is often used to face moulds and if you want some really flat panels, a sheet of glass is great!

 

langy, Looking forward to further build details on your Willys Pick Up. Looking real cool so far. Keep the updates a comin' !

Dave

 

What were all the holes needed for in the floor along side the door opening?

 

I'm assuming it is to give the glass more 'bite' than there would be glassing onto a smooth surface.

 

Correct, lots of laminators often use pegboard for the same reason.

 

Thanks for the explanation.

 

A bit of progress made, its surprising but it took most of saturday to get the firewall filled in, its about 3/8" thick all over but the engine side still needs a few more layers yet, its certainly stiff & strong as I intend to hang a vintage heater from it.
The engine side still needs tidying up and smoothing out and looks like a patchwork quilt but its all looking pretty good. Just got to sort out a slight recess for the dizzy and it will be done, then i can start putting in some steelwork and hanging doors.
















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