Well, not many of these early cars are what we can call roomy, especially by today's standards. I don't know if people back then were smaller or what. But if your already cramped cockpit has a modified firewall to accomodate a big block set back some, then you are going to be even more cramped.

Most of us who have been playing with these things for a while come to accept a certain amount of cramping, particularly when we chop and channel a car. It is just part of the fun. I think you mentioned you are new to the game, so that realization probably hasn't happened for you yet.

The other problem is that the Willys was sort of a compact of it's time......maybe not as much as an Anglia, but small none-the-less. When you start shoving a V8 into an engine compartment where a 4 was designed to go, something has to give, and that something is usually the firewall and leg room. I am not familiar with your physical dimensions, but I am 5'9"/ 170-ish, so I fit into these things pretty well, but if you are taller and/or heavier, you might find the fit very tight.

Bottom line, I think you are expecting the car to be something it isn't, and that can come with newness to the hobby. Things could be worse, it could have an 8 point cage with doorbars to climb over.

Don