"Secret Willys Revival" (My chopped '53)

I like the firewall colors....I race on an local oval track when time permits and that is the sign you wanna see especially when everyone is chasing you. That is the best feeling in the world to fly under that flag (usally tho black and white at my race track) and know you beatem all at there own game. I cant explain it but if I could bottle that feeling I would be a millionaire for sure. Lookin good from here.

MikeC

Thanks guys for the encouraging words. It has been unbearably hot here this week with the heat index at 105+ Working out in it every day has drained me pretty good so progress on the Willys has been a little slow.
However I did make a hold down for my battery box and painted and installed it....



....also been working on aligning the cab and getting it bolted down. Primed and painted the lower part of my fenders so I can get them mounted up and aligned. I started sorting out the wiring on my column too but got a headache and quit Looked up some info on the net........will print it off and try again

Coming in from the garage tonight I surprised these three little masked bandits on my front porch......







......ya don't reckon that's whats been happening to the cat's food is it [S

Hoping for some cooler weather,

Ray

battery

how come ya put the battery on the firewall and covered up the nice checkerboard?

l thought ya was gonna stick in the bed like mine.

[S

Later

skull said:

how come ya put the battery on the firewall and covered up the nice checkerboard?

l thought ya was gonna stick in the bed like mine.

Click to expand...

It's kinda like I mentioned before........."I'm old and in a hurry"
I may put it in the bed at some point......when I have a bed that is but for now this is the easiest way to getting it going. I still don't know where my fuel tank will end up plus I have some exhaust ideas that will eat up part of the bed. So once the bed is built and those items are taken care of I'll see about moving the battery.

Would love to be out in the garage right now but I just about cooked at work today and at 9:00 PM it is still miserably hot 90+.......even here in the A/C the humidity is sitting at 70 % right now

Maybe tomorrow,

Ray

Whoa, it's been over a week since I've posted any progress.........had to dig three pages down to find my thread! That's cool though, lot's of active builds going on here lately! Work and the heat have been slowing me down but I've been plugging along.

Made some sparks tonight....



.....any guesses as to what I'm doing ?? It's late and I'm exhausted, I'll bring ya up to date tomorrow.

Stay tuned,

Ray

Snake Farm said:

.....any guesses as to what I'm doing ??
Ray

Click to expand...

ummm..... Looks like Arson to me............

Well as I said last night the heat and my job have been slowing me down a bit but I have been slowly moving forward. There were several things that I wanted to get to quickly after I got my cab back on but seems like every time I start to do something I see something else that has to be done first......I wanted get my front clip lined up and fitting a little better but it needed a bunch of bracing first, I wanted to get my steering column back in but I really needed to clean up under the dash and shoot a little paint first and on and on....
So, I did get my cab bolted on for good and lined up my clip......



...done a bunch of bracing and boxed my hinges so I can mount a bumper.



...threw on some crude chain stops for now so the nose doesn't hit the ground



..and voila! A tilt nose that doesn't flop all over.......well not as much as before anyway.



As for the sparks.......

jfg455 said:

ummm..... Looks like Arson to me............

Click to expand...

There are a few things about this Rat Rod building that still seem strange to me. If I were working on my Chevy II I would never dream of cutting up a perfect dash, as a matter of fact someone rolled the edge of the radio hole on it and it bugs the crap out of me even though the delete plate covers it But this is Rat Rodding and this is what I did to the Willys dash....





Been wanting to get some gauges in it so I can run the engine more often and for longer periods to see if I can get it to stop smoking. I had a speedo I bought off eBay and I picked up some cheap Sun Pro's and tossed the bezel that came with them in favor of a new dash insert.....



....fitted it in the hole I cut



More to come......

......... Welded the insert in and threw in the gauges for a test fit



Not too bad for cheap gauges and an old speedo. Had to light them up of course to see what they looked like.....



