51 Willys Build

[willyD]

Sounds like it's worth over tightening just so you know what too tight is[ddd

 

[tomicdesu]

real shame, i had to go drink another bottle of whiskey.

i am so sorry for you! i hope you reached out to some friends for the help you must need in these difficult times.

 

[willyD]

I decided to refinish the old Hadees heater that was in my Willys when I got it. I wasn't originally planning to have a heater but I have since decided that it would be pretty nice once in awhile. I'll try to get it installed this week and post some pics in the truck.

 

[dutch]

that looks sooo cool!

 

[willyD]

Since the heater core is exposed on the bottom of this heater, I made a grill that mounts the the heater's mounting studs. It should protect the heater core from getting kicked in the cramped passenger foot well.

 

[Skip]

Heaters were much prettier back in the day.

Overflow bottles have improved over the years.

I need to sort out a good location for that half-gallon Patron Silver bottle someone gave me. [S

 

[craigger]

Heater Install

Heater is a good idea. You can drive your truck on those cool days. I love those Willys. I have two wagons in my yard. 55 and 60. Stay on it.[P

 

[willyD]

I converted my ignition to a keyless combo switch setup. The vintage toggle switches are a combination for the ignition and the cool old start switch is the starter. I had to do some re-engineering on the start switch as it was originally set up as a positive ground switch I guess. It only had one terminal that shorted to ground when the handle was pulled. I machined some new internal parts for it and added a terminal so now it's a normal momentary switch

 

[soltz]

That's quit coool, good job [cl

 

[DJ3100]

I like it. I thought about doing that and decided I would probably forget the combination.

 

[DozerII]

Really nice Willy[cl

 

[Skip]

Love the combination switch idea. I too have considered it.

 

[willyD]

I did a bit more work to the Willys in the past few weeks. I bought one of these cast finned coil covers to check out. They are reasonably cool. I refinished it and built a bracket to mount it to my manifold. Before I did that, I changed out the heads, intake and put some vintage Cal Custom valve covers on it.

 

[soltz]

Nice looking engine [cl and yes the coil cover is kool where did you find it [S

 

[willyD]

I found it on ebay but Vintage Parts USA makes them. The castings are OK but they are a bit rough. They come somewhat polished. I bead basted this one and then tumbled it for a few hours to satin it out. That helps make the rough casting int he grooves between the fins less noticeable. I stuck some thin strips of weather stripping inside the cover to hole the coil in since it was a bit of a loose fit.

 

[willyD]

I have been working on a new tach for my Willys for awhile now. I forgot to take pics of the rebuild unfortunately. It's a vintage Sun tach. I pulled the original 3500 rpm guts out and replaced them with modern electronics. The main drive board is actually in a separate pod that I will mount under the dash. I had to get a new face made for it which I think turned out really well. The needle doesn't line up perfectly but it will be good enough. The cup on the back is the top of an old Pyrene fire extinguisher.

 

[bob w]

Very unique tach, willyD. It's touches like that that make a car more interesting to look at.

 

[smallfoot]

Beautiful job on the tach...like the way some of the simplest items of yesterday had so much more design built into the product...keep it up Willy![cl

 

[DozerII]

That tach is really cool, like how you made it work.[cl