Langy, Any progress updates ? Love all the details you come up with. Any word on a fuel tank or seats ? Dave
Cheers for the comments, Seats are Empi buckets i picked up along the way, Not completely sure on tank yet, I have a big Moon type tank or i can make one pretty easily in Aluminium.
Well the rain has gone for a while and the sun is shining again so managed to get a few things done. After a bit of tooing and froing i think i have the hood just right. Made a template of the trans tunnel and then bent it up in a bit of aluminium sheet that was kicking around, I made a steel mounting flange that is screwed and glued to the floor and the tunnel screws to that with small countersunk machine screws. Managed to get the floor glassed into place as its a job done thats been bugging me. First i flipped the body upside down and trimmed off the lower sill return to 3/4" wide (this makes it easier to get the body on & off) Then the areas that needed keying were marked with a felt tip pen as its difficult to see where you have been with the white. Used and angle grinder and finger sander to key it. Next the floor panel was bolted back into place with 3 layers of mat & resin in between the flanges, then a further 3 layers were added at the top & bottom of the joints, Then 1 layer was applied to the underside of the floor. Once the resin had hardened the body was put back on the frame and matting cut to shape for the inside. As per the underneath everything was glassed in.
Got the same problem as you mate, waiting for bits, the seamless tube for my roll cage etc etc plus its been raining here a fair bit so progress is a little slow.
Very nice work Langy. The first pictures of the body really made me think to myself, "Man, that's like a full-sized model kit." You're doing a damn fine job sir!
Langy, That's just awesome! I really like all the details that you are putting into it, that makes it so sweet! Let me know if you need any bits and pieces, I'll try to help you out. Dashman's Hot Rod & Speed Parts www.dashman.net
Lanhgy, The floor turned out fantastic ! This is going to be one solid Hot Rod ! Looking forward to further updates. Dave
Hopefully no rain today so hope to get rear floor section bonded in after work Dave, fingers crossed.
Well in between the showers i managed to get the rear floor glassed in, I used a sheet of Bendy ply for this as the rear chassis kickup has an S shape in it and i wanted the floor to follow the shape, Bendy ply is made with the plys running the same way and this allows it to take very small radius's, you can order it to be bendy along the 8' x 4' length or sideways across. First the shape was cut into the sheet and then the chassis was drilled and tapped 8mm, this was then bolted down with penny washers to keep it all flat. Next the perimeter was glassed in and 1 layer put over the complete panel. The ply only comes 8' x 4' and the body isover 4' so it was done in sections, here the rear section is in position but not glassed in as i ran out of resin While it was pissing down i decided to make the various bits to fix the transmission cooler and 16" electric fan to the radiator, the fan brackets are made from 20mm x 5mm stainless bar, the trans cooler brackets are 16mm x 5mm stainless.
Looking good Steve. I have never heard of that bench ply stuff before. What thickness is it? Do you have to soak it to get it to bend? Mark.
Very nice on going build,you can be proud. I've been building and using Cadillac 472's & 500's for 30+years if you need any questions answered or parts help please let me know
Its Bendy ply Mark, sometimes known as Flexible ply, I used 8mm but other sizes are available, You just use it dry no need to soak, I also got a full sheet 8' x 4' of 5mm and when i got it it was rolled up like wallpaper with an elastic band round it.
This was my lucky day! I'm usually over at TriFive.com and someone posted a "Nice 55 HT on HAMB" - so I loggged on to take a look and then decided to stay and look around - that's when I saw your Willys Coupe Build. Being an Ol' SoCal Drag Racer and fan, I've always loved Willys Coupes - from C/Gas thru A/Gas - they are Icons of Drag Racing! Langy, your skill level, ingenuity and quickness just blows me away!!! What a GREAT BUILD and Great Photos - your molds have resulted in a fantastic fiberglass body and I can't imagine any Wiillys Coupe fan who wouldn't absolutely love to have one and with all the detail in your build, they too could build/have one built. Great Job and please keep up the excellent work!
Wow! Nice bracket for the fan. I noticed the curve at the top and bottom. Nice attention to detailing sets your work apart from the rest of us.
Dave hopefully the sun will keep shining this week as after work on wednesday will be roll cage bending time I'm going for the old 60's look and will be using 2" x 1/8" CDS tube, just a simple hoop with 2 rear legs and a diagonal tied into the lower A post.
Thanks mate, Its really nothing special but with the bars straight they looked a bit crap so it took an extra hour to make them like that, I think it was worth the effort.
Langy, Radiator mount is just right. Took a little bit of time but is well worth the effort. Keep the cool updates a comin' ! Dave
Got the last piece of floor glassed in last night, just need to flip body over and glass in underneath and its done. My 58 Fairlane grille arrived so i picked it up from Paul hobby (thanks Paul) and like any good hotrodder i had to get it fitted This was the grille they used back in the 60's and i was dead pleased to get one. Back in the day they cut a larger grille opening to allow more air to the radiator so first thing to do was to open up the grille hole. Most of the grille got cut off as the Fairlane is a much bigger car, the grille is held to the front panel with some ground down coachbolts, the heads were ground down and given a polish. holes were drilled and filed square for the bolts to register in.
The Jalopy Journal
