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

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Had a good day today and got lots done, its been bleeding cold and wet too this morning but hey I gotta get this done !!! So overalls and coat on and lets get out there

First job was to glass a bit of strength back in the front panel as enlarging the grille opening took away some of its strength, I use a bit of 3/8" copper pipe and put 2 layers of matt over it, done the job perfectly.








I'm using some front panels that a customer returned as they didn't like the fit, odd as its fine on mine. Unfortunately they had drilled loads of odd holes in them so had to reglass these first, pain in the arse !!!








We supply the panels with a generous flange on them but I prefer to cut it down, looks neater, so they were all trimmed to suit.










While the glass was kicking off I drilled the holes to hold the grill insert into place, following the rivet theme on the car a few stainless coach bolts gave up their life to become rivet bolts














The next hour was spent outside making dust !!! All the trimmed edges had to be sanded back and made smooth










Next I trimmed the 58 Ford grill to fit the front panel and bolted it in, I will make a finisher for the edge later as got no stainless round bar the right size








I thought I would post this pic for anyone struggling to fit the front fenders, they are not the easiest things to fit but if you look at this pic it shows how the should sit at the rear.








I got the fenders and front panel bolted together and then bolted on the body at the rear, its all propped up with bits of wood at the moment but you get the look









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It's looking great. Do your neighbors ever get hostile with your line of work?

Originally Posted by 40FordDeluxe

It's looking great. Do your neighbors ever get hostile with your line of work?

No never had a problem, I don't make much noise, only got a neighbour on one side and he shows an interest.

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You do more work in less space than anyone I know.

Originally Posted by Henry Rifle

You do more work in less space than anyone I know.

Do you know Jack I get asked all the time how I work in such small areas and my reply is always it's not the size but how you use it
Even my proper workshop isn't massive, just enough space to work on 2 cars but hey you learn to work with what you have !!!
In my opinion anyone building a car must be fully committed to see it through to the end.

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Its been a bit chilly here this week so looked for a job to do that could be done in the nice warm workshop Spotted the dash on the wall so decided to plan the layout, I'm using a set of Dolphin 3 3/8" quad gauges with a electronic speedo run off a Cyberdyne GPS sender because I stock them and want to use stuff on this project that I sell, I usually like white or black faced gauges on my own cars but thought I would have a change so have gone with a Tan face, it will look good against the final colour and be a bit different.
Heres the proposed dash layout











Dug my 3 3/8" holesaw out and viola the 2 main gauges was in !!!








Next I got to thinking about switches & warning lights, I had a set of really nice old warning lights from a Warbird but wanted to keep them for another project, luckily they have been reproduced but unfortunately not in the original stainless steel, these ones are chromed but I just love the look of the jeweled lens. My plan is to use mostly Red but one Blue for high beam as i'm not keen on lots of different coloured lights on the dash.










Moving on to switches I rummaged around my stock shelves and found a universal ignition switch and a selection of push pull switches, I like the push pull switch as it suits old cars better in my opinion, the Headlight switch also solves the problem of the dipswitch being on the floor which always looks looks untidy to me, this one has side, dipped beam and high beam all in one switch so nice & neat, the knob$ I will replace with custom made jobbies.








While searching around I remembered I have some of these Classic instruments Rocket tachs so will fit one either on the column or on the dash, decision to make, don't like the mount so will make a stainless mount later.









Thats it for today as we are now off to The annual Hotrodders ball for a few beers

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I like the Rocket tach there. Looks like there is lights where the fire would come out of the rocket?

Originally Posted by stovens

Looks like there is lights where the fire would come out of the rocket?

Good Eye! had't noticed that. cool

Originally Posted by 34_40

Good Eye! had't noticed that. cool

Me neither Charlie !!! I might have to wire it up to see

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And another is even better.......Not only is the Rocket Tach a half-sweep gauge it also has a rocket booster that changes colors. The more you mash the gas...the rocket booster changes from light yellow to yellow to orange and finally to raging dark red! How much fun is that?!

Description from Speedway, "the retro styled, half sweep tachometer features a dual layer design, color changing rocket booster, a red pointer, and a rich black face with bright white numerals and indices. Finished with a stainless low step bezel and flat glass the Rocket Tach comes mounted in a chrome cup that allows for a variety of mounting positions.

Been fiddling with the hood fit and now pretty good, I'm not a fan of tight gaps on old cars so these are stock willys size gaps.
I aim to fit inner fender panels as this is a street truck so I decided to fit brackets here and there to keep it all nice and solid, working from the back of the fender forward I made a bracket that bolts the the fender lip and then bolts to the firewall.














Just adding the first bracket makes the panels fit together nicely as the fender follows is natural curve instead of sagging slightly under its own weight. A little sanding of the gaps and it should be there.












While I was there I radiused the hood corner and made a template for the infill panel





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Great work! That tach is really cool!

That infill really improves the look on those radius corners in IMHO

Steve,
Just curious, and it's of no concern at all but wondering why you cut away material to radius the corner, which increased the size of the "infill panel" significantly. More strength to the nicely curved hood line to infill panel, or something else. Again, just curious and always looking to learn.