Thread: 41 Willys Gasser project

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Hi Dave, height is not cast in stone yet as the front springs are an unknown quantity but an educated guess would be if the crank pulley is on the front axle centreline they will be fine, I also don't want to sit in the rear of the shell either.

I really like this stance of Mazmanians car but most of the ealy gassers seem to have the lower rear edge of the front fender level with the front spindle like on the Stone, woods & Cook car, I'm not sure at the moment, will get the Cadillac 500 motor in and decide then as the 500 isn't very heavy.

Originally Posted by Dave Severson

Frame looks a lot better Steve!!! What did you end up with for clearance for the bottom of the rail to the ground???

Oh yeah, I'm jealus!!!!! All I have guarding my '57 is a dog, you've got an alligator guarding your Willys!!!!!

I thought about this a lot Don and realised it depends where the steering box is mounted, I'm using a Vega mounted behind the axle so need front mounted shackles, some mount the steering box in front of the axle so would need a fixed shackle at the front.

Somebody gave us the water spitting alligator and Sue won't get rid of it

I'm pretty happy with the frame as there would be no chance of finding a Wilys frame here in England for sensible money and this is a budget build.
Its now nice and straight and strong and looks old as it came from a 1948 FX3 London Taxi, I will put outriggers on it to fix the body too at some point but not at the moment as they get in the way when working on it.

I don't want to be chucking lots of money i don't have at this build so there won't be much detailing in this build, probably only where it shows.

I'm still undecided about the rear axle, I have a complete 8" i could use but that Caddy is a bit of a torque monster and i wondered if i should use the 9" i have, I have narrowed the case already but have no shafts or diff and as you know they can be a bit spendy I would value any input on this decision ???

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

Did you and Sue smuggle that gator back to England from your last trip here in Florida?

Steve, I've never had a parallel front spring setup and have a question. I see some guys put the fixed shackle in back (like yours) and some put the fixed on in the front. Have you seen any advantages/disadvantages by doing it either way?

Frame is looking good BTW.

Don

Steve, I think you're correct to consider the Caddy torque. The 8" can take more abuse than most think, but if you're going to play this car all out with slicks and occasional burn outs the 9" would be a much safer bet. I don't know how custom axle suppliers work for you folks across the pond. Here's a suggestion to consider. Yukon, probably others, make a cut to fit axle. Around here they're less expensive than the custom cut, plus you control the fitment. Basically they're an axle with a longer spline cut so there's room to trim: http://www.yukongear.com/ProductDeta...px?ProdID=2174 This is only one of several options they have, search the site if it's something you're interested in.

Whether this pencils out with transport, duty, and whatever else you have to deal with I don't know.

Thanks Bob, yes i'm aware there are a few doing those axles, its just the shipping & tax costs that hurt plus i don't have a centre section either, If anyone in the SoCal area has a diff let me know as i'm shipping a car from there and it could go in it.

Originally Posted by Bob Parmenter

Steve, I think you're correct to consider the Caddy torque. The 8" can take more abuse than most think, but if you're going to play this car all out with slicks and occasional burn outs the 9" would be a much safer bet. I don't know how custom axle suppliers work for you folks across the pond. Here's a suggestion to consider. Yukon, probably others, make a cut to fit axle. Around here they're less expensive than the custom cut, plus you control the fitment. Basically they're an axle with a longer spline cut so there's room to trim: http://www.yukongear.com/ProductDeta...px?ProdID=2174 This is only one of several options they have, search the site if it's something you're interested in.

Whether this pencils out with transport, duty, and whatever else you have to deal with I don't know.

Well its like the old days at the moment as i'm having to work on it on the drive, at least the sun is out

Finished the rear part of the centre crossmember & welded on some of the body mounting tabs.








Got the wheels out of the lockup last night and removed the spinners as i won't be using them and found that someone had drilled the wheels to bolt on the spinner plate , Not too much of a problem but i hadn't noticed it before, I will TIG the holes up later, heres one of the 8.5" rears, The radials will be going soon.








Set it all up on the drive to get an idea of height, Its high at the moment but I put 3 x 200lb mates on it earlier and it dropped to a nice height.
The Cadillac 500 is 625lbs but with an aluminium intake & headers is more like 580lbs so not too far off.
Put the steering arms on and I remembered i had made a stainless tierod for someone a whie back and they had never collected it so tried it for fit, It was 3/4" to long so i put it in the lathe and shortened it, Fits a treat now








Hopefully i will get the 9" rear mounted tomorrow evening and the night after get the motor in place.