....[S don't know what's up with the red oil pressure gauge.....maybe that's because it's kinda of important.....or maybe it's because this is a 35$ set of gauges

Took the speedo apart and reset it to zero while I was at it.....kinda felt like a crooked car salesman



Working on painting a little under the dash and putting my column back in today.

To be continued,

Ray

wOW, VERY COOL BUILD HERE. Diggin it alot !!

blacksheep said:

wOW, VERY COOL BUILD HERE. Diggin it alot !!

Click to expand...

Thanks man It's definitely an amateur build but I'm having so much fun it should be illegal

Shot some white Rustoleum under the dash this afternoon and put my steering column back in....



.....Cruise night (read that, 'sitting in truck making engine noises') is gonna be so much better than it was before.....



In fact with any luck I'll get my wiring sorted out and some water running through this thing soon and I'll have 'engine noises' at the turn of the key Had it fired up tonight for my nephew and his girlfriend to hear and it didn't smoke quite as bad and had a little less blow by.....keeping my fingers crossed it will clear up with time.

To be continued,

Ray

progress

looks like it's comin' along nicely[cl l like the guage panel[

try squirting some wd-40 or something like it in the chambers, may help break loose stuff if ya have a sticky ring.

Later

ps. did the avitar, thanks for the suggestion

All this time I was thinking that front clip was fiberglass. Looking good.

skull said:

ps. did the avitar, thanks for the suggestion

Click to expand...

[cl[cl Glad to help

Hydrocarbon Rocket said:

All this time I was thinking that front clip was fiberglass. Looking good.

Click to expand...

Thanks man. The clip kinda looks deceiving with the headlight holes filled in......I originally planned to put square headlights in it .......hey it was 1983 and everybody was doing it but I've come to my senses now

Oh, I forgot to mention that I got my A/C working Had a few bugs to work out of it..........okay, so it was a few Wasps and a nest Anyway, it should work like new now!



[cl[cl

To be continued,

Ray

Looking great..really like the gauge insert..your gonna be terrorizing the neighborhood cats in no time

Tim

Tim...Ok said:

Looking great..really like the gauge insert..your gonna be terrorizing the neighborhood cats in no time

Tim

Click to expand...

Thanks Tim, yeah it won't be long........we have a couple acres of grass here and a 1/4 mile driveway to work the bugs out of this thing [ddd I still need to finish welding my spring perches to the rear end and get a couple new u-bolts before I throw the drive shaft in.....need to put my shifter back in too. The yard is pretty level so I don't think brakes will be necessary at first This truck has never moved under it's own power since I've owned it (30 yrs.) so I'm getting pretty excited [cl

I worked on a roof all day so I've spent the evening in the A/C instead of working on the Willys But here is a short video I shot last night......something about this accomplishment that makes it seem more like a real truck !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhWYXZg4y3A&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

Stay tuned, morale is way up

Ray

runs

don't sound to shabby[cl

Later

skull said:

don't sound to shabby[cl

Later

Click to expand...

The rings seem to be getting a little better......not smoking as much now. Part of the smoke last night was probably from the jug of gas I was using.......16:1 I used the last of my lawn mower gas mowing the day before and all I had handy was my weed eater jug Who knows, a little oil on top of the pistons might help

Can't wait till it'll move!

Ray

Found this last night - what a fun read. There's no way I could stick with a build for 30 years.

DJ3100 said:

Found this last night - what a fun read. There's no way I could stick with a build for 30 years.

Click to expand...

Thanks...but to be honest I have taken a couple breaks during that time......like from when my daughter was born till she started college...and a few short ones that only lasted a year or two

Installed a couple items tonight.....



Cut a hole in the firewall for the throttle cable, mounted my 'Speed Pedal' and modified the pedal arm to slide in a groove in the back of the pedal. Installed my shifter and the Suzuki Samaria shift boot.

Here it is in the park position...



Here it is in drive...



And here I am going for a test drive



....Ain't gonna be as long as it has been

To be continued,

Ray