Thread: 41 Willys Gasser project

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After seeing the blue car with the whitewalls, I really like them!
Pops is fine...........He has been on his other forum this week I think called "Club Kitty Cat".
He loves those cats. The cats around our shop get better treatment than we do!

Yes Steve,that would be absolutely gorgeous but I will leave the final decision up to you, but I give it a tick for white walls.

Met Carl at Heathrow to pickup my front wheels, Carl had already started on the disc conversion but not finished it so i have a little machining left to do.








The disc is positioned on the wheel hub by an adaptor that also holds the oil seal. 5 holes need to be drilled through the disc, adaptor and into the wheel hub, these will be slightly counterbored and tapped 5/16" UNC, a coarse thread is used as the magnesium is very soft and i fine thread could possibly strip, the studs are fitted into the counterbore so that the force is taken by the shank of the ARP studs I am using and not the threaded section.



















The spindle is an early ford part & bearing setup is normal taper bearings with a standard size oil seal.












The calipers & disc is from a modern car and the caliper has to be fairly small to clear the wheel, clearences are very tight !!!

Custom caliper brackets have to be made and removing a wheel means removing a caliper first so this has to be taken into account when making the brackets. 3/8" UNF hi tensile bolts hold the spindle to the internally threaded hexagon bar caliper spacers.


















The caliper plates are made in 1/4" stainless plate, Securing bolts are hi tensile countersunk setscrews that have been modified slightly.










Heres the completed setup.










Clearances are a little on the tight side !!!







.

Those wheels are going to look realy great on the Willys. Good thing you have the equipment to do that in house...

Thanks Charlie, I might just polish the rim but keep the spokes natural finish.

Originally Posted by cffisher

Those wheels are going to look realy great on the Willys. Good thing you have the equipment to do that in house...

Not much happening as winter is now upon us but i did have to put in a firewall behind the seats, was going to use aluminium sheet but decided using 3mm ply was easier and once it had some glass & resin on it it would stiffen up.

Did it in 2 pieces for speed and ease.

Heres the opening to block off








First a template was cut and tried for fit.










Next a layer of glass mat was applied to each side.








All glassed in place, like a steel panel now.










Also got my battery box made up & fitted.








Also when i went to the chrome shop this week some of my cage/seat mounts had been done, He is doing it in between jobs so hopefully the rest will be done next week.

Absolutely brilliant sir and as usual,to your amazing standard. I like the lightening holes in the battery box as it help with the go faster weight reduction diet.

Steve keep em coming I love this thread!

Dunno about brilliant Whip, its just straight forward glasswork as i see it but thanks anyway.

Its getting pretty nippy here Steve so progress will be sparce i think.

Originally Posted by stovens

Steve keep em coming I love this thread!

y Steve, I understand! It's cold and wet outside here, and I don't have room here to move in my garage, so in reality 99% of the work I do is in the backyard, and weather! I desperately need to finish a dresser so my clothes have a home, but right now can't sand in the rain. Or for that matter refinish the pine chest with danish oil and get it to kick and dry out, before use. So I'm surfing the web for truck parts today. Did find a rear suspension kit that replaces the springs and shocks that has some potential. Also have a coupon for springs I need to use.

hi steve,i am enjoying your build as i am also working on a 41 willys coupe/. i wonder what dimension you ended up with across the body at the rear of the doors. mine is a mess and i wanted to check it. thanks for any help you can give and keep up the good work. i hope this is the correct place for a question, i am new to the site. thanks bob

Hi Bob, welcome to this site, There are lots of great people here, I myself have made some great friends here,
Questions are not a problem, If i can help in any way just ask. My measurements are taken from both of a friends stock Willys so i can be sure they are correct, I will have a look thrugh my emails and get you the dimension for across the B posts. Will post shortly for you.

Originally Posted by Labadie Gasser

hi steve,i am enjoying your build as i am also working on a 41 willys coupe/. i wonder what dimension you ended up with across the body at the rear of the doors. mine is a mess and i wanted to check it. thanks for any help you can give and keep up the good work. i hope this is the correct place for a question, i am new to the site. thanks bob

I gave my Mags to a machinist as the plan has changed slightly and i needed more accuracy than the old bridgeport i use has, I needed to come up with a pair of grease retaining caps for the outside of the hub so i spun a pair up in the lathe from 2.5" aluminium bar.

Firstly i bored out the shape and then turned the outside shape into the bar, then the outside was sanded to a nice radius.



The first one came out perfect








But i screwed up on the second one by taking off to much material, these are only 1/16" thick so it was easily done

I always say everybody screws up occassionaly but the important thing is how you rescue the situation and save the day by not having to remake another !!!

Welding was my first thought, Now i don't do much aluminium welding and certainly not on something this thin !!! Anyway popped over to see my mate Gary and we decided to have a go at it, as soon as the TIG sparked up it blew a hole so it was decided to run 2 beads 1/4" apart with 1.6mm rod and then fill in the gap between with 3mm rod, It worked a treat although doesn't look pretty !!!








Back at the workshop it went back in the lathe and the inside was rebored and cleaned out, then the outside was recontoured and sanded. A liner was made to be a slide fit inside so it could be gripped securley in the chuck.










A quick wipe up on the polisher and the job was done, 3 equidistant holes were drilled for machine screws that secure it to the wheel hub.







.

Beautiful.

You are a sucker for punishment but man does your stuff come out nice because of it.