Steve,
Love to watch your fab process and welding skills. What's the function of the round projection from the ends of the square tube crossmember at the rear?

On the stance, I always thought Mazmanian's gasser looked tough with the extra couple of inches of height in the front, but the SWC coupe would offer a bit better aerodynamics for cruising and one can't criticize their stance, either. Your Willys is going to be very cool!

Steve, that makes a lot of sense on why you put the front springs solidly mounted at the back. That would provide a little more lateral resistance to movement from the forces of the steering action. Smart move.

That frame shape is really ideal for building a car on. Nice to see you guys on the other side of the pond have some different vehicles to draw from, like that taxi. Some cab restorer is probably going to hate you though.

Don

Wow just tuned in to this thread. Great body! Maybe my favorite, and inspired as a kid from watching Hotrod, which I have a poorly made dvd of. I just love the car in the movie, and searched until I found a guy selling the dvd. I guess it was a made for tv movie. The frame looks great. And seeing how your marrying all of the different parts together is great for those of us, who haven't the nerve to try something like that, you make it look easy and simple!

Originally Posted by stovens

Wow just tuned in to this thread. Great body! Maybe my favorite, and inspired as a kid from watching Hotrod, which I have a poorly made dvd of. I just love the car in the movie, and searched until I found a guy selling the dvd. I guess it was a made for tv movie. The frame looks great. And seeing how your marrying all of the different parts together is great for those of us, who haven't the nerve to try something like that, you make it look easy and simple!

We have that same DVD, Steve. The plot is dumb, the acting is horrible, but MAN do we love watching it! It's a lot like Two Lane Blacktop in that regard, but the cars were the real stars of both movies. If I were to build a Willys gasser it would be just like the one in Hot Rod.........crude, primered, and bad***!! Same with the 55 from Two Lane.

Don

I think they may of been shock mounts, I left them as they may come in handy for something but i don't know what yet !!!

Originally Posted by rspears

Steve,
Love to watch your fab process and welding skills. What's the function of the round projection from the ends of the square tube crossmember at the rear?

On the stance, I always thought Mazmanian's gasser looked tough with the extra couple of inches of height in the front, but the SWC coupe would offer a bit better aerodynamics for cruising and one can't criticize their stance, either. Your Willys is going to be very cool!

Yes Don the Taxi owners club have already registered their disapproval.
Yes the frame is a nice shape and not that different to a Willys really.

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

Steve, that makes a lot of sense on why you put the front springs solidly mounted at the back. That would provide a little more lateral resistance to movement from the forces of the steering action. Smart move.

That frame shape is really ideal for building a car on. Nice to see you guys on the other side of the pond have some different vehicles to draw from, like that taxi. Some cab restorer is probably going to hate you though.

Don

Thanks Steve, I guess experience counts for quite a lot of what i do, someone asked me today how i decide what to do first and where to start, I told him i make it up as i go along, pretty true really !!!

Originally Posted by stovens

Wow just tuned in to this thread. Great body! Maybe my favorite, and inspired as a kid from watching Hotrod, which I have a poorly made dvd of. I just love the car in the movie, and searched until I found a guy selling the dvd. I guess it was a made for tv movie. The frame looks great. And seeing how your marrying all of the different parts together is great for those of us, who haven't the nerve to try something like that, you make it look easy and simple!

Found a bit of time last night to start making the ladder bars, I had some stainless tube lined up for the job but the more i thought about it i really liked the idea of doing it the way they did in the old days with square tube.



I had some 1" x 1/8" wall on the rack so cut it to the lengths required and then drilled some 3/4" square bar to use as slugs in the end of the square tube, these were welded into the tube and tapped to accept rose joints in the front and clevis's in the rear.



Hopefully get to fit them tonight. They won't be fitted parallel like the old days though, that may well be fine on a strip car but this one will be street driven so they will be triangulated, Havn't made my mind up yet but the axle will be located by a watts linkage or a Panhard bar, it all depends whats laying about really.

Some very nice looking work, Steve! The bars came out great, the square one's will sure be era correct for the build... I like the wheels, too! First set of custom wheels I ever owned were a set of Ansen Sprints, 15X7's and 14X6's! The slotted aluminums IMO look good on any car I've seen them on.

Steve, as much as I like you, I had to chuckle when I read this line you posted:


"I don't want to be chucking lots of money i don't have at this build so there won't be much detailing in this build, probably only where it shows."


Mate, you don't have it in you to not detail every component to the enth degree!!!!!!!!! I'll bet you a nice dinner that when this one is done it will be finished just as nicely as everything else you build.


Don