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

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Good to Know, Hopefully they don't have the Lucus reputation for leaving you in the dark!(or wet as the case may be!) People here still moan about the wiring on their Triumphs, etc...

As usual with xmas time everywhere is shut so still waiting for small bits to finish off lots of jobs so my thoughts wandered to front panels, On the Willys I like to setup the hood first and get the beltline aligned with the door so first job was to find a hood hinge, stock is just a type of piano hinge, I found lots of piano hinge but the hinge part was pretty light duty on them all, luckily my old mate Gary Layton had a bit of heavy duty stainless hinge in his scrap box
Its 1.125" wide on each leg and has a nice chunky 1/4" rod hinge (although this caused a problem)
First it was cut to length and the shape of the recess








Unfortunately the thickness of the hinge meant the width of the leg had to be reduced considerably, Its held in place with 5 bolts so i'm sure it will be be fine.














Well it was xmas so I bought myself a present








Next job kept me nice & warm for a while Had to rub down the fibreglass where I had joined the cab to the firewall. It still needs blending & fettling but I will do that later.





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Are the Willys bonnets pretty flimsy across the rear as with the firewall the way it is it doesn't look like much room for the normal type of bracing under the ,whoops, hood I should of said ?

Originally Posted by Whiplash23T

Are the Willys bonnets pretty flimsy across the rear as with the firewall the way it is it doesn't look like much room for the normal type of bracing under the ,whoops, hood I should of said ?

Whip any single skin is a bit flappy, I just usually add a bit of bracing across the back and some along the sides to keep the shape. actually its a job i will be doing over the next few days
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Started on the hood hinge at the weekend so next step was to start mocking up the hood, luckily my laminator moulded one up over xmas so tried it for general fit, pretty close !!! there is a slight interference with the rad but by removing the 1" spacers I used under the mounts and dropping it slightly it will be fine.










When I was building my coupe I came across a Pontiac hood scoop that they used a lot back in the 60's but when the blower arrived it obviously didn't get used, the original was in very poor shape and couldn't be saved but it was good enough to get a mould off so thought I would use it on the pickup, placement not cast in stone yet but I like it.









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That looks really nice. Are you trying to have it ready for your next summer season?

Originally Posted by 40FordDeluxe

That looks really nice. Are you trying to have it ready for your next summer season?

Now theres a challenge Ryan !!!

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A few bits I ordered over the xmas period showed up at last so could get a few unfinished jobs finished.
Had a nice relaxed evening on the lathe & mill, first job was to make a bracket to hold the wiper motor, I was missing the usual U bracket that holds it, I guess it would of been easy to bend up a bit of flat thin bar for it but I wanted something better so dived in the scrap aluminium bin and found a small square bit of 3/4" flat plate, stuck it in the 4 jaw chuck and bored a 3.125" hole in it, a bit of blending & fettling and viola one bracket








I couldn't find a thin bit of rubber anywhere so a bit of gasket material serves as temporary cushion. Also my 60" wiper rack cable turned up








Next job was my servo/booster is mounted behind the dash under the bulkhead which meant I needed to get the brake pipes through to it and then back again, I don't like grommets on the firewall so decided on a type of thru the frame fittings, carrying on my theme of brass brake fittings threw up a problem that they didn't make them in brass, luckily I had a lathe and some 3/4" hexagon brass bar







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Wow, very nice pieces once again!

Forgot to post a pic of the brass thru the frame type fitting for the vacuum hose, so here it is










Ran a bit of brake pipe up to see how it looked all fitted.








Started making up the front side skirt for the pickup bed, The front is slightly deeper than the back and I originally made it in one piece but it looked slab sided so I made it in two pieces instead, looks better i reckon ?







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Not much progress today as had lots of hotrod customers round, anyway I made a start on the mounting points for the front fenders. I made the same plates as I used on my coupe, they are 1.5" x 1/8" flat steel with M10 nuts welded on. They are then curved to fit inside the curved part of the arch, the drilled holes are larger to allow for some adjustment. The studs are removable as will become apparent shortly.










These curved plates fit in this gap in the curved section.










Here is the curved section from the outside and with the plates/studs in position.










Someone asked about the servo/booster and I realised I had forgot to post the pics so here they are.









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? in post 456 why is brake line going into the cab??

Originally Posted by cffisher

? in post 456 why is brake line going into the cab??

Looks like the master cylinder is under the cowl behind the dash.

Guys the master cylinder is on the firewall, Charlie post 457 will explain, the servo/booster is behind the dashboard.

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OK I figured the master was out side the cab but didn't catch the booster in side.