Projects Nasty Habit Willys part 11....H.A.M.B. Drags.

Since getting my Willys running I have been enjoying the hell out of it! Driving it to work, taking it to the Santa Paula cruise nights, Willys night at the NHRA museum cruise, LA Roadster Show swap meet, open houses at So Cal and Walden's and the Beatnik Blowout. It runs OK for cruising around but If I try to get on it hard it starts missing and I still have to get that sorted out.
Anyway, when my friend Squeak suggested putting 3 cars on a trailer (Duane's monster trailer) and heading for the H.A.M.B. drags I thought that sounded like an excellent idea. Now my car is nowhere near ready but a road trip like that is worthty of a good thrash. Squeak is taking his purple 32 sedan survivor race car and the other car is Marky's Purple People Eater.
Like I said, my car is nowhere near ready and I only have a few weeks to turn it into something that won't be embarrasing on the strip. First thing I need is front brakes with a line loc so I can at least do a burnout. Be nice to stop OK too. Second I need a locked rear end. I blew the spider gears out of my 4.88 posi and can't get replacements yet. I have 5.57 gears in there now but it is an open rear end and I would like it to be locked so I bought some locking spiders (Ansen) and need to get them in there. Third I need to get the engine to run good.
It is a 327 I was given that I don't know much about. We changed the cam to one I don't know the specs of. I am running a Magneto that I don't know the advance curve of. I have an 8" balancer with no marks anywhere near TDC. I was running supressoion spark plug wire and have replaced that with solid wire. I was only getting 3 pounds of fuel pressure and replaced the Carter pump with a Holley blue pump and now I'm running 6-7 pounds. My next plan is to take my magneto to Don Zig on Monday and find out if it's working OK and what the Advance curve is. I will also get some timing mark tape to put on the balancer when we get TDC. At that point I should have a good starting point to tune it.
There are other things to do....roll bar padding, oil change, adjust shifter etc. If I get everything done I still need to test it. It's a long way to go to embarrass myself, wish me luck!



Ansen locking spiders....



Caliper bracket pattern....



It took some machining (thank's neighbor Jerry!) to get the MG rotors on the Willys spindles. The bearings are pretty close together in the orig rotor. It took boring out the inside for new inner race and a spacer to get it out further, then another spacer to space everything out a little on the spindle.



I needed some real slicks because as much as I love my old Inglewoods on 5 spokes, they provide zero traction (They turn to dust). I Really want to run my magnesium Halibrand 15"x10" rear wheels with new M/T or M&H's but I don't have a spare $500 for tires so I will be running these 30x9x15 Hoosiers that I got from Plan9 in a trade. I already had some drag tubes but no rims so for $75 I got these old chrome Rocket wheels. I painted the centers with cast blast. This is the best I can come up with for now. I think they will work fine.

 

I don't think you will have any problem,Kev. The honor is in the effort,not the result....

 

looks awsome as always. hey quick ? the cast blast you painted the wheels with can you show a pic of the can i need to paint a pair of wheels the same color and that looks like what i want thanks.

 

I get it from National parts depot. They are a mail order warehouse with a store here in town...

 

First time I took my car to the Santa Paula cruise someone must have liked it because next month I got a call asking me to bring it back because it was on the new T shirt . That was pretty exiting for a dumbass like me.....

 

Kev, Bet you, Squeek and Marky have a ball at the HAMB Drags ! Do a burn out for those of us who won't be there. Willys will be hangin' the front tires for sure !

Dave

 

Kev, How much for a large t-shirt for that cruise night ? Need to support you and Nasty Habit !

Dave

 

I don't know anything about the shirts, I don't know who has them or if they have any left. If I was smart I would come up with some "support " T shirts to help cover trip expenses. I have to fit a few side jobs in the next few weeks to help with that and it's gonna be kind of hectic. If anyone wants to help with some artwork I could get some shirts made.

 

Kev, I agree that would be the best way. All we need is some HAMBers to sound off for t-shirts. Anyone want to design a shirt for Kev ?

Dave

 

Geeze mate.

Teaming up with Squeak is a brave move... Just kidding.

Have fun ...

 

Sounds like a dam fine plan to me, wish I was there..more pics please.
cheers bt

 

Hey Kev-

Take some paint thinner and wipe of the lettering on your slicks. Wish I was closer to loan you some magnesium wheels with slicks already mounted. I have had magnetos that have given me fits like your discribing. Good Luck, great thing about these dead lines is that you get em done!

 

We've all seen impressive come out of your shop, so I'm sure you'll be just fine! Its a good time to call all those buddies over that usually just drink your beer to get their hands dirty!

Sometimes its nice to have a deadline like that, or those things may have never got done!

Good luck man! If I was alittle closer I'd lend a hand!

 

Awesome Kev, I wanna go so bad to see you guys run. Squeek's sedan and your Willys are amongst my favorites.

Those Ansen Spiders look like nice pieces. Go man Go!!!!!!

 

Will be great to meet you in person Kev--

 

Nothing like a deadline to get your ass in gear. Best of luck and have a blast!!

 

I love the way your car looks.We are headed the drags for the first time.good luck and hope to you there.

 

Kev,

I may not be close enough to lend a hand, but I would buy a shirt or two to help the cause. Keep us posted if you get any "Nasty Habit" shirts made made.

 

Sweet!!! can't wait to see it in person... Looking forward to meeting you too Kev!!!

 

Had a pretty productive weekend. Got the rotors on, got the line loc mounted and new brake lines run out front, changed out the dripping master cylinder for a fresh rebuild. This morning I took the magneto down to Don Zig magnetos and had it checked out. It needs a new coil installed and general rebuild which unfortunately doesn't currently fit in my budget so a regular distributor will take it's place for now. I have an old Mallory dual point or a Grant flame thrower, leaning toward the flame thrower. My friend Perry has taken them to check out on his distributor machine. It was good to get that mag' checked out to know what I had and that it is probably the cause of my miss. We also picked up some timing tape for the balancer a got everythig marked correctly at TDC.



Pulled the third member out today and installed the locking spider gears, They had to be massaged a little because the shaft didn't go through them without opening up the holes a little.



While it was out I drilled a couple of holes and threaded them for easy removal in the future....



So the rear end is back together and it feels like I achieved something this weekend. I did weigh the car a little while back and it weighed 2,620 pounds as it is at the moment. During the week I will make the caliper brackets and get them on. I will also get the front brake hoses.

 

Have fun Kevin at the Drags.

 

Will be great to meet some left coasters and see your cars at MoKan.

 

Thrash man thrash! Lookin forward to seein ya out there.



TH

 

can those locking spiders be bought anywhere now days kev? olds/pontiac

 

Not only is it a Gratn Flame Thrower, it's a chrome one. Geez, it makes all the polishing I did on my Mallory dual point look like poo.

Go man go!!!

 

The locking spiders can be bought new, they are NOS from the 60's. I paid $60 pr. PM'd you the ph#.

 

The thrash to get ready for the track can be tough, but once you get strapped in start up the monster you built and get ready to pull your burnout and make some noise, it is all woth it. Have fun and enjoy it, good luck Kev.

 

you will have a gret time, I might even drive over for the day sat to meet you and see the car, they wont let mine in to racy or sumthin for that deal ... but id like to meet ya nonetheless... sam

 

Go Kevin, we're all pullin' for ya. If the T shirt idea takes off, put me down for one!

 

Awsome Kevin, go kick some butt at the HAMB DRAGS!