‘52 Willys Pick Up

[Torchie]

[cl [cl [cl [cl [cl [cl
[P [P [P
Torchie

 

[23crate]

gotta love a woman who gets into it such as Mrs Pops, cool project too ! ..

cant believe the condition of the cab,, or the rest of the pick up .. good score!

and good bargaining on the sign nice one!

 

[05snopro440]

Looking great, pops!

 

[I-R-POPS]

Good job [cl
It's nice to be able to swap

It keeps the costs down for sure.

That's cool, great deal.

Thanks Dozer..

 

[I-R-POPS]

[cl [cl [cl [cl [cl [cl
[P [P [P
Torchie

thanks Torchie.

 

[I-R-POPS]

gotta love a woman who gets into it such as Mrs Pops, cool project too ! ..

cant believe the condition of the cab,, or the rest of the pick up .. good score!

and good bargaining on the sign nice one!

She's a keeper.. I'd like to find a few more like this one. It makes life easier.
The pick up that is I can't handle another wife.
The sign deal was nice for both of us.

Looking great, pops!

Thanks. I'm really enjoying this build more than I thought I would.

 

[I-R-POPS]

Todays progress.....

We got the tires mounted and made the 1st of many body to frame mounting attempts. When I set the cab in place with the front tires in the wheel wells where I want them, I was surprised to see there was 12" from the distributor to the fire wall and no room for a radiator.

Sorry no picture. When I saw that I just set the cab back on the table.
Some serious fab work in the future to cut 6" out of the wheel base length, relocate the engine mounts and make body mounts.

The rack and pinion steering is going to be a time saver for sure.

 

[Torchie]

[P [P [P [P
Torchie

 

[05snopro440]

We got the tires mounted and made the 1st of many body to frame mounting attempts. When I set the cab in place with the front tires in the wheel wells where I want them, I was surprised to see there was 12" from the distributor to the fire wall and no room for a radiator.

Sorry no picture. When I saw that I just set the cab back on the table.
Some serious fab work in the future to cut 6" out of the wheel base length, relocate the engine mounts and make body mounts.

The rack and pinion steering is going to be a time saver for sure.

A lot of guys don't realize until they try a swap that those "mini" pickups from that era have the firewall a lot further forward than the older truck will. I've seen a huge number of guys doing an S-10 frame swap buy the V8 motor mounts and then be astonished when the engine is much too far forward.

On my 46, I moved the motor mount location back about 11" from the S-10 location and could have gone a couple inches more.

It's looking good, though. On mine, building all those mounts took 2 weekends (and not all of them), so I'm sure you'll have it done in no time [cl

 

[joedoh]

been there! i like fitting the stock fan so I moved the first one back 6 inches (no fan) the second one 7 (barely fan) the third 8.5 (great room for fan) and the last one ~9 and the lower rad hose gave me fits hitting on the frame. so on this one I moved it 7.5 to keep the fan as close to the rad as possible and lots of room for the lower hose.

I mention these trials to say, make sure you know where everything is going to end up. with a 9" move there was amazing room in the engine compartment but the diz cap barely installed and the lower hose was a punk about it. said another way, if you have 13" great, but maybe you will only get 10 of that.

also most recently I shortened a frame and just welded stanchions to the frame on a level floor and after cutting in half it only changed vertical height on one side by 1/32. way better than my previous way of putting the truck on jack stands, that was a real **** show. the whole length change took less than 3 hours.


looking great!

 

[I-R-POPS]

[P [P [P [P
Torchie

Thanks Torchie.

 

[I-R-POPS]

A lot of guys don't realize until they try a swap that those "mini" pickups from that era have the firewall a lot further forward than the older truck will. I've seen a huge number of guys doing an S-10 frame swap buy the V8 motor mounts and then be astonished when the engine is much too far forward.

On my 46, I moved the motor mount location back about 11" from the S-10 location and could have gone a couple inches more.

It's looking good, though. On mine, building all those mounts took 2 weekends (and not all of them), so I'm sure you'll have it done in no time [cl

I knew the mounts would have to be moved but I didn't think it would be that much. Live and learn. Thanks for the info.

Kinda having a hard time being able to move around and get in the right position with this dang hip. Everything takes me twice as long as it should now days.

 

[I-R-POPS]

been there! i like fitting the stock fan so I moved the first one back 6 inches (no fan) the second one 7 (barely fan) the third 8.5 (great room for fan) and the last one ~9 and the lower rad hose gave me fits hitting on the frame. so on this one I moved it 7.5 to keep the fan as close to the rad as possible and lots of room for the lower hose.

I mention these trials to say, make sure you know where everything is going to end up. with a 9" move there was amazing room in the engine compartment but the diz cap barely installed and the lower hose was a punk about it. said another way, if you have 13" great, but maybe you will only get 10 of that.

also most recently I shortened a frame and just welded stanchions to the frame on a level floor and after cutting in half it only changed vertical height on one side by 1/32. way better than my previous way of putting the truck on jack stands, that was a real **** show. the whole length change took less than 3 hours.


looking great!

Thanks Joedoh
I'm with you on using the stock fan. I hate listening to an electric fan.
We're going to ignore the engine/trans location and get the body sitting right first. Then we can determine just how much we need to move everything.
Thanks for the info.

 

[I-R-POPS]

Pulled the engine/transmission and set it aside for now. We are going to get the cab and bed set in position and then come back to the engine relocation.

A little slicing and sliding and leveling and lots of measuring and spot welding we have the frame shortened 6'' and have a 118'' wheel base needed for a '50s Willys pickup.
We did it at the original splice location so we wouldn't have two splices in the frame.

A little welding tomorrow and we can get the cab and bed set to start making the mounts.

 

[bob w]

That's a nice, precise splice, Pops

 

[Burgerman]

That's a nice, precise splice, Pops

2X. Looks great. [cl

 

[soltz]

Dido [cl
!![P!!

 

[DozerII]

Once it's painted no one will ever know it was shortened. [P[P

 

[23crate]

totally ! nice work !!

 

[I-R-POPS]

Todays progress.....

Thanks guys for the comments. We're still having fun.
I got the splice finish welded today and my partner was quick to get the touch up paint done.

More planning. We got the bed fender centered on the rear axle then set the cab in place. Trimmed the front fender liners and cut the front frame horns off.
The rear of the frame needs to be cut off and the bed needs to drop 4" give or take.

After the "inspector" gave the green tag and signed off on the "look" its time for all the cab repairs and mounts to be made for the cab and the bed after we stick a couple of temporary cross members in the frame.