1932 Willys 6-90

[Gojeep]

Do you think the front chassis rails are wide enough to let the engine sit down enough for the exhausts to clear?

Looking at the photo-chopping made me question how that will go.

Splaying the rails isn't all that hard but it would cause a few issues with the crossmember. Maybe that's an opportunity to use a later model car's front crossmember complete with suspension? Did Ford or Chrysler have anything with IFS and a bolt in crossmember?

Making additional bars for the grille will be a challenge.

I am going to simply make the whole chassis wider to whatever width I need. I did the same on the truck as well. It is easy to do.
I looked already a few years ago at the at using the Lexus front end but have some other ideas since that I want to run past the engineer too.

https://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/th ... on.368880/
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1262 ... 100-4.html

Grille bars not a problem as have a complete spare grille and shell that came with it that has the missing very rare goddess ornament too.

[Gojeep]

Do you think the front chassis rails are wide enough to let the engine sit down enough for the exhausts to clear?

Looking at the photo-chopping made me question how that will go.

Splaying the rails isn't all that hard but it would cause a few issues with the crossmember. Maybe that's an opportunity to use a later model car's front crossmember complete with suspension? Did Ford or Chrysler have anything with IFS and a bolt in crossmember?

Making additional bars for the grille will be a challenge.

The problem is Most everything has gone to struts on the front end. One that didn't is the Ford Crown Vic but that is likely too wide and the wrong bolt pattern. It is an aluminum crossmember and can be narrowed, but I don't know if that is legal in Australia.

Stud pattern is not the end of the world as might redrill the rear hubs and rotors anyway to suit the Ford stub pattern which is very close and then use a Ford pattern for the front hubs.
The SRT8 is 5x115mm and the Ford 5x114.3mm. Would make wheels a lot easier to buy!

[Gojeep]

When the last owner bought this it was abandoned on a farm and the front axle assembly and springs had been taken to build a trailer for a water pump. So he used parts from his Willys 98 to sit it on, but gave me another set of springs which he said were the right ones for it. With the springs that are in it still it only measured 110" wheelbase and it sat like this.


When I set the wheelbase back to factory specification of 113" like shown, it looks so much better!


The rear springs are still in it and it is sitting with the running boards level in this shot. These Dunlop wheels are replacement 16" and have 28" tall tyres. Factory was 18" wire wheels, which I still have, and came with a 29"-30" tall tyre. Running board to ground clearance is 315mm or 12.5"


Now for some altitude adjustment! Dropped the front down and have the springs sitting on 100mm-4" blocks. Talk about hot rod rake!


Now the rear is down as well. This drops the rear of the running board to 175mm-7" from the ground, and the front down to 150mm-6" off the ground. Keep in mind that the SRT8 donor only sat 115mm-4.5" off the ground with the stock suspension. So there is room to go lower and also still be above the legal 100mm-4" of ground clearance rule. The front guards will need to be remade with a higher arch above the centre of the tyre as there is only about 40mm-1.5" of room for up travel as it sits now.

[zuffen]

A lot of the pleasure of doing builds like your two is nutting out the issues and finding solutions and the parts to make it happen.

There's a lot of thinking outside the box to make it all come together.

The Lexus front end doesn't have the worlds best geometry but this isn't a race car and most people wouldn't notice the" shortcomings" anyway! One advantage of the Lexus is it has the Ford bolt pattern.

[Gojeep]

Excuse my chicken scratches using a 25 year old Corel Photo-Paint 9 program, but still gives us an idea of concept. I have never done a rendering in my life so it is as good as I can do. Now what this is showing is a 10" stretch between the firewall and the front of the rear wheel arch. This will allow the use of the SRT8 fuel tank to remain under the rear seat floor and still leave enough foot room for the rear seat passengers without having to move it back and make it much narrower. What I have done is add 5" to each door which also stretches the wheel base from 113" to 123". Only 75mm-3" longer than the SRT8 and 50mm-2" longer than the Willys 8-88 which was offered at the same time as this model Willys. Still means I have to shorten the SRT8 floor by 7.25", but leaves enough useable space inside. Overall the length of the Willys would end up an incredible 945mm-38" shorter than the SRT8 donor! The stretch gives an illusion of a roof chop without even loosing head room.


Here I have also extended the doors down near the running boards to see what that would look like. It makes the doors look less stretched and gives a different window to lower door proportion. One other thing I need to do is move the A pillar forward into the cowl area. Would leave the roof the same length but angle to A pillar forward only. A bit hard to do on such an old program though.


