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

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Very cool!

Thanks guys, I did think about adding some thin red acrylic behind the holes to tie in the windows but I think it will be too much ???

Had a good day today, no interruptions and managed to get a lot of pesky small jobs finished.
First job was to sort a heater fitting for the intake, I looked everywhere as I wanted a brass fitting to match the others but all I could find was chrome or stainless, so found a bit of brass hexagon bar and borrowed a 1/2"npt die off a mate and made one on the lathe.
While I was there I thought I would fit the aluminium thermostat housing I made ages ago but found both threadswere no good, so tapped them out to next size up, will have to get 12 point bolts to match the others.








Next up was the blower blow off plate, I did buy one but it was really billet looking so resold it, Made this one up and bought a pair of springs from Weiand. The other fitting is for the boost gauge.








Next job up was the weight bar, I made this ages ago but never found any rounded end caps for it, my stainless supplier found these so I welded them on, It can now be polished.
Thought I would bolt it on and then realised I hadn't cut the slots in the skirting panel, so sorted that too.














I've not had the blower drive all put together before so assembled it all and checked alignment, it all fits perfectly, just a few more bolts to order.





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It's looking great! The 2nd seat base is killer!!! The engine is looking way cool to. Keep it up!

While fiddling around with the seat I got to thinking about battery placement, I originally bought a drop down battery box which I was going to fit in the rear corner under the bed but I wasn't liking it much after thinking about it, I measured the clearance under the seat and it was a tad tight, luckily i'm using a Optima gel battery and they don't care how they are mounted so flipped it on its side and instantly loads of clearance.








Next I made up a battery box in sheet aluminium and added a bit of details to the ends, the extra layer is welded along the edges.













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Geeze, there you go showing off again. Haha It looks great. Do you have good luck with Optimas down there? We've had nothing with problems with them since they got baught out a while ago.

Originally Posted by 40FordDeluxe

Geeze, there you go showing off again. Haha It looks great. Do you have good luck with Optimas down there? We've had nothing with problems with them since they got baught out a while ago.

Cheers Ryan, I've used Optimas since the late 80's I guess and only had problems with one of them, funnily enough it was the only one I bought from the states !!!

While I was under the seat I thought about fusebox location etc etc, I'm not a fan of fusebox under the dash as they are hard to get to and you can guarantee when a fuse pops it will be dark & raining !!!
I usually fit them somewhere sensible like in the trunk or behind the seat or under the seat which is where this one is going, I'm using the 9+3 Universal Rebel harness kit I sell as I like to use stuff I sell, I've tried all the different makes and for price & quality the Rebel kits cannot be beat !!! They are simple to fit and each wire is marked every 6" with what it does, foolproof.
I laid the fusebox in place and decided it needed lifting slightly so made up a mounting plate from some 1/8" aluminium with 4 pillars on it to lift the fusebox 1.5"








Here's a shot of the markings on the cables.








For those that havn't seen one before this first pic is of a american fuseable link, yes it looks like a bit of wire but its actually designed as a type of fuse, Now I never use them for the simple reason you will struggle to find a replacement in England, I replace with a Maxi fuse or a mega fuse holder box as i've done here to protect everything, I will tywrap a spare fuse to this later.








Heres a pic of the terminals for the 3 spare circuits, just crimp the wire on and they click into place in the rear of the fusebox. I will be using them for fuel pump and electric fan.












Here's the proposed layout, the Rebel kit comes bundled together for under dash mounting and as i'm mounting under the seat first job I like to do is to cut off all the tywraps so i'm left with just the fusebox and the connected cables. I will add all the other cables as I progress








Here's the cables I removed, will sort them out for fitting later.








I also fitted a pair of remote battery terminals and a battery cutout switch and a 12v power socket, these are in the pickup skirt side panel just behind the cab.






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That's going to be sweet. I googled Rebel wiring and it appears that their 9+3 harness would be perfect for my 76 Vette. I would probably mount it under the dash as room in a Vette is nonexistent, but it would eliminate the glass fuses and I could hinge mount the thing for convenience. Thanks and at less than $200 I think it's a good deal.

Originally Posted by NTFDAY

That's going to be sweet. I googled Rebel wiring and it appears that their 9+3 harness would be perfect for my 76 Vette. I would probably mount it under the dash as room in a Vette is nonexistent, but it would eliminate the glass fuses and I could hinge mount the thing for convenience. Thanks and at less than $200 I think it's a good deal.

I'm really surprised you hadn't heard of Rebel Wire, Bob & Jean who run it are a lovely couple and Bob knows his sparks, I've been their only UK dealer for around 10 years now and never had a problem with a kit of theirs.

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Great work. That fusible link would be a pita to find if you didn't know it was set up like that. My 40 had an early Ron Francis harness with odd sized glass fuses shoved clear up to the top of the bottom of the dash. It was an awesome feeling to hack that pos up when I took the car apart.

Had a change already, decided to locate everything on the same mounting plate so a bigger one was made




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I don't often change my mind this much but here's Mk3, there won't be a Mk4 !!!




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Thats what they all say until Mk4 comes up... lol
Looks great!

Been taking it a bit easy this week as an old archiles heel injury flared up and made me hobble about a bit but I did manage to get the fuse board all finished and ready to plugin.








my mate Jason popped in to give me hand to remount the radiator, due to the addition of the blower the drive pushed the rad forward a couple of inches, it was either buy a narrower rad or cut into the front panel, the front panel lost !!! I will tidy up the cutouts shortly. You can't see it with the hood shut !!!







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