GrandWillys Project

[crystallographic]

Yo Marcus,
This has been for me, a wonderful view of a marvellous build !!
Deep appreciation of your vision, talents, and enduring patience.
Sincere kudos !!

[Gojeep]

Originally Posted by crystallographic

Yo Marcus,
This has been for me, a wonderful view of a marvellous build !!
Deep appreciation of your vision, talents, and enduring patience.
Sincere kudos !!

Wow, thank you Kent.

[Gojeep]

Still working on little details as they show themselves. Been a lot less than I expected to be honest.



To help slow the, "you got a LS in that?", questions, I added a small HEMI badge.



We came up with putting it here on the guard away from the WILLYS pressing as it clashed a bit there and made it a bit busy. Funny thing is that the Chevy guys are even more impressed that it has a HEMI rather than a LS!



Another thing I did was swap out the stock KK Cherokee rear coils in the rear for some stock WH Grand Cherokee ones the same as the donor. I actually used well worn ones from a wreaking yard as they sat an inch lower than my near original donor ones. The ride is so much better in the rear now and matches the front end. It also added another inch of 'hotrod rake' to it.



I had been looking for mirrors that sat out a bit further to help with the wedge shape of the cab, but found nothing I liked more than what I already had. So thought why not widen the ones I already had. First to test the idea I whittled down some 50mm square stock pine and put it in my metal lathe. Used the parting tool to try out some shapes.



This is the shorter of the two I made and quite like the proportions. It is the same height as the diametre of the base.



Was not as keen on the longer version and worried it might vibrate more too.



Next test was to make one out of some scrap aluminium bar stock that I picked up at the scrap yard the last time I was there.



Happy with the shape and size of it. It is not just a straight taper as wanted to mimic the jam nut and make it look less like it was done on a lathe.



The aluminium was too soft to use and scratched easily. So had some solid 40mm 316 stainless bar stock to make some from.



I machined both ends of the bar so could easily duplicate the settings and make them identical.



I went through the grades of sandpaper over it right up to 1200 grade which was the finest I had.



Then onto the buffing wheels to give a better polish to it. Just wanted to match the mirror arm in sheen.



The centre was bored and then tapped 16x1.5mm to match that of the mirror and the mount I already had inside the door. Then the fun part of parting each end off without it flying off somewhere at the end and damaging the polished surface. Did the old pencil inside the piece to hold it when nearing the end to catch it.



Made some gaskets for it and threaded in a set screw. I used loctite to hold them in place with the hex socket inside the spacer. This allows me to tighten the piece to the door before the mirror gets screwed on.



Think it looks fine fitted and can now see my rear wheel to help me reverse into the garage.



Went for a Sunday drive and they are actually more stable than before with little to no vibration! The surface area of the mount is double of what it was before and there is less wind noise too as a bonus.

[Steve Hamilton]

Hi Marcus
The Willys just keeps getting better.
Thanks for posting

[123pugsy]

Some nice machining there Marcus. Awesome as usual.

[cylinder9]

When does the paint fly?

[Gojeep]

Thank you Steve and Pugsy

Originally Posted by cylinder9

When does the paint fly?

I am really hoping during the winter months June to August next year.

[Gojeep]

Got a video update on the GrandWillys project.
https://youtu.be/VHC2NMrs3Po

[drivejunk]

I like your attention to usability refinements. Chasing away things that annoy so its a pleasure to operate.
Does sound like it needs to get out more.

The prep and paint ought to go a lot more like working on something the age of the powerplant than most 1940s customs, thanks to your diligence. It will be a colossal adventure but with few or no suprises. Nice job.

[Gojeep]

Originally Posted by drivejunk

I like your attention to usability refinements. Chasing away things that annoy so its a pleasure to operate.
Does sound like it needs to get out more.

The prep and paint ought to go a lot more like working on something the age of the powerplant than most 1940s customs, thanks to your diligence. It will be a colossal adventure but with few or no suprises. Nice job.

I'm hoping that I will have a much tighter price range for the paint job seeing they can be sure of what they are dealing with beforehand.