This shows what the very rare Willys 8-88 looked like. It had a straight 8 flat head making 80hp and had a 121" wheelbase. The bonnet is longer but notice also the C pillar is further forward on the rear wheel arch with a larger last window.

[zuffen]

For an unrequested suggestion.

I'd like to see the front door stretch more than you have it as it looks too small compared to the rear door.

This may burn some off the lost wheel base of the 300.

It does give the impression of a roof chop.

Do you have to shorten the 300 floor, or is it a matter of the distance from the toe board to the rear axle that is important?

I'm really enjoying this as it's a bit like building my own car. Look and figure out what can work.

[robtus]

That brochure image has had the same treatment as the Chrysler brochures got. Compare these 2 pics, the sales brochure car has had a 4 inch chop, some door hinges removed and a 10 inch stretch and lowered at the front 4 inches.. Compare the windshields !!!



Above is what the design team said to build, and what the salesman offered, below is reality

[Gojeep]

For an unrequested suggestion.

I'd like to see the front door stretch more than you have it as it looks too small compared to the rear door.

This may burn some off the lost wheel base of the 300.

It does give the impression of a roof chop.

Do you have to shorten the 300 floor, or is it a matter of the distance from the toe board to the rear axle that is important?

I'm really enjoying this as it's a bit like building my own car. Look and figure out what can work.

As mentioned, I will still have to shorten the donor floor by 7.25". Also say I need to angle the A window pillars forward and move the A pillar into the cowl area. This will lengthen the look of the front window without making the roof longer too.

[Gojeep]

That brochure image has had the same treatment as the Chrysler brochures got. Compare these 2 pics, the sales brochure car has had a 4 inch chop, some door hinges removed and a 10 inch stretch and lowered at the front 4 inches.. Compare the windshields !!!

Yep, I based a lot of my truck build on an artist impression as it looked way better than reality.



https://www.wokr.org/gallery/wil_136.htm
https://www.wokr.org/gallery/wil_95.htm
https://www.wokr.org/gallery/wil_240.htm

[robtus]

I like the idea of moving the C pillar forward and making the rear 1/4 window longer. The other option is to delete the rear 1/4 window altogether as was often done on Cadillac etc for rear passenger privacy, or make it harder to hit the target if your name was Capone. This was his Caddy, note how the rear axle is way behind the rear seat.

[Gojeep]

Funny as was measuring that up this morning about how far to move the C pillar forward just like the 8-88. The SRT8 even has it 2.5" forward forward than the 6-90 is, so think that is a good move. Lisa is adamant that the 3rd window stays though as tried to see if I could get rid of it when I was hoping to do a 2 door version.

[robtus]

Funny as was measuring that up this morning about how far to move the C pillar forward just like the 8-88. The SRT8 even has it 2.5" forward forward than the 6-90 is, so think that is a good move. Lisa is adamant that the 3rd window stays though as tried to see if I could get rid of it when I was hoping to do a 2 door version.

Luckily my 34 never had a rear 1/4 window otherwise it would look more like a bus than it already does..

Never say never, when you rough it out in metal there might be a chance to see how it really will look. Just the same, moving the C pillar forward will change the shape of the rear 14 window making it less vertical looking... Could you move the rear axle and mudguard back 5 or 6 inches ?? It might change the look and get you back to the SRT8 wheelbase.

[Gojeep]

The couple of pictures are with a 10" longer wheelbase, which is 3" longer than the SRT8.

[robtus]

The couple of pictures are with a 10" longer wheelbase, which is 3" longer than the SRT8. My CB was 121 inch wheelbase to start.

It's an interesting exercise and so much easier to play around with photoshop than with the welder !!! The last pic you posted above will look good however I think the B Pillar needs to go back a bit so that the doors are similar length, or C pillar forward.
Its probably a 1930'ish thing but the area behind the rear 1/4 window seems short, lots of work to move that window forward and increase the panel behind but it might change the look a little, I think the dark 88 above has more metal there ...
I am sure you will work it out. I think sitting around the garage so you can see it from all angles is the best way to let the ideas settle.

[robtus]

The couple of pictures are with a 10" longer wheelbase, which is 3" longer than the SRT8.

There seemed to be a magic number to identify an upper class car, lots of them at 121 inches. Mine was 121 and the base model 117.