Paul_J
Well-known member
Man I like your project and the fact that you have stuck with it for so long.
"Secret Willys Revival" (My chopped '53)
- Thread starter Snake Farm
- Start date
Help Support Rat Rods Rule:
Snake Farm
Ol school snake charmer!
Thanks Paul..........although I don't know if "stuck with it" is the right terminology
There have been several lulls.....some lasting as long as ten years Glad you like it though
Paul_J
Well-known member
I have a similar project, a car I've owned and started almost 8 years ago that stops and starts. It's stopped again so I can help my son build his truck. It's nice to see others who have these types of projects. Like your Willys, my project is unconventional. I'm looking forward to seeing more progress on yours!
Snake Farm
Ol school snake charmer!
Well, all of the drip rail is finally off the back of the cab [cl It's now possible to stand behind the truck and not see any of the drip rail......
....and I'm loving the rounded look ! The seams and welds are pretty rough but maybe that will make the body filler stick better So, although I love having the truck in one piece so that I can sit in it and make engine noises....
....I'm gonna take a break from the drip rail and work on the bottom of the cab. I have a broken cab mount and some rotted floor that needs tended too before I go much farther. My nephew found out I've been working on the Willys and he's pretty excited about it so I'll probably recruit him to help me pull the cab off this weekend [ddev
To be continued,
Ray
....and I'm loving the rounded look ! The seams and welds are pretty rough but maybe that will make the body filler stick better
So, although I love having the truck in one piece so that I can sit in it and make engine noises....
....I'm gonna take a break from the drip rail and work on the bottom of the cab. I have a broken cab mount and some rotted floor that needs tended too before I go much farther. My nephew found out I've been working on the Willys and he's pretty excited about it so I'll probably recruit him to help me pull the cab off this weekend [ddev
To be continued,
Ray
Snake Farm
Ol school snake charmer!
Cleaned up my mess from the last few days, emptied the cab and vacuumed it out and bolted down my flat bed in preparation of taking off the cab.
The Pepsi bottle on the garage floor should not be visible in any of these pics...
....tomorrow night I'll pull my steering column and shifter and then give my nephew a call to help me flip the cab back onto the bed.
Stay tuned,
Ray
The Pepsi bottle on the garage floor should not be visible in any of these pics...
....tomorrow night I'll pull my steering column and shifter and then give my nephew a call to help me flip the cab back onto the bed.
Stay tuned,
Ray
skull
''SARCASM: just one of his many talents.''
lookin' nice
if ya ever git up here, l wanna see this truck in person[dr
Later
if ya ever git up here, l wanna see this truck in person[dr
Later
The Tackman
Well-known member
Snakefarm, I want to tell you I read the whole thread and come to the opinion that you are one heck of a guy and would be a pleasure to buy you a cup of coffee someday. You have given me some inspiration this morning and I appreciate that. Keep going on this and it will be burning tires on it's maiden voyage soon.
Rat'l Trap
Well-known member
does this mean you wanted to be included??
Rat'l Trap
Well-known member
Hey snake--since you've accumulated so much experience on your build, how'd ya like to keep the spirit alive, and replace my floors?? I think you would love doing a panel truck.
Snake Farm
Ol school snake charmer!
if ya ever git up here, l wanna see this truck in person[dr
Later
I can see the headlines now
.......Crazy East Coast Ratrodder goes on 3,000 mile shake-down cruise, no word yet on whether or not he made it I would love to have about six weeks vacation and a Rat Rod that would make the trip.......go out through the lower states and come back through the upper ones...maybe someday
I just read through it too....twice, and I can't for the life of me find where it says anything like that However I'm going to hold you to that cup of coffee if I get down Georgia way! Can't imagine I'm inspiring anyone with my limited skills but I am having a blast working on this thing again after all these years. I've been enjoying your IH build thread too and it warms my heart to look at that pic of your kids helping you. Stay at it and involve them as much as possible, that's precious time.Sam, I'm flattered that someone with your skills would take interest in my so called build. I can only hope to aspire to your level. As for attacking it with 'no fear'.........sometimes having no fear is due to a lack of knowing when to be afraid
Hey snake--since you've accumulated so much experience on your build, how'd ya like to keep the spirit alive, and replace my floors?? I think you would love doing a panel truck.
I'd love to cut on your panel man....but not on the bottom[ddd That thing would look wicked with about 8" off the top......that would still leave six inches of windshield........that's plenty isn't it ???
Snake Farm
Ol school snake charmer!
Worked on the Willys for an hour or so this evening. Pulled the column and the shifter..
....so I'm ready to take the cab off whenever my nephew gets a chance to help me.
I think I'll recess the firewall a bit too while I'm working on the floor. It clears okay with the points distributor now but would be nice to have a little more room to go HEI later....
...one small problem though will be the cowl vent brace which attaches to the firewall where the X's are. I think it should be as simple as shortening it up a bit.
I'll also get rid of the old cable wiper stuff while I'm at it. I'll probably go with the cheap little individual motors and mount them above the windshield, that is if I have wipers at all, I drove my old '57 Buick for ten years in all kinds of weather with only Rain-X.
Getting anxious to work on the floor and put the cab back on for the last time!
To be continued,
Ray
....so I'm ready to take the cab off whenever my nephew gets a chance to help me.
I think I'll recess the firewall a bit too while I'm working on the floor. It clears okay with the points distributor now but would be nice to have a little more room to go HEI later....
...one small problem though will be the cowl vent brace which attaches to the firewall where the X's are. I think it should be as simple as shortening it up a bit.
I'll also get rid of the old cable wiper stuff while I'm at it. I'll probably go with the cheap little individual motors and mount them above the windshield, that is if I have wipers at all, I drove my old '57 Buick for ten years in all kinds of weather with only Rain-X.
Getting anxious to work on the floor and put the cab back on for the last time!
To be continued,
Ray
skull
''SARCASM: just one of his many talents.''
firewall clearence
go to one of the home improvement place and see if they have a metal
1/4 size wheelbarrow, thay are used for flower pots but work great for what you are planning. a friend of mine did this and it saved him hours of fabbing up something and the wheelbarrow has cool curves.
Later
go to one of the home improvement place and see if they have a metal
1/4 size wheelbarrow, thay are used for flower pots but work great for what you are planning. a friend of mine did this and it saved him hours of fabbing up something and the wheelbarrow has cool curves.
Later
Snake Farm
Ol school snake charmer!
Finally had a nice sunny spring day here [cl My sister and brother in-law stopped by this afternoon....
....and we took the cab off the Willys ! Started by lifting off the nose and sitting it aside.....
Got on either side and up it goes....
It's actually not all that heavy......
Laid it on it's back on the bed and surveyed the repairs to be done....
Spun it around and slid it to the back for easy access and set the nose back on.
Now to get to work on it !! [
Stay tuned,
Ray
....and we took the cab off the Willys ! Started by lifting off the nose and sitting it aside.....
Got on either side and up it goes....
It's actually not all that heavy......
Laid it on it's back on the bed and surveyed the repairs to be done....
Spun it around and slid it to the back for easy access and set the nose back on.
Now to get to work on it !! [
Stay tuned,
Ray
skull
''SARCASM: just one of his many talents.''
camaro
that camaro would make nice circle track stock car[ddd
good progress, keep us updated.
Later
that camaro would make nice circle track stock car[ddd
good progress, keep us updated.
Later
Snake Farm
Ol school snake charmer!
:WARNING: Graphic pics
Got down to business on the bottom of my cab today and as usual it was worse that I thought.
Along with the obvious holes and bad cab mount there were several soft areas in the patching I did 28 years ago, mainly along the bottom of the rockers where I had skinned over the old rockers and inner structure........I know bad idea but hey, I was young and dumb,..........now I'm just old and in a hurry so don't expect much better out of me this time around either, LOL
The more I cut the more I found....
.....and before I knew it I had a huge pile of "offending metal" and I ended up taking the fender sections (which I had welded to the cowl) off too
Before I took them off though I made some cardboard templates and some reference marks so I can build back the bottom of the cowl on the passengers side....
So, by the time I finished today most of the nasty stuff was laying on the floor ........
......and after digging through my scrap metal I think I have enough stuff to put a decent bottom back in this thing without buying anything.....my favorite price, $Zero.00
To be continued,
Ray
Got down to business on the bottom of my cab today and as usual it was worse that I thought.
Along with the obvious holes and bad cab mount there were several soft areas in the patching I did 28 years ago, mainly along the bottom of the rockers where I had skinned over the old rockers and inner structure........I know bad idea but hey, I was young and dumb,..........now I'm just old and in a hurry so don't expect much better out of me this time around either, LOL
The more I cut the more I found....
.....and before I knew it I had a huge pile of "offending metal" and I ended up taking the fender sections (which I had welded to the cowl) off too
Before I took them off though I made some cardboard templates and some reference marks so I can build back the bottom of the cowl on the passengers side....
So, by the time I finished today most of the nasty stuff was laying on the floor ........
......and after digging through my scrap metal I think I have enough stuff to put a decent bottom back in this thing without buying anything.....my favorite price, $Zero.00
To be continued,
Ray
Snake Farm
Ol school snake charmer!
Making progress on the floor....
Armed with some 16 ga. metal building framing i.e. channel and corner angle, and some 22 ga. metal shelving (that was in my daily work van when I bought it) I have attacked the driver side rocker area.
The 16 ga. came prebent and with a little trimming and fitting will make a nice strong inner/lower rocker....
....scribe along the outer edge and trim it up
......make a cap for the upper rear area
....and voila!
Moving right along [cl[cl
To be continued,
Ray
Armed with some 16 ga. metal building framing i.e. channel and corner angle, and some 22 ga. metal shelving (that was in my daily work van when I bought it) I have attacked the driver side rocker area.
The 16 ga. came prebent
and with a little trimming and fitting will make a nice strong inner/lower rocker....
....scribe along the outer edge and trim it up
......make a cap for the upper rear area
....and voila!
Moving right along [cl[cl
To be continued,
Ray
Snake Farm
Ol school snake charmer!
Oh, almost forgot. I have friend who just recently bought a bottle for his welder (75% Argon 25% CO2) and he wanted me to ask about where to set the regulator. He knows one gauge reads the bottle
but where should he set the regulator to weld say, 16 - 22 ga. My friend has tried it at 10, 15 and 20 but has not seen a real noticeable difference. He want's to be sure to use enough gas but doesn't want to waste it either [S
Any advice is greatly appreciated as I......er I mean my friend hopes to do a bunch of welding this weekend.
Thanks,
Ray
who just recently bought a bottle for his welder (75% Argon 25% CO2) and he wanted me to ask about where to set the regulator. He knows one gauge reads the bottle
but where should he set the regulator to weld say, 16 - 22 ga. My friend
has tried it at 10, 15 and 20 but has not seen a real noticeable difference. He want's to be sure to use enough gas but doesn't want to waste it either [SAny advice is greatly appreciated as I......er I mean my friend
hopes to do a bunch of welding this weekend. Thanks,
Ray
skull
''SARCASM: just one of his many talents.''
welding help
my buddy who has been helping me weld on all my projects says;
set 8-12 max and the heat 3 or C and speed 3 1/2 to 4 , check often for blow threw, that should get you in the ball park and my friend says use the 16 guage, not the 22 guage, and do short little beads to prevent warping.
his bills in the mail
goooottaaa love that preformed metal, saves a lot of time.
Later
my buddy who has been helping me weld on all my projects says;
set 8-12 max and the heat 3 or C and speed 3 1/2 to 4 , check often for blow threw, that should get you in the ball park and my friend says use the 16 guage, not the 22 guage, and do short little beads to prevent warping.
his bills in the mail
goooottaaa love that preformed metal, saves a lot of time.
Later
Snake Farm
Ol school snake charmer!
my buddy who has been helping me weld on all my projects says;
set 8-12 max and the heat 3 or C and speed 3 1/2 to 4 , check often for blow threw, that should get you in the ball park and my friend says use the 16 guage, not the 22 guage, and do short little beads to prevent warping.
his bills in the mail
goooottaaa love that preformed metal, saves a lot of time.
Later
My friend says, tell your friend thanks